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Kutter, That was good information for me as I really know little of the man or the company.

Because their sporters were post-war and all I have seen where in the "Utilitarian" category I never paid them much attention.

Thanks very much.

If I'm not mistaken, the ref I read was about an 03 with a JA barrel in it. I can't find it now of course.

The rifle looks like a dalliance between an M16 (look at the bolt and stock spring) and a Garand (upper receiver and magazine). Not unattractive in its own weird way.

I just didn't know if they were regularly involved in some aspect of the custom rifle trade along with their military operation.

This is the unknown with the Johnson barrel.

Ryan,

Perhaps you are remembering page 54 in Petrov's "Custom Gunmakers of the 20th Century". The photo of that rifle wound up on page 108.

Terry, you're right I believe. Thanks.

Michael - is that an S-man? That's the best inletting I've ever seen on a bolt action. Does the barrel fit the channel in the stock, I wonder? It has a relatively slender shank. I have no doubt that the channel fit the original barrel perfectly.

I vaguely remember that the autos had quick switch barrels and you could have an '06 and a .270 on the same rifle

Not an "S"-Man but does have the "S" shape to the pistol grip, not all that uncommon, Marlin did them by the thousands.

The barrel was made to fit in the inletting, thank goodness and not modified.

J/Automatics made replacement bbls for both the 03 and the 1917 that were used to refurb those rifles in US Arsenals. They have a simple 'JA' stamp at the muzzle.

The Model 1941 SemiAuto is a QD barrel rifle. Easy to unlatch with the point of a loaded round, the bbl simply slides forward and out.

It made it easy to stow as for Airborne Troops. It wasn't a feature designed so much for replacement though that was something easily done as well.

One thing that the rifle suffered from was an easily broken butt stock The area right behind the receiver at the top is usually cracked on most 1941's that have seen any use/action. Troops reported many damaged '41 stocks in jumps when the rifle was in the taken down condition.

Caliber change was simple as already mentioned as long as the cartridge head stayed standard 30-06 size and the OAL was within reason. 30-06 and 7x57 were contract calibers. 270 was a Winfield Arms offering quite often. Johnson was quite fond of the 270 also. Alot of those Mauser sporters were in 270.

I have read, but cannot remember where, that the US (USMC?) had a few Model 1941's still in storage and gave them to the members of the Bay of Pigs Invasion Force (Cuba).
Perhaps just someones thoughts, maybe fact,,I don't know. If true, those rifles will never be seen again.

It is known that Johnson bought back a few Mod '41's from the USMC/Quantico after WW2 and resold them through ads in magazines. I think primarily American Riflman.

The rotary magazine (serial number 'R' prefix on the original mfg 'commercial style' rifles for rotary) gave a firepower leg up on the Garand. But only over the course of a large number of rounds being loaded and fired.
It suffered from damage easily, it's sheet metal covering being dented left it useless, and dirt & sand would prevent the rotary mech from feeding. Being a non-detachable mag,,the soldier was stuck with a single shot rifle.
It also makes the rifle uncomfortable to carry with with one hand. That large magazine right about where your hand would go.

The protective wings on the front sight are often found broken off. They were commonly removed in the field (with a pliers!). Quickly pointing and shooting a '41 will show you that it is very easy to pick up one of the 'wings' as the front sight blade instead of the blade itself.
I did that the first time I shot my first Model '41.

An interesting man and rifle for sure.

Locating one of those early commercial sporters w/ the detachable box magazine would certainly be a nice find.

I'm not sure what happened to the rotary mag versions built for the Ordnance trials.

I thought I had seen a Johnson Automatics barrel on a 1917 that was among some rifles captured in Korea from the PLA. Most I have seen were on O3A4s tho. Never seen one on a '03, but I suspect there are some around.

People sometimes get the 1941 semiauto rifle mixed up with the Johnson LMG, which was also USMC issue, and probably what turned up in "Cuber," as JFK called it.

johnson moved from r.i. to wrentham ma. in the late 50s he sold the business to benko alexander and his wife sonja for 10,000.00 at the time. it then became known as gartman arms. they had available diff. weight sporters. the barrels where timken steel and offered in bantam, light, reg. etc. the stock work was done by alexander and the checkering was done by eric herzog. there was a large inventory of stock blanks available in all grades. they seldom if never used bishop and later used fajan to save on labor costs. there was a man named ed? johnson that did the barrel work and straightening.i have an .30 cal. bantan wt. barrel.i also have a 7x57 full stocked mannlicker with presentation wood and fully eng. by j. adams sr. from the late 60s.