Johnson M1941 - Sporterized by the Winfield Arms Corp.

THREEDFLYER

THREEDFLYER

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Thought this might be of interest to those who study U.S. WWII weapons.

This is the second Johnson M1941 that I have owned, the first being an original condition this one being sporterized by the Winfield Arms Corp.

This one was sold with a Monte Carlo style stock and scope....and of course drilled/tapped for the scope. I also show the advertisement in the September 1953 issue of the American Rifleman

The scope was removed at some point and an original style rear sight was installed.

It appears that the checkering on the stock was done by someone other than Winfield and the wood has been shaved down where it meets the magazine on both ends....probably to give the stock a better feel in the hand.

I will most likely be putting this one up for sale at some point on one of the military forums or an auction.





































 
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I had one of those by Winfield Arms years ago. It was a nice shooting rifle...but don't stand next to one being fired. That slung out the brass at 90 degrees with authority!

I sold it several years back for some fairly serious money...it all but paid for a semester tuition for my daughter's college.
 
Love the Johnson for its unusual action design. I could never find one at a price I was prepared to pay, and prices these days are very high.
 
Rick Sanborn said:
I’ve got three of the original type that I’ve collected over the years. They are pretty neat guns.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine who lives in the Prescott AZ area owns a very nice collection of military full auto firearms from around the world from WWI and WWII including the Johnson Light Machine Gun.....a very interesting piece of history and a hoot to shoot!!
 
I've heard Winfield Arms Corp was at least partially a CIA front to both sell arms overseas and buy firearms from European manufacturers to keep them out of commies hands or at least keep the workers happy so they wouldn't turn to commies...

Would love to see the history behind that, true or not. I have a MAB Modele C that is a WAC import.

Sorry to derail the topic away from the Johnson, which is fascinating, but the Winfield Arms Corp thing isn't mentioned very often.
 
SnidelyWhiplash said:
I had one of those by Winfield Arms years ago. It was a nice shooting rifle...but don't stand next to one being fired. That slung out the brass at 90 degrees with authority!

I sold it several years back for some fairly serious money...it all but paid for a semester tuition for my daughter's college.
Click to expand...
You're a good Dad!
 
THREEDFLYER said:
A friend of mine who lives in the Prescott AZ area owns a very nice collection of military full auto firearms from around the world from WWI and WWII including the Johnson Light Machine Gun.....a very interesting piece of history and a hoot to shoot!!
Click to expand...

The nation of Isreal, bought the right to make Johnson Light Machine guns around 1949. They made them in 8mm Mauser (to use surplus ammo they had mountains of) and called it the "TOR" (sp). I believe they made 800 of them.

Johnson and Tor parts were available from Numrich/Gun parts of America.

Ivan
 
I have a Winfield Arms Johnson that I purchased from a friend probably 40 years ago. He had 2 that were sporterized, one was scoped in a fitted case and the other did not have a scope or case. He wanted $600.00 for the scoped one and $350.00 for the other one. I purchased the one without the scope, $600.00 was out of my price range at the time. The bolt hold open didn't function, found out the lever that operated it was missing, learned that was not uncommon on the sporterized versions. Numrich had any Johnson part you could want in stock so I purchased and installed the new trip lever and got that feature functioning again. I took it out and fired it, it functioned perfectly, I have never fired it since. I have always thought they were neat rifles, that is one that I have never thought about parting with it.
 
I’ve told this story before but it’s been a minute. Back in 78 just before I headed out to boot camp my father and I stopped at a little store near Salem, OR and I noticed a rifle in the rack that looked different from all the rest. As I recall it was priced around $400 give or take. I had the cash but after looking it over dad opined, “that’s a lot for an old army rifle”! It was of course a 1941 Johnson. Knew nothing about the Johnson at the time but looking back it was probably original condition. Sure wish I hadn’t listened to my dad but he wasn’t often wrong.
 
forindooruseonly said:
I've heard Winfield Arms Corp was at least partially a CIA front to both sell arms overseas and buy firearms from European manufacturers to keep them out of commies hands or at least keep the workers happy so they wouldn't turn to commies...
Click to expand...

I've never heard about a CIA connection but at least at the beginning Sam Cummings of Interarmco (later Interarms) was at least tangentially involved with Winfield Arms...and he had well known CIA connections. It seems at least plausible with any kind of Sam Cummings involvement there could be a CIA connection.
 
When I worked in Cranston, RI, my office was directly across the street from the plant where Johnson Automatics were made. I did a lot of electrical work in that building when a rolling mill operation moved in there in the 70's.

If you went outside behind the building and scratched around in the sand near the substation, you could find plenty of 30-06 spent cases
 
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