Johnson Model 1941

History of the 1941 Johnson Model

Before the start of hostilities that led to World War II, the Johnson Model 1941 competed with the M1 Garand rifle. Weapons Engineer, Attorney and U.S. Marine Corps. His patents were later used on weapons such as the Armalite AR-10, AR-15 and Colt M-16.

However, the M1941 lost out to the M1 Garand overall, but there were still around 20,000 in service from 1941 to 1945 - the necessity of war dictated this use. The M1941 has some advantages over the M1 in that it offers a higher ammo count, less recoil, and the ammunition system can be expanded without firing all rounds.

The U.S. Marine Corps was the main user of the M1941 during World War II. After 1945, many were marked as surplus and sold. Its scarcity today means that owning a rifle has become every gun collector's dream.

The Johnson Model 1941 retains its distinctive appearance as the rotating magazine creates a contoured bump on the underside of the fuselage in front of the trigger group. Since then, this has been the distinguishing feature of this rifle. The pistol grip is integrated into the two-piece wooden stock as a rifle grip, while the wooden design also continues directly in front of the magazine area as a foregrip. The upper part of the receiver is metal, with vents in the front to help cool the barrel.

The elongated barrel itself protrudes from the torso, detailed only by an integrated foresight behind the muzzle and a padded front sling fitting. Iron sights are adjustable along the top rear of the receiver.

A second sling attachment is mounted under the stock behind the main grip in front of the stock.

Model 1941 uses .30-06 Springfield or 7x57mm Mauser cartridges, fired from a short recoil rotating bolt-action bolt-action system. The principle of short recoil requires a joint movement of the slider and the barrel. The total distance used by the firing action is less than the total length of the cartridge (as opposed to the long recoil process). When the barrel finally stopped moving, the bolt continued to move back, eventually activating the feed mechanism for subsequent shots. The muzzle velocity was reported to be 2,840 feet per second.

The feed system consists of a detachable internal rotating magazine barrel containing 10 rounds ready to fire. This can be supplemented at any time by stripping clips. The total weight of the rifle is 9.5 lbs. The overall length is over 45.5 inches, with the barrel accounting for 22 inches.

The Model 1941 was designed with a detachable barrel, resulting in an overall shorter rifle - which aids general weapons storage or mid-air jumps by paratroopers where compact weapons are critical.

The short recoil of the M1941 ultimately went against the design. The pronounced barrel action makes heavy use of bayonet action undesirable, and such action can cause the weapon itself to malfunction. It is well known that recoil action produces "vertical shot".

Overall, reliability quickly proved to be an issue for the sophisticated M1941 in the field compared to the M1 Garand.

The US Army evaluated the M1941 but rejected it in favor of the M1 Garand, a rifle design that received more attention and funding. Nonetheless, the U.S. Marine Corps received M1941 rifles destined for the Netherlands for service in the Dutch East Indies.

These rifles were intended for the region, but Japan's expansion now dictates that the U.S. Marine Corps can use them better. Proving to be a modern upgrade for the U.S. Marine Corps, the M1941 fired the usual .30-06 Springfield round from the then-large ammunition count.

Some M1941s ended up repeating their roles on the battlefields of the postwar world, most notably the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961.

Johnson Model 1941 Specification

ROLES

STRUCTURAL

PERFORMANCE

VARIANTS