Johnson Rifles
09-07-2007, 03:12 PM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Canandaigua, NY
Posts: 550
Johnson Rifles
I was recently at a buddy's house and was checking out a rifle he has. He doesn't know much about it and I was wondering if anyone here could help me out. It's a bolt action rifle in 250-3000 AKA 250 Savage and the barrel reads "Johnson" on it. I did a few searches online without any help. His uncle used it for Antelope out west a couple times. Does anyone else have any knowledge of a "Johnson" gun? Thanks in advance for any help.
09-07-2007, 07:30 PM
#2
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 45
RE: Johnson Rifles
The only johnson rifle I ever4 heard of was an autoloader made for the US military during WWII. I believe it was the gun used by the Devil's Brigade.
There's a note about them in the Blue Book that states they operated in New England and mostly produced semi autos in 30-06 and .270. So I guess they may have produced some bolts.
There's a note about them in the Blue Book that states they operated in New England and mostly produced semi autos in 30-06 and .270. So I guess they may have produced some bolts.
09-07-2007, 11:30 PM
#3
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Eros Louisiana USA
Posts: 283
RE: Johnson Rifles
I've got a johnson rifle that was made in 1968. It still shoots fairly well, but these guns are known for only firing blanks once they get on up in age. But they can sure fire a lot of rounds without wearing the barrel out.
09-08-2007, 09:21 AM
#4
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Texas - BUT NOW in Madison County, NY
Posts: 6,270
RE: Johnson Rifles
ORIGINAL: WomBeasel
The only johnson rifle I ever4 heard of was an autoloader made for the US military during WWII. I believe it was the gun used by the Devil's Brigade.
There's a note about them in the Blue Book that states they operated in New England and mostly produced semi autos in 30-06 and .270. So I guess they may have produced some bolts.
The only johnson rifle I ever4 heard of was an autoloader made for the US military during WWII. I believe it was the gun used by the Devil's Brigade.
There's a note about them in the Blue Book that states they operated in New England and mostly produced semi autos in 30-06 and .270. So I guess they may have produced some bolts.
The Johnson rifles of WWII fame were designed by Captain Melvin M. Johnson, USMC, but he did not MAKE them! Some were bought by the Dutch for use in Indonesia and some appear to have been issued to some U.S. Marine units foruse in the Pacific theater of operations. In addition to the rifle, there was a light machinegun version, and all of these were originally chambered in .30/'06. But it appears that some, "chambered for 7mm" ( 7X57mm??)were sold to some South American nations prior to US entry into WWII.
I believe a lot of the '06 version were dumped on the US surplus market after WWII, and were not too expensive at that time. However, they command a stiff price these days! I believe some were sold withnew .270 Win. barrels back then too. Not too difficult to do, as they had a relatively simple barrel-change feature.
Now, after WWII that same Melvin Johnson "designed" the "5.57mm MMJ" round by necking down the .30 carbine caseto .224. He rebarreled some M1 carbines to shoot it. A great beer-can load! But I am not aware of any BOLT ACTION rifles ever made by him, and certainly not in .250 Savage (a great little cartridge, BTW!!).
I would certainly like to know more about any good bolt-actions made in .250 Savage, regardless of who made them!
