PDA

View Full Version : The Johnson Rifle



thedrifter
12-30-02, 09:17 AM
http://www.qis.net/~pullen/joh41.GIF


During his tenure as the Marine Corps observer to Springfield Armory, Melvin Johnson Jr. concluded that the Garand and Pederson rifles on test there both had flaws in design and would be difficult to mass produce. Johnson set about designing a rifle that would be reliable, accurate and easier to manufacture. So in 1935 he produced his first working model of a rifle using a delayed blowback system of operation. This first rifle was made from scrap firearm parts and had a knitting needle for a firing pin. Despite these rudimentary beginnings, the design worked fairly well but needed major refinements.

On September 28 1937 Johnson's first U.S. Patent, number 2,094,156 was granted. The first of over a dozen different US patents concerning firearms (and bayonets for them).

This refined weapon now operated on a retarded recoil system. Using his Patent, he and Marlin Firearms of New Haven Conn., produced prototype military specification rifles which were submitted to the Army Ordnance Board for evaluation at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD in August 1938.These first tests were fairly successful, but some weaknesses were found in the design. These were quickly rectified by Johnson. These refinements led to new Patents for Johnson, numbers 2,146,743 modified the bolt and extraction system, and 2,181,131 brought changes to the cocking handle and the extractor. This latter Patent made it possible to remove the extractor from the weapon while still leaving the bolt in place. A new rotary magazine was introduced to replace the vertical box magazine which had proven weak under testing, though the vertical box magazine model was still available to potential customers. The two types were identified by using the initial V (vertical) or R (rotary) to differentiate the magazine types.

http://www.qis.net/~pullen/

Sempers,

Roger