Johnson Automatics M41 Johnson

Melvin C. Johnson, an American arms designer, developed his semiautomatic rifle by the mid-1938, and submitted it to the US Army trials. Trials and development of the rifle continued until the early 1940, when the Army Ordnance Board finally rejected the Johnson rifle as being too long and heavy, and potentially unreliable with the bayonet attached. Same year Johnson submitted his rifle for trials to the US Marine Corps, where it was tested against M1 Garand rifle. First tests results were good for Johnson, but later on the M1 Garand rifle was found superior to it. In 1941 Johnson named his rifle as "Model 1941", and the same year the Dutch Government ordered 70 000 rifles from Johnson for its West India colonies, fearing invasion from Japan. For this order Johnson created the Johnson Automatics Mfg plant. At about the same time USMC parachutists forces became interested in Johnson rifle, as it was easy to take down for compact carry during parachute drop, and then easy and quick to reassembly. As the Dutch colonies were already occupied by Japan, USMC procured many of M1941 rifles, made to Dutch order. Compared to M1 Garand, M1941 Johnson rifle had some good and some bad features. Good features were good accuracy, lesser recoil, and bigger magazine capacity with capability for reloading partially full magazine with loose cartridges. Bad features were a number of smaller parts which were easily lost during field stripping, and less available spare parts. Overall, about 30 000 of M1941 rifles were produced during the WW2. After the war, USMC returned all remaining rifles to the Netherlands Purchasing Commission.