1941 Johnson....ruined

[Kev18]

I bought a mosin and modified it. People were livid. Its mine so I did what I wanted. I collect old rifles, but more 19th century lever guns. I really dont care about a mosin, especially that it was just a basic model, I also have an sks.

[GranddadsDadsMine]

Nobody ever wants to listen to the Back Story about how things came to be.
I once picked up an old Mauser that had literally been run over by a truck.
The barrel was bent, the sights were damaged, the stock was Cracked in two, and the trigger guard was smashed.
It had been sitting in a barn for 30 years and was heavily rusted.
I tore it down and installed a Take off barrel from an old JC Higgens 30-06 , and made a new sporter stock, polished and blued the metal.
I was able to straighten the trigger guard, and get the rifle working again.
But all I got in response was, "You Ruined History."
You should have left it the way you found it, it might have been a collectors piece.
(The Rifle was run over on a Farm here in the U.S not in some Battle in WW2)
People would say,
If you had the skills to make the rifle shoot again, you should have restored it back to The Original Condition, No Matter what the cost.
But If it was restored to the Original Condition, then There is NO history, and No Value, no Matching part numbers.
It is then a part gun that is worth $100.
But as a Sporter, it ended up making a good inexpensive First Rifle for a mans oldest son, and probably got passed down to the other sons.
The History was Ruined when someone accidently ran it over with a truck.
But now the rifle at least has a chance to make a new Memories, and once again, be used as a Tool that is Functional.

Love this! If you're willing to put the time and effort into something and make something that was ruined into something that's great and can be cherished by someone then job well done in my mind. There will always be a time and place for a collectors item, something that has seen a different era than our own. There will also always be a spot for the ones that don't have that chance! At least its usable and from what I can see, is a beautiful rifle. As im sure most of us have a hand me down or two, they're not always the collectors piece that they may have once been. Make use of what you've got, collectors or not, historical or just plain history

[Larry Gibson]

Were Johnson alive today he may very well would have loved this rebuild/conversion. Given the AR bolt carrier and bolt operation are almost the same as the Johnson rifles because Johnson designed both. Johnson was, in fact, hired by Stoner to assist in the development of the AR10 and AR15 rifles. Also if one bothers to read Johnson's book published in Ordnance circles one would find a lot of similarities to his predictions.

I know it's heresy but every "old" or milsurp firearm are not "collector's" items.........Just my own personal belief is all......

[hazmat]

I don't have a problem with making a damaged gun go bang again. I once picked up a sportered 7.35 Carcano for the princely sum of $15. Handguard is still missing and Bubba's rear peep install is still there. I did sand out the Ronnie James Dio butt-stock carving and re-stain everything. With an assortment of cobbled together bolt parts, I made a serviceable deer slayer out of it. I started with ugly and finished with ugly, but serviceable. The Johnson above (though possibly useful) is REALLY ugly!!

[Happyguy]

Such a waste.

[Pappy_Miles]

Interesting modernization. Although "this old rifle syndrome" inside of me wonders what condition the base Johnson was in, I sorta like what he created. You gotta hand it to him for a modernization ingenuity. I mean, look what that did to the M1 - garand in the 50's through modernization and redesign. Changed the caliber, put a 20 shot magazine on it, heavy duty muzzle break / flash suppressor on. Major improvements. until the stoner came around.........hmmmmm maybe a great concept rifle if the Johnson had won out over the M-1????????????

[Bazoo]

Were Johnson alive today he may very well would have loved this rebuild/conversion. Given the AR bolt carrier and bolt operation are almost the same as the Johnson rifles because Johnson designed both. Johnson was, in fact, hired by Stoner to assist in the development of the AR10 and AR15 rifles. Also if one bothers to read Johnson's book published in Ordnance circles one would find a lot of similarities to his predictions.

I know it's heresy but every "old" or milsurp firearm are not "collector's" items.........Just my own personal belief is all......

I didn't know that, thanks Larry. I'll have to chase down a copy of that book.

[leadman]

I remember seeing an ad in probably the American Rifleman from the Johnson Company that had sporter Johnson rifles in it. I think some were 7X57. I have passed on all my old American Rifleman mags but think it was around 1950??
I restore 1891 Arg. Mausers when I can. Some are beyond that so I make them into truck guns. Not every old gun is worth the time or money to restore.
Can't say why the Johnson ended up like that and would be interested in the story on it.