Originally up for consideration by the Netherlands Purchasing Commission as a service weapon for colonial troops in the Dutch East Indies, a large order for the Johnson Rifle was placed in 1940, but the Japanese invasion of the East Indies prevented delivery. These rifles were not able to gain interest for adoption by the U.S. Army, who favored the M1 Garand, but a small amount of them were subsequently used by the U.S.M.C. Marine Raider and Parachute Battalions in the early Makin Island, Guadalcanal, and Tulagi island hopping campaigns in the Pacific. Per Canfield, approximately 21,400 Johnson semi-automatic rifles in total were manufactured, and approximately 750 were procured by the U.S. Marine Corps. This example offered is one a reported 1,000 of the Chilean contract variation rifles chambered in 7mm Mauser, as opposed to the standard chambering of .30-06 Springfield. Information on the Chilean 7mm M1941 Johnson rifles can be found on pages 162-163 of Canfield's book "Johnson's Rifles and Machine Guns" in which it states, "Soon after the initial NPC [Netherlands Purchasing Commission] order was received, the government of Chile ordered 1,000 M1941 Johnson rifles chambered for the 7mm cartridge for use by mounted troops, probably an elite 'state police' unit. Since JAMCO [Johnson Automatics] could not economically produce such a small quantity of barrels in this caliber, the firm purchased a sufficient number of 7mm Mauser rifle barrels from the National Arsenal in Mexico. The barrels were then assembled to .30 caliber parts on hand and into standard M1941 Johnson rifles. While actually 7mm, the barrel locking bushing still retained the '.30-06' marking [as seen on this example]." These rifles employed several unique features such as the rotary magazine which allows reloading at any time, and a recoiling barrel that has the ability to be easily removed from the rifle by hand for takedown, which allows the rifle to be stowed in a parachute jump bag. The rear, right side of the receiver is marked "CRANSTON/ARMS/CO." in three lines inside a triangle below a small five-pointed Dutch star as commonly seen on Johnson rifles, and the top of the receiver is marked "CAL. 30-'06 SEMI-AUTO./"JOHNSON AUTOMATICS"/MODEL OF 1941/MADE IN PROVIDENCE, R.I., U.S.A." in four lines above the serial number with U.S. and foreign patent date markings to the rear. This example is wearing serial number "4154" on top of the receiver, and the bolt is numbered "6526" (it was standard for numbered components on Johnson rifles to not match). Blade front and adjustable 1,000 meter rear sights. It has a two-piece walnut stock and forend. The barrel bushing has the correct markings of ".30-'06" and "41" for the year on the front flat, and the chamber area of the barrel has a "CAL.7m/m" marking, with an import marking on the bottom of the barrel. Includes a brown leather sling.

Excellent, retaining 95% plus original parkerized finish with some occasional light handling marks and scratches, and some minor surface freckling on the magazine body. Wood is very fine with some slight fading in the forearm, numerous scattered dents and scratches, and defined edges. Mechanically excellent.