This is an original unaltered WWII M1941 Johnson rifle. This rifle was seriously considered by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps as an alternative to the M1 Garand Rifle in 1941. Although the Army never adopted the Johnson rifle, after the fall of the Dutch East Indies to Japan in 1942, some of the Dutch contract Rifles were obtained by the Marine Corps as a war expedient model and subsequently issued to the Marine Parachute and Raider Battalions and used in the early Island hopping campaign in the South Pacific in 1943. The Johnson rifle had several unique features, two of them being that they have a removable barrel for easy storage in a parachute jump bag and the second being that their rotary magazine which held ten rounds could be easily topped off with either single or multiple rounds before or during a battle, something that the M1 Garand rifle did not have the capability to do. The receiver is marked with the standard five line patent dates followed by the four line: "JOHNSON AUTOMATICS/MODEL OF 1941" logo, address and the serial number "B7893". The barrel flange is correctly marked ".30-06" above the barrel and "41" below it. An encircled, five-pointed star and "CRANSTON/ARMS/CO." in a triangle are marked on the right side of the receiver below the rear sight. The rear sight calibrations are, correctly, marked in meters on the side. The rifle has the original green parkerized finish with a blued rear sight. It is fitted with a walnut stock and forend. The bolt has been stamped with "B8304" and it is complete with a GI issue green canvas sling.

Excellent, with 80% of the original green parkerized finish with the correct blued rear sight. The exposed section of the barrel, the perforated section of the receiver as well as the rotary magazine, shows thinning and wear. The stock and forend have a nice matching light brown color with only minor handling marks in a few places. A nice example of a scarce WWII Johnson Semi-Automatic rifle.