This rifle is a one of a group of five RARE 1941 Johnson semi-automatic prototype rifles that Rock Island Auction company has to offer for sale in this auction. These early prototype rifles were used as the basis for the development of the later and highly successful, 1941 Light Machine that was used by the USMC and early 1st Special Forces units during WWII. Each one is a "One of a Kind" design with unique features unto it's self. The 1941 Light Machine was developed during the early stages of WWII and although proved successful from a design standpoint, it did have it's drawbacks in the field. One of the advantages of this weapon was that the Light machine gun and the standard Johnson semi automatic rifle used several common components, which helped cut down on the logistics burden and the manufacturing costs by not having to stock multiple configurations of parts. This specific model of rifle is like the others in that it started out as a basic Johnson semi automatic rifle receiver forging. This rifle has no forearm and has a folding bipod that is bolted to a steel block riveted to the underside of the barrel jacket. Otherwise this rifle has the same basic receiver forging, barrel assembly, and bolt assembly as the other ones, that was just mated to a completely new lower receiver, trigger group and buttstock assembly. As previously noted the standard 10 shot rotary box magazine was removed and replaced with a completely new lower magazine assembly that uses the standard bar box magazine most notable feature was that these light machine guns fired from an open bolt when on full automatic and then fired from a closed bolt when firing in a semi-automatic mode, similar to the German FG42 rifle. These rifles employ a folding rear sight with a single rear sight aperture. The elevation knob for the rear sight is mounted on top of the sight. The front sight is a unique high mounted, one-piece base with a blade machined into the top rear. These light machine guns all featured a straight line recoil mechanism with a lowered buttstock to help reduce muzzle climb. As noted this rifle is actually a semi-automatic version of the 1941 LMG. The only visible marking on the gun is "DAVESS GUNS" (double stamped" and "X22" on top of the receiver. The front end of the barrel recoil lug is marked "30-06" and "41". The right side of the lower receiver has the two position selector switch that is marked "SAFE" and "SEMI". It has a walnut stock with steel checkered buttplate and walnut pistol grip plates. It is complete with two rare 10 shot spare magazines.

Excellent. The rifle retains 99% of the black parkerized finish with a few light scratches on the barrel and right side of the frame and magazine well. The wood is very good with a few minor dings and dents on the pistol grip panels, otherwise minor handling marks on the stock. A nice example of a scarce prototype rifle