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. One source reports approximately 21,400 Johnson semi-automatic rifles in total were manufactured, and approximately 750 were procured by the U.S. Marine Corps (Canfield's book). This example offered is a Chilean contract variation 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]." Johnson M1941 rifles employed several unique features including the rotary magazine which allowed reloading at any time, a recoiling barrel which started the cycling of the rifle, and the takedown barrel which allowed them to be stowed in a parachute jump bag. The right rear of the receiver is marked "CRANSTON/ARMS/CO." in a triangle below a small five-pointed Dutch star as commonly seen on Johnson rifles. 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. The patent markings are stamped in five lines between the factory legend and the rear sight. This example is wearing serial number "B1843" on top of the receiver and the bolt is numbered "B8171" (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.

Excellent, retaining 98% plus original parkerized finish with some occasional light handling marks and scratches, and some light freckling on the magazine body. Wood is also excellent with defined edges, a small patch of light scuffs on the right of the forend, a deep scratch ahead of the buttplate tang, and attractive grains. Mechanically fine, although the trigger requires more force than usual to release the hammer.