Last week I took a Johnson rifle up to the range...model of 1941.

GunnyG shot it as well as I.

Hot damn! Gotta say, I expected more of a kick for such a light rifle.

Having said that...it gave me whiplash. It's trigger was so light, I didn't expect it to go off (which is normally GOOD for accuracy...)...problem was, I was used to my Garand. When it went off, I did a half-spin, and yanked my neck. Ouch! Took about 15 rounds to get the hang of it.

It's a royal PITA to load with loose rounds. Strippers seem like a much better solution. Even once you figure out you need to press in a kind of top-down motion to move the rounds down the rotary mag...it's still a pain to load one by one. Takes several seconds, per round. I can guess when people have been trained to, it'll be faster, but still...

The recriprocating barrel and all greatly reduce recoil for such a light rifle firing .30-06. Haven't sighted it in, but for it's type, it seems very accurate. All my shots were just off in the same area

Takedown and cleaning is easy. It literally took me longer to figure out how to take it down (reading the manual) than it did to clean it properly. There's no gas system, as such.

If you can find one in good condition and don't mind spending the coin, it seems a good rifle. It's slightly more complex, action-wise, than a Garand...but it's also somewhat simpler in it's own way, as far as cleaning and maintaince goes. (Heavy grease? Nah...lube with oil, and away you go.)

Around here at shows, prices are around mid-2k. The example I fired was almost pristine. Bore was perfect, almost no wear to the metal, and the stock looked great.

Just tryin to expand knowledge...

Sounds like you had a great time.

Outside of pics in magazines and the internet I've never seen one. It would be nice to at least see one, and fondle...er...ah...hold one.

But once-upon-a-time I did get to fondle a STG 44 and ammo at a funshow. Last year I did get to fondle a Liberator pistol, too.

But never a Johnson.