Quote:
Originally Posted by copeab
I thought the Marine Raiders used the M-1941 Johnson rifle (not to be confused with the M-1941 Johnson LMG).
|
When the M-1 Garand was first introduced in 1937, there were teething problems with the sights, the gas port (leading to jamming problems), the Marines were slow to adapt the new rifle before the bugs were worked out.
The M1941 Johnson was first tested by US Army Ordnance in 1939. several features were liked about the rifle, but there were concerns about the strength of the magazine body, the overall length of the receiver as well as the fact that the rifle would not function reliably when fitted with a bayonet. The Ordnance report stated that the Johnson was not materially superior to the Garand and recommended against further consideration as a replacement for the M-1 rifle.
The NRA weighed in against the Garand when their requests to be provided with copies for independent testing was refused by the Ordnance department. The NRA went so far as to publish a series of articles condeming the Garand and praising the Johnson.
The Garand-Johnson controversy reached its peak in early 1940 when Congress threatened to halt funding for the continuing production of the Garand. A shoot-off was conducted in the presence of various high-ranking military officers and various Congressmen. As one Senator stated, "From a layman's viewpoint, they are both mighty fine guns, and there is no particular difference. If the Garand is as good as the other, and we have the machinery already set up to produce it, I see no reason to go into production on a second good gun." This was the first and biggest nail in the Johnson's coffin.
A Marine Corps shoot off held in November 1940, using a Springfield as the control rifle and testing the Garand, the Johnson and a Winchester design ended with the Corps making the decision to maintain the Springfield. The Garand was considered to be superior to the Johnson and plans were made to switch over to the Garand as production capacity ramped up. This was the second nail in the coffin, Johnson's beloved Marine Corps didn't like his rifle.
The Johnson was still considered to have several excellent design features: the barrel could be easily removed, allowing the rifle to be stored in a kit bag for airborne operations. It had excellent accuracy. The straight line stock made it easier to control. It was designed to be manufactured on general production tooling in small to medium machine shops. It had a 10-round rotary magazine that could be easily topped with issue 5-round chargers.
The Johnson M1941 rifle was never adopted by the US Army. The USMC purchased limited numbers and it was issued for testing purposes to the Corps paratrooper and raider battalions (1st Parachute Battalion on Guadalcanal and 4th Marine Radiers Battalion on New Georgia), but it was never an official TO&E requirement. A total of some 70,000 were built, mostly for sale to various foreign governments, of which the Dutch East Indies were perhaps the largest buyer.
But perhaps the most damning verdict on the Johnson rifle came from those fellow Marines who carried it into combat:
"Feed problems were experienced and the Johnson often had to be loaded, one round at a time."
"The configuration of the exposed barrel was considered a delicate design requiring the user to always be careful to protect the exposed barrel."
"The weapon would not always satisfactorily cycle when its bayonet was attached."