When the M1 Garand was adopted in 1936, Melvin Johnson—a lawyer and Capt. in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve—believed it was a badly flawed rifle, and set out to develop his own. Thus, the Johnson Model of 1941 rifle was born. In the end, the Johnson rifle was not selected by the military, but a few did see service with Marines at the Battle of Guadalcanal. Despite this setback, Johnson continued to develop more automatic firearms including the M1941 Light Machine Gun, which later became a sought-after gun in the early days of the Pacific War in World War II. Continuing to invent more firearms, Johnson also developed an auto carbine named Daisy Mae, with only a total of five produced. He also did some pioneering work with existing Gatling Guns, eventually leading to the development of the Vulcan Gatling Gun, for which he is not credited. Check out this segmentfrom a recent episode ofAmerican Rifleman TV to learn more about inventor Melvin Maynard Johnson and his guns.
Join American Rifleman staff in this week's video to learn about a new version of the famed Beretta 92, a line extension that offers up single-action-only operation, optic-ready capability and more.
The Model 5946 duty pistol faithfully served police forces nationwide until it was pulled from production just before the turn of the millennium. Now, lots of these trade-in duty guns are available to commercial sales through distributors such as Aim Surplus, LLC.
From its Range Development and Operations Online Course to Range Conferences, the National Rifle Association is leading the charge to educate potential and current range owners and operators with range development information, environmental issues, safety and more.
Colt is the brand that's traditionally associated with the M1911, and in this Rifleman Review, we look at how they're paying homage to the classic design with the Gold Cup National Match model.