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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.
The Patriot Ordnance Factory LMR Base offers a .308 Win. chambering in a lightweight, AR-15-size package, which makes it a capable platform for today's new gun owner. And it comes at a fair price.
For each of the past 23 years, the editors of American Rifleman have convened to select our top picks for the past year’s best and most innovative products. Here are the most recent winners.
Henry Repeating Arms has donated a limited run of 50 “Team Keane” Golden Boy .22 lever-action rifles to support 13-year-old Keane Rhodes of Universal City, Texas, who is currently undergoing aggressive treatment for ALL T-cell leukemia.
Springfield Armory introduced its Echelon in 2023, bringing a modernized, chassis-style, striker-fired handgun to the market that has since seen several notable line extensions.