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When Melvin Johnson was refused the U.S. military contract for W.W. II (the M1 Garand beat out the Johnson in the proving trials), he took orders from the Dutch and South American companies to keep his plant busy. This particular rifle was a part of a 1000 gun order from the Chile government for use in their military - specifically for a mounted state police division. These Chile Johnsons were not used hard and in fact spent most of their time in arsenals there. The Johnson Automatic Company did not want to retool for a mere 1000 barrels to make 7mms (it would not have been profitable), so they purchased over 1000 Mauser 7mm barrels from the National Arsenal in Mexico and these were assembled to the plant's existing .30-06 Johnsons. Only 1000 pieces were made into 7mm's with Mexican 7mm Mauser barrels - making this one of the rarer versions of the Johnson Rifle. In the 1980's Navy Arms imported a big batch of these Chile Johnsons into the U.S. and the gun is so marked on the bottom of the barrel. The front of the gun's barrel locking bushing is marked "41" and ".30-06" which is correct and is keeping with the fact that the 7mm Mauser barrels were mated with .30-06 parts.
Rare , but not Experimental...
Rich
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[I]You know you might be facing your doom,when all you get is a click when you're expecting a BOOM!:( [/I]
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