On Monday we posted a name this gun (seen above) and we got a number of comments and emails thinking it was the Johnson M1941 Light Machine Gun. (Seen at the bottom of this post) The answer is the Johnson M1944 LMG.
Caliber: .30-06 (7.62×63)
Weight: 6.48 kg
Length: 1066 mm
Barrel length:558 mm
Feed Type: magazine, 20 rounds
Rate of fire: 300 – 900 rounds per minute (variable)
The M1941 light machine gun was developed from a semi-automatic rifle designed by Melvin C. Johnson during the late 1930s. It was intended to fulfill the role of a squad automatic weapon, and possibly replace the venerable Browning M1918 BAR. Johnson’s gun was significantly lighter than the BAR, while having a quick-detachable barrel and a magazine of the same capacity. However, regardless of its merits, Johnson’s LMG shared the fate of its sister rifle, being completely rejected by US Army officials. The Dutch East Indies government placed orders for some M1941 LMG in 1941, but the East Indies were occupied by Japan before deliveries were completed, so the remaining stocks of the gun were purchased by the US Government and issued in limited numbers to Army Rangers and other special operations groups. Later in the war, Johnson developed an improved version of the LMG,known as M1944. This replaced the wooden buttstock with a tubular steel one, and the folding bipod with a telescoping monopod; it also found no luck in USA, but a copy was briefly made in Israel in the 1950s as the Dror LMG. The M1941 LMG is short-recoil operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed weapon. The barrel is locked using a rotary bolt with multiple radial lugs that engage the barrel extension. The barrel is enclosed within a short tubular sleeve with cooling slots, and can be quickly removed for replacement if overheated, or for compact transportation. It is a selective fire weapon, firing from an open bolt in the automatic mode (for better cooling), and from a closed bolt in the semi-automatic mode (for better accuracy). The return spring runs at the top of the butt, and the gun has an adjustable buffer which allows the cyclic rate of fire to be changed according to the mission. Modifications.
[Info from World Guns] |
Johnson M1941 Light Machine Gun
Thank you to everyone who guessed this weeks gun.