Melvin Maynard Johnson Jr. (August 6, 1909 – January 9, 1965), nicknamed Maynard Johnson, was an American designer of firearms, lawyer, and United States Marine Corps officer.

Biography

Born into an affluent Boston, Massachusetts, family, he was commissioned into the Marine Corps Reserve in 1933 as a Second Lieutenant and completed

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1934. Johnson designed a recoil-operated rifle (

M1941 Johnson rifle The M1941 Johnson Rifle is an American short-recoil operated semi-automatic rifle designed by Melvin Johnson prior to World War II. Although the M1941 was used in limited numbers by the US Marines during the Second World War, it unsuccessfully ...

) while serving for the Marines as an observer at the Army's Springfield Armory in 1935. Johnson received four U.S. patents on various design features. He also designed the Johnson Light Machine Gun, derived from the M1941 rifle, which was used in limited numbers during World War II and the

M1947 Johnson auto carbine The M1947 Johnson auto carbine is a semi-automatic derivative of the M1941 Johnson machine gun. It was intended as a replacement of the M1 rifle The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply cal ...

, also derived from the M1941 rifle and M1941 light machine gun. In 1942, he co-authored ''Weapons for the Future'', a book in The Infantry Journal series. Charles T. Haven of the Army Ordnance Corps was the other contributor. Johnson worked tirelessly to promote his rifle and machine gun throughout the war. Johnson transferred to the Army Ordnance Corps Reserve from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1949 and rose to the rank of Colonel. In 1949,

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

bought the Johnson Automatics corporation and employed Johnson for a short period. While at Winchester, Johnson was employed alongside "Carbine" Williams though it is unknown if they worked on the same projects. He was later appointed as weapons consultant to the Secretary of Defense in 1951. Johnson's patents were used by Armalite on the AR-10, AR-15, and later M16 rifles. Johnson was hired by Armalite as a consultant to promote their rifle incorporating his bolt design.The Guns Of Miltech
/ref> Later, Johnson worked to improve the M1 carbine eventually developing the

5.7mm Spitfire The .22 Spitfire (Originally the Johnson MMJ 5.7mm Spitfire, also known as 5.7mm Johnson or 5.7mm MMJ) is an American wildcat rifle cartridge developed by Melvin Johnson. In 1963, firearms designer Melvin Johnson developed a conversion of the ...

cartridge in 1963 and starting Johnson Arms, Inc. The M1 Carbine can be converted to use 5.7mm Spitfire by replacing the barrel with modification of the feed ramp. While on a business trip to New York City in 1965, Johnson died of a heart attack. He is buried in

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...

in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Designs

Johnson's practice was to give all of his weapons a "pet" nicknames. * 1938 "Taft-Peirce" self-loading rifle * M1941 rifle ''Betsy'' * M1941 light machine gun ''Emma'' * M1947 auto carbine ''Daisy Mae''

Biography

Designs

References

Further reading