Eric Ching Article 03
The Mystery Mannlicher
by Eric Ching, MCA Member
The Mannlicher Collector #66, 2001
I was visiting the table of my favorite regular exhibitor at a local gun show recently when another customer came by with a rifle to show him. I noted in passing that it was a Mannlicher-Schoenauer half-stock rifle of pre-war configuration, but they were still discussing it when I continued on to survey the rest of the show. On my way out, I stopped by his table again and noted that the rifle was now sitting in one of his display racks. Knowing that this exhibitor only deals in quality guns, my interest was piqued and I approached him.
“So you made a deal with the guy?” I asked him, pointing at the rifle.
“Yeah, he traded me for a shotgun he really wanted,” he replied.
“What are the particulars?” I continued. It looked on first glance to be unmodified and in decent shape overall, and I saw that it had the desirable Lyman adjustable rear aperture sight (Photo 1). The receiver hadn't been drilled for a scope mount, and it was equipped with double set triggers. There were minor dings and scratches on the stock, and its finish was dulled around the receiver, suggesting that the rifle had been carried a fair amount in the field.
“It's a Model 1908 rechambered in .257 Roberts,” he responded.
“Really?” I said, puzzled.
“That's what's marked on the barrel,” he answered. “Take a look.”
The receiver ring was marked normally with “Patent Mannlicher Schoenauer M.1908” on a textured panel, and the barrel was of original contour that fitted the stock very well, but engraved in block letters between the rear sight and the barrel band were the words “JOHNSON AUTOMATICS .257” (Photo 2).
“Well,” I noted, “it's not clear whether it's chambered in .257 Roberts or some other cartridge of the same caliber, perhaps even a wildcat of some sort.”
“The seller told me it's .257 Roberts, and that `Johnson' is the same `Johnson' as the designer of the Johnson Automatic Rifle from World War Two,” the exhibitor replied. “That's really all I know, but if you want it, I'll make you a good deal.” The price he offered was good, the deal was made, and I started my search for the history of this “Mystery Mannlicher” while it was in transit from the exhibitor's shop.
After getting some guidance from Members Don Henry and Tom Tompkins by phone, a quick look at Barnes' Cartridges of the World confirmed that the .257 Roberts cartridge wasn't introduced until 1934, well after the M.1908 ended production in 1924. Neither in Cartridges of the World nor in Wolfe Publishing's Wildcat Cartridges I & II could I find a reference to a factory or wildcat cartridge of similar length to the 8x56 M-S designated “.257” other than the Roberts (the .257 Weatherby would never fit in the 1908 action). This was a good indication that the exhibitor was right about its chambering.
Now to confirm the Johnson connection. An on-line search came up with a web site (http://www.qis.net/~pullen/Biography.htm) dedicated to Melvin M. Johnson, Jr. He designed and manufactured the Johnson Model 1941 Automatic Rifle, and Models 1941 and 1944 Light Machine Guns through his company, the Johnson Automatics Trust in Brookline, Massachusetts. He also contracted with the U.S. Government to make replacement barrels for refurbishing Model 1917 Enfield rifles for WWII use, and in 1963 introduced the 5.7mm Johnson (.22 Spitfire) wildcat cartridge conversion of the M1 Carbine. Johnson died in 1965 at the age of 55.
Of relevance to my particular rifle was the following paragraph:
“...In the early fifties Johnson went to work for Winchester as a designer and advisor to John Olin, Winchester's chairman, but only after he had forced Winchester to purchase his company and its remaining stock. Johnson also had his custom shop located in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, where he made custom conversions of surplus bolt action rifles into `state of the art' hunting rifles by converting them to .270 or other high power chambers.”
I searched further on the Web and found references to his customized surplus military bolt action rifles in two on-line classified ads:
“1917 Enfield, Remington, .270 Win., Johnson Auto 24” target sporter...”
“ Custom Mauser 98 Sporter, .257 Roberts cal, Johnson Automatic barrel...”
This evidence certainly confirmed that Johnson not only had the capability to rebarrel the Mystery Mannlicher in his custom shop, but also that it could have been in .257 Roberts, since his custom work took place in the 1950s, well after the cartridge's introduction.
Member Robert Blank cast his informed eye over the rifle when he received it for me from the exhibitor. He took the stock off and noted that the date code was “12519” indicating it was of 12 May 1919 manufacture, very soon after the resumption of production after the end of WWI. He also saw that a small rectangular notch had been cut in the left side of the stock over the magazine floorplate (Photo 3).
Removing the magazine made it apparent that the notch was a relief cut for a vertical plate welded to the magazine's left side, extending the existing curved guide piece on the bottom of the magazine (Photo 4). When I inserted a .257 Roberts cartridge into it, I observed that the plate stood alongside the bullet—though it didn't seem to touch the bullet at all—with the back edge of the plate just forward of the cartridge's case mouth.
After several weeks I managed to find time to take the rifle to the range for shooting verification. I bought a box of what was readily available in local stores: Winchester Super X +P ammo loaded with 117-grain Power-Point round-nose bullets. The factory rounds slipped into the magazine easily and fed into the chamber smoothly. The double set trigger worked as expected, and firing the first round resulted in light recoil and no horrible consequences. On extraction the fired case looked normal and dimensionally unchanged—this rifle was indeed chambered in .257 Roberts and did not have an improved chamber, RCBS or Ackley or otherwise, or some other wildcat chambering.
On the first shot, I centered the bead in the aperture and on a large bullseye at 50 yards. The bullet impacted high and left outside the bullseye. Shifting to a six o'clock hold with the top of the bead touching the bottom of the bullseye produced a 2-3/8” nine-round group that was centered 2-1/2” above and 3” left of the point of aim.
Unfortunately, the rear sight was already fully adjusted to the bottom and right. Unless I can find a higher front sight I can't do much about elevation, but after returning home I tapped the front sight a bit to the left to adjust the windage. I personally wouldn't use an iron-sighted gun on game beyond 100 yards, and preferably inside 50 yards, so if I can compensate for elevation in the field (perhaps by holding the top of the bead at the horizontal diameter of the aperture instead of centering the bead in it), this degree of accuracy is entirely adequate for antelope and deer-sized animals within those self-imposed limits.
Since Johnson specialized in sporterizing military surplus bolt action rifles, I'm now wondering how many non-military rifles passed through his custom shop. More specifically, I wonder how many Mannlicher-Schoenauers, and in particular M.1908s, he modified. Given that non-military rifles were not his specialty, that his was likely a small shop with limited capacity, that he had a rather short career as a custom gunsmith, and that modifying the Mannlicher-Schoenauer action is more difficult than most, there's a reasonable possibility that my rifle is unique or at least one of very few M.1908s to carry the “Johnson Automatics” mark.
The Mystery Mannlicher's provenance has been tentatively established, the investigation was a lot of fun, and I have a beautiful rifle linked to a famous figure in American firearms history in a very useful and versatile chambering to own and shoot. What could be better?
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(My thanks to MCA members Robert Blank, Tom Tompkins, and Don Henry for their guidance in my research. If any reader has further information about Melvin Johnson's custom shop and any other known Johnson Automatics-modified