I think that Johnson 1941s were for sale as sporters for longer than just 2-3 years. How many sold I have no idea, but I remember seeing them for sale for much of my mis-spent youth in the 1ate '40s and '50s. They may have been sold by other distributors after Johnson gave up the ghost; all I remember is the many ads in gun magazines of the times.
A friend has one of those "sporters," and it is a crude job of sporterizing; neither "fine" nor "custom." More like Bubba with a spec sheet and a ruler by his hacksaw. I read somewhere that many of the "sporters" (the 1941s, not the Mausers) were made from the spare parts left over from the pre-WWII Dutch East Indies military contract. They bring high prices from military collectors now and there is at least one firm that specializes in "re-militarizing" them.
I've also seen several of the Mauser sporters with Johnson Automatics-marked barrels. Both were the plainer model than the one Ryan points out; both were .270s, if I remember correctly. Comparable to the conversions Kimber once did on Swedish M38s; very useful hunting guns, not fine nor truly custom. Would NOT kick one out of my safe....but more appropriate in a truck. (Jerry's evaluation is spot on). Stocks on the plain ones did look like the old Bishop "DIY" specials.
Some very interesting guns emanated from the brain of MMJ. But nothing truly beautiful or classy that I ever saw. "Automatics" kinda says it all about the guns associated with him, even the Mausers have a kind of factory-like uniformity about them.
