Mark Dinsmore loves his Johnson – his M1941 Johnson rifle, that is.

“Personally, I think the Johnson probably should have been adopted by the military, or at least served side by side with the M1 Garand," Dinsmore said. "Nothing against M1 Garands, but I like this one better.”

He had two of his Johnson rifles at the 20th anniversary Big Sandy Shoot in northern Arizona recently and was good enough to share his thoughts about them.

“Not a lot of people know about this rifle, and those who do kind of treasure it quite highly. There’s not nearly as many of them available, and the prices are climbing on them every year,” he said.

Both the Johnson and M1 Garand were designed to replace the 1903 Springfield bolt-action rifle used in World War I. It was clear after WWI that a semi-automatic rifle had a huge advantage.
 

Related: 1941 Johnson Rifle – An Unsung Hero of World War II
 

Both the M1 Garand and the Johnson were chambered in .30-06 Springfield. While the Garand fed off of an eight-round internal box magazine, the Johnson had a 10-round rotary magazine that was loaded with 1903 stripper clips.
 

As many of us know, the M1 Garand went on to be adopted by the U.S. Army in 1936. It remains an almost legendary rifle that is still highly respected. Approximately 5,468,772 were made, making it quite a common firearm even today.
 

The M1941 Johnson rifle was proposed to the U.S. Army in 1940 not to replace the Garand, but to serve alongside it. Although it was never officially adopted, it was still produced for a number of militaries around the world and was even used by the U.S. Marines.
 

Related: Two Guys One Gun Podcast, Episode 25 – The 1941 Johnson Rifle
 

“From everything I’ve read and researched about them, a lot of the Marines that were lucky enough to have one of these wrote letters to Melvin Johnson about the rifle requesting more,” said Dinsmore.

Approximately 21,988 M1941 Johnson rifles were produced, making them quite rare. They're worth a pretty penny today, although Johnson himself never made much money off of his design. After the war, an outfit called Winfield bought Johnson’s design and offered it to hunters. As we all know, the .30-06 is an incredibly popular North American hunting round.
 

“They offered a military version, and then they offered about three designs of the hunting rifle,” said Dinsmore. The wood stock was changed to have a cheek weld and more of a hunting aesthetic. The front sight was changed as well, but otherwise, the rifle remained largely the same.

“You’d think that these would be a lot more common than they are," Dinsmore said. "But they’re really not."

The rifles do turn up at gun shows (and in places like the Guns.com warehouse, for example). Value climbs every year for both the military and civilian versions, running anywhere from $5,000 to $14,000, explained Dinsmore.