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LOCK STOCK and

BARREL

k'Ft*:
By STUART D. LUDLUM

Photo by the author

"THE OLD SWEDE" IS LIVING PROOF

THAT CRAFTSMANSHIP CAN HOLD ITS
OWN IN A WORLD OF MACHINES . .

a small upstairs shop in New Haven, three riflesmiths are making

twelve rifles. This news item would have drawn little enough attention
a hundred years ago, when Connecticut arms 'makers were already developing
production line methods using interchangeable parts. Precision manufac
turing is a well-established practice these days and, low stocks of available
arms to the contrary, mass production is also fairly widespread in the arms
industry. Why should three men making twelve rifles cause a stir in the
shooting world?
These are the reasons: One of the men is Eric Johnson, the barrelmaker.
Another is Ray Morgan, a painstaking arms mechanic who has developed
an interesting new bolt action with something unusual in trigger mechanisms.
The third is John Crowley, stockmaker, who is also one of the top small-bore
shooters in the East. Being a rifleman, Crowley knows the problems in holding
a rifle which face the fat and thin, long and chunky, when they squirm into
position on the firing line. Thats a real asset in a stockmaker. But the stir
these three men are causing stems from that precision-made action of Ray
Morgans. Morgan discarded his first five pilot models, all good but con
taining bugs which Ray feels certain he has eliminated in number six.
The one known quantity in this three-man riflemaking team is Eric
Johnson, barrelmaker. For well over a quarter century his straight-shooting

MARCH, NINETEEN FORTY-SEVEN

rifled tubes have been building

name is, he lives in Maine
his reputation. Therefore, an
he came over to this cot
appraisal of this newcomer on
and got a job in a gunsh<
the small-bore firing line should
Worcester,
Massachust
start with a look at Eric John
That was in 1903.
son.
Of course. Carlson t
Some years ago at a dinner,
Eric and, of course,
Mrs. Leland Stanford had asked
wouldnt be happy until
to be seated next to President
too, crossed the Atlantic, v
Lowell of Harvard, so that she
he did six months later,
could discuss a project she had
city of Worcester was jus
in mind, a new university for
coming accustomed to the
the West Coast. They dis
1904 when Eric got a jc
cussed buildings, faculties, edu
the same gunshop, fyrberj
cational standards, everything,
Son. His first assignments
and the lady modestly explained
drilling and milling, opera
that if she went ahead with
which he performed to the
the idea, money would be no
of his ability but with his 1
object. Then she asked, "Presi
definitely in the barrel dej
dent Lowell, just what would
ment . . . even in those
it take to create a Harvard on
tant days.
the West Coast?
Sears Roebuck purchase;
Without hesitating, Lowell
business the following
answered,
"Three
hundred
moved it to Meriden, Conn
years.
cut, and changed the nan
Eric Johnson is frequently
the Meriden Firearms C
asked, what it takes to make
pany, and started to make i
rifle barrels of razoredge ac
pump shotguns, and other r
curacy. Usually, Eric looks
order arms. Meanwhile,
around his thirty-five- by
did a little moving on his
forty-five-foot shop, glances at
hookaway from the mi
his steel blanks, his rifling ma Eric Johnson brings a wealth of practical knowledge, gained at the lathe and drilling machines,
chine, his straightening jack, since 1904, to the manufacture of his six-groove, sixteen-inch twist barrels
though they didnt realiz
and tries to come up with an
many a mail-order buye
answer that will satisfy the curious one. Sometimes he glances forty years ago was buying a Johnson barrel, and probably
back over his sixty years and gives the true answerforty-three ing less for a rack of good farm arms than he pays today foi
years of specializing.
of Erics small-bore barrels.
"Thats all well and good, Eric, but whats the trickthe
"So thats where you learned your accuracy tricks? 'N
magic touchthat makes your .22 caliber small-bore barrels did you say they were again?
Eric admits freely that even in the early days when h<
so hot?
an
idea he would experiment, and keep on experimenting
Hes heard the question all right. His eyes sparkle a bit and
he answers by taking you back to Sweden at the turn of the he filed the idea as unworkable or discovered one more b
century. All his wanderings have not washed the accent out practical barrel knowledge. The practical, workable know
accumulated, and by 1907 Eric was assistant foreman o
of his words.
"As a kid in Sweden [ shot goodtargets as well as game barrel department. A year later, he was foreman.
For the next eight years Eric made barrels for shotguns,
and I was building a name for myself in Orebro. Thats twelve
handguns.
He made tight chambers, loose chambers,
miles from Stockholm. Then a pal of mineCarlson his
bores, loose bores, deep grooves, and shallow ones. He st
bedding, barrel bands, floating barrels. From the comm
point of view, he was turning out good production bt
From the specialists point of view, he was acquiring inval
experience; he was learning.
In 1915 the New England Westinghouse Company b<
out his employer and retooled to produce 900,000 Russian
rifles. Without changing his job, Eric was now handed a
mine of experience on bolt actions. When the Russians fi
Colt bought the business and Eric turned to making barre
Browning automatic shoulder rifles. The 1918 Armistic
an end to the demand for these rifles, and Eric was give
job of liquidating the machinery, most of which he sc
In 1929 Eric Johnson won the notional title with one of his own barrels.
secondhand dealers. He still shakes his head as he recal
At sixty, he still ranks as one of the nation's top small bore marksmen

THE AMERICAN RIFLE

trouble he had sending the 117-ton steam engine, which pro

went at it with the determination and painstaking, care-forevery-detail attention it takes to win important matches. Never
vided the power for the business, to a sawmill in Oregon.
When Eric completed the job of dismantling and selling the theless, he did hold and squeeze with enough care during the
machinery, he returned to Colt and set to work on the first winter of 1926 to win the National Gallery Championship.
1.500 unit production order for Thompson submachine guns. And the Quinnipiac competition stimulated him to win the
Here was a new kind of weapon, a new barrel problem. Little National Small Bore Championship in 1929. He almost repeated
z y little he was accumulating practical experience in the making in 1930, when he finished as runner-up.
of barrels and in the solving of barrel problems.
My trouble is, he will tell you, "I think of shooting as play.
In May, 1923, Frank Hoffman called Eric on the phone and I do my careful shooting work at the bench, making guns
asked him to meet
shoot, and when I get out on the range,
rim in a Hartford
I get too careless. Then if his sharp eyes
hotel the next day.
detect that this last statement is sinking
Eric knew some
too deeply into your estimate of him as
thing was up. Just
a shooter, he will add quickly, But Ive
what, he was not
been right up there with the best of them
.suite sure. He
for years. Still am. And Im sixty this
awaited the date
year.
with mixed emo
Eric is not bragging, either. Last win
tions; anticipation The new rifle is designed around Ray Morgan's precision action, plus Eric's ter he hastily pulled together a team in
for something new famous barrel-making skill and Crowley's knowledge of custom stock design
New Haven and won the Metropolitan
and
misgivings,
four-man team match, probably the
too, for he had been in this country nineteen years, had worked toughest four-man indoor team event in the country. The
for four employers without changing his job. As one company range is 100 yards indoors, and the hot-shots journey hundreds
after another bought out the business, Eric went along as a part of miles to see what they can do without the wind to pester
of the machinery and good will. What would he do if Hoffman them.
offered him a job? That was a question he might have to face.
When you look at match bulletins these days, you not only
The next day he did face it. Hoffman was going to open continue to see Erics name up near the top, but youre apt to
a custom gunshop in Cleveland; was Eric interested?
Ifso,
see Carl Johnson even a little higher up the ladder. Carl
how much did he want?
Eric was interesteditoffered a
is Erics seventeen-year-old son, and one of only five shooters
chance to see more of America, he now saysand Hoffman to score 400 in the scope Dewar at Sea Girt last summer when
okayed the price. Your pay starts tomorrow. Report in a tricky conditions were bouncing shooters with many more
couple of weeks. Ive got to find the shop now.
years experience not only out of the ten-ring but into the white.
Before long Eric was buying instead of selling machinery,
During the war, Erics experience and ability were used in
which he helped to set up at the East 27th Street
Photographs by H. R. Schultz
shop in Cleveland. Although Eric could work with
wood and has made stocks, he really doesnt care for
it, and would rather turn the job over to a good
woodworker and get back to his barrels. Thats what
Hoffman let him do. For two and a half years in
Cleveland he made custom-built barrels for custombuilt Hoffman arms. Were they any good? The
sportsmen who paid custom-built prices seemed to
think so, especially one group of shooting Oklahoma
oil men who called at the shop one day and were so
impressed they offered to move the whole works to
Oklahomalocks, stocks, Johnson barrels, machin
ery, workmen, and everything.
A shop was awaiting the machinery, homes were
awaiting the workers, and money was waiting to buy
the custom rifles. According to Eric, they turned
out some excellent arms and the business began to
rrosper, so much so that high-salaried people began
to appear on the pay roll in nonproductive jobs. It
wasnt working out, and early in 1928 Eric left the
oil country to return to Connecticut, where he went
to work for Winchester as a barrel-straightening Johnson, Morgan, and Crowley compare notes on their respective portions of the new rifle
specialist. Once again he was storing up experience.
the making of carbines. But when the need for military arms
He married Lilly Grulich of Meriden, settled down to do
ended,
he wasted no time in getting back to his rifling machine.
mestic life, and did his shooting with the famous Quinnipiac
It didnt take long for the ardent small-bore fans to find him,
Club at Winchester.
Eric had always been interested in shooting, though he seldom and his shop is heavy with unopened (Continued on page 18)
MARCH, NINETEEN . FORTY-SEVEN

naerec pacing oz rac rraca^c csn pocgsrta^ recc&i. Mere is

ah

mother reason for a heavy rifle.

In conclusion, I doubt if my work over the year has proved
anything not known to experimenters, but it did make me a
convert to certain principles and no amount of talk could weaken

guarantee.

Lock Stock and Barrel

El

(Continued, from page 9)

if
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boxes of rifles and actions awaiting barrels. Hes turning out

as many as he can without taking too much time from his new
interestthe Morgan-Johnson small-bore rifle.
The Morgan-Johnson should really be called a custom-made
rifle because Eric will make any size or shape barrel you want.
His standard sizes will be three. Number one is the same as the
Winchester heavy barrelone. inch at the breech and seveneighths at the muzzle . . . number two, lYu; by 15/lq
number three, ll/& by 1. Number two is the most popular, but
you can specify what you want when you order your MorganJohnson. Eric suggests a twenty-nine-inch length, but thats
up to the shooter, too.
You can also specify stock dimensions, to a certain extent.
But dont put your order in the mail today. Eric and Ray just
arent accepting orders. They are making twelve rifles right
now. They hope to have them finished by the time the out
door season gets started, but theyre making no promises. Whats
more, they dont know how much the Morgan-Johnson will
cost; probably more than twice as much as the finest small-bore
rifles now on the market.

18
J

50ETW i

This Varminter certainly maintains a constant center of

impact. It has all the accuracy I can use. Further improvement
will have to be in the rifleman, not the rifle.

Whether or not shooters will take to the Morgan-Johnson
depends mostly on Ray Morgans action. Rays background
includes toolroom work, production engineering and plant
managing at High Standard as well as gun work in Freeland,
Pennsylvania. He has made an action that he thinks is superior
to others because of the precision with which it is built. Every
piece is milled out of fine steel, even the trigger guard, to pre
vent trigger vibration. He has placed two lugs in the center
of the bolt, looking at it lengthwise, to insure a tighter lock,
and constant, uniform headspace. And he believes that this
bolt, when closed, will hold the rifle more rigid than most
actions. The action will be flat on the bottom for better
bedding. The wide two-piece trigger has a clean, crisp feel,
and it is adjustable on the firing line.
Ray and Eric have not rushed into production with some thing they are not sure of. But only time will tell whether
or not their Morgan-Johnson rifle will live up to their expecta
tions. The first model has done some sharp shooting in com
petition, and the Morgan-Johnson shop is beginning to get
itself papered with some interesting all-X groups. But one
gun never made an industry. This summers matches will
settle the fate of those twelve rifles, and of how many more
will be made.
& & &
THE AMERICAN RIFLEMAN