Talk:Johnston light machine gun

A Few Problems with this Article.
I wonder why Mr. Johnston (for it is he) would go to all the trouble of inventing a machine gun in the late 1930s and then call it the Model D1918. That wouldn't seem to be much of a U.S.P. Perhaps it's simply that it was designed in 1918 but photographed by the Ordnance Department in the late 1930s, say on July 21st, 1937. That would explain the confusion. It would also go a long way to explaining how Melvin Maynard Johnson Jr. could appear to be an inventor of machine guns at the age of nine, whereas it was actually James S. Johnston, who was filing patents for machine guns and the like as early as 1915.

A number of the references don't really seem to have very much to do with the subject, and there are no citations at all to support the assertion that the gun was designed in 1937 (even if it had been), merely conjecture. It's not even a widely circulating view. Hengistmate (talk) 18:09, 30 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I think you're right and it's not Melvin Johnson.  However I'm unfamiliar with James S. Johnston.  Patent searching to try and find this (I believe there's a patent on the cocking action) has shown nothing so far. The nearest would seem to be one Millard L. Johnston, who was granted a number of firearms patents around this time. Andy Dingley (talk) 11:21, 31 October 2014 (UTC)

Further investigation of sources. Not good.
Well, this article is a problem, and no mistake. I hardly know what to make of it.

James S. Johnston sounds like a remarkable man, and it would be interesting to find out more about him. But anyway, about the James S. Johnston who made this gun: It is known where he was born and lived, the family member with whom he went into business, where their offices were, why they had to move offices, and the name of the designer with whom they collaborated and who has a mountain named after him, but there is no WP:RS reliable secondary source. So that would be OR, just as the article as it stands is OR, SYNTH, or anything else that means "made up." We can't even claim that there is a widely circulating view on it. We have footnotes masquerading as references, and, in fact, the only reference offered in support of the claims made says, "We don’t have much information on this gun beyond what is in the photo captions," and "I don’t know much about this beyond the name," so we are in the most unusual position of finding that nothing in the article is actually supported by the only reference provided. I propose to edit the article so that it reflects what can be established from sources that meet Wikipedia's requirements. Incidentally, the caption to the photographs describes it as the D-1918, whereas the gun itself is stamped with the inscription Model D. 1918. That and the various patents indicate that it was the Model D of 1918. Would that mean that the article should be moved? If so, I'll do that. Hengistmate (talk) 13:27, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

The Johnston Machine gun
This gun was not made by James Johnston! Millard Johnston was the inventor and builder of this gun! My father was the grandson of Millard Johnston and his name was also Millard L. Johnston. I'm the only person living that knows anything about this one of a kind machine gun. I have pictures un with my father holding the gun I also have a complete print out of the operation and break down of the gun! My name is BRUCE L. JOHNSTON, my  E-mail address is    bucks97stang@yahoo.com. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.79.79.101 (talk) 15:36, 13 January 2017 (UTC)