Chris Johnson shows off an M1903 rifle at his home, where he operates gun repair ﬁrm His Arms LLC. The business’s location was approved last month by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. (Jonathan Hunley for The Washington Post)

Chris Johnson is a historic preservationist. But he doesn’t toil in old buildings or frequent archaeological digs. Johnson’s passion is working on guns from the past.

He has a particular interest in the M1 Garand, the main U.S. military rifle used in World War II and the Korean War. And he’s turning his hobby into a home-based business after getting permission last month to do so from the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

Johnson is employed by a government contractor, but he also was in the Army, so he’s been around firearms for much of his life. He also likes to know how things work. In junior high school, when he bought his first gun, he completely dismantled and reassembled it.

“I’m mechanically inclined,” he said.

Now he is pairing that trait with skills he’s learned over the years to tinker with other people’s guns. Johnson’s new business, His Arms LLC, focuses on refurbishing and repairing firearms.

Customers send their guns to Johnson’s Bristow home, where he works on them and then ships them back. Patrons also can drop off and pick up their guns at Johnson’s residence in the Braemar subdivision.

Typical requests might include replacing or refinishing the wood on a rifle, or making a minor repair. What he charges varies based on the work, but a job typically runs $50 or higher, Johnson said.

“I want to offer personalized service,” he said.

Some tasks he isn’t able to do, such as refinishing the metal on a gun, or selling or manufacturing ammunition. But he’s prepared for most customer orders, and government officials have signed off on the business, saying it’s safe to have such a gunsmithing operation in a neighborhood.

The Braemar community association’s board of directors approved the home-based company. Johnson obtained a federal firearms license for the business, and Prince William Supervisor Jeanine M. Lawson (R-Brentsville), who represents the area where Johnson has lived since 1998, said it was easy to grant a county permit for the venture.

“How do you fault a guy who just likes to work on World War II guns?” Lawson said.

Tom Dean, who works with Johnson at the contracting firm, also praised his colleague’s firearms endeavors. Dean, who has had Johnson refurbish a pistol and two rifles, said he usually wouldn’t allow anyone to touch his guns.

Johnson, however, is meticulous about his craft, Dean said.

“I think quite highly of him,” said Dean, who lives in Spotsylvania County.

Working on guns is like working on cars, in that some customers want to see their property restored with all original parts, and others desire modifications from the initial configuration.

Johnson, however, anticipates that most of His Arms’ work will be preserving M1 Garands .

Army Gen. George S. Patton once called the M1 the “greatest battle implement ever devised,” and Johnson noted that the military legend saw the semiautomatic weapon as an advantage for American troops.

“He really believed that helped the U.S. win World War II,” he said.

Mass production of the M1 Garand began in 1937, according to the Garand Collectors Association, and it became obsolete two decades later.

But it continued to be used around the world through the Vietnam era, according to the website for the Missouri-based organization. The rifle was named for its Canadian-born designer, John Garand.