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Is a French Mas any good??

sodbustersodbuster Member Posts: 2,305 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited February 2004 in General Discussion
Feller down at the local gunshop traded for it and I thought it looked pretty cool. It has been changed to 762/51 caliber. It looks like the receiver originally was stamped 7.5 but it was stamped over. It's built like a brick outhouse. It is in extremely good condition and has a bayonet (removes) and some sort of retractable grenade launcher. The mags are pretty interesting, sorta have a built in clothespin to lock it in place. It has an adjustable ramp rear site and looks to be a shorter 'carbine' style rifle.

Are these good shooters??? Are they worth 'several hundred' like he sorta priced it to me?

,,,sod



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Comments

  • Rebel_JamesRebel_James Member Posts: 4,746
    edited November -1
    Is that one of those WW2 French rifles? Never fired, dropped once?



    "If they won't give us good terms, come back and we'll fight it out."
    -- Gen. James Longstreet
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  • ElMuertoMonkeyElMuertoMonkey Member Posts: 12,898
    edited November -1
    SaxonPig,

    So's the Statue of Liberty, so give it a rest why don'tcha?


    Sodbuster,

    To answer your question, I've heard that the MAS 49/56 is a good reliable gun but that the .308 conversions have some issues.

    If you want to get one, I'd recommend sticking with the original 7.5mm versions.
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  • royc38royc38 Member Posts: 2,235 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    you are describing a mas 49/56. I have to admit a couple of years ago I bought one. My advice to you is to back away from it slowly and when you get about twelve feet away run as fast as you can from it and never look back. Its french and it has inept written all over it.[V][V]
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  • ElMuertoMonkeyElMuertoMonkey Member Posts: 12,898
    edited November -1
    Actually, the Statue of Liberty's iconography is Classical Greek. It was modeled after the Colossus of Rhodes. The torch and rays of light emanating from her brow were taken from the myth of Prometheus.

    So much for 100% American iconography. EENT! Try again.

    And the FAMAS has a solid track record. It doesn't jam half as often as the M16 and keeps together better than the L85. It functioned flawlessly in Iraq during Desert Storm and in the Ivory Coast. Not bad for a bunch of guys who supposedly can't design a decent gun.
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  • robomanroboman Member Posts: 6,436
    edited November -1
    Ooooooo shutdown! ElMuertoMonkey says NO to Saxon. [:D][:D][:D][:D][:I][:o)][8)]
    signew.JPG

    "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long..."

    alf.gif
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  • interstatepawnllcinterstatepawnllc Member Posts: 9,390
    edited November -1
    Larry, I owned one a few years back and it was problematic. I have known others who have had the same experience. Dont go there.


    JC

    Ted Kennedy's breath has killed more people than my car.
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  • tr foxtr fox Member Posts: 13,856
    edited November -1
    JMHO, but if it's French, it won't be there when you need it the most.

    Quote "When guns were invented everything changed. For the first time in the history of the world a frail woman had a chance to sucessfully defend herself and home. My dream is that one of the anti-gun nuts will need a gun for defense and be unable to have one because of their own actions."
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  • ElMuertoMonkeyElMuertoMonkey Member Posts: 12,898
    edited November -1
    Trfox,

    Now THAT was a clever response![:D][:D][:D][:D]
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  • 358 WINCHESTER358 WINCHESTER Member Posts: 1,799 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Had one nothing but trouble took it back to the shop several times then traded it for a steak dinner. now the local surplus dealer doesn't even like to see them nor will he carry them in stock. The last owner of this one spent around 300 to get it to feed and shoot.
    Heard last week they he wanted to get rid of it more problems. STAY AWAY FROM THE MAS 49/56.
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  • tr foxtr fox Member Posts: 13,856
    edited November -1
    elMuertomonkey: why thank you, thank you very much. I wasn't sure at first but yeah, thanks.

    Quote "When guns were invented everything changed. For the first time in the history of the world a frail woman had a chance to sucessfully defend herself and home. My dream is that one of the anti-gun nuts will need a gun for defense and be unable to have one because of their own actions."
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  • REBJrREBJr Member Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Shouldnot be too bad as long as the BBl didn't get bent when it was dropped[}:)]
    -Ralph

    In the demonstable absence of evolutionary perfection, if some calamity is not to occur, we shall have to learn to live with ourselves as we are. Fast. -Tattersall
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  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would definitely stay away from the .308 converted guns. I would also stay away from using Portugese 7.5 ammo for semi-auto, because of the failure to extract/eject problems cited above. Other than that, I found both my MAS 49 and 49/56 to be well-made, reliable, accurate, interesting shooters at a bargain price.
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    sod, I've never had one, never shot one, but the few articles / opinions I've seen were universally negative on the converted firearms. I've seen *some* positive comments about ones still chambered for the 7.5 round, but the only (or about the only - Perhaps Norma made or makes some, but that would be it) ammo available is french milsurp and it's in short supply because they only loaded enough for surrender ceremonies (and, no, EMM, I won't give that a rest - EVER StickOutTongue.gif). Seriously, the MAS round is hard to find in shooting quantities and typically costs at least as much as commercial ammo in conventional calibers. So you have the choice between a possibly decent weapon in its original configuration but hard to find, expensive, ammo, or the converted version which is almost universally denigrated. If I were to spend "several hundred" on a milsurp rifle from the mid-Twentieth Century, I'd get a late model 6.5 Swedish Mauser or a Garand. Not as exotic, but certainly two of the best military rifles ever built. And not all scratched up from being dropped . . . . [}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)]

    "There is nothing lower than the human race - except the French." (Mark Twain)
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  • 0311marine0311marine Member Posts: 3,233
    edited November -1
    I HAVE A MAS 1936 IT WAS A WWII PICKUP I GOT IT FROM MY GRANDFATHER IT SHOOTS 7.5FRENCH AND ITS A OK GUN EXPECT IVE HAD TO TAKE THE BOLT IN TWICE FOR REPAIRS

    sspic.jpgPistol-01.gif
    SEMPER FI
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  • sodbustersodbuster Member Posts: 2,305 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You all made my day.... I sorta remember seeing a post on this rifle long ago and explanations of its unreliability. I am sure glad I asked!!!!!! Thanks Folks!!!!!! With funds as tight as they are now,,I will not purchase any firearm for a looker(wall hangar,door stop,conversation piece),,,s'got to be a shooter.

    ,,,Thankfully,,,sod[:)]



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  • dheffleydheffley Member Posts: 25,000 ✭
    edited November -1
    Besides having an emotional agreement with Saxon on the French as a whole, I will address the MAS on a mechanical issue. They are a fair to good quality manufacture with a fair to poor design. Not a bad gun, but not a good one either. They will do OK, but they are not the quality you would see in a Russian, American, or German design and built military gun.

    Just my two cents.

    PS, And as far as giving it a "rest", after all we have done for the French, and their attitude towards us, I see them as a low end enemy who helps our other true enemies. I will not "give it a rest". They need to do a gut check a see which side they line up on.[;)]

    How you doin'!wolf_evil_smile_md_wht.gif
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  • Contender ManContender Man Member Posts: 2,110 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Why did I jump into this ... I'm not having a good day to begin with.

    Heck, a fella asks a questions and the next thing you know his post is hijacked by a squabble over the merits of the French. Sheesh!

    Yes this is general discussion, but hey fellas ... within a post maybe stickin to the topic of the post would help, and we can do other posts about the French or other topics sure to provoke debate.

    OK now I did it, time to drop down into my foxhole as the shells come zoomin in[}:)]


    If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!
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  • D@DD@D Member Posts: 4,407
    edited November -1
    I have a MAS 36 it is a fun rifle to shoot like others stated stay away from the conversions they have problems with the saftys. As for ammo it is cheap I pay 9.00 dollars a box of 20 new production reloadalbe stuff.
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  • HangfireHangfire Member Posts: 3,010 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by DancesWithSheep
    I would definitely stay away from the .308 converted guns. I would also stay away from using Portugese 7.5 ammo for semi-auto, because of the failure to extract/eject problems cited above. Other than that, I found both my MAS 49 and 49/56 to be well-made, reliable, accurate, interesting shooters at a bargain price.


    Mr. Sheep brought out the same things I have found in the 49's.In their original caliber they are interesting and reliable.The problems come with converting to 308. The French Gov't made a successful conversion, but addressed the gas system as well as the correct rechambering to the new caliber. The problem guns are those that were quickie rechambers only by the importers.

    Love them Pre-64's!!!!-Bob
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  • .280 freak.280 freak Member Posts: 1,942 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Don't know a thing about the French Mas, ...............










    ..........but the Spanish Mas is "more".


    (That's a "two-fer" if ya think about it just a couple of seconds!) [:D]
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  • RocklobsterRocklobster Member Posts: 7,060 ✭
    edited November -1
    The MAS 49/56 can be made into a decent rifle, if you want to. Interestingly, the direct gas impingement system of the MAS, created by Mr Rossignol, was stolen by Eugene Stoner. Know why the AR15 has so many gas-related problems now?

    When Century imported the rifles, they did a quick job of re-chambering them to 7.62 x 51mm. The chambers are rough, but this is not the major problem. The 7.5 x 54mm French round creates 40,000 CUP of pressure, whereas the NATO round generates 52,000 CUP. The converted rifles have a tendency to rip the rims off the cases instead of extracting them. The flip-up grenade launcher sight also acts as a gas-pressure valve lever- when it's up, the rifle becomes a bolt-action single shot. A guy named Bill Toth at Design Systems Technologies has invented a good gas system adjustment setup for the rifle, making it into a fairly reliable gun, especially after the chamber is polished.
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  • TRAP55TRAP55 Member Posts: 8,292 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Only gun i ever gave away, and to someone i didn't like![:D]
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