The French MAS-36 rifle

[Slater]

I bought one of these about 10 years ago as a curiosity (Big 5 had them for $65 at the time). Later sold it without ever shooting it. My impression was that it was a solidly built weapon, but really butt ugly. Appeared to well made, with a really nice Parkerizing job on the metal.

A couple friends who have owned these rifles have commented favorably on their accuracy. The ammo (7.5mm) isn't exactly common, though.

My understanding is that this was the last bolt-action battle rifle to be adopted by a major army. Anyone have any pro/con experiences with it? A local seller has one with 400 rounds of ammo and I'm tempted to give it a go (again).

[rojocorsa]

Other than briefly touching one of these once, I don't have any real experience with them. That being said, I found this to be a decent video about them:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZaVKAuff54



PS, I've seen 7.5x54 French available for sale online with sites that sell a lot of the PPU centerfire stuff.

[gunguy98]

I bought one of these about 10 years ago as a curiosity (Big 5 had them for $65 at the time). Later sold it without ever shooting it. My impression was that it was a solidly built weapon, but really butt ugly. Appeared to well made, with a really nice Parkerizing job on the metal.

A couple friends who have owned these rifles have commented favorably on their accuracy. The ammo (7.5mm) isn't exactly common, though.

My understanding is that this was the last bolt-action battle rifle to be adopted by a major army. Anyone have any pro/con experiences with it? A local seller has one with 400 rounds of ammo and I'm tempted to give it a go (again).


They're nice rifles, I've owned a few over the years. The best ones are the pre-war ones in my opinion, the 1970's refurbs are good too but you need to break them in because they parked everything and it makes the bolt hard to operate.
I'd stay away from the .308 converted ones made for the US market, real POS...rough chambers, missing recoil plates causing cracked stocks....7.5 french can be had by privi, surplus shows up from time to time and reloading isn't all that diffucult for them.
All in all, a nice little carbine.

[SpinRC]

I know a guy who shoots one at camp perry in the vintage military rifle class. He has won silver and bronze medals with it several times, I think he even won a gold. They can be very accurate if you take the time to find a reload they like.

[Arik]

I used to own a MAS49/56. Semi auto, 7.5 French. Was a nice rifle! Never failed me once, accurate and seemed to be very reliable (never had the chance to drag it through the mud) and they were battle proven. Traded it for a Ruger M77 3006 bolt gun cause it was a lefty and lefty bolt guns are hard to find. It still sits in the gun shop I traded it in. Kinda wish I kept it and just slowly stocked up on ammo.