French MAS 49/56 Ammo-firing issue .308 converted

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dogdad911

Inactive
I Have a MAS 49/56 in a 308 conversion. I cleaned it to include the gas pipe. I shot about 10 rounds and it stop working. I pulled the trigger and nothing happened.I charged another round and nothing. I removed the mag and inserted 2 other ones. I pulled the charging handle all the way back and i field strip it and put it back together and nothing changed. I also used new ammo in it.

Any ideas on the cause of this issue and a fix?

Thanks
 
On the rounds that did not fire, are there any contact marks on the primers. You might have a worn firing pin, or someone may have "filed" to much off the tip. Some shooters had trouble with "slamfire", using civilian ammo with soft primers. The trick was to ever so lightly file back the tip of the firing pin. Maybe get a replacement firing pin and go from there. My rifle is all original, I shoot factory and my own reloads and have never experienced that problem.
 
I was thinking modified or broken firing-pin.
You might also want to confirm that it is actually chambered for .308/7.62 and not still in the original 7.5x54. A .308 probably won't headspace correctly if they marked the chamber as .308, but never actually modified it. That wouldn't really surprise me for Century.
 
"...308 converted..." A great deal depends on how that was done. The original ammo was the 7.5 x 54mm. (The only similarity between those is the bullet diameter and the similar ballistics.) The 7.5's case length is longer by 111 thou., so you can't just ream the chamber. If whoever converted it did so with a chamber insert like that used by the USN on their M1's, those tend to come out.
The .308's shoulder is larger in diameter than the 7.5's by 8.9 thou. If there was an insert that came out .308 ammo would not chamber.
However, chambering around(sounds like it did considering you fired 10 with no fuss. Can you still chamber a .308 and easily close the bolt?) and it not firing indicates the possibility of a broken firing pin.
This is all text only, but it's better than nothing.
http://www.texastradingpost.com/militaria/mas49manual.html
If it was 'converted' by Century Arms(you didn't say), they are notorious for not having any kind of QC whatsoever.
 
Hi,

Sorry, I meant when I said nothing happened. I pulled the trigger and did not feel or hear the hammer release or fall.

There is a slight indentation (mark) from the firing pin on each round that was not used. When I did fire my few rounds. There was NO misfire or slam fire. The pin looks to be intact. The rounds went into the chamber and ejected perfectly.

I do not know who converted it. but it might be century arms.

I took the trigger pack apart and found the hammer and trigger spring both had broke in half.

I could not find any website that had either one for sale. But, I found one site that had the entire trigger pack + springs for sale. it sucks it was $75. Wish i Had come back here first. Could have saved me a lot of fuss.

Thank you for responding and your help.
 
The slight indentation on the primer, was caused by the free-floating firing pin on the MAS 49/56.

I had slam firing problems with my MAS 49/56 --- Especially while loading a single shot round into the chamber; using plastic German 308 Riot Control Ammo, that uses a 10 grain plastic bullet. If you do use it as a single shot...ease the bolt forward while chambering a round.

You should only use mil spec hard primers (Wolf, Tula or other mil spec ammo) for the 49/56 --- Though I solved the slam firing problem, buy purchasing a $80 titanium firing pin for my MAS 49/56.

You can also solve the slam firing problem on the 49/56, by installing a click fountain pen spring on the firing pin shaft.
 
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"...hammer and trigger spring both had broke..." That'd do it.
You can have a whole 'nother(it's used), complete, trigger housing from Gunparts for $74.95. They show no other trigger group parts. It's listed under 'MAS" on their 'Manufacturers' page. That the same one you found? Might be the only game. Liberty Tree, Apex and Sarco have pretty much the same selection. Which isn't much either. Just a firing pin would have been easy. Geez.
Slam fires are caused by improperly loaded ammo, not the rifle.
 
I don't know if it's true, but I recall a poster once suggested that a Browning Model A5 shotgun mainspring might work as a [possibly stiffer] replacement.
I also spoke with a friend who worked at a spring manufacturing company.
He basically told me that he could probably replace any spring if he was able to personally evaluate its strength and spec's. in detail.
That is if a spring didn't simply need to be shortened or otherwise altered.
Although he did say that if a new spring was needed to fix a malfunction, it could require some trial & error in order to get it right, i.e.-to make it the right strength.
This involved a .308 MAS that had some cycling issues, but it could also pertain to any spring that was broken or needed replacement.
 
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