French MAS semi-auto
- Thread starter tshadow6
- Start date
m.p.driver
New member
Havent seen one at the shows in a couple of years.Almost didnt buy mine for $148 because a friend was trying to stear me clear, because he had heard bad on them.It seems that Century was trying to go cheap on the chamber reamers that they used after shortening the barrel to change it to .308.Used them to the point that the chamber got sloppy and while shooting you would have extraction problems.So it was a coin toss on what you got,early in the run great,late in the run bad.I must have got a early one because it's always been a great shooter,shoulders perfect,nice on recoil.I wish i had bought two.
rickomatic
New member
If anyone has one and is having the chamber problem, there was a write up in one of the G&A Surplus Firearms issues a couple years ago about how to remedy it. I think Gary James was the author. Seemed like a pretty good fix.
Mike Irwin
Staff
Highly underrated, but highly OVER UGLY. 
I've fired several, both in 7.5 and in .308. The ones in 7.5 were reliable and accurate, the ones in .308 not so much so. A lot depends on how the caliber conversion was done, and a lot have been done badly.
I've fired several, both in 7.5 and in .308. The ones in 7.5 were reliable and accurate, the ones in .308 not so much so. A lot depends on how the caliber conversion was done, and a lot have been done badly.
Uberugly, almost to the point of cool, well almost. I had the 7.5, accurate, good shooting gun until the slam firing started. I hear this is somewhat common in them and can be solved by a new, non-military, firing pin or grinding the military pin down. DIdn't want to do that and traded it for a really nice old Vaquero in .44.
I have a Mle. 1944. IIRC the first was the Mle. 1940. Apparently the French kept working on that rifle right through WWII. Those were an early example, along with the Swedish Ljungmann AG42, of operation by direct gas impingement. Like the Swedish rifle, the spent gas is exhausted into the air. Stoner took the idea, but vented the gas through the bolt carrier, not as good a system.
Jim
Jim
The 7.5 French version is a nice rifle. I'm not selling mine. The design was ahead of its time. Not the designers' fault that they were required to use the old two piece surplus stocks from the previous bolt action service rifle!
I've never had a slam fire but I went out of my way to buy the CCI military primers. They have a harder cup.
IMO, the rifle's utility is kind of "in between" the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine. That's the way I keep them in my rifle rack. The Garand is better for very long range. But it is longer and heavier. The Carbine is lighter and handier than the other two. But much less capable than the 49/56. I think the MAS 49/56 would have been a fine choice in its day. And it is still fun to shoot now. I keep threatening to take mine out in the woods and shoot a deer with it but it hasn't happened so far.
Gregg
I've never had a slam fire but I went out of my way to buy the CCI military primers. They have a harder cup.
IMO, the rifle's utility is kind of "in between" the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine. That's the way I keep them in my rifle rack. The Garand is better for very long range. But it is longer and heavier. The Carbine is lighter and handier than the other two. But much less capable than the 49/56. I think the MAS 49/56 would have been a fine choice in its day. And it is still fun to shoot now. I keep threatening to take mine out in the woods and shoot a deer with it but it hasn't happened so far.
Gregg
Mine works perfectly except for after 50 rounds or so the extractor will fill up with brass and I cant use a cheap clip,.
But I love mine and would not sell it for anything (mostly because it was the first rifle my Dad Bought for Me to keep forever)
EDIT F.Y.i the thing at the end is a night sight not a launcher
But I love mine and would not sell it for anything (mostly because it was the first rifle my Dad Bought for Me to keep forever)
EDIT F.Y.i the thing at the end is a night sight not a launcher
Since it is a "308", chances are you are suffering from a poor conversion by the angry beavers at Century.
Generally speaking, the Century conversions are iffy at best. The rim of the 7.5x54 is larger than that on a 308 Win. Century did not bother to account for that fact. There are a couple of ways to fix the extractor. The best way would be to make an entirely new one to the correct dimensions. The more common way is to weld up the extractor and reshape it to the correct dimensions.