Quoting Frank de Hass in his book, Bolt Action Rifles, 1st Edition 1971, pages 60-61, comments:
"I have gone to some length describing the MAS Model 36 rifle and action because I think this action is most interesting and unusual. To be sure, this has some faults, but it also has some excellent features worthy of comment and consideration.
It appears to be a very strong action. The two locking lugs are solid and massive. There is a lot of metal in the receiver bridge to support the lugs when the bolt is locked and there is no chance that the supporting shoulders will fail. Though the left side of the receiver has a thumb notch, there is ample metal connecting the receiver bridge and ring. The receiver is strengthened further by the ridge of metal along each side and by the heavy walled internal magazine.There is little chance in the receiver parting in the middle even though the locking lugs are at the rear of the bolt. I cannot see how the receiver could "stretch" and the very heavy bolt is certainly not going to compress when firing the rifle.....
The MAS design also results in a shorter bolt travel, and this may aid in speed of operation. An important result of the design is that the cartridges do not span any gap between the magazine and chamber, the resultant feeding being more positive and reliable.
I believe the MAS 36 is also a very safe action because the front of the bolt is surrounded by a solid ring of steel when the bolt is locked, the bolt face nearly contacts the barrel, and the rim of the cartridge is almost fully enclosed; the rear of the bolt is entiely closed so that gases can't escape. The bolt of the MAS is relatively short and the long receiver bridge considerable support, resulting in little "play" or looseness of the bolt when the action is open. On the few rifles I have examined and handled, bolt operation is easy and smooth. I noticed too, that the actions were generally very well made and finished. I especially like the extractor of this action. It is simple and strong - modern designers of turn bolt actions might do well to copy it. I certainly would consider it better than some of the puny modern rifle extractors like those of the Remington M700 and Weatherby actions.
I found the magazine box to be a marvel the way it will accept and feed a wide variety of cartridges. It will only handle cartridges about 3.0" in over-all length, but many cartridges fall within these limits. for example, it will feed perfectly such cartridges as the .22-250, .250-3000, .243,6mm. .257 Roberts, 7mm, .284, .308, .35 Remington, and .358. If loaded carefully, it could also handle the .225 and .220 Swift cartridges. Cartridges with larger rims that would also function are the .219 Zipper, .25-35,.30-30,.30-40 and .303 British. If this isn't enough, I also found that the magazine will take fatter rimmed cartridges like the .444 Marlin and .45-70, though the cartridge lips at the front half of the magazine well must be widened a bit. I belive it would also handle short wildcat cartridges based on the belted magnum case.....
The MAS M36 is an astonishingly simple action with a minimum of parts - fewer than any other high powered turn bolt repeater of which I'm aware. For example, this action has 12 less component parts than the M98 Mauser, which has fewer parts than the 03 Springfield. The entire M36 bolt assembly consist of just five parts; bolt, extractor, firing pin, mainspring and bolt button. An action that has fewer parts is not always an indication it is good, but like any piece of machinery, fewer parts lessen the chance of break-down."
This was part of a longer post on another board, which I trimmed a bit. de Hass obviously believes this action to be sufficiently strong for .308. Personally I'd like one in .45-70 or .458 American, but haven't had the time to pursue it. Sorry for the novel, but it seemed like it needed posting.
