MAS-49 Questions
- Thread starter B. Lahey
- Start date
LinuxHack3r
New member
LMAO
Gator Weiss
New member
Good rifle, but needs some attention sometimes
A friend scored one in West Texas in a garage sale of all places. Learned a few things about the rifle during that time. Shot it extensively and worked on it some. A number of shooters that come to understand these rifles really enjoy them. They quickly become "keepers" - one of the ones you dont part with because it is so handy to have on hand. The one we found was chambered .308 Winchester / 7.62x51 Nato. I think all or most of them we find in USA most probably are.
This is a very solid rifle. Almost as solid as an M14. Just almost. Certainly shorter and a little bit lighter. These are fairly good steel. Pretty good wood. Built solid. One of the best West Texas truck guns you are ever going to find. Good for coyote or deer. Probably has some other possibilities as well. 7.62 Nato (.308 Winch) is one of the greatest cartridges the world will ever see. It shoulders quickly, targets quickly and spits out some high powered rounds very quickly. Comfortable to shoot, and easy to keep on a target while firing the rifle. You wont be shooting "sniper" grade groups at 250 yards with it, but I think you will be happy with the groups you do get from it. It is accurate enough for iron-sight hunting.
Here is where some minor problems arise with this rifle. The chambers, when you find them, tend to have some striations in them, possibly left over from machine tools at the initial manufacturing. You have to send it to the gunsmith to have the chamber polished out and cleaned up. Some of them, the chambers I am told, are often found slightly undersized. I dont know why. Keep in mind it doesnt cost much to tune up one of these rifles. Cases stick in them like crazy, until you tune up the chamber and polish up the chamber mouth as well. Sometimes it takes a gunsmith to do this, because it is more than just scrubbing the chamber clean.
Once they are tuned up a little bit, they shoot well enough to hunt with or to plink with. Will feed milspec ammo very reliably, really kicks out the empties. Will feed remington factory loads just as well.
These are not the easiest guns to find lately. There seemed to more of them out there a few years ago. There were many from individuals who wanted to dump them because they didnt understand the rifle needed a only little bit of attention to make it a very reliable shooter.
If you can find one, keep it. Hang on to it. Plenty of 7.62x51 out there. If you had to have a moderately priced semi-auto rack-grade military rifle in a popular American military caliber, this is rifle will fit the need well enough.
A friend scored one in West Texas in a garage sale of all places. Learned a few things about the rifle during that time. Shot it extensively and worked on it some. A number of shooters that come to understand these rifles really enjoy them. They quickly become "keepers" - one of the ones you dont part with because it is so handy to have on hand. The one we found was chambered .308 Winchester / 7.62x51 Nato. I think all or most of them we find in USA most probably are.
This is a very solid rifle. Almost as solid as an M14. Just almost. Certainly shorter and a little bit lighter. These are fairly good steel. Pretty good wood. Built solid. One of the best West Texas truck guns you are ever going to find. Good for coyote or deer. Probably has some other possibilities as well. 7.62 Nato (.308 Winch) is one of the greatest cartridges the world will ever see. It shoulders quickly, targets quickly and spits out some high powered rounds very quickly. Comfortable to shoot, and easy to keep on a target while firing the rifle. You wont be shooting "sniper" grade groups at 250 yards with it, but I think you will be happy with the groups you do get from it. It is accurate enough for iron-sight hunting.
Here is where some minor problems arise with this rifle. The chambers, when you find them, tend to have some striations in them, possibly left over from machine tools at the initial manufacturing. You have to send it to the gunsmith to have the chamber polished out and cleaned up. Some of them, the chambers I am told, are often found slightly undersized. I dont know why. Keep in mind it doesnt cost much to tune up one of these rifles. Cases stick in them like crazy, until you tune up the chamber and polish up the chamber mouth as well. Sometimes it takes a gunsmith to do this, because it is more than just scrubbing the chamber clean.
Once they are tuned up a little bit, they shoot well enough to hunt with or to plink with. Will feed milspec ammo very reliably, really kicks out the empties. Will feed remington factory loads just as well.
These are not the easiest guns to find lately. There seemed to more of them out there a few years ago. There were many from individuals who wanted to dump them because they didnt understand the rifle needed a only little bit of attention to make it a very reliable shooter.
If you can find one, keep it. Hang on to it. Plenty of 7.62x51 out there. If you had to have a moderately priced semi-auto rack-grade military rifle in a popular American military caliber, this is rifle will fit the need well enough.
Gator,
I think all your chamber problems are from the Century stooges doing the conversion. Although I don't own one, if I found a good deal on an original 7.5 rifle like the OP did I'd prob be all over it. .308 is a great round but I think most conversions just weren't done with the most care. I agree they do have a great feel to them.
As far as the common chambering, most I've seen lately have been in 7.5, just out of my price range. As far as I know, barring some custom jobs, all the .308's were done by Century.
-J-
I think all your chamber problems are from the Century stooges doing the conversion. Although I don't own one, if I found a good deal on an original 7.5 rifle like the OP did I'd prob be all over it. .308 is a great round but I think most conversions just weren't done with the most care. I agree they do have a great feel to them.
As far as the common chambering, most I've seen lately have been in 7.5, just out of my price range. As far as I know, barring some custom jobs, all the .308's were done by Century.
-J-
Gator Weiss
New member
You have probably solved the riddle of the rifle.
Hey, you probably hit the nail on the head. Your information seems right on the mark. Thanks! I didnt know much about Century.
Hey, you probably hit the nail on the head. Your information seems right on the mark. Thanks! I didnt know much about Century.
Range Report #1
Took it out today for an informal function-fire.
Loaded one round and let the bolt go with great trepidation... Nothing. Whew, thank goodness.
Fired the round without incident. Mild recoil, and the hunk of snow that I had placed the front sight on exploded impressively. Ejection was stout, I saw a flash of brass up in the atmosphere as the casing took flight for parts unknown; it may have reached orbit.
Moved on to a few rounds in the mag, and those went smoothly as well, so I went ahead with full mags. No issues.
It's a sweet little rifle to shoot. I have not shot for groups yet, but the bits of snow I aimed at were certainly not safe. No slam fires, no doubles, no malfunctions, nothing but shooting enjoyment. I like the sights for destroying lumps of snow, but the front post may be a bit wide for fine target shooting. I dunno, we'll see once I get it to the range for a proper session.
I like this rifle a lot!
Took it out today for an informal function-fire.
Loaded one round and let the bolt go with great trepidation... Nothing. Whew, thank goodness.
Fired the round without incident. Mild recoil, and the hunk of snow that I had placed the front sight on exploded impressively. Ejection was stout, I saw a flash of brass up in the atmosphere as the casing took flight for parts unknown; it may have reached orbit.
Moved on to a few rounds in the mag, and those went smoothly as well, so I went ahead with full mags. No issues.
It's a sweet little rifle to shoot. I have not shot for groups yet, but the bits of snow I aimed at were certainly not safe. No slam fires, no doubles, no malfunctions, nothing but shooting enjoyment. I like the sights for destroying lumps of snow, but the front post may be a bit wide for fine target shooting. I dunno, we'll see once I get it to the range for a proper session.
I like this rifle a lot!
Wildalaska
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White Tiger
New member
B. Lahey - I appreciate the information you sought in this thread, I too stumbled accross this rifle quite by accident (while doing some research on DI) - my question is, now that you've had this rifle for a few months, are you still impressed?
White Tiger
New member
Ultimately decided on an SKS
B Lahey - I ultimately I figured out how much time I had, and decided it wasn't yet conducive to reloading for 7.5 French.
I decided A) The ammunition availability and the difficulty in finding proper brass, etc for reloading B) the extra weight of the rifle, C) Not to mention the cost of obtaining a MAS 49/56 was nearly $200 more than a SKS...I went with the SKS, for now.
I still have my eye on the MAS, and if I run across an original, chambered in 7.5 French, for anywhere near $200 to $300 - I'm going to buy it!
Until then, I'll be shooting Yugoslav surplus 7.62 x 39 through my unissued Yugoslav SKS...while looking for dummy-grenade launcher kits (...a more sophisticated potato gun)!
B Lahey - I ultimately I figured out how much time I had, and decided it wasn't yet conducive to reloading for 7.5 French.
I decided A) The ammunition availability and the difficulty in finding proper brass, etc for reloading B) the extra weight of the rifle, C) Not to mention the cost of obtaining a MAS 49/56 was nearly $200 more than a SKS...I went with the SKS, for now.
I still have my eye on the MAS, and if I run across an original, chambered in 7.5 French, for anywhere near $200 to $300 - I'm going to buy it!
Until then, I'll be shooting Yugoslav surplus 7.62 x 39 through my unissued Yugoslav SKS...while looking for dummy-grenade launcher kits (...a more sophisticated potato gun)!
White Tiger
New member
MAS 49 AND the SKS!
Absolutely - like I said, I've still got a soft spot in my heart for that MAS 49!
Absolutely - like I said, I've still got a soft spot in my heart for that MAS 49!