Mas1936

W

woody wood

New member
Got a unfired mas 1936 for $350. Anything I should know? Good deal? Cleaned up and ordered some new ppu ammo. Accurate?collector?do and don't? What to expect? What oil on a perfect wood stock? Great feel of a rifle!
 
First thing is it does not have a conventional safety on it so be careful. Secondly there are no windage sight adjustment on it. The windage is adjusted by changing the leaf in the rear sight that you would need to find and purchase. I saw a block chart once online that gave the various leaf letter designations needed to adjust the POA. Not a real collector item as far as rarity. Other than that they are as accurate as any other mil surp. Have fun.
 
French uniformed police and paramilitary units were still carrying Mas 36 rifles in the 1980s when I was in France. It holds the distinction of being the last bolt action rifle adopted by a major military power.

Decent rifles, firing a decent cartridge. Finding brass used to be a real chore, and required forming your own, but Privi and possibly others are now making the brass and loaded cartridges.

Nominal bullet diameter is .309, so you have a huge selection to choose from if you decide to reload.

French military ammo was always fairly sedate performance wise, and the rifle is apparently far stronger than the military ammunition provided for it, so you can upload if you're careful about it.

Dutchman is correct, there's no safety on the MAS 39. Be aware of that.
 
The last big "glut" of French rifles was in the early 90's, for the surplus market. After that the French government got onboard with the UN idea of destroying old surplus arms, rather than putting them on the world market. So what we have here in the US is all we will have, they have held steady value in the surplus scene because of "supply/demand". There are variations of the MAS-36 going back to pre war, nazi marked, post war and later, www.surplusrifleforum.com this site should help you understand the MAS-36 better.
 
Mine shot great! One thing to keep in mind is that there are interchangeable apertures available for the rear sight so that you can get your individual gun to hit to point of aim. Another way is to reduce the thickness of the front sight post to adjust the windage. Have fun!
 
I've only fired a couple of shots out of a MAS, but the people I know who have them say that they tend to be pretty accurate and they're not punishing to shoot at all.

It's hard to manipulate the bolt quickly, because of the rather ergonomically challenged design, but generally it works.

One interesting thing I read on Wikipedia is that the nosecap was integral to setting the front sights, and that the screws and nosecap were only to be removed by an armorer.

Never heard that before.
 
No safety on the MAS 36, the safety is the horrendous trigger. Actually it wasn't intended to be loaded until actually in battle so the safety was thought redundant. No gas control, you pop a head and you are going to eat it.
 
An all original one, not converted to 308 or with one of those "safeties" added to make it importable is a nice find. I find it interested that at such a late date the French were still using a spike bayonet. At least the one on the No. 4 Mk I could be used on their entrenching tool as a mine probe (!)-and probably a candle holder. Several owners have made a tool for the nose cap by grinding a screw driver to fit.
Gunboards has an excellent French Firearms Forum-just remember to come back here.
 
No,the MAS bayonet was made to kill men with,not wound them.The spike type bayo is deadly.Interestingly,the 36/51 uses the same bayonet,but has an additional grenade launcher that effectively shortens the length of the bayo to the point of virtually becoming useless.
 
When you think about it, the cruciform bayo is perfect for "body sticking". The shape allows for getting between the ribs without rotating the rifle, which allows for a solid grip on the weapon. The cruciform flutes (3) also allows for easier extraction, unlike a blade bayo with a fuller. Am not basing this on experience, but rather an article I read a long time ago.
 
The cruxiform shape of the bayonet also makes for a wound that is much more difficult to heal properly and prone to infections. While it can argued that it isn't practical for other uses, having it stored in the stock tube allows for a knife/other equipment to be worn on the belt. The MAS-36 bayonet (a direct descendant of the Rosalie) is actually a pretty deadly body-sticker.
 
Also, prior to the advent of antibiotics, deep narrow puncture were prone to deadly infections even if you survived the initial injury.
 
I once read a suggestion that the French and British both went to the spike bayonet because it made it far more useful as a landmine detection probe.
 
The idea of the bayonet doing double duty as a knife took a long time to catch on. We did it with the bayonet for the Krag, but when the shorter M1903 was adopted -after TR disapproved of the rod bayonet-we went back to the 16" M905. Yes, I know, longer reach to make up for the shorter barrel.
 
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