my first Frenchy

T

tahunua001

New member
well I had to sell a can of 7.62x25 ammo for it but I got a MAS 36 out of the deal. it is the first one I've seen in person so I jumped on it. the guy was asking 150 but I was able to talk him down to 135 on it. the wood looks like birch and cosmetically is in pretty rough condition but the bore is pristine, I have never seen a shinier bore.

the butt stock has a serial number that matches the receiver but the bolt serial does not match. the only markings on the barrel that I see are the CAI etching. how'd I do?

Hope to have picks up some time tomorrow.

EDIT: amplifying information. floor plate also has a serial that does not match. serial is K 75XXX. any idea on year and month of manufacture? I've narrowed it down to anywhere between 44 and 45 so it's a late war production model, does that hurt or help value?
 
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The French rifle section over at surplusrifle has a sticky with serial numbers and build dates. Buckthirtyfive was a good price. Look like this?

mas315302.jpg

mas315305.jpg

mas315304.jpg
 
not even close to yours madcrate. the wood is a very light color but parts f it looks like it was dumped in a bin of used motor oil and it's heavily scratched and gauged.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Oh, wait, that's not very funny...

Next person who makes the tired, asinine, and idiotic "joke" about French rifles will be permanently banned.
 
Welcome to the world of unusual and under appreciated rifles. (From a guy who LOVES and shoots ... French rifles, Italian rifles and Ross rifles):eek:
 
wow Mike, I'm sorry I made a crappy joke... that's just my thing...sorry if it caused offense:o

alright here's what I have so far.
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100_1497.jpg
 
ahhh, ok.
well a little more information. there is also a serial on the underside of the foregrip that corresponds to the receiver as well which I didn't notice at the gun show...I'm starting to think that the lighting in there might not have been the best.

I took the rifle apart today and also found out that the bayonet is still intact...didn't even realize what that was however I am a bit curious as to what the rod jutting out the front of the forward stock band is for as I thought that was how you mounted the bayonet on them. I took some 400 grit sand paper and linseed to the wood and after 2 layers with buffing in between it is starting to look more like madcratebuilder's wood though it still has a LOT of "character" to it. will take pics once it's back together.
 
The rod is for stacking arms. The U.S. and Britain used stacking swivels (like a sling swivel except open), but the Germans and French used stacking hooks like that one, or in the case of the K.98k, the cleaning rod.

Jim
 
interesting, thanks Jim. ok well 3 coats of linseed in I am probably going to call that as good as it's going to get, still the roughest looking rifle I've ever owned but hopefully it will be a good little shooter.
 
I found this on another forum, so I cannot take credit:


Fusil MAS 1936 (7.5x54mm) ... Serial number prefixes F, G, H, J, K, and L up to 45XX were all pre-war made. In 1945, the French restarted where they left off in June of 1940 ... L4600, the rest of the L series were manufactured in either 1945 or 1946. M, N, P, and Q were finished off by 1950. They then went to block letters: FG, FH, and FJ and so on until 1957.
Click to expand...


What interests me is that your example looks to have been refurbished and reissued, as it has post-war parts, such as the front sight, magazine floor plate and sling swivel. One way to tell for sure what year is to take it apart and remove the wood - the years are usually stamped on the barrel, on or just after the breech. The wartime butt stock will also usually have a circular cartouche indicating the month and year of manufacture, though this often wears off with heavy use. You example looks to have seen rough times, but should still a fun shooter and great conversation piece. Have fun!
 
I have a Q series:
269333210.jpg


Mine was still in the mummy wrap from the arsenal refurb. Interesting thing about French refurbs - when the re-parkerize their rifles, they do not plug the barrels; they just parkerize the bores at the same time!

I also have a Santa Fe sporterized Mlle 36. I am thinking about converting it to 308. It shouldn't be hard. The barrel threads are the same as an SKS. I would need to weld up the extractor a little bit and devise some sort of safety.
 
beautiful specimen Phil, if only I was as lucky to find one in that shape, well maybe I'll learn to care for this beater so that when I do find a pretty one I'll be able to take care of it correctly. in the mean time I can't want to shoot mine, dies are on there way from midway and some PRVI is on it's way from ammotogo.com so hopefully I'll be shooting her by black friday.
 
Lack of mechanical safety. I have read that the French would carry the rifle with the bolt slightly open as a make do safety. Better than nothing but of little help if you fell with the rifle or dropped it.

I noticed my barrels bore was parked, well it was until I had a hundred rounds through it.
 
;) lots of fun

Graf's had brass and use .308 bullets and H4895 with .308 data and enjoy. Mine came from a sporting goods chain store so I won't say what it cost. I did meet a German guy who would turn down the heads on .280 brass and cast bullets to get MOA from his rifles.

DSCF0033a_zpsf98faaa2.jpg


While not as common as the SKS for trophy purposes we did have some real scroungy examples some people took home. As in most cases the higher your rank the better the trophy you got to keep.

Cheers
..MJ..
 
dangit MJ1,

every time I start to feel proud of my collection you post another picture that makes my inferiority complex flare up:D

beautiful M36 my friend.
 
6.5x55 might be a better conversion. I don't know what the green phosphate coating on them is, but our Parkerizing should hold up so well. It is really tough to remove.
 
;) Everything was cheaper yesterday.

I don't think I would change to .308 because every conversion I have read about and the one I saw had problems. It's just to easy to load the 7.5 to make me grind on the rifle.

DSCF0034a_zps0c63f4a0.jpg



Cheers
..MJ..

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