Purchased a French MAS 49 yesterday

Gorgeous Rifle!!!! Congrats!

As with most floating firing pinned Semi Auto's, you need to make sure that firing pin is free prior to using it. This applies double to guns that were stored in Cosmoline. That gunk will make the firing pin sticky....add a little used gun powder and heat and you end up with slam fires. 90% of those are due to owners that neglected to clean the crud out of their guns.

When I got my surplus SKS's, I soaked the bolt in mineral spirits overnight and then ran them under hot water. After that, I just do a normal clean and lube job after each range trip. I shake the bolt to make sure that it rattles afterwards.

Oh and mineral spirits, a spray bottle and a rag will clean up the rest of the cosmoline. Use it in the barrel and chamber as well; then just rinse, wipe and oil.
 
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Yeah, most all the French guns came in packed in heavy grease, although there are a lot around that came in early with no import mark and are pretty grease free. I run across a lot of MAS 36's not marked that were Vietnam bring backs. They are usually really bad shape. I have one model 44 with no import mark, but it looks arsenal refinished. That probably has a weird story behind it. Seems no matter what you collect, there is always something you can't explain. That is really one nice clean model 49 you got for the price. There is a Cabela's listing for a 49/56 on an on line gun sale for $840. They must have screwed up.
 
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