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The MAS-49 is a French
semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is an autoloading rifle that fires a single cartridge with each pull of the trigger, and uses part of the fired cartridge's energy to eject the case and load another cartridge into the chamber. For comparison, a bolt- ...
that replaced various
bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-actio ...
rifles as the French
service rifle A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is typically a versatile and rugged battle rifle, assault rifle, or carbine suitable for use in nearly all environments. Most ...
that was produced from 1949. It was designed and manufactured by the government-owned MAS arms factory.Huon, Jean; ''Proud Promise—French Semiautomatic Rifles: 1898–1979'', Collector Grade Publications, 1995. . The French Army formal designation of the MAS-49 is ''Fusil semi-automatique 7 mm 5 M. 49'' ("semi-automatic rifle of 7.5mm model 1949"). The initial MAS-49 semi-automatic rifle was produced in limited quantities (20,600 units), whereas the shorter and lighter variant, the MAS-49/56, was mass produced (275,240 units) and issued to all branches of the French military. Overall, the MAS-49 and 49/56 rifles gained the reputation of being accurate, reliable and easy to maintain in adverse environments. All the MAS-49 and 49/56 rifles feature a rail on the left side of their receivers to accommodate a designated
rifle scope A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate po ...
. The MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 were replaced as French service rifles by the
FAMAS The FAMAS (''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', "Assault Rifle from the Saint-Étienne Weapon Factory") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978, a year after the Austrian Steyr ...
assault rifle in 1979.


History

The MAS-49 arrived after a series of small, distinct design improvements. Today, this might be termed spiral development, where small elements are changed with successive models, rather than large significant changes. The MAS-49 semi-automatic rifle evolved from the prototype MAS-38/39 and from the MAS-40, and lastly from the post-war MAS-44 and its minor variants 44A, 44B and 44C. Although 50,000 MAS-44 rifles were ordered in January 1945, only 6,200 were delivered to the
Marine Nationale The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...
. The MAS-49 was formally adopted by the French Army in July 1949. Its final form the MAS 49-56 was the French service rifle until adoption of the
FAMAS The FAMAS (''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', "Assault Rifle from the Saint-Étienne Weapon Factory") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978, a year after the Austrian Steyr ...
. As a
service rifle A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is typically a versatile and rugged battle rifle, assault rifle, or carbine suitable for use in nearly all environments. Most ...
, the MAS-49 replaced the diverse collection of aging
bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-actio ...
rifles ( MAS-36, Lee–Enfield No4, M1903A3 Springfield, U.S. M1917, Berthier, and K98k) which had been absorbed into French service after the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It saw significant service with French troops in the latter stages of the
First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh ( Democratic Republic of ...
, as well as during the
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
and the
Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
. The MAS-49 series had a reputation for reliability in conditions of poor maintenance, sometimes being cleaned with nothing more than rags and motor oil. The 49 and 49/56 series could also endure harsh service environments, seeing combat in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
,
Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the R ...
,
Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
,
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label= French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. It ...
, and the Battle of Kolwezi. An improved version called the MAS-49/56 was introduced in 1957 and incorporated lessons learned from service in Algeria, Indochina, and the Suez Crisis. The rifle was shortened and lightened to improve mobility for mechanized and airborne troops, and a knife
bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustra ...
was added. The MAS-49 built-in rifle grenade launcher was replaced by a combination compensator/
rifle grenade A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand. The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used dur ...
launcher that fired NATO-standard 22mm rifle grenades. The rifle also incorporates an integral grenade launching sight that is attached to the front sight block and a gas cutoff that prevents gas from entering the gas tube from the gas port when firing grenade launching blank ammunition. Attempts were made to replace the MAS-49, in the form of the MAS-54 and the
FA-MAS Type 62 The FA-MAS Type 62 is a 7.62×51mm NATO rifle developed by the French Army as a replacement for the MAS-49/56. It was the last in series of 40 different prototype rifles designed between 1952 and 1962. However, the introduction of the 5.56×45m ...
, both
7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service ...
battle rifle A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to better differentiate the intermediate-powered assault rifles (e.g. the StG-44, AK-47, M16, ...
s, but neither were successful. The MAS-49/56 ended production in 1978 and was replaced with the 5.56×45mm NATO caliber
FAMAS The FAMAS (''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', "Assault Rifle from the Saint-Étienne Weapon Factory") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978, a year after the Austrian Steyr ...
bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, more compact, con ...
assault rifle. The MAS-49/56 was withdrawn from service in 1990. Whereas only 20,600 MAS-49 were manufactured, the MAS-49/56 was mass-produced, attaining a total of 275,240 rifles issued between 1957 and 1978.


Technical characteristics

The direct impingement gas system was first applied in 1901 to a 6mm semi-automatic experimental rifle (the ENT B-5) designed by Rossignol for the French military. Although several experimental prototypes using a tilting bolt and direct impingement had been tested by MAS since 1924, the immediate precursor to the MAS 7.5mm semi-automatic rifle series is the MAS-38/39. It was successfully tested in March 1939, just before World War II, and followed in May 1940 by the nearly identical MAS 1940. Similar direct impingement designs include the Swedish semi-automatic Ag m/42 adopted in 1942, and the US M16 select-fire rifle adopted in 1963. In the AG42B and MAS systems, gas is vented from a port on top of the barrel through a small diameter tube to a hollow located on the front face of the bolt carrier. The contained forces of the gases move the carrier to the rear against the operating spring pressure with enough momentum to open the bolt, and within a short distance the end of the tube is exposed vent to the atmosphere. The M16 system vents gas from the barrel through a tube and into the body of the bolt carrier where it expands. Rings on the bolt body form a seal and the expanding gases move the bolt carrier to the rear, which starts the bolt opening cycle. The spent gases then vent through now exposed holes in the side of the bolt carrier. The MAS system has the advantage of not depositing gas fouling on the bolt itself, a separate part located underneath the bolt carrier. All the French MAS 7.5mm semi-automatic rifles mentioned herein feature a rear-locking tilting bolt, as on the
M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun The Colt–Browning M1895, nicknamed "potato digger" because of its unusual operating mechanism, is an air-cooled, belt-fed, gas-operated machine gun that fires from a closed bolt with a cyclic rate of 450 rounds per minute. Based on an 1889 des ...
, the
Browning Automatic Rifle The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the . ...
(1918), the MAS-1924 to MAS-1928 experimental semi-auto rifles, and the Russian Simonov SVT-38 (1938) and
SVT-40 The SVT-40 (Samozaryadnaya Vintovka Tokareva, Obrazets 1940 goda, "Tokarev self-loading rifle, model of 1940", Russian: Самозарядная винтовка Токарева, образец 1940 года, often nicknamed "'' Sveta''") is a S ...
(1940) rifles. The MAS direct impingement design reduced the number of bolt moving parts to only six: the bolt carrier, then the rear locking tilting bolt which carries the extractor, the ejector and the firing pin, and lastly the recoil spring. It takes only a few seconds to disassemble the entire bolt mechanism for cleaning. The same 10-round detachable magazine fits the MAS-44, MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 rifles. The earlier MAS-40 (1940) rifle had a 5-round magazine within the receiver, as on the bolt action MAS-36 rifle. The rifle can still be fed by stripper clips, and have a stripper clip guide built into the bolt face. Lastly, the MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 are equipped with a rail on the left side of the receiver. It allows for the immediate installation of a "Modele 1953" APX L 806 (SOM) 3.85 power telescopic sight by sliding it into place and then locking it in with a small pressure lever. The MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 are capable of consistently hitting individual man-size targets up to 400 meters with the adjustable peep sight and up to 800 meters with the APX L 806 telescopic sight. The bore is counter sunk at the muzzle to protect the rifling and preserve accuracy. The barrel is freely floating.


Syrian Contract Rifles

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
contracted with MAS for 6,000 MAS-49 rifles. These rifles, along with 12,000 MAS-36 rifles and a production facility for 7.5x54mm ammunition were delivered in the early 1950s. The MAS-49 was used until the mid-late 60s when they were replaced with
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...
assault rifles. Syrian contract rifles differed from the French service model by having a spike bayonet identical to that of the MAS-36, as well as different stocks and metal parts to incorporate this change. These rifles are dated 1953 and features serial numbers in the F33.000 to F39.000 range.


Surplus imports to the US

Many MAS-49/56 rifles imported as surplus into the United States were rechambered locally by Century Arms International to fire the 7.62mm NATO round. However several user reports have noted that these particular conversions were often unsatisfactory (resulting in numerous action stoppages and misfires) due to imperfect workmanship. Furthermore, the shortening of the barrel to allow rechambering brings the gas vent closer to the chamber hence creating a higher stress on the bolt carrier. In addition to these Century Arms conversions, approximately 250 MAS-49/56 rifles were converted in France to
7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service ...
for use by the
French National Police The National Police (french: Police nationale), formerly known as the , is one of two national police forces of France, the other being the National Gendarmerie. The National Police is the country's main civil law enforcement agency, with primar ...
. These rifles are not known to have the reliability issues that plague the later Century Arms conversions. Some have been able to improve reliability by modifying the gas shutoff pin with a tapped set screw for gas adjustment. Commercial 7.5×54mm "French" ammunition made in countries other than France for current distribution has been known to produce burst fire (2 or 3 rounds at a time) because of more sensitive primers. The original heavy steel firing pins on the MAS-49 and 49/56 can be replaced by commercial titanium firing pins which are much lighter and generally cure the problem of burst fire on these weapons. It is also possible to prevent these
slamfire A slamfire is a discharge of a firearm occurring as a cartridge is being loaded into the chamber. Some firearms are designed to slamfire, but the term also describes a malfunction of self-loading firearms. Shooters accustomed to firearms requir ...
s by shortening the firing pin by approximately 0.5 mm, or by modifying the bolt to accommodate a firing pin return spring. Some users have been able to convert 20 round
FN-FAL The FAL (a French acronym for (English: "Light Automatic Rifle")), is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal (simply known as FN). During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of th ...
magazines to work in the .308 guns and 25 round
FM 24/29 light machine gun The Fusil-mitrailleur Modèle 1924 M29 (or MAC 24/29), designed in 1924 by the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault, was the standard light machine gun of the French Army from 1925 until the 1960s and was in use until 2000-2006 with the Nationa ...
or 35 round
Reibel machine gun The MAC mle 1931 machine gun (official French designation ''Mitrailleuse'' ''modèle'' ''1931'' - machine gun, model of 1931), was a machine gun used in French tanks of the World War II era, as well as in fortifications such as the Maginot line. ...
mags for the original 7.5x54 caliber.


Users

* * : MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : 60 MAS-49/56 in service in 1963 with
Gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally ...
* : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 *
EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA; ; el, Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, lit=National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist paramilitary organisation that fought a camp ...
: stolen MAS-49 were used during the
Cyprus Emergency The Cyprus Emergency ( gr, Απελευθερωτικός Αγώνας της Κύπρου 1955–59), also known as the Greek Cypriot War of Independence or Cypriot War of Independence, was a conflict fought in British Cyprus between November 19 ...
*
Eritrean Liberation Front ar, جبهة التحرير الإريترية it, Fronte di Liberazione Eritreo , war = the Ethiopian Civil War, Eritrean War of Independence and the Eritrean Civil Wars , image = , caption = Flag of the E ...
: obtained some MAS-49/56 via French Djibouti * * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 * * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * '' Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince'': MAS-49 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * * : MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 * Captured from France *


See also

* Fusil Automatique Modele 1917—Earlier French Army semiautomatic rifle *
FN Model 1949 The Fabrique Nationale Model 1949 (often referred to as the FN-49, SAFN, or AFN ( automatic rifle version) is an autoloading battle rifle designed by Belgian small arms designer Dieudonné Saive in 1947. It was adopted by the militaries of Arg ...


References

* Barnes, Frank C., ''Cartridges of the World'', DBI Books Inc. (1989). * Huon, Jean; ''Proud Promise—French Semiautomatic Rifles: 1898–1979'', Collector Grade Publications, 1995. . * Smith, W.H.B.; ''Small Arms of the World'' (1967). * Walter, John; ''Rifles of the World, 3rd Edition'' (2006).


External links


MAS-49 and MAS 49/56 (France)
- Modern Firearms
MAS 49: A Universal Service Rifle

Buddy Hinton French MAS 44 49 49/56 Collection
(pictures)
MAS 44-49 Manual 1953

MAS 49 Manual 1950

MAS 49 Manual 1951

MAS 49 Manual 1953

MAS 49 Manual 1970

MAS 49/56 Manual 1974
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mas-49 Rifle Infantry weapons of the Cold War Rifles of the Cold War Semi-automatic rifles of France 7.5×54mm French firearms Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1949