The MAS-49 is a French

semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single round each time the Trigger (firearms), trigger is pulled while automatically loading the next Cartridge (firearms), cartridge. These rifles were developed Pre-World War II, and w ...

that replaced various

bolt-action Bolt action is a type of manual Action (firearms), firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt (firearms), turn-bolt via a cocking handle, bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (a ...

rifles as the French

service rifle A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to its regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is generally a versatile, rugged, and reliable assault rifle or battle rifle, suitable for use in nearly all environments ...

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 formal

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

designation of the MAS-49 is ''Fusil semi-automatique 7 mm 5 M. 49'' ("semi-automatic rifle of 7.5 mm model 1949"). 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 instrument, optical sight (device), sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a frame of reference, referencing pattern – known as ...

. The MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 were replaced as French service rifles by the FAMAS

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

starting in 1979.

History

The MAS-49 arrived after a series of small, distinct design improvements. Today, this might be termed

spiral development The spiral model is a risk-driven software development process model. Based on the unique risk patterns of a given project, the spiral model guides a team to adopt elements of one or more process models, such as incremental, waterfall, or evolu ...

, 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

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

. 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 precursor MAS-44 was produced in limited numbers (6,200 rifles), and was mostly issued to the

's Commandos Marine operating in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

.Huon, Jean; ''Proud Promise—French Semiautomatic Rifles: 1898–1979'', Collector Grade Publications, 1995. , p.90McCollum, Ian; ''Chassepot to FAMAS: French Military Rifles, 1866 – 2016'', Headstamp Publishing, 2019. , p.413 Approximately 80,000 MAS-49 rifles were produced in all, beginning in 1951 (the Syrian contract rifles are included in this number). The production of the MAS-49 was cut short because the United States provided 200,000 M1 rifles and 210,000 M1 and M2 carbines to France between 1951-1960, lessening the need for semi-automatic rifle manufacture in France. The MAS-49/56 was manufactured between 1958-1978: 275,240 units were produced in all.Huon, Jean; ''Proud Promise—French Semiautomatic Rifles: 1898–1979'', Collector Grade Publications, 1995. , p.151 As a

, the MAS-49 replaced a diverse collection of aging

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

, as well as during the

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

and the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

. 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,

Djibouti Djibouti, 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 Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

, French Indochina,

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

, and the

Battle of Kolwezi The Battle of Kolwezi was an airborne operation by French and Belgian airborne forces that took place in May 1978 in Zaire during the Shaba II invasion of Zaire by the Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FLNC). It aimed at rescu ...

. 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 knife bayonet is a knife which can be used both as a bayonet, combat knife, or utility knife as a cutting and thrusting tool or weapon. The knife bayonet became the almost universal form of bayonet in the 20th century due to its versatility an ...

was added. The MAS-49 built-in rifle grenade launcher was replaced by a combination compensator/ rifle grenade launcher that fired

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

-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, both

7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first be ...

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 differentiate automatic rifles chambered for fully powered cartridges from automatic rifles cha ...

s, but neither were successful. The MAS-49/56 was replaced with the 5.56×45mm NATO caliber FAMAS

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), 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, ...

starting in 1978 and the last MAS-49/56 rifles were withdrawn from service by 1990. MAS 49 56

Design

The direct impingement gas system was first applied in 1901 to a 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 Ag m/42 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 desi ...

, the Browning Automatic Rifle (1918), the MAS-1924 to MAS-1928 experimental semi-auto rifles, and the Russian Simonov SVT-38 (1938) and SVT-40 (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 clip A stripper clip (also known as a charger or charger clip, especially in Commonwealth English military vocabulary) is a speedloader that holds several cartridges (usually between 5 and 10) together in a single unit for easier and faster loadin ...

s, 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 with the adjustable peep sight and up to 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, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

contracted with MAS for 6,000 MAS-49 rifles. These rifles, along with 12,000 MAS-36 rifles and a production facility for 7.5×54mm ammunition were delivered in the early 1950s. The MAS-49 was used until the mid-late 1960s 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 an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

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.

Users

* * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : 60 MAS-49/56 in service in 1963 with

Gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or 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" (). In France and so ...

* : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 * * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : ''

Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince The (; " Prince's Company of Carabiniers") is the Infantry branch of the '' Force Publique'', and one of the limited number of militaries that recruits foreigners. Although Monaco's defence is the responsibility of France, Monaco maintains a sm ...

'': MAS-49 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * : MAS-49/56 * * : MAS-49 and MAS-49/56 *

Non-state users

Eritrean Liberation Front The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF; ; ; ), colloquially known as Jebha, was the main Eritrean War of Independence, independence movement in Eritrea Province, Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the ear ...

: obtained some MAS-49/56 via French Djibouti *

EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA ; ) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist guerrilla organization that fought a campaign for the end of Cyprus#Cyprus under the British Empire, British rule in Cyprus, and for enosis, eventual union with K ...

: stolen MAS-49 were used during the

Cyprus Emergency The Cyprus Emergency was a conflict fought in British Cyprus between April 1955 and March 1959. The National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters (EOKA), a Greek Cypriot right-wing nationalist guerrilla organisation, began an armed campaign in s ...

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).

History

Design

Syrian contract rifles

Users

Non-state users

See also

References

Notes

External links