In the 1950s and early 1960s, the French arsenal MAS produced several dozen prototype rifles in 7.62×51 NATO. This article describes on of the last, the Type 62. It shows a striking resemblance to the Belgian FAL, and came close to being adopted by the French military until the new 5.56mm NATO cartridge began to become popular. The article also show photographs of several earlier MAS experimental designs.
Fascinating. The FAMAS T62 looked like it converged quite a ways toward the FAL design without adopting he FAL operating system. It did, however, use a very similar gas system like a Tokarev.
The folding stock version looks like a dog’s breakfast — really dreadful ergonomically. (Of course many French weapons lookweird but feel okay, so it’s always hazardous forming an opinion from photos.
The bullpup shows that France was interested in this layout long before their current le Clairon. Great find!
See also this video with disassembly of an actual MAS Type 62 (Feb 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyLqCKzX5vc