Not a huge addition for you today, but we do have two slightly different versions of the French 1974 MAS49/56 manual. The French have had a thriving experimental arms program for decades, and the MAS49 is one of the production rifles that came from it (see also, the MAS 1955 and MAS 62).
It was a very successful design, although about 15 years behind the times. It was equipped with a 10-round magazine, but had a good safety and good aperture sights. You can find the manuals and a link to a good collection of photos on the MAS 49 rifle page in the Vault (we’ll flesh that page out more in the future).
Nice post. French weapons being one of my sub-collections I’m always interested in manuals like this. Thanks and keep up the great work and web site!
I just rediscovered this blog, awesome. The plastic charging handle cover on the MAS gets me every time, just looks so off. Functionally, however, it’s wonderful and great fun to shoot. Inexpensive, not too costly to feed, and as accurate as you could ask for. I’d like an original scope for it, but it would roughly double the cost of the rifle.
Wonderful gun. I got one of these for a song a few years ago. Built like a tank, and always gets attention on the range – and you can still get ammo. Ditto on wanting the scope for it.
Mine’s still in 7.5, but a bunch of these out there have been rechambered for .308 – but I’ve not seen one that didn’t require work after that. I’ve got one of the sight-training reflector tools for it too. Am always looking for more kit for it. Would love to put together the full issue kit if I could track it all down.
I have been given a MAS 49-56 rifle. It has the grenade launcher and sight. Where can I find some ammo to try?