French Mas 36

They look real nice, What caliber is it??

if 7.5 PPU makes some fairly nice ammo..

If 22 lr make sure it has the adaptor..

One of the better MAS 36 History vids




What not to do!!!

This is an easy catridge to reload. .308 bullets work great and brass can now be purchased from PPU. You can also form the cases from 6.5 Swedish Mauser brass. Fun rifles!

Also some of these have been converted to 308 Win. by Century Arms. I have heard that these were not always well done, so proceed with caution of your gun is one of those.

wow things are bad when people Panic buy 7.5 french Mon ami. But ...

SG has some
https://www.sgammo.com/product/prvi...ench-mas-139-grain-fmj-prvi-partizan-ammo-pp7

Looks like J&G has some

https://www.jgsales.com/-p-6326.html

indy1919a4 said:

wow things are bad when people Panic buy 7.5 french Mon ami. But ...

SG has some
https://www.sgammo.com/product/prvi...ench-mas-139-grain-fmj-prvi-partizan-ammo-pp7

Looks like J&G jas some

https://www.jgsales.com/-p-6326.html

Click to expand...

LOL Vous ete trés amuser, monsieur.

Whiterook808 said:

This is an easy catridge to reload. .308 bullets work great and brass can now be purchased from PPU. You can also form the cases from 6.5 Swedish Mauser brass. Fun rifles!

Click to expand...

How does one get 7.62mm projectiles to work great a 7.5mm barrel? (is .12 just "close enough?)

Whiterook808 said:

Also some of these have been converted to 308 Win. by Century Arms. I have heard that these were not always well done, so proceed with caution of your gun is one of those.

Click to expand...

I didn't know Century had bubba'ed the MAS 36 rifles. They are very well known for ruining all of the MAS 49/56 rifles they got. Apparently, there is more to a caliber conversion than just shoving a reamer in the chamber and lettin' 'er rip. At any rate, the 308 converted 49/56 guns are notorious for poor reliability.

There's a pretty good MAS 36 section in this new book, if you don't mind the price:

https://www.headstamppublishing.com/french-rifle-book

Mars5l said:

Looked like ammo isnt as easy to combo right now.

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7.5 French is hard to come by at any time.

I have a copy of Ian McCollum's book, Chassepot to Famas, if you have a specific question I'll try to look it up for you...or something like that.

Dave DeLaurant said:

There's a pretty good MAS 36 section in this new book, if you don't mind the price:

https://www.headstamppublishing.com/french-rifle-book

Click to expand...

It's worth every penny if you're into French rifles or, like me, all things French. It is extremely well done and meticulously researched. It also appear to be high quality binding as well. (Only time will tell on that one.)

It's my quarantine reading material.

I have one that I purchased a few years ago. It looked to be never fired. Had some handling marks like it had been dropped. I converted some brass for reloading, and fired it many times. Not as inspiring as my M39, but its not a bad rifle. Had it out last weekend for its semi-annual cleaning. It is an interesting rifle.

I am a huge fan of the 36, it is IMHO top 5 in bolt guns. It was one of, if not the last clean sheet of paper bolt guns to go into military service, so the french had the chance to look at everything and then make their choices. It does have some (what I will call) french-isims....the bolt, no safety....not real pretty, non adjustable sights......but all that was made for some very good reasons.

I was not real happy with PPU out of my rifle and it grouped a bit like idiot8888's version did, but after rolling my own it really woke up. PPU was I would say honeydew melon size at 100, and with playing with loads I now have it to about grapefruit size. Just a tad bigger then a softball. It seems to hold this out to 200, but have not tried it any longer. Spring is not really going here, SNOW today they say.

Add to that for some reason golf courses are open but not the rifle ranges or even the shotgun club.....this virus stuff is really ticking me off.

D.B. Cooper said:

How does one get 7.62mm projectiles to work great a 7.5mm barrel? (is .12 just "close enough?)

Click to expand...

As long as the case neck expands, the bullet will go down the barrel. In the case of the 7.5 French, I shot standard 308 cup and core in mine.The bullet diameter difference between 308 and the barrel was not enough to cause any problems.

The 6.5 X 55 case has the same case head. I fired standard 6.5 X 55 ammunition in my 7.5 French to fireform brass. The bullets did not land anywhere near point of aim, and the case necks were slightly in the throat, as I recall. But since I was blowing a 6.5 bullet down a 7.5 diameter bore, pressures enough to expand the cases. I would recommend slightly greasing cases so they fireform stress free. The trim case necks back.

In so far as loads, the MAS36 is a rear locking rifle, loads have to be lower 40,000 psia or the bolt will remain under tension after firing. I don't have any good reloading data, I was so unimpressed with the accuracy on my rifle that I only shot a few rounds.

fpgt72 said:

I am a huge fan of the 36, it is IMHO top 5 in bolt guns. It was one of, if not the last clean sheet of paper bolt guns to go into military service,.

Click to expand...

I never thunked of the MAS 36 in those terms before.. But now I am profoundly moved. You can add to its list of amazements just how few parts there are for the rifle and the simplicity of design.

D.B. Cooper said:

How does one get 7.62mm projectiles to work great a 7.5mm barrel? (is .12 just "close enough?)



I didn't know Century had bubba'ed the MAS 36 rifles. They are very well known for ruining all of the MAS 49/56 rifles they got. Apparently, there is more to a caliber conversion than just shoving a reamer in the chamber and lettin' 'er rip. At any rate, the 308 converted 49/56 guns are notorious for poor reliability.

Click to expand...

Don't let the name fool you. Bullet diameter for the 7.5 Frenchie is spec'd at .309. Regular .308 bullets will work just fine.

ETA: I must have been in a hurry and punched in the wrong number. .307 is the correct size for 7.5x54 French.

I've wanted an original for a long time. Been stuck I with this Sante Fe sporterized number for forty years. It's actually a very handy little rifle. That 7.5 x .54 is no slouch. Lee uses 30-40 Krag data but you can also use STARTING 308 data . The case is larger than a 308 case so pressures will be lower. Since this thread needs a pic here is my Sante Fe with my unmolested 49/56.

Umm some of their .30 Carbine ammo boxes and experimental carbines were labeled 7.5

-kBob

I was squadded with a guy who shot a MAS-36 in the Vintage Military match at Camp Perry a few years ago. Its the first one I had ever seen. Definitely an iconic rifle!

This one actually did some good shooting with "Syrian" ammo. Not sure where it was made but Arabic markings. Also with some but not all the French ammo it has shot, biggest issue with the French ammo being hang fires as long as fifteen seconds so I do not shoot French ammo in it anymore.

"Click-bang!" really makes you concentrate on follow through but not produce good groups.

I traded a WWII German Artillery NCO visor hat for it straight up around 1990.

-kBob

This is pretty much all there is to stripping it, for those that did not watch Ian's vids.

Thing below the magazine parts is the bayonet end that goes in the rifle.

-kBob

Last one and then I will leave y'all alone.

The heart of the Infantry is the spirit of the advance and the soul of the advance is the bayonet.

..OK and one additional French weapon for giggles...could not find where the bayonet mounted though....

-kBob

D.B. Cooper said:

How does one get 7.62mm projectiles to work great a 7.5mm barrel? (is .12 just "close enough?)



I didn't know Century had bubba'ed the MAS 36 rifles. They are very well known for ruining all of the MAS 49/56 rifles they got. Apparently, there is more to a caliber conversion than just shoving a reamer in the chamber and lettin' 'er rip. At any rate, the 308 converted 49/56 guns are notorious for poor reliability.

Click to expand...

The 7.5mm bullet was .307" so its close enough.

Whiterook808 said:

Also some of these have been converted to 308 Win. by Century Arms. I have heard that these were not always well done, so proceed with caution of your gun is one of those.

Click to expand...

The problem with the Century conversion in the MAS36/51 is different than with the MAS 49/56. Century had to set back the barrel one thread to account for rereaming the chambers as the French 7.5 (.480) is wider at the base and more tapered than .308 Win. (.473). This also created a problem as setting the barrel back required alterations to the stock and Century removed a tab that held the rifle's forend tight to the receiver. Thus, it has floppy wood under the barrel. Then the barrel itself has little enough meat in the chamber area that by setting the barrel back and re-reaming the chamber removes a margin of safety coupled with the French 7.5 is rated for 50,750 psi while the .308 is about 62,000 PSI. Other issues include feeding as Century did a pretty bad job on the feed ramps on some MAS 36/51 rifles and did a large defacing of the receiver to designate the change in caliber.

Here is a CIP drawing of the cartridge and in comparison below with the .308 Win cartridge drawing from SAAMI,

Here is the .308


Here is a pretty good review of the MAS49/56 original and the Century Conversion,
http://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/masrifle.htm