MAS 49/56 Questions

[vonfilm]

I have a MAS 49/56 in 7.5 French. I no longer want to shoot corrosive Milsurp ammo in it.

Is the Prvi Partisan ammo subject to slamfire full auto?

Where can one get a titanium firing pin now that they have been discontinued by McCann?

Where can one get new empty brass in 7.5 French?

[crazy mark]

Grafs and son have brass at times or make it from 6.5 swede. Don't know about the ammo slam firing as I roll my own and use Rem primers or CCI milspec. I have my original firing pin and have run loads using those primers up to 2150 FPS. I like using any of the 31133X moulds.

[Multigunner]

I had not heard that the French autoloader might have a slamfire problem, but I suppose many military autoloaders could have this sort of problem.

I recently restored a basket case Yugo SKS and the first time I loaded it I found the primer of the Russian made milspec ammo to have a dent so deep I can't see why it didn't discharge. I later read of two incidents in which people had been killed by such ADs , one was a shooter who's SKS not only slamfired when he jacked the first round home but then fired several more shots the gun flipped back in his face and took the top of his head off, the other incident involved a man who'd been the victim of an attack buying an sks for home defense, the first time he jacked a round in the chamber it discharged and killed a neighbor downstairs.

Anyway after seeing the deep dent in that first primer I ended up selling the rifle. At a fine profit as it turned out. The first time I ever shot it the cousin of a shooting buddy asked what I'd sell it for. I told him I'd take about 100 bucks more than I thought it was worth expecting to haggle but his jumped on it at my asking price.
Aside from the possibility of a slamfire these are fine rifles, slam fire appears nlikely when proper ammo is used, but some ammo for these can have a too sensitive primer.
An aftermarket firng pin return spring modification is available for the SKS, the original design called for this sort of spring but in early testing the spring was found to freeze up in sub zero weather so later production did not use the spring.

If I get another SKS I will have the spring installed just to be on the safe side.

Perhaps a similar modification is available for the MAS rifles.

One might look into use of a less sensitive primer, perhaps a magnum primer. Some magnum pistol primers are harder to set off than standard primers, but this may not be the case with rifle primers.

[KCSO]

A LOT of the slam fires I see here are the result of not cleaning the cosmoline out of the gun. A fellow brought in an SKS that emptierd a 30 round mag, it was in the winter and the cosmo froze and made a machine gun. Well cleaned I have never had a problem with either the SKS or the 49/56.

[jonk]

I found the PRVI didn't cycle the action reliably and a lot of cases got sooty and crushed.

I had slam fire issues too. I fixed it with a rasp file. I just took a hair off the front of the pin to make it a bit less sensitive.

Grafs has the brass, or as said, 6.5 Swede is easily modified.

[vonfilm]

I have a large quantity of new 6.5 x 55 brass. I understand the CCI LR Milspec primers would be the best. What is a good place to find the best loads for cycling the action properly?

[StarMetal]

I agree with KSCO. I've fired thousands of rounds out of my Yugo SKS, even with pistol primers, with nary a hint of slam fire.

I have a MAS 49/56 and they do slam fire with commercial primers. The original French primers are harder and don't have that problem. There are two fixes for the firing pin. One is to put a spring on it such as one from a ballpoint pen. You may have to reduce the front portion of the pin though. The simple fix on the Gunboards French section is to merely flatten the tip of the firing pin. It has plenty of power to make it work well even flattened.

One should be very caution when charging any semi automatic firearm and ensure it's pointed in a safe direction.

[Multigunner]

When I got that deep dent in the primer I'd held the rifle pretty much straight down. I suspect that this added a little gravity assist to the unusually heavy firing pin.
One thing I thought odd was the unusual large diameter of the exposed portion of the pin and its point looked more like a punch than a firing pin, with a cone shaped tip.

I'd freed its movement up as best I could, but could not get the retaining pin out for a proper cleaning.

Some who've had problems with these pins say that they found small discs of what looked to be plating off primers that had been drawn back into the pin hole and built up to jam the pin forwards.

[Throwback]

One should be very cautious when charging any semi automatic firearm and ensure it's pointed in a safe direction.

Couldn't agree more. I had an AD with a 49/56 that I was test firing in the shop - brain freeze - I load two and shoot into a tube. Round 2 jammed and I fed it into the chamber and let the bolt go without having the muzzle in the tube. The bullet went through the shop wall and into the garage, a quonset style steel building a couple feet from the outside wall of the shop, and was stopped by the dump truck. I felt like a moron with good reason - it could have been much worse.

Never single load a weapon with an inertial firing pin and no return spring. Always strip the round from the magazine.

[StarMetal]

When I got that deep dent in the primer I'd held the rifle pretty much straight down. I suspect that this added a little gravity assist to the unusually heavy firing pin.
One thing I thought odd was the unusual large diameter of the exposed portion of the pin and its point looked more like a punch than a firing pin, with a cone shaped tip.

I'd freed its movement up as best I could, but could not get the retaining pin out for a proper cleaning.

Some who've had problems with these pins say that they found small discs of what looked to be plating off primers that had been drawn back into the pin hole and built up to jam the pin forwards.

I dunno about you holding the rifle straight down. That means the firing pin should have been all the ways forward being it's an inertia type system. Makes me won't if the pin was heavy enough by itself to have enough resistance to dent the primer deep enough.

[390ish]

FNM ammo has no slam fire issues.

[vonfilm]

Who sells FNM ammo?

[Multigunner]

I dunno about you holding the rifle straight down. That means the firing pin should have been all the ways forward being it's an inertia type system. Makes me won't if the pin was heavy enough by itself to have enough resistance to dent the primer deep enough.

It would probably be safest to hold an SKS or similar rifle with muzzle pointed up when jacking in the first round, and as suggested never single load a round inserted directly into the chamber without feeding it from the magazine to take advantage of that slight drag.