Lets hear from Mas 36 shooters

[390ish]

It really is such a great round. I shoot it in a 49/56. Like a 300 savage, but with a neck.

[gew98]

Every Mas36 I have owned - which included one excellent and one dogged out vietnam bringback and a flat mint June 1940 dated specimen exhibited very sloppy & HARD triggers !. The "uber" long pull and the let off made accurate shooting problematic at best. The standard short buttstocks just compounded the problem. The Mas36 simply is a unique study of functional failure at best.

[30CAL-TEXAN]

Not to detract from the political discussion but..... I have a MAS 36 and I think it is pretty cool. I have not had the chance to do much cast work with it yet but I have slung a few down the tube.

Pros:

cheap (at the time anyway)

rugged as could be

.308 diameter, same as most of my other milsurps

Very interesting design (pretty neat to some, pretty ugly to others)

And, since I'm a southpaw, I have a different handle (pun intended) on the funny forward bent bolt - I like it! It it is just far enough forward for me to reach it with my left thumb and it does make for an interesting palm-bolt action.

Cons:

very rough wood - I worked on mine and it is very smooth now but man was it rough before and I have yet to see another smooth one.

7.5 French caliber, not exactly hard to find but it is a little oddball. I had to get a custom Lee FCD for it and there is no such thing as cheap brass. There are quite a few out there in 308 though.

Short stock, I am a big guy so it is pretty short for me but I will probably pick up a rubber but pad if I ever decide to start shooting it a bunch.

That's about it. It is a neat little rifle and an interesting addition to the collection.

[Charley]

Interesting rifle. Cheap when I bought mine, was almost mint. Trigger isn't the greatest, but a shooter should be able to adapt to his equipment. Length of pull is a bit short for me, but see the note above about the trigger! Case is easy to form from the 6.5x55. What's not to like?

[ukrifleman]

I agree about the short butt stock and heavy trigger pull, both easy fixes.
The MAS rubber slip-on butt pad come in 2 sizes, 20mm and 30mm thick, Numrich had them in stock a while ago.
The trigger pull is also an easy fix, My MAS 36 had an 8 1/2lb trigger pull when I first had it.
Replace the firing pin spring with a cut down M1 carbine spring, I got my trigger pull down to a sweet 5lb with this method.
Just make sure that you cut the spring way longer than the original and take it down a coil at a time until you get it where you want it.
I settled for a 5lb pull to make sure that the primer strike was heavy enough. Go too low and you will end up with light strikes.

My cut down spring suits MY rifle, don't assume this length will suit others.
The longer spring is the cut down M1, note how much lighter it is than the original.
ukrifleman.

[Multigunner]

Nice to see that some have recognized the potential of these rifles and are willing to put some thought and a little work into improving them.

[ukrifleman]

Nice to see that some have recognized the potential of these rifles and are willing to put some thought and a little work into improving them.

My rifle will hold 2 MOA at 600 yards when I do my part.
ukrifleman.

[HangFireW8]

The Soviet Union.

And yes, the western part of Russia is in Europe, and also where the vast majority of the population is.

Chuckle... OK... qualifying question... name the Western European power having the largest standing army at the beginning of WWII?

[Hang Fire]

Chuckle... OK... qualifying question... name the Western European power having the largest standing army at the beginning of WWII?

France.

[Four Fingers of Death]

This sort of comment is un-called for and and just plain insulting to the thousands of troops who perished in France in 1940.
There were several factors that caused the collapse of the French and British forces. One major factor was poor leadership from Generals who learnt their trade in victorian times and were still using WW1 tactics and were unable to cope with the Blitzkrieg tactics of the German forces.
No army had ever faced such tactics before and in the outset had no answer to such things as Stuka dive bombers, which were in fact flying artillery.
The German forces were highly mobile with good radio communications right down squad level and they perfected the art of tank warfare.
Basically the allied forces were out-manoeuvered by a modern, highly mobile force and it took a bloody nose before they were able to react effectively. Remember what Blitzkrieg means, `Lightning War`
All armies suffer defeats and it is usually these set-backs that enables them to learn and eventually prevail over their enemies.
I will leave you with 4 words, Bataan, Corregidor, Cassreine Pass. It has happened to every army.
ukrifleman.

Read 'A thousand shall fall' by Hans Habe. He was an intellectual/scholar who was a very noisy anti Nazi and was very high upon their hit list when the Germans attacked France. We went into hiding in the French Army and fought as an infantryman. He reports that the standard of equipment was appaling, (his rifle would only function as an inaccurate single shot) and he felt the main reason for their defeat was that the generals were actually more pro German than pro allies. It was a shambles and any fault that could be levelled would have been levelled at the leadership, but the Germans were overwhelming everything and any body in their paths at that stage.

My MAS36 is a fine rifle and the weird bolt is lightning fast when 'palmed.' It is a well thought out, accurate but typicall ugly French rifle. There were three rear sight inserts I have been told, with the aperture placed in different positions, one centrally drilled and the other two with the peep offset to either side.

[Andrew Mason]

i had an oportunity to buy one of these about 8 months ago, i dont know why i didnt do it,
as i was buying many, of many military surplus rifles, its not like i was short on $$$
either.

i have read once somewhere that they are great for 45-70gvt conversions

[Old Iron Sights]

Glad to see this thread. I've been getting more interested in the MAS lately. Kinda just dismissed them before. 91/30's were cheap, Springfields too high, K98's were the holy grail, etc... Always thought NoI MKIII's were ugly until I bought one and fell in love with it. If it has some history and I can make a great shooter out of it, I'm in.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I don't shoot long range full bore/Palma style matches much, I usd to shoot them a lot 25-30 years ago, but I went to the local range when I was working in the north of the state in early 2006 and had just got the MAS36. They were shooting the 300yard series that day and without a jacket or sling, I flopped down and shot a pretty credible score. I wasn't the best shot of the day, but there were some ten or twelve shooters there and they all shot it regularly. I came in about 9th and after I was half way through the first 12 shots they shut up. They were all shooting single shot target rifles. The MAS36 is an ugly rifle and easily dismissed, but in the 40s it would have been a machine! A lot of Foriegn Legionairres and North Vietnamese soldiers used these very effectively.

[Eddie1971]

I got to resurrect this one. I just got 2 sweet MAS36's one just unwrapped from mummy wrap and the other still in. Had 2 of these years ago and I loved them. Got rid of them like a clown when PPU ammo was embargoed by the original sleazebag Clinton during the Balkan Wars and my reloading skills were not as good as today plus dies were non existent then in 7.5x54. Always kicked myself after for that move. Can't wait to take these underrated rifles out and try out with cast boolit reloads! Anybody else shooting these?

[iron brigade]

I have one. It is very accurate with 16 grains of 2400 and the old Lyman 334 pointed boolit. Mine shoots dead on inline with the bullseye but my brother who also has one his shoots about 6" left.

I had gone to a gun show looking for a Swiss k31and there it was for $485. Couldn't pass it up and bought a k31 from Simpson's. Great outfit btw.

[iron brigade]

Here's a group with the above load. This is before I adjusted the sight
Oops double pic

[Gunor]

I am pulling down old and nasty Syrian ammo now for my loads...old FNP (?) brass...

[n.h.schmidt]

I have one.A 1961 rebuild mummy. It had the typical loose fore end .Easily corrected with some shims under the hook.Made cases out of 30-06. I used tape around the web area to even out the bulge . No problem they all worked and have stood up to several reloads.I kept the pressure mild though Even 6.5x55 cases will bulge in this rifle. I like mine I did replace the rear sight insert to correct some windage .Back then you could still get them.