MAS 49: A Universal Service Rifle 

I dunno why but this rifle just has some really nice aesthetics to it

I saw Ian at Ron Peterson in Albuquerque NM he was doing research for this book he took a couple of pictures with me I will be buying this book. P.S Thank you Ian for taking time to take a pic with me your awesome!!

Jeez all these French rifles. Did Ian write a book about French military rifles? 🤣🤣🤣

I just played Rising Storm 2: Vietnam this morning, saw this gun in the game and thought, “huh, never heard of Mas-49 before, I wonder if Gun Jesus ever covered this gun.” Then lo and behold, he uploads this vid.

FYI: The sheet metal strap/ring holding the scope on is known as a "T bolt clamp", frequently used in automotive and hydraulic applications. It has the advantage over normal worm screw clamps in that it applies even pressure along the entire surface area as opposed to pinching specific points like a worm screw clamp.

Hi Ian! I think this is the gun my father did use in the Algerian conflict. He told me so many stories about what they were doing with it... (Camels exploding far in the night when shot because they were convoys loaded with explosives, guns and ammunitions), for exemple. He spent nearly 3 years in this war serving in a Special Division. (Penfentenyo). Each time he started to talk about that period his eyes started to fill with tears and he had hard time finishing the story...

You know, if your French Rifle squad had to launch an ambush, everyone opening with Rifle Grenades looks to be a very effective start to a successful ambush.

I remember seeing the MAS 49 in an arms of the world book many years ago. I found it to be a beautiful rifle back then, and the more I see of it, the more I love it.

Hi Ian. You would have loved it! One of my parents' friends had been a French Legionnaire. He decided to collect one copy of each rifle he'd had in the Legion. Interesting collection, not just because of the variety, but also because he kept them scattered throughout the house. In each closet you'd find a rifle of some type. And as a Legionnaire, there was no way he's accept to leave them unloaded.

I swear, these rifles went from easy to find to hard to find overnight ( and im not talking about the mas49/56).

This gun just got added to Risng storm 2: vietnam

Ian, if you have enough money from your Kickstarter left over once all the book expenses are accounted for, you should do French Rifle shoot with as many of the guns your books covers as is possible

11:51 the Syrian owner of the rifle seems to have inscribed his own name on there as well, I think it says "Jawad al-Hurri"

Those clever frogs! That Grenade launching setup is ingenious.

I bought one of the Century Arms 7.62 Nato conversions in 1991 for $220. The bore was well done, and armory had redone the parkerizing and refinished the wood. What Century didn't do was enough testing after the conversion. Apparently they shortened the barrel so they could cut new metal for the 7.62 chamber, shortened the gas tube to match the 9/16" barrel offset, and left the original French springs and recoil system in place. A friend of mine ordered one at the same time. I think these were among the first Century conversions. Mine would never fire a full mag without a jam of some kind, some of which got stuck so badly it required a rod and rubber mallet to free it from the chamber. My buddy's rifle would happily go through multiple mags without a problem. Type of ammo didn't matter in mine, but his could fire cruddy surplus ammo all day. Mags for the 7.62 guns are also crazy expensive now, $50 and higher last I looked. Unless you can confirm from the owner his gun is a shooter, avoid the Century conversions. I've heard of slamfire issues with the 7.5 guns, but they can be fixed with a change ot the firing pin, again from what I've heard. I will say mine was a good shooter when it was feeding rounds properly, about equal to a Garand in accuracy. Unless you're like Ian and just an aficionado of French guns, there are many better shooters than the 56/49.

With the iron sights, my father used a MAS 49 to kill an FLN fighter in the desert around Timimoun . When they got to the body, they estimated the shot was just short of 500m. "Être et durer" was etched onto his memorial plaque when he passed away in 2016, along with the Brevet parachutiste militaire. And the Algerians have their nation.

Monsieur le Président, consider making this man a member of the Légion d'Honneur!

Proud to say I inherited one of these after my grandpa passed. No idea where he got it from. I have ammo for it but I have yet to shoot it. Just for you, Ian, I think I’ll take it out soon.

This concept makes a lot of sense. Issuing a scope to say every 8th guy, along with a little extra training and practice firing, would give u 1 DM per squad. Another guy can be a designated grenadier, and everyone can carry 1 or 2 rifle grenades to help out. I always thought these and the 49/56 were pretty good rifles, and interesting. I'm sure the Foreign Legion liked them, and did some good work with them. Great video as always. Thank you

When I think about what these were selling for in 1995, I could just weep.

Always do a good job covering a weapon. Easy to listen to and keeps it simple. Keep up the good work.

Thank you , Ian .

Congratulations on this project! I know how much you enjoy the history of France's story of firearms development. Been watching you for years and dare say... I'm proud of you! (Whatever that might mean to you idk..) I'm still happy about your accomplishments!

one can see it in action in the best french war movie "la 317ème setion", depicting the last days of a french squad during the indochina war. Remarkable for its authenticity.

Great shot of this in the French war movie 'Section 317', superb film! Excellent video as ever, one of my favourite rifles.

I hope Ian writes more books. I hope he overshoots his goals by a lot everytime. Gun Jesus come to save us again from boredom

These videos show just how challenging it is to collect French military arms in the U.S. Between our importation restrictions and the French state arsenals unwillingness to export, it's a wonder anything made it here.

This is one of my favorite old military rifles, no particular reason why just a neat gun.

Great video, it would be awesome to see a series of these books detailing the history of service rifles for numerous nations eg a book for the UK, US, Germany ect

Book looks epic, Ian!!

The condition of the stock and grips is really nice

Very clever design indeed. Like you said the French were ahead of the curve in concept of a universal service rifle which the Americans followed in suit with the M14.

I think it's pretty cool that after I watched this video this morning, I went to my LGS and they happened to have one of these for under $700. Pretty cool to see how the grenade sights worked in person and interesting how they went with a plastic charging handle knob.

Nice looking stock!! Very clean cut

I've seen them at gun shows years ago, and didn't know anything about them or how they worked, I'm actually very impressed and wish i had bought one when i'm sure the prices were much lower.

I remember seeing one in a local gun shop in the late 1960s, it was brought back from Vietnam by a returning vet. It was only about good to very good condition wise, the price tag was $125- quite a sum in those days.

It looks beautiful...

Hey Ian, ever thought of making a video on a Vigneron M2 SMG ? There's almost nothing about on RU-vid and it'de be pretty cool having you talking about it

Siria also has a bunch of MAS36 that apeared in bulk in containers with other guns like the STG44 that are being used in the Sirian civil war .

These and the 36 are some of my favorite rifles

Finally, graet video. Looking for a newer shooting video with this one!

That looks like a very nice firearm, it looks brand new!

I think the French on again off again relationship with NATO and lack of export versions also makes the French cold war rifles less known.

I need one of each for my collection now too

Nice vid!!!

This Rifle is on my bucket list....

This was the rifle with the marking transitions all done in the same series. I have an early one with a script F prefix. Sometime during the "F" series, it changed to a block prefix with a horizontal number, like the one in the video. The last change was to a vertical serial number and a block letter. All in the 1949 series rifle.

Thats a rly nice looking rifle

Very interesting rifle Sir

Damn, these MAS rifles are so beautiful.

I would love to have one of these. A local gun store to me had one for sale a while ago but I have no idea if it's still there...but after this video I doubt too many of them are going to be left on the racks in a short while.

That's cool

Very interested to see a 2 gun with this rifle and scope

That's the greatest grenade sight ever.

Haven't seen anyone do a comparison, so here's my idea for a fun video: MAS 49 vs FN-49. Good excuse to shoot (if anyone needs one), and unless I missed something, all your videos on the MAS or FN are on scoped editions. I have an Egyptian contract FN-49 that I could possibly lend.

So this is a designated grenade marksman's rifle? Really puts the boom in "BOOM HEADSHOT!"...

The French sure make some handsome rifles.

2:42 Matt Parker-ised you say? This is a real Parker Square of a gun!

I bought the poster!

The MAS 36, 44, 49, 49/56, and FR derivatives of the 36 are all pretty cool. Nice! Wouldn't mind one of those Syrian ones but they're probably expensive

I want the book edition with the "Gun Jesus" H&K poster included!

I bought a MAS 49 Syrian (Bayo) out of shotgun news in 1988 for $250 with 900rds of Syrian 7.5 french ammo. The ammo`s primers all started to malfunction after a few years and threw away 400rds (that was left out of the 900). The wood stock (once beautiful) had a oil level line where it had set in 1ft oil half way up in shipping crate I am guessing. The original bluing was light and bore was dark. I love shooting it, never jams. Because I was young then and more into looks and not originality, I didn't like the dented blacken wood, so I soaked out the oil & I refinished it, It (wood), it now looks beautiful. I also didn't like nylon charging knob and machined a new one (still have the original).

I kinda prefer the Syrian version. Even if it's not entirely useful, gotta love a good bayonet. Another great video!

It's always a great day when gun jesus celebrate mas'

That rifle looks a lot like those found in the Valkyria games.

Ian, which firing pin would you prefer in your to-be-shot MAS49? Titanium, or Spring, and why?

I have a MAS 36 and a MAS 49/56. Now I need the middle parts

I remember seeing these on sale back in the day for $79.00.

I ve shot this weapon while in the french army many , many times , it was heavy , but very accurate at 400M (without scope), recoil was strong , even worse with the grenade launcher cartridges ( not possible to hold it) & it was jamming very often..

10 years after the development of FG42, France and other nations were basically building broom sticks. Don't get me wrong, I love this rifle but it really puts things in perspective as to how far ahead Germany was compared to other countries when it came to small arms development.

Such a beautiful and sexy rifle, though I'm torn between the original French version or the Syrian version.

If they had converted it to 7.62 NATO and added a 20 round magazine it could’ve been one of the best battle rifles of the Cold War. It’s very good (I own one in 7.5) but in a military setting I wager it’d be really handicapped by 10 round mags, especially considering it was used until 1979

The MAS 44 is in BF5 and its my favorite semi auto rifle

I just revisited this vid. I have to say that one thing seems odd to me about this set up: the scope, particularly the eye relief. The relief seems incredibly short, much shorter than most other scopes I've seen on combat rifles.

Tnks Gun Jesus!!! Now I have one more grail gun...

was it possible to still use the grenade launcher with the bayonet on the syrian version?

I bought one of those scopes from S O G - it cost almost as much as the rifle (MAS49/56) that I bought from them - and it was evidently never issued/used...the directions inside the scope container had not been completely cut through by the cutting machine at the print shop...

Interesting to see the elevation knob on the side of the scope and not on top.

Live Más

From all the videos i have watched about French weapons, tactics, and doctrine, it seems there is a theme that they had very low expectations of their average soldiers.

Very well timed with the addition of this to Rising Storm 2. My new fav gun in that, kinda want one irl

Was that glow in the dark plastic charging handle mentioned?

Now I can see where Eugene Stoner got his inspiration... one of the few DI weapons that's not an AR10 or 15.

I bought one of those spring loaded firing pins for my 49/56 and it didnt fix the slam firing issue, anyone have any luck with the titanium ones?

It would be nice if a modern remake of this could be made for the civilian market, but with the counter-sprung firing pin for safety, and for legal reasons the grenade hardware omitted and using an integral fixed 5-round magazine that is still fed by stripper clips.

*Heavy French Foreign Legion breathing*

The stacking hook looks like a real anachronism on a post WW2 rifle. I'd be curious to know if they were ever actually used.

I can see I'm not the only one who came from Rising Storm 2: Vietnam. If anyone is curious a LOT of guns available in that game have been reviewed by Ian!

Is that a grenade launcher or a can opener?

Interesting that he says as many as 80,000 of these were made. The number I have usually seen in the past in most sources, including in Jean Huon’s “Proud Promise” by Collector Grade is 20,600. It is a great rifle, and I have as of yet not had a problem with double fire using Prvi Partizan 7.5x54mm Mle. 1929 ammunition and I still have the original firing pin.

How much will one of these generally run for in the us?

Elevation on the side and windage on the top of that scope? How often have you seen that?

That thing seriously needs to be cleaned same as the m44

Do a shoot video of the mas 49

do you have any links to the firing pin manufacturers ?

Finally, Ian’s on that add revenue.

What are the MAS 44/49 chambered in ? I don't think Ian said in either video

YAAAAA

Fine weapon for defending rice in the game Rising Storm 2 Vietnam - no shortcomings! Launches boom boom rice balls!

My uncle has one of these beauties