Combloc
Stop Negassing me!!!!!
Today being a cold and boring winter's day with my honey out of town, I decided to pass the time by taking a few pictures of my MAS 49 with a scope attached. While I was at it, I thought I might as well talk about some of the scope and mount variations you'll encounter. While there are lots of 49-56 pictures out there, you can't find many pictures on the net of a 49 with a scope and even fewer of one with the early style scope mount. This isn't intended to be any sort of in-depth analysis, just some pictures folks might find useful and a little information to go along with them. Eventually, I might do a deep dive into the MAS 44, 49 and 49-56 rifles, their scopes, and various literature, but not today.
Here's a MAS 49 looking very similar to what one would have looked like when the French were fighting in Indochina:
I say very similar because this rifle underwent government refurbishment for long term storage back in 1970 and part of that procedure was removing the original walnut stock and replacing it with beech.
Here's a period picture of one in action, most likely with a Laotian serving fighting for the French at the time:
Notice that his rifle has the same early style scope mount and rubber eye cup. His scope case strap is attached to his gear too instead of being slung over his shoulder as intended.
The left side of the receiver on my rifle shows that it was refurbished in 1970, probably at the Poitiers maintenance arsenal:
The refurbishment mark is the "P70" inside a rectangle. Besides changing out the stock, they re-phosphated the rifle, checked all the parts, replaced the bolt with a newer, standardized length bolt to replace the earlier multi-length style, replaced the locking shoulder to set headspace, and replaced the older style firing pin with the newer, polish type. They probably also did things I'm not aware of.
As an aside, there is a little pushbutton on the right side of the front band that is referred to but not really discussed in the user's manual issued with each rifle:
Everything you see on the internet about how the grenade launcher mechanism works refers to using the thumb screw on the left side of the band to move the ranging sleeve around the barrel in and out. The farther you screw the sleeve out, the less time the grenade spends on the barrel when launched and this translates to less range. Even Ian McCollum, in his video about the MAS 49 only uses the thumb screw to extend and retract the sleeve; he never even mentions the poor little ignored pushbutton. Well, using this little thumb screw takes time because it's a lot of screwing from full in to full out and vice-versa. That's where this little button comes in. Pressing it disconnects the ranging sleeve from the thumb wheel and allows it quickly slide up or down the barrel under its own weight so long as you maintain pressure on the button. Release it, and the thumbwheel is re-engaged locking the sleeve in the position it's been placed. It's a quick and easy way to set the rifle grenade's range in combat. Now, whether this button was intended to be used this way or, rather, simply as a way to quickly retract the ranging sleeve once you were finished using the launcher, I cannot say. Whatever the case, that's what it does.
Here's a closer view of the scope mounted to the rifle:
Just like the mount used on the German G43 rifle from WWII, this one employs a throw lever to lock the mount on the rail machined into the left side of the receiver on every MAS 49. With the lever on the mount swung to the forward position shown above, it's locked on the rail and ready for use. Swinging the lever to the rear releases the mount's grip on the rail and allows you to slide it to the rear and off the rifle. This quick detach mechanism is finely made so that repeated removal and reinstallation of the mount will cause no appreciable loss of accuracy.
It's important to note that there were no factory new MAS 49 or 49-56 marksman rifles produced. Some 49-56 rifles, once selected, were later sent to St. Etienne for upgrades, but even those rifles originally left the factory new as plain ol' 49-56 rifles. The pairing of a rifle to a scope was done in the field and the scope's user manual explains the process for selecting a rifle-scope assembly. Once paired, they were issued to one man who was responsible for it and considered a unit, never to be used for launching grenades again. I'm assuming the scope and rifle numbers were entered into the unit's logbook as being paired, but nothing was physically done to either the rifle or the scope to show that they were mated. So, there is no way to know whether your particular MAS 49 rifle was ever used with a scope when in service.
The mount has a curve to it so that the scope sits directly over the bore of the rifle. You can also use the rifle's standard sights with the scope mounted:
We'll continue in the next post.
Here's a MAS 49 looking very similar to what one would have looked like when the French were fighting in Indochina:
I say very similar because this rifle underwent government refurbishment for long term storage back in 1970 and part of that procedure was removing the original walnut stock and replacing it with beech.
Here's a period picture of one in action, most likely with a Laotian serving fighting for the French at the time:
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Notice that his rifle has the same early style scope mount and rubber eye cup. His scope case strap is attached to his gear too instead of being slung over his shoulder as intended.
The left side of the receiver on my rifle shows that it was refurbished in 1970, probably at the Poitiers maintenance arsenal:
The refurbishment mark is the "P70" inside a rectangle. Besides changing out the stock, they re-phosphated the rifle, checked all the parts, replaced the bolt with a newer, standardized length bolt to replace the earlier multi-length style, replaced the locking shoulder to set headspace, and replaced the older style firing pin with the newer, polish type. They probably also did things I'm not aware of.
As an aside, there is a little pushbutton on the right side of the front band that is referred to but not really discussed in the user's manual issued with each rifle:
Everything you see on the internet about how the grenade launcher mechanism works refers to using the thumb screw on the left side of the band to move the ranging sleeve around the barrel in and out. The farther you screw the sleeve out, the less time the grenade spends on the barrel when launched and this translates to less range. Even Ian McCollum, in his video about the MAS 49 only uses the thumb screw to extend and retract the sleeve; he never even mentions the poor little ignored pushbutton. Well, using this little thumb screw takes time because it's a lot of screwing from full in to full out and vice-versa. That's where this little button comes in. Pressing it disconnects the ranging sleeve from the thumb wheel and allows it quickly slide up or down the barrel under its own weight so long as you maintain pressure on the button. Release it, and the thumbwheel is re-engaged locking the sleeve in the position it's been placed. It's a quick and easy way to set the rifle grenade's range in combat. Now, whether this button was intended to be used this way or, rather, simply as a way to quickly retract the ranging sleeve once you were finished using the launcher, I cannot say. Whatever the case, that's what it does.
Here's a closer view of the scope mounted to the rifle:
Just like the mount used on the German G43 rifle from WWII, this one employs a throw lever to lock the mount on the rail machined into the left side of the receiver on every MAS 49. With the lever on the mount swung to the forward position shown above, it's locked on the rail and ready for use. Swinging the lever to the rear releases the mount's grip on the rail and allows you to slide it to the rear and off the rifle. This quick detach mechanism is finely made so that repeated removal and reinstallation of the mount will cause no appreciable loss of accuracy.
It's important to note that there were no factory new MAS 49 or 49-56 marksman rifles produced. Some 49-56 rifles, once selected, were later sent to St. Etienne for upgrades, but even those rifles originally left the factory new as plain ol' 49-56 rifles. The pairing of a rifle to a scope was done in the field and the scope's user manual explains the process for selecting a rifle-scope assembly. Once paired, they were issued to one man who was responsible for it and considered a unit, never to be used for launching grenades again. I'm assuming the scope and rifle numbers were entered into the unit's logbook as being paired, but nothing was physically done to either the rifle or the scope to show that they were mated. So, there is no way to know whether your particular MAS 49 rifle was ever used with a scope when in service.
The mount has a curve to it so that the scope sits directly over the bore of the rifle. You can also use the rifle's standard sights with the scope mounted:
We'll continue in the next post.
