I've been wanting to take my MAS 49/56 to the range for quite a while now. I have Mosins and a few SKS', but when I look at the 49/56, it just looks so cool. Not M-1 Garand cool, but cool none-the-less.
I bought it a few years back when they first hit the the vendors. It had all the accessories, neatly sealed in plastic bags, it was like Christmas when it arrived, all those presents to open AND a battle rifle as well! Yeah, I know, "French" and "Battle Rifle" may seem like an oxymoron, but that's what it was, and a well designed one too. Too bad the French bureaucracy hamstrung development of the modern autoloaders until after WW II. By the time the finely machined 49/56 (and MSE varient) was perfected, the rest of the world, militarily speaking, had moved on.
The MAS49/56. Pretty nice looking battle rifle.
This was what was included with each purchase. Pretty cool, eh?
The ammunition, Serbian prvi partizan 7.5x54, is expensive and hard to come by. I get chills with each pull of the trigger, and it's difficult not to have my head say; "That'll cost me. Where did the brass go?"
On Friday, I loaded up all my gear & headed for the only (county owned) range in Miami, the only place to shoot full power weapons. I set up at the table and finally pulled the MAS out of the rifle case. I can see one of the young Range staff give me 'The Eye'. I am also sure that if inanimate objects could turn green with envy, those run-of-the-mill AR 15s would be doing it. The young RO walks by; "Bolt open, sir." It won't lock back until a round has been cycled, so I have to stick a spent cartridge in the receiver until the range is called hot. I have ammo older than those RO kids. Hell, I have ammo older than me!
My purpose is to sight in my cheap scope, mounted on the B Square scope mount included with the rifle, and I also used the MAS slip-on recoil pad. These eyes ain't what they used to be, and neither are my shoulders. I am also using a rifle rest with a small sand-filled bag attached. My hope is to shoot in one of the monthly high power shoots. From what I understand, some of the shoots are restricted to military battle rifles & some are 'shoot-what-ya-brung.'
I guess it's just me, but why use a modern, bull barrel, tack-driver with a $1000, 60 power scope, when I can use a 50 year old French MAS 49/56 military auto loader, with a $39 scope.
Scope mounted. (This is not mine. Mine has a 3x9 variable.)
I want to get my shots on paper quickly, so I set my target at 50 yds. Two reasons: I won't need to waste a lot of ammo initially, and I can actually see any hits through the scope, and I don't feel like walking 100yds out & 100yds back. Oh, that's 3 reasons. See what happens when you get old.
I had a real job of cleaning that corrosive stuff the first time I shot it a couple of years ago, so I didn't want to use the military stuff. Trying to clean the gas tube was difficult and I didn't do a good job. I found out later when I decided to clean it again. Man, what a mess. I bought long pipe cleaners to clean it then, but it's not easy. At least I learned about the pipe cleaner trick, but I didn't want to go through that again. But then, a few weeks ago, I was reading an article that said basically, '....... you can shoot corrosive ammo, but close off the gas cut-off to keep the tube clean, and cycle the rounds manually...' What a good idea, why didn't I ever think of that? Use the military stuff to get on the paper, then go to the good stuff to finish up. So that's what I did.
There is a flash hider, and from what I have experienced, they greatly amplify the sound to people on either side of the muzzle blast. I remember when I first took it to the range. There was a guy 3-4 tables down, and I happened to see him staring at the MAS, and I think he winced. I asked, "Is this really loud to you?" He smiled, "It's pretty intense man."
But I digress.
This is the corrosive military surplus ammo.
Anyway, I loaded some military rounds, closed the gas block & took careful aim. This is a re-arsenaled weapon, and a 'clean' trigger break is not easy. I'll have to practice some more to see if I can feel the trigger. Using the shooting rest, I took aim, careful to center the crosshairs on the '10' ring, and squeezed the trigger......... it took a while ....... then ka-BOOOM! The recoil knocked the scope into my shooting glasses, not bad though. It's just something I expect. I checked the target to see a hole at about 5 O'clock off the black.
I manually cranked in another round....... ka-BOOOM! Another hole next to the first. After a total of 7 rounds, there was a cute little group of holes, some even touching one another. Wow, that was pretty good. I adjusted the scope and fired a few of the commercial rounds. There were a couple of fliers as I walked them in, but the holes were beginning to come together near the '10' ring. If I had better trigger control, I know I could do better, but I didn't get the chance. The sky turned dark, I saw a flash, then the range's lightning detector started blaring.
Over the speaker, the guy called the line cold & said for everyone to remain under the canopy, no one was allowed onto the range to check targets. We couldn't shoot either, so we sat & waited & waited for the all clear, which never came. It was getting late & I had to go, but I got a rain check.
The next time I go, I will move out to 100yds & try again. This MAS 49/56 is a hell of a lot of fun to shoot, it seems to be accurate, and there is no mistaking that the 49/56 it is a true military battle rifle, not a poseur dressed to look like one.
Thanks for looking.
