A friend of mine brought me this MAS 36 to check out. His uncle brought it back from Vietnam. It has seen better days but considering it's been through two wars it's in decent shape. It's a MAT 1948. I'm thrilled to get a chance to go over such an excellent piece of history. I'm currently cleaning up the metal a little to get the surface rust off. After a few brushes and patches I can actually see strong grooves in the bore. He wants it to be presentable enough to be a wall hanger. What would you recommend to perform on this rifle? Also, what parts from apex would we need to complete the rifle?
*It does have the front end cap just forgot to include it.
Thanks

Very cool......

Great rifle!  Been there, done that, oozes history rifle!   Ribbit!!!

Vendors were selling those new in the wrapper in the mid- eighties!  None with the history that critter has!

Ray

I unwrapped mine back in 1992 (I think), and just started building loads for it this year. Its been fun to shoot

As I commented in your thread on Gun Boards, please don't "clean" this rifle and especially please don't add any parts. Have your friend record and preserve any known history of his uncle and the rifle.

I know that most will disagree, but I speak as a collector of Vietnam militaria and bringback firearms who has been chasing after this material since the late '60s.

Thanks for your input! There will be no sanding or abrasion done at all. Simply preventing further deterioration is the goal. What type of preservative do you use for your firearms?

I would remove the rust to prevent further degradation and replace the furniture while holding the original wood in storage. It doesn't look to be in need of many parts except for a front band/sight hood and front band screw. It's of post-War Manufacture, so that simplifies the procurement of parts. Pre-War parts can be difficult or impossible to find. If you're going to swap out the furniture, be careful of removing metal like the buttplate. The wood could very well be rotten under there and removing the screws could turn it to shit. It would be safer to just get a new plate and screws. The forearm will come with the receiver hook already installed, so no need to worry about that.