Aside from the ridiculous price of 7.5 French ammo, what do you all think?

I have a chance to get a mint example, gorgeous wood, 4 mags, bayonet and frog, three boxes of ammo, grenade launcher (useless) for $310 shipped.

Share with me your wisdom oh insightful ones...

They are decent rifles.  I have all three versions of the MAS 49 rifle. They are decent shooters, but a little odd at first.

They don't handle like any other rifle, but are not hard to figure out.  Mine are all safe queens now eveen though I have a decent amount of surplus ammo.

Stay away from the .308 conversions, they are not reliable.
They are a good addition to your collection, but years from now, you wont opine about how great they were.

I have a decent Syrian variant. Superb shooter, but the ammo is stuff I've hoarded for a VERY long time. (Came on AAT-52 links..)

Handloading was a disappointing bust. The firing pin would slamfire even the hardest commercial primers, and I discovered that while not unplesant, or uncontrollable, a full auto MAS 49 is not condusive to accuracy.

Parts are all but impossible to find. I've made many to keep it shooting. On the bright side, the construction of these firearms is just slightly less massive than many battleships. You'll be hard pressed to damage, or wear out one of these.

If you must have a froggie self loader, you could do a lot worse.. They are unique, and in the early variants, capable of impressive accuracy.


Meplat-