This MAS 49/56 is chambered in 7.5x54mm French and is non-import marked. The rifle is
mechanically excellent, with a bright bore and strong rifling. It comes with three
magazines and the grenade launcher recoil pad, together with an accessories and spare
parts pouch holding a complete cleaning kit, a spare extractor, and a spare grenade
launcher piston ring spring.
The MAS 49/56 was built by the government arsenal Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Etienne
and served as the standard French service rifle from the late 1950s until the FAMAS
began replacing it in 1978, with the last examples withdrawn from service by 1990. It is
a semi-automatic rifle using direct impingement gas operation and a tilting bolt, fed by
a 10-round detachable box magazine, and it saw service in Algeria, Djibouti and French
Indochina among other deployments. The 49/56 shortened the earlier MAS-49 barrel from
580mm to 525mm and added a combination compensator and rifle grenade launcher for
NATO-standard 22mm rifle grenades, served by an integral grenade launching sight on the
front sight block and a gas cutoff. The recoil pad and the piston ring spring included
with this rifle belong to that grenade launching arrangement.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Etienne (MAS)
Country of origin: France
Model: MAS 49/56
Action: Semi-automatic, direct impingement gas operation, tilting bolt
Caliber: 7.5x54mm French
Magazine: 10-round detachable box
Bore: Bright
Rifling: Strong
Import mark: None (non-import marked)
Features: Combination compensator and rifle grenade launcher; integral grenade launching
sight; gas cutoff
Included: Three magazines; grenade launcher recoil pad; accessories and spare parts pouch
with complete cleaning kit, spare extractor, and spare grenade launcher piston ring spring
Mechanical condition: Mechanically excellent
