Название | Bolt Action Rifles |
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Автор произведения | Wayne Zwoll |
Жанр | Изобразительное искусство, фотография |
Серия | |
Издательство | Изобразительное искусство, фотография |
Год выпуска | 0 |
isbn | 9781440224065 |
French Model 1936 MAS rifle chambered for the 7.5mm French cartridge. Like the Lebel, this rifle has a two-piece stock.
The number of models, variations and transformations of rifles and carbines based on the Berthier action are too many to list here. Starting with the very old Gras action, we have seen how France used this basic turnbolt system with various types of magazines of Kropatschek, Lebel and Berthier designs. This brings us to the last version, a turnbolt action fitted with a Mauser-type staggered-column magazine. These rifles (there are about three different variations) are known as the French Model 1934.
French M1936 MAS action.
The Model 1934 French Rifle
I have to backtrack a bit here. In 1929, France developed a modern rimless military cartridge for light machine gun use—it was difficult to make or adapt any machine gun to handle the rimmed 8mm Lebel cartridge. The new cartridge, a rimless, bottlenecked case loaded with a 7.5mm bullet, is known as the 7.5mm French Ml929C, 7.5x54mm French MAS or as the 7.5mm MAS. It was almost impossible to use the old 8mm Lebel cartridge in anything but a tubular or single-column magazine and, since the prospects for continued peace looked poor, the French officials decided to adapt the Model 1907/15 rifle (a Berthier variation) to this new cartridge.
This was done by fitting the old receiver with a box magazine wide enough to hold a staggered-column of five 7.5mm cartridges. The bottom of the magazine box has a detachable floorplate which fits in place and is held closed by a spring-loaded plunger— like the M98 Mauser. The magazine well opening in the receiver was milled so integral cartridge guide lips remain—also like the Mauser system. A follower, with a rib on one side and set on a W-shaped follower spring, completed the magazine. Notches were then milled in the front of the receiver bridge slot to accept a stripper clip—so the magazine could be loaded quickly. Other necessary things were done with the action to handle the 7.5mm cartridge. The barrel and action were set into a one-piece stock, and the result was the Model 1934—the year in which it was adopted.
The outside appearance of the M34 is not too unlike the three-shot Berthier, except that it does not have quite as much belly. At best, the new rifle was only a makeshift stop-gap affair, practically obsolete before it was made. Probably not too many M34s were made—they are rare in the U.S., hence of considerable interest to the collector.
The MAS Model 1936
A year or so after the 7.5mm French cartridge was introduced, French ordnance began to develop a new shoulder arm for it. Discarding all previous turnbolt rifle designs, they devised an entirely new action system in 1932, and that rifle is the MAS M-1932. A limited number of M32s were made for testing, and after four years (with a number of modifications) the final version was approved and adopted as the MAS Model 1936. The development work was done in France’s largest arms making city, St. Etienne, by the Manufacture d’Armes St. Etienne, of which “MAS” is an abbreviation. It was the latest and the best military bolt-action rifle adopted and made by France.
French MAS Model 1936
(Uses French 7.5mm cartridges)
General Specifications
Type . . . . . . . . .Turn-bolt repeater.
Receiver . . . . . .One-piece, machined steel forging with integral magazine box. Non-slotted bridge. Two-piece stock.
Bolt . . . . . . . . . .One-piece, with dual-opposed locking lugs at rear. No safety lug.
Ignition . . . . . . .One-piece hollow striker powered by coil mainspring. Cocks on opening bolt.
Magazine . . . . .Staggered-column box magazine made integral with receiver. Five-shot capacity. Quick-detachable floorplate.
Trigger . . . . . . .Non-adjustable double-stage military pull.
Safety . . . . . . . .None provided.
Extractor . . . . . .One-piece flat spring extractor mortised into bolt.
Magazine cutoff None provided.
Bolt-stop . . . . . .Pivoting type engages in groove at bottom of bolt.
Ejector . . . . . . .Pivoting type integral with bolt-stop.
The MAS M36 rifle weighs about 8.25 pounds, has a 22.6” round, stepped barrel and is 49.13” overall. The buttstock, held in place by a single screw, is very short. The distance from buttplate to trigger is only 12.62”. A separate forend (extending to within 5” of the muzzle) and the full-length wooden handguard are held to the barrel by two bands. A metal hook, attached to the rear of the forend, engages in a recess at the front of the receiver and holds the forend assembly against the receiver. The M36 is fitted with a skewer-type bayonet carried reversed in a tube within the forend under the barrel. The leather carrying sling is attached to the left side of the rifle on a bar on the buttstock and on a loop on the middle barrel band. The aperture rear sight, mounted on the receiver bridge, is adjustable for elevation only—from 200 to 1200 meters.
The only variation of this rifle is the paratroop model, designated the MAS Model 1936 CR39 rifle. This model has a folding aluminum stock, hinged just forward of the trigger. When unlatched, it can be swung under and to the left of the forend. It weighs about 8 pounds. Both rifles are chambered for the 7.5mm French cartridge.
French M1936 MAS action, open.
The M1936 Action
The receiver of the French Model 1936 rifle is a box-like affair, or housing, with the entire magazine box made as an integral part of the steel forging. The magazine housing extends to the front of the receiver and is hollow forward of the front magazine wall. There is no receiver ring as such; the receiver housing is bored and threaded to receive the barrel shank instead. There is a complete ring of steel in the receiver against which the breech end of the barrel butts, and which surrounds the head of the bolt when it is closed. The ring is about ¼” wide and the bolt is enclosed to this depth.
The loading/ejection port begins at the rear of this ring and extends to the receiver bridge—an opening 2.925” long. When the bolt is open the breech end of the barrel and the chamber are clearly visible. The right side of the ejection port is cut down to the level of the cartridge guide lip of the magazine well, while the left side is cut slightly below the level of the top of the bolt, leaving a wall about ½” high. A thumb notch is cut into the rear of this left wall to aid in stripping cartridges from a clip when loading the rifle. Because the bolt diameter is quite large, the loading/ejection port is also, but this is not at all objectionable.
The receiver bridge, about 2.60” long, is unslotted. An integral raised strip is milled on top of the bridge to form a housing for the rear sight components. At the front of the receiver bridge is the clip charger guide.
The one-piece bolt, very rugged, is also quite large in diameter; .800” as compared to the Mauser and Springfield .700”, and the Mark V Weatherby .840”. The front of the bolt is recessed for the cartridge head. The only break in the recess is the narrow ejector slot and the cut for the extractor, about .320 ” wide. The extractor, made of spring steel, and about 2.80” long, is mortised and dovetailed into the bolt body. It has a sturdy beveled hook which easily slips over and