It's like riding a Vespa.

[Blicero]

I have 3 gun-hunting routes. On one of my favorite routes I pass through a town that I know has a shop but I've always marched past it on the interstate. Finally I decided to give it a gander, and I'm glad (or slightly ashamed) that I did. I had a feeling I was walking into something interesting when I saw this out front:






The shop is a small operation, and they had recently brought in a handful of old stuff- Finn m91, '37 Luger 2nd variation with wrong grips, Chinese SKS, Mas 49/56, a St. Etienne Lebel or Berthier or Whatever The Heck They're Called, a really nice Enfield No1/3, Turked 1888 Commission rifle, and the Mas rifle I eventually bought. I wanted to package in the Finn & Enfield but their bores were disasters, unfortunately. It's rare to see such an eclectic mix in my small backwoods shops so I was still happy just to handle them.

I managed to finagle this French Mas 44 out the door. I'm first to admit that I know nothing about French rifles, care nothing for French rifles, and have zero interest in studying the trivia of French rifles. But I figured it might be fun to shoot, I just need to stock on up on some 7.5croissant ammo. I did learn a few things about it, thanks to the world wide web of wisdom, before I got bored and moved on. It was made in 1954, the final days of military bolt guns. Sling looks original French. The only charming or well made or interesting feature I can readily find is the bayonet, it's quite the fearsome contraption, and how it is stored reversed inside the stock.

[Greasemonkey]

Its a MAS 36 you finagled out the door.

[carls sks]

interesting (cool looking too), thanks for sharing.   ......  French rifle, probably never shot.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Wonder which one of these guns pictured has ever been shot in anger....   

More info on the cannon please... 

[Phosphorus32]

Very nice!  The Parkerized ones in new or like new beechwood stocks were produced post-war (like yours) or a product of the refurbishment program in the 1970s that returned them to near perfect condition before storage in Cosmoline.  The pre-war produced rifles were in walnut stocks with black painted metal, similar to the hard black paint, Suncorite, found on Lee-Enfield No4 Mk1s.  These are nice shooters in 7.5x54 French approximating the ballistics of 7.62 NATO.

Sounds like a good shop    I never see that kind of diversity of milsurps in my neck of the woods.