I've been trying to get a MAS for a while now. I need that and a Lebel from WWI. Missed a Lebel at last weekends gun auction because I didn't stick around and I figured it would go high, it went for $75 of course. Ammo for the MAS will be hard to get, it does not have a safety, there are plenty of like new specimens around that they shouldn't be getting much of a premium for them, some idiot at the local gun auction keeps bidding them up higher than they are worth, done it to two now. Pre German occupation commands a premium, sometimes a stiff one but the trade off is they are usually not in like new condition. The bayonet fits inside the rifle and should be with it at time of purchase. Most have been reconditioned, the rifles, not the bayonets. Odd looking little thing with the forward bolt. But if you want WWII rifles from each nation, you have to get it. $300 is the max for a like new post German occupation rifle. Might be more for a not like new pre Germanyicon occupation rifle, not a lot more but maybe $50-$75. Better condition pre occupation could bring up to $450.

If you want to get the dirt and grease out of the stock to lighten it, use some citri-strip on it. Won't hurt the laminate, I used harsher stuff on mine. Three applications with scrubbing and washing in between should lighten it up. I do remember sanding mine some because the Russians seemed to sand everything across the grain rather than with it and I wanted it done with the grain. It also got rid of the fuzzys. I didn't sand any further than to get rid of the previous sanding marks.