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Thread: * Common questions regarding Modèle 1936's ? *

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    * Common questions regarding Modèle 1936's ? *

    Question: What year was my rifle made ?
    Answer: Without taking the forearm and handguard off the receiver, which is refered to a question below, to find the date on the barrel, the simplest method it to use this guide ...
    Fusil Modèle 1936 (MAS 36) ... Serial number prefixes F, G, H, J, K, and L up to 45XX were all pre-war made. In 1945, the Frenchicon restarted where they left off in June of 1940 ... L4600, the rest of the L series were manufactured in either 1945 or 1946. M, N, P,and Q were finished off by 1950. They then went to block letters: FG, FH, and FJ and so on until 1957 .
    Fusil Modèle 1936 Crosse Repliable 1939 (MAS 36 C.R.39) ... These were a conversion of the Fusil Modèle 1936 and will have various serial number prefixes F, G, H, J, K, and L.
    Fusil Modèle 1936 Lance-Grenades 1948 (MAS 36 LG48) ... These were only made at the arsenal in the "FG" series in 1950 and 1951, many are conversions and are stamped "L.G. 48" after the designation on the receiver .
    Fusil Modèle 1936-1951 (MAS 36/51) ... Used block Letters, F and up starting in 1951 and ending in 1962.

    Question: What series is my MAS 36, I can not read the French script on the receiver ?
    Answer: See chart below



    Question: I noticed that my MAS 36 is counter-barreled about a quarter inch on the inside of the bore. Is this part of the refurb process or the way they were made? Does it affect the accuracy of the rifle?
    Answer: All MAS 36 counter-bored barrels were factory built that way, these originally intended for the rifles to be used for grenade launching (MAS 36 LG48), it was extended to the whole production, so a standard rifle could be transformed into a dedicated grenade launcher by only swapping parts.
    These counterbored barrels have a large G stamped on the left side ahead of the front sight, they are found on all MAS 36 rifles built after 1948 starting with the Q series and can also be found on earlier production rifles rebarreled in the 60's.
    The counter-boring doesn't affect the rifles accuracy

    Question: Should I remove the forearm/hanguard from the rifle to check for the date it was built or for cleaning ?
    Answer: No, If you remove the forarm/handguard of your rifle to check the barrel date and/or condition you will need to shoot a few rounds after re-assembly before your rifle accuracy is restored, providing you retighten the screws exactly as they were. This is why the military designers went for these type of slotted screws: Mas 36 rifles had to be checked at the range to confirm that they would shoot at point of aim or adjusted after any work involving the furniture removal, hence the interdiction for the ordinary French soldier to take off the furniture for rifle cleaning.

    Question: Is there any where that I can find the tool that you take off the barrel bands with ? Why did the French make screws like this ?
    Answer: You will have to modify a flat-tip srewdriver to make this tool as these tools are very uncommon to find here in the U.S.iconA. Below is the dimensions to make these special tools
    These screws were made this way so that the ordinary French soldier could not take that part off the weapon which was only to be done by the armourers at a main armament facility. (See above question as well)



    Question: How to correctly make Sight Adjustments to MAS 36's ?
    Answer: The correct way of adjusting a Mas 36 is by replacing its rear sight leaf by another one with the peep hole drilled off center. There should be a letter or several signs stamped on the top of the rear sight leaf, indicating if it is centered or offset.

    Value of offset
    N = 0 (centered)
    -4 or +4 = bring the group 135mm down or up at 200M
    -8 or +8 = bring the group 270mm down or up at 200M
    D4 or G4 = move the group 135mm to the right or to the left at 200M
    D8 or G8 = move the group 270mm to the right or to the left at 200M

    D = Droite/Right, G = Gauche/Left

    For the post WWII rifles there are 24 different rear sight leaf available for adjustment beside the N sight and only 8 for the pre WWII models. As for any modification to the fit of the barrel in the forend and handguard, it is best to leave it as is was designed unless you are very experimented in tuning rifles




    Question: What is the diameter of the peep hole on the rear sight of a MAS 36?
    Answer: 1.6mm

    Question: Why is there no safety on the MAS 36 or any of French bolt action rifles ?
    Answer: The French military theory of why no safety was used was based upon the Volley Fire theory, which basically states that the soldier loaded and fired his weapon to the commands of the officers as a single group instead of individually. Basically the soldier was to load his magazine prior to engaging the enemy, then chamber the round immediately upon engagement and continue reloading and firing it until the end of the action. Once all firing ceased the chamber was cleared of any rounds and then the magazines were replenished. The French soldier was taught by very strict instruction you cycle the bolt back and forth twice once the last round was fired and each and every time you did this you looked into the chamber to see if any cartridges are in the chamber. If any cartridges are in the chamber doing this he was severly punished for it. The French also believed that a safety was useless on military rifles as the soldier with wet, dirty, etc. hands could possibly have a hard time taking the safety off and thus getting himself killed while trying to do so.

    Question: I noticed that the refurbished followers have a bolt stop while the non-refurbished ones do not. Which follower came first and when did they switch?
    Answer: The magazine follower without a bolt open feature is pre-WWII and follower with a bolt open feature is a post- WWII modification. If any pre-war MAS 36's that went through the re-furbishment had the later style followers added.

    Question: What type of finish was used on the metal of MAS 36's ?
    Answer: Black paint was used until the early 1950's on production rifles and they used a Iron type phosphated finish under the paint which was not evenly applied, since it was going to be painted and varnished. They did not try to get an even coating but just enough to etch the metal so that the paint would adhere properly. The latest series that has been observed with black paint is the "P" series in 1949, along with a couple of early "Q" series guns from the same year. Heavy Zinc-Phosphate was used after 1950. Full parkerizing began sometime in 1950.

    Question: I have a MAS 36 in .308 were these converted by the French, if not by whom ?
    Answer: NO ... These conversions were done by Century Arms, Inc. to make them more appealing to the American shooter.
    Most of these conversions were badly done by them ranging from bad chambers to improperly putting the forearm/handguard on the receiver.
    There were a few legitimate French conversion MAS 36's to use the .308 cartridge but 99% of these have remained in France and very few, if any, were exported to the U.S.A. Most of these were to build the FR-F2 Sniper platform.
    Information
    Warning: This is a relatively older thread
    This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

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    Thread Starter
    Question: What is the minimum and maximum chamber size in a Fusil Modèle 1936 (MAS 36) as well as bore diameter and groove diameter ?
    Answer: See charts below

    Chamber minimum size


    Chamber maximum size


    Bore diameter : minimum = 7.50mm, maximum 7.54mm
    Grooves diameter : minimum 7.80mm, maximum 7.83mm


    Cartridge Dimensions

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    Thread Starter
    Question: How do you use the grenade launcher on the Fusil Modèle 1936-1951 ?
    Answer: The launcher sight is locked at 45° to shoot anti-personnel grenades at various ranges from 100 to 400 meters which has 20 meter increment adjustments, range then was adjusted by moving the sliding range ring to the proper distance, the rifle is then lined up with the target by using the front and rear sights located on the left of the launcher sight in which the shooter must keep the sight horinzontal for the range to be correct.
    For direct shooting of anti-tank or multi-purpose grenades, the sight is locked at 90° making sure the sliding range ring is all the way down, the rifle is then sighted with the tip of the grenade lined up with the target using the correct distance chevron on the sight. For anti-tank grenades you use the 100M, 75M and 50M chevrons and for multi-purpose grenades you use the 120M chevron.

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    Question: How do I tighten a loose forend to the barreled assembly?
    Answer: As the wood has shrunk a bit over time, the best way to restore a tight fit of the forend to the barreled assembly, you will need to insert one or several shim plates under the steel hook connecting the back of the forend to the front of the receiver. To remove the steel hook (item R), undo the two screws (M) holding the hook to the forend wood, if the back plate (N) is stuck to the wood, leave it there, it doesn't matter. Use the two screws to pull the hook straight off the wood, it's a tight fit and any motion but straight will damage the wood. Cut several shims as in (P) of 0.2mm thickness to fit at the bottom of the recess cut in the wood , position the hook over the shims in the wood recess and tighten it up.
    Position your shimmed forend in place, get the hook in the receiver and rotate the forend up. You will have a good fit when you need to apply some force to bring the forend in contact with the barrel from say 15° away from the horizontal. A tight fit is paramount to a good accuracy, the armorers used shims on both the forend and stock fit the the assembly. The forend should be in contact with the barrel at both ends only and the handguard should contact the barrel only under the middle band.


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    Just picked up a very near mint MAS 36 today, I had it on lay buy for the last few months, just scraped the cash together and it's a beauty. I see no signs of it being used at all. It's probably unfired and the only blemish is a very small scratch to the butt. It's parkerized so I guess it's late production. I'll check the numers and prefix to get the date of manufacture and post some pics over the weekend. I'm not particularly a collector of this stuff, but I couldn't go past it in it's condition. An absolute ripper! BTW I noticed the floor plate had a differnt sn to the bolt and receiver, hard to believe it's a retrofit, it this common?

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    I'm very proud to present...

    My new rifle. Sadly as it appears unfired, and I have no desperate need, I think I'll leave this one unfired, but what a beauty!

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    Thanks for reviving the thread, I don't think I've seen it before!

    But why not a new one just for your nice rifle?

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    Just so I understand correctly, my rifle shoots high and to the right. Would I need a -8G8 or a +8D8? Thanks for the help!

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