Friday, November 5, 2010

Things you know if you have a MAS-36:

It was last cleaned somewhere in the jungles of Viet Nam.

5 rounds in the magazine, no more.

Safety? Don't need a safety.

Your rifle does have a sling as a matter of fact.

Your bayonet is stowed in a tube under the barrel.

Your rifle is acceptable at typical combat ranges.

When out of ammo, you just reverse the bayonet under the barrel.

Recoil is easy to deal with.

Your sights are fixed.

You rifle has fought against the various Third World guerrilla movements in a vain effort to preserve your colonial empire and ultimately lost.

Your rifle didn't win anything.

You paid $200.

You buy French surplus ammo that they never used.

Your bayonet is good for sticking things and that's about it.

Service life, 25 years or so.

You look down your nose at people that deride the 7.5x55 French catridge.

Your rifle never breaks because no one fired it.

You consider it a badge of honor to actually fire your rifle.

After a not-so-long day at the range you relax with wine and cheese, and call the Americans to shoot your targets.

After cleaning your rifle you have a strong urge to make fun of Americans.

Your rifle's accessory is a bayonet that is stowed under the barrel.

Your rifle was designed by a committee.

Late at night, you have to resist the urge to go to outside and start building concrete fortifications.

2 comments:

  1. Yeah, the MAS-36 is really probably the most underrated bolt battle rifle ever made... ugly as sin and heavy as hell, but also completely indestructible and also a fairly clever design in some ways.

    I've seen one get run over by a five-quarter three times and not even lose zero.

    Legman688

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  2. Cracking cartridge too, much better than the .308!

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