I'd like to show you a neat little accessory you don't see very often, a night sight device that cool be attached to any French rifle with a 15mm barrel.  That would be the standard MAS 36 rifle, the CR39, and the LG48.  It could also be used on the MAS 44 and 49, both standard issue and the Syrian export model.

I should be clear that the title of the thread is not what the French called this thing.  It's listed in the 1963 Second Edition MAS 36 Technical Manual simply as the "Night Sight Device".   In the 1961 First Edition Nomenclature book covering all small arms then in use by the French army it is differentiated from the one for the MAS 49-59 by a different stock number (159-111 312 100) and a brief description noting that it is for arms with a 15mm outside diameter barrel.  It also lists the weapons it can be used on.  The case for it is the same one used for the 49-56 night sight.


This little guy works just like the one you so often see on the MAS 49-56.  You simply slide it over the end of the barrel, align the sights on it with the rifle's iron sight, and tighten down the big wingnut on the left side, thus clamping it to your barrel:

And BLAMMO!!!  Just like a modern pistol or rifle with tritium sights, your little French buddy now has luminous sights for low light or night conditions up to 100 yards.  


Notice that the sights on it sit higher than the rifle's sights:



Here's a closeup of the rear sight dated April 8, 1958:

Originally, the two squares would have glowed but they are long dead.  Period manuals go into some detail about precautions to be observed when using and storing these as they were radioactive.  They might be tritium but, based on their age, I'm assuming it is either radium or promethium.  As near as I can tell, you are looking through a small plate of glass, behind which is the radioactive bit.  After the luminous tablet is in place, they filled in behind it with some sort of glue to hold everything in place.  


Here's a view of the other side:

You can clearly see where the squares holding the luminous wafers/tablets/thingees were filled in with gloopstick.  The screw is used to adjust windage and above it you can see an adjustment scale for zeroing the thing.  You just loosen the screw a bit and move the sight side to side by hand until you get it where you want it. Then, you tighten the screw.  Interestingly, there is nothing to index the sight to the rifle when you're installing it so every time you remove it and reinstall it, you're going to lose zero.  Those wacky French!


The front sight is adjustable for elevation:

It is also dated April 8, 1958.  Notice that the luminous part is rectangular instead of square as found on the rear sight.  This is to help you line them up properly.  On the MAS 49-56, the front sight glowed a different color than the rear sight, further helping you to line them up properly.  Whether that was true of this sight, I do not know at this time.  What I do know, is that, other than markings, the sights on this model are identical to those on a 49-56 night sight and they are interchangeable.  


The other side of the front sight showing the adjustment scale and two screws that must be loosened for adjustment:

As with the rear sight, the screws only lock the sight in place on the sight base.  They in no way move the sight up or down; that's done by the user after loosening the screws.  


Here's a detail shot of the thumbscrew used to clamp the device to the barrel:



A rear view of the device showing the method used to clamp it to the barrel:



Here, we've removed the tightening screw and washer from the sight:



The first hole the screw passes through is not threaded but the second one is:

The picture makes it look like the threads are stripped but that's just my poor photographic skills.  The threads are fine.


Front bottom view of the device:

What you are looking at is ears that are part of the front sight base wrapping around the sight tube.  They are then spot welded in place.  The same is true for the rear sight base.


Top view mounted on a rifle:

Notice that the tube flares out slightly as it goes forward.


?Compared to the night sight used on the MAS 49-56 and 1936 M51 rifles:



Sight adjustment and method of entire device attachment to a rifle on early 49-56 night sights was accomplished exactly as we see on this sight.  However, a May of 1965 Technical Bulletin details the method of modifying existing 49-56 night sights to the form we are used to seeing.  Although I'm certain there have to be a few floating around out there somewhere, I have yet to find one.  Here's the drawing from the bulletin:

The drawings up top show the early attachment to rifle and sight adjustment methods as seen on the sight we're studying today. At the bottom, are the updated methods.

Alrighty, we're done with this little guy.  I have never seen one of these documented online so I figured I ought to do so while I'm still breathing.  Hopefully, you've learned something today!

Cool post, OP.