I've been considering one of these rifles for quite a while and recently went ahead with it.  The main reason I wanted one was simple curiosity.  Over time, I have built up a fair number of old French parts manuals for these rifles and they document parts such as firing pins, locking shoulders, bolt, etc., changing over time and looking at hand drawings in these manuals can only take you so far.  What I really need for my personal research are actual physical examples of the various parts for hands on comparison.  I have one of the French issue MAS 49's but, like most French rifles, it had undergone an arsenal refurbishment before going into storage.  At that time, a lot of the earlier pattern parts had been replaced with newer ones which is fine, but I still wanted to get my hands on one with the earlier pattern parts.  The only practical way for that to happen was to rustle up one of the rifles made for the Syrian army in 1953 so, here we are:



At top is the French army pattern MAS 49 with the Syrian pattern below:

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OOPS!  Camera strap in the frame above.  Sorry about that.

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If you know anything about these rifles, you know that part of the refurbishment process was replacing the walnut stock parts with beech.  While I'm sure there are still a few French pattern 49's out there with their original walnut bits, the most practical way to get one with the original walnut is to buy a Syrian jobber.





Generally, but not always, the Syrian rifles have matching exterior serial numbers with the internal serial numbers mismatched and this rifle is no exception.  That doesn't matter to me though as they are still earlier pattern parts.  I have seen people list their rifles as "all matching" and there may be some like that but I have not yet seen photographic proof of this.  I would like to though so, if you have one, please post it.  

?The matching parts are:

    —  The receiver:

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    —  The forend:

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    —  The trigger group:

 

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    —  The stock:

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The stock is also stamped on the right side with the month and year of acceptance for service.  In this case, it appears to be July of 1953:

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The last two digits of the serial number were also originally stamped on the end of the bayonet.  Sometimes they match but most times they don't.  In this case, it isn't stamped at all, telling me this is not the bayonet it left the factory with:

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My thinking was better unmarked than mismatched.  



Upon removal, I was surprised to find out that it wasn't a MAS 49 bayonet at all.  Rather, it's one (presumably an armorer's replacement part) from a MAS 36 CR 39.  These are about two inches shorter than a standard spike bayonet as illustrated below compared to one from a MAS 44 rifle:

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My assumption is that the rifle was imported without a bayonet and someone here in the States stuck this one in the socket.  As the original bayonet was just a standard MAS 36 type, I'm happy to have this one.



The two compared showing typical variation in the knurling.  The CR39 is at the bottom.  Notice that it has an idiot hole near the catch which will provide a way to separate two rifles in case some nitwit should find it funny to click two rifles onto the same bayonet:

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I had never actually handled Syrian 49 before this and I wondered why their cocking knobs seemed to hold up better than the ones on MAS 44 rifles when they look almost identical in pictures.  Now that I have one, the answer has revealed itself.  The one on the 44 was plastic and the one on the 49, while checkered like the 44 and fastened to the charging handle in the same manner as the 44, is made of nylon.  part of the refurbishment of the French issue rifles would include replacing this checkered handle with a ribbed nylon part that was fastened to the charging handle by a simple split pin.

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Time and the Syrians were not kind to most of these rifles and some are in pretty rough shape these days.  I picked this one because, while obviously well used, it seems to have been taken care of as well.  It has a nice bore and the only pitting I could find was on the stacking rod.  The rear sight surfaces that were polished at the factory still retain much of their luster:

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The same can be said of the range scale on the grenade launcher:

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The bore is still very nice too:

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It appears they were originally made with a slight counterbore, something I had wondered about.  Now I know:

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Strange how only the stacking rod has pitting:

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Maybe it's a forged part that wasn't cleaned up?  I don't know.  Do you?



The red paint on the rear of the front sight:

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This is also on my MAS 44's (which haven't been refurbished) but it is not present on my refurbished 49 because they never reapplied it after rework.





The breech showing some funk I neglected to clean out of there:

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That's all for now.  This wasn't intended to be any sort of deep discussion on the rifle.  Rather, just a quickie to illustrate some things I had wondered about before I finally found one I liked.  Eventually, I plan on doing an in-depth side by side comparison of the reworked French 49 to the original configuration Syrian 49.  I think that would be a useful resource for collectors and it would be fun to do.  So, that's all for now and, as always, post up some pictures of your MAS 49, I think we'd all enjoy that.   Bye for now!

Cool, I have F38998.
I always thought the front site red paint was fingernail polish added later.

Thanks for posting! I have several Berthier lebels, mas36’s and mas49/56’s. The French gave the world some remarkable weapons technology like smokeless powder. It can even be argued they inspired Stoner in his development of the weapon system we all know and love. I have some wonderful 7.5 mas Syrian ammo. It was stored under questionable conditions and is always an adventure to fire.

No sir, they left the factory painted.  Please post a picture of your painted sight.  That's why I post this stuff, to spread the knowledge and engage with others in learning.  

Here's the front sight on one of my 44's:

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Screwy computer made a dupe.  Sorry about that.

Screwy computer made a dupe.  Sorry about that.

Yes sir.  The French were far more innovative than they're given credit for.

I'd like to add a short addendum to this thread.  I just recently found an oil bottle from the Middle East that was clearly French made. The spout and cap are completely interchangeable with the standard French issue bottles and, while shaped slightly different, all of the construction materials are the same. Of course, I have absolutely no proof that these were supplied with the MAS 49's as France sold an assortment of firearms to various Middle Eastern countries but that doesn't change the fact that it's a neat little item.

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