tube within the forend under the barrel. The leather carrying sling is attached to the left side of the rifle on a bar on the buttstock and on a loop on the middle barrel band. The aperture rear sight, mounted on the receiver bridge, is adjustable for elevation only—from 200 to 1200 meters.
The only variation of this rifle is the paratroop model, designated the MAS Model 1936 CR39 rifle. This model has a folding aluminum stock, hinged just forward of the trigger. When unlatched, it can be swung under and to the left of the forend. It weighs about 8 pounds. Both rifles are chambered for the 7.5mm French cartridge.
French M1936 MAS action, open.
The M1936 Action
The receiver of the French Model 1936 rifle is a box-like affair, or housing, with the entire magazine box made as an integral part of the steel forging. The magazine housing extends to the front of the receiver and is hollow forward of the front magazine wall. There is no receiver ring as such; the receiver housing is bored and threaded to receive the barrel shank instead. There is a complete ring of steel in the receiver against which the breech end of the barrel butts, and which surrounds the head of the bolt when it is closed. The ring is about ¼” wide and the bolt is enclosed to this depth.
The loading/ejection port begins at the rear of this ring and extends to the receiver bridge—an opening 2.925” long. When the bolt is open the breech end of the barrel and the chamber are clearly visible. The right side of the ejection port is cut down to the level of the cartridge guide lip of the magazine well, while the left side is cut slightly below the level of the top of the bolt, leaving a wall about ½” high. A thumb notch is cut into the rear of this left wall to aid in stripping cartridges from a clip when loading the rifle. Because the bolt diameter is quite large, the loading/ejection port is also, but this is not at all objectionable.
The receiver bridge, about 2.60” long, is unslotted. An integral raised strip is milled on top of the bridge to form a housing for the rear sight components. At the front of the receiver bridge is the clip charger guide.
The one-piece bolt, very rugged, is also quite large in diameter; .800” as compared to the Mauser and Springfield .700”, and the Mark V Weatherby .840”. The front of the bolt is recessed for the cartridge head. The only break in the recess is the narrow ejector slot and the cut for the extractor, about .320 ” wide. The extractor, made of spring steel, and about 2.80” long, is mortised and dovetailed into the bolt body. It has a sturdy beveled hook which easily slips over and engages the extractor groove in the cartridge head. A small round stud under the front of the extractor fits into a matching hole in the bolt; this prevents longitudinal movement of the extractor in the bolt.
The solid, dual-opposed locking lugs, about 1.75” from the rear of the bolt body, engage in dual raceways and shoulders milled inside the heavy receiver bridge. The raceways are inclined on the shoulder approaches and provides camming action to draw the bolt forward as the bolt is closed and the handle is turned down.
The bolt handle is an integral part of a collar at the rear of the bolt—the collar is also part of the bolt. The bolt handle stem is round and tapers to the round, hollow grasping ball—the stem is bent forward and down. When the bolt is closed, the collar closes all openings at the rear of the receiver. A raised portion on the collar is beveled to match a similar surface on the left rear of the receiver, and provides the initial extraction power on raising the bolt handle. On moving the bolt forward to close the action, these surfaces impart initial turning motion to the bolt.
The bolt is drilled from the rear to accept the one-piece hollow firing pin. The collar at the rear of the bolt is milled to accept the bolt closure button. This button has two lugs, and the inside of the collar is milled leaving shoulders and recesses so the button is locked in place when it is rotated after insertion. There is a rod projecting forward out of the bolt button and the small coil mainspring is compressed over this rod as it extends into the hollow firing pin.
The rear underside of the bolt body, just forward of the bolt collar, is milled to form a cocking cam surface. The cocking cam on the rear of the firing pin fits into this notch. The cocking cam extends below the bolt body into a groove cut into the receiver, and has a notch to engage the sear. On raising the bolt handle, the firing pin is forced back until the cocking cam slips onto a flat spot on the end of the camming surface. On closing the bolt, the sear engages the cocking cam and holds the firing pin back as the bolt is fully closed and locked.
The sear is positioned in a groove below the receiver bridge and is held in place by, and pivots on a pin. Tension is provided by a stiff coil spring. A projection on the rear of the sear protrudes through a hole in the receiver to engage the cocking cam of the firing pin. The trigger is pivoted on a pin in the sear.
Underside of M1936 MAS bolt showing: (A) twin gas vent holes in the bolt stop groove, (B) center gas vent hole, (C) dual-opposed locking lugs and (D) cocking cam.
The combination bolt-stop/ejector fits partially inside the sear, partially over the trigger, and pivots on the pin with the trigger. The front of the bolt-stop/ejector projects upward through a hole in the receiver and is provided upward tension by a small coil spring between it and the sear. A narrow inclined groove is cut into the bottom of the bolt, extending into the bolt face recess for the narrow ejector. A wider groove is cut beside it for the bolt-stop, but this groove ends abruptly about ¼” from the head of the bolt. The bolt-stop is released (to remove the bolt) by pulling the trigger back as far as it will go. The bolt-stop/ejector, riding in the grooves, also acts as a bolt guide when the bolt is operated and prevents the bolt from turning as it is drawn back.
Two gas vent holes in the front of the bolt-stop groove effectively take care of any gases that enter the firing pin hole by venting them rearward through the thumb notch in the left receiver wall. If this is not enough, there is another hole, in about the center of the bolt, to vent any gases getting back this far into the magazine. The firing pin, bolt and bolt button are constructed to make gas escape impossible through the rear of the bolt. There is no danger of the firing pin or button ever being blown out of the bolt.
The trigger guard bow is a separate part and a hook at the front engages a groove in the rear wall of the magazine box. The buttstock is clamped between the trigger guard bow and receiver by the guard screw threading into the receiver tang. The rear of the magazine housing is hollowed out slightly, and the tenon on the front of the buttstock fits into this hollow to help secure the stock to the receiver and prevent it from splitting.
As mentioned before, the four walls of the magazine box are an integral part of the receiver housing. The walls are quite thick (about .090”) and reinforced in spots. A machined, hollow floorplate fits in the bottom of the magazine box. It is held in place by a lip at the rear of the plate engaging in a groove in the magazine box and by a push-button latch on the front engaging in a groove at the front of the right magazine wall. A conventional steel follower and W-shaped follower spring are used. The ends of the spring are mortised into the follower and floorplate.
Operation
The MAS M36 rifle operates like most other staggered-column box magazine bolt-action rifles. The bolt handle is raised and drawn back to open the action. With the bolt open, the magazine is loaded by pressing single cartridges directly into the magazine, or placing a loaded stripper clip in the clip-charger and pressing the cartridges into the magazine. The bolt is then pushed forward, feeding the topmost cartridge from the magazine into the chamber. Turning the bolt handle down locks the cartridge in the chamber. The action is left cocked when the bolt handle is turned down, and pulling the trigger will release the firing pin to discharge the cartridge. The
