....that almost all MAS 36 rifles you see on the shelves are in perfect, unfired condition.

What does this tell you?

They were made between 1945 and 1952. That simple. The pre war ones that the Germans captured became tank bodies and kindling.

Those issued prior to June 1940 were NEVER intended to be fired anyway. At least not in the same way as, say a combat rifle, but only as a weapon of last resort for second and third echelon troops.

Intended as a rifle for second line units such as artillerymen or transport corps men to use the same ammunition as a self-loading rifle that was meant to be issued to the French infantry.

That rifle was never issued in fact in WWII AFAIK.

A "sort of" French equivalent of the M1 Carbine "cook's rifle". Of which I also expect few were fired in combat.

A "sort of" French equivalent of the M1 Carbine "cook's rifle". Of which I also expect few were fired in combat.[/QUOTE]

I suggest you check out some WWll combat footage.

I think our friend Gahunter was taking another poke at their military prowness.

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
A "sort of" French equivalent of the M1 Carbine "cook's rifle". Of which I also expect few were fired in combat.

I suggest you check out some WWll combat footage.

I think our friend Gahunter was taking another poke at French military prowness. I've seen some pretty beat up looking examples.

The "cook's rifle" headed to Tarawa.
There were no rear echelon troops with unfired weapons on Tarawa.

I thought the original Mas 36 rifles were issued to front line French troops in WWII.

Also did not some German occupation forces use them?

Weren't they used in the Algerian War as well as in early Indochina, and other Legionair actions?

quote:

front line French troops in WWII

Didn't know they had any.

Search for a square stamp with two digits on receiver. They have all being rearsenaled before being sold.

Edmond, congratulations on your perseverance, skill, proficiency and sense of humor; your replies to those frequent hostile/sarcastic posts are really remarkable

French sure like their cheese.

quote:

Originally posted by wildboar:
Edmond, congratulations on your perseverance, skill, proficiency and sense of humor; your replies to those frequent hostile/sarcastic posts are really remarkable

Let me see now. So, all that hot air is telling me that the French can't fight. Must mean that Napoleon used American troops, eh? Must have as he was fighting the British, Austrians, Russians and God only knows who else.

Oh wait! Those WERE French troops! So they must be able to fight when lead by officers that don't have their head where the sun doesn't shine. Like those guys left over from WWI who were leading the French Army and didn't understand the concept of mechanized forces coupled with air power.

We've had our defeats too, just not (mercifully) on our own soil.

Eric

Yeah, all those french rifles and weapons, absolute POS, I guess. Maybe that is why the Germans in WWII issued a nomenclature set for them and used them for a lot of troops - sort of makes you wonder if they were a lot smarter than some folks to openly concdemn them with no trial, no testing?



You can't just make this up although sometimes I wonder why bother? Have we not been down this road before?


There's a lot more but I don't have time to pull them now to prove the point.

quote:

Originally posted by enfieldspares:
Those issued prior to June 1940 were NEVER intended to be fired anyway. At least not in the same way as, say a combat rifle, but only as a weapon of last resort for second and third echelon troops.

Intended as a rifle for second line units such as artillerymen or transport corps men to use the same ammunition as a self-loading rifle that was meant to be issued to the French infantry.

That rifle was never issued in fact in WWII AFAIK.

A "sort of" French equivalent of the M1 Carbine "cook's rifle". Of which I also expect few were fired in combat.

The M1 carbine was issued to all company grade offficer and NCO personnel who were issued the M1911A1 prior to the advent of the carbine. Most of these carbines were indeed fired in combat! But many discovered that power was lacking, and acquired an M1 Garand as soon as they could......

I am sure the M1 carbines on Iwo got some use.

Trapper,

Those are some interesting photo's. I especially enjoyed the young Waffen SS soldier examining his Berthier. The Waffen SS usually got all the cast off, foreign firearms, yet they were the toughest, most formidable soldiers during the entire war.

Oh, so I'm not accused of favoritism, the 'Jagers were also one tough bunch of soldiers. However they didn't have the issue of fighting with "weird" weapons like the SS did.

Eric

An interesting little side note re the US GI carbine- this was very favored weapo by the Germans in WWII, possibly used more than anything other than the Soviet PPsH and the SVT semi auto rifle - certainly more than any other captured US arm. I would hardly call it a "cook's & Baker's rifle!'
Some examples:


And as for the Waffen SS getting all the left-over, cast off materials, I always thought that honor went to the Luftwaffe support troops, the ones that were armed with the 'SMELLIES' the Brits abazndoned at Dunkirk - wonder what kind of shape those rifes were in, vis a vis the French ones referenced to start this thread.
Must run, no more time to argue for now.