MAS 36 Field Strip

Alex C. I say this with due respect,

You should've added the mas36 to your cult following video....I might go out on a limb and assume this is your favorite surplus platform hahaha. (no hate, it's a fine rifle Alex) on a curious note, how come we adopted the 1903 over the 1915 winchester lever action as they were already in production for Russian forces, and we were still hashing out the lawsuit with mauser ?(I might be mistaken on lawsuit times)I understand the battle of San Juan Hill, our guys were using krags, Spanish using 7mm Mausers. But what of the Turks using lever action rifles chambered in pistol calibers that laid waste to the Russians? it would be cool to see a story correlating the events as they were very close in time span.

I’ve always said the MAS-36 is under-appreciated. There are a few things that could have made it better.

First, instead of sweeping that bolt handle forward, they could have simply turned it straight down. That would put the knob approximately where the bolt knob is on a Lee-Enfield, whose ergonomics (and cock-on-close design) make it the fastest bolt action ever adopted by a military.

Second, the 5 round magazine of the MAS and Mauser platforms is inadequate for battle (the Lee-Enfield holds 10 rounds; 12 in the case of the Indian 2A/2A1 in 7.62 NATO). The Swiss were using 12 round magazines in 1889.

Speaking of 7.6x51, it’s a shame the engineers at St. Etienne couldn’t look 20 years into the future to foresee its development. That caliber would make these French rifles in high demand.

The last thing I would change would be the sights. A straight post front instead of the truncated pyramid, and a method of adjusting windage on the rear sight other than bending the barrel, or completely replacing the aperture .