I bought this off a board member and finally had a chance to take it to the range. A 1953 French MAS36 in original 7.5 French. I had been looking for one of these to nearly complete my WWII bolt action collection. Although not WWII production I decided to go with this example as it was in very good, unfired condition. I like the carbine length and very easy to use sights. I put 40 7.5X54 Privi rounds through her yesterday and was pleased. A solid 3" grouping at 50 yards using 10 rounds. I really want to try her with cast boolits. I will probably start out using a Lyman 308334, 188grn over 17 grns of 2400. Same load I started out with on my K31.

_________________
No. 4 Savage Enfield
1938 RC/K98
Russian M44
Russian M91/30's
91/41 Italian Carcano
Japanese Type 99
M95 Carbine
French MAS36
Swiss K31
Russian SKS

http://www.dabson.us/milsurp
http://www.dabsonastronomy.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/connysstainedglass

As a former AF guy (S.A.C.) let me say hello! There is a lot of good info in the French rifle forum on the MAS 36. I've found mine to be fun to shoot and pretty accurate (for my eyes at least). The rear sights on these are also better for me than the barrel mounted jobs on most of my other milsurps.
I had mine out awhile back and was able to put most of the 25 rounds of PRVI in the black despite a heavy trigger pull and trying to find a good hold point for 100 yards. I think if you reload you will do much better.

Best condition I've ever seen. I really like that matte gray finish too. Nice find.

Dan: Glad you like it! I found that one and several others years ago at a local gun show. They were selling the mint unissued examples for same price as the reconditioned rebuilds. I had to go thru a stack of them to find the new ones, but it was worth the trouble to obtain these examples...One thing about the unissued new guns, is the sights are not monkeyed with, the French Arsenal installed the correct sight, using an optical method, and for some reason, the rebuilds always seem to have problems, but the new ones do not. I have no idea why this so....

Dale

_________________
If those little Sweethearts won't face German bullets, then they'll face French ones!
George McReady in Paths of Glory 1955

I know mine is a very good shooter, it like the Prvi stuff also.

_________________
Let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose.
A 9mm might expand, but a .45 won't shrink.