A rare showing.

I bought the cartridge adapters 20 or more years ago from a company called Alex. No idea if they are still in business.
Alex, Inc.
P. O. Box 3034
Bozeman, MT 59772
Bought ones for 7.5 French, 7.5 Swiss (?), 7.62 x 54R, 8MM Mauser, 7.62 x 39, 30/30, 303 British, 30/40 Krag, 308, 30/06.

I've got a pair of MAS-36s, a 49/56 in.308 that I fire using 7.62 CETME ammo and using an adjustable gas vent and a GSA-sporterized MAS-36.
Fun guns!

shuvelrider said:

You should try a MAS 49/56 semi in 7.5 French. That rifle is more stout than the MAS-36, a good bark at the muzzle to make other shooters want to take a look. I had two MAS-36 rifles in the past, more impressed with the 49/56.

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Just watch out shooting commercial Prvi Partisan and maybe other type of ammo. As the MAS 49/56 can detonate the softer commercial primers while chambering a round. They sell titanium firing pins to avoid such an event. Just something to watch out for.

The French MAS rifles had the benefit of looking over a lot of great rifle designs and then designing their rifles, I think they got a lot right on the MAS 36 and MAS 49/56. They are very handy and with a potent round.

Just looked up Alex, Inc, Bozeman, MT on the web, on another board a member said he passed away in 2007.
No successor company. There is McAce, now MCA Sports Ace, don't know if he does any custom work

Any of the French rifles have jumped recently in value, no more will be brought in, and now people want them. MAS-36 are holding their own at 4-600, then figure in the later variants for a complete collection. Many were arsenal refurbished and stored away for future use, which is why many of them look so clean. Not because of that dumbass remark ignorant fudds like to repeat. The Italian Carcano's are hot in popularity also at the moment.

BreechFace said:

Just watch out shooting commercial Prvi Partisan and maybe other type of ammo. As the MAS 49/56 can detonate the softer commercial primers. They sell titanium firing pins to avoid such an event. Just something to watch out for.

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I reload for my rifles, have a good recipe for the 49/56 so it cycles well. Never a trouble with the firing pin, I use standard CCI primer.

BLACKHAWKNJ said:

I bought the cartridge adapters 20 or more years ago from a company called Alex. No idea if they are still in business.
Alex, Inc.
P. O. Box 3034
Bozeman, MT 59772
Bought ones for 7.5 French, 7.5 Swiss (?), 7.62 x 54R, 8MM Mauser, 7.62 x 39, 30/30, 303 British, 30/40 Krag, 308, 30/06.

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Those to 7.5's would be awesome to have now! I might email MCA about the chances.

I currently have adapters for .32 H&R-to-.303 British, -30-06 and -8x57 (accuracy with the latter is just so-so due to the oversize .323" bore) and have 7.62x54R on back order. They are a workaround that I use at my local indoor range to shoot old milsurps on their pistol range.

I've had pretty good results shooting these in my '03 Springfield, P-14 and No.4 Lee Enfield at 15 yards.

BreechFace said:

Just watch out shooting commercial Prvi Partisan and maybe other type of ammo. As the MAS 49/56 can detonate the softer commercial primers while chambering a round. They sell titanium firing pins to avoid such an event. Just something to watch out for.

Click to expand...

Here's a link to another workaround to this issue: https://murraysguns.com/product/mas-4956-firing-pin-kit/

Dave DeLaurant said:

Here's a link to another workaround to this issue: https://murraysguns.com/product/mas-4956-firing-pin-kit/

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Thanks Dave, just placed an order from them!

I picked-up one of those high condition MAS 36's back in the ~2000 timeframe. It's a great rifle.

PPU is a godsend. Before the stupid hit, I could buy 7.5mm French at LGS retail for the same price as Fedremchester .30-30 at Walmart. Even now, it's still in the vicinity of ~ $1.00 per round.

@.455_Hunter Agreed regarding PPU, kudos to them keeping us all in stock on new commercially available ammo for our milsurps. I try and buy a little bit every so often of my specialty milsurp calibers.

Yes, the cartridge adapters allow for what used to be called "gallery" shooting, let you get familiar with a firearm using an indoor range, using pistol ammo.
One caveat with French rifles is they usually have no manual safety, I have read that French practice was an empty chamber except when ready to fire, and they thought safeties gave a false sense of security.
The Italians had a pretty tough war in WWI and those poor slobs who served in their 8th Army on the Russian Front could have told our troops in our 8th Army what to expect in Korea. The Carcanos are like the Mosin-Nagants, a rather clunky first generation design that by our standards they held onto too long, but they worked.

Those French rifle jokes rank right up there with the stupidest utterances you can make on a gun forum- ignorant, insulting and unnecessary.

I always liked the different look of this rifle and considered buying one about 30 years ago when they were dirt cheap. Didn't buy because I thought finding ammo would be a problem.