MAS 49/56 Feeding Issues

[wasrjoe]

I have a Century hackjob Mas 49/56 in .308. It has problem with extraction, however I have discovered the solution to that (it's an issue with the gas system) and am working getting it fixed. Unfortunately, it also has problems feeding.

The magazines I have are both marked .308, however I see no difference between these magazines and 7.5 magazines except for slight grinding on the lips of the magazine near the front of the magazine. The following picture shows the front of the magazine. This is not my actual 49/56.

The biggest problem is that the last round in the magazine will simply NOT go into the chamber. It gets jammed 99% of the time, and usually pushes the bullet far enough into the cartridge to make it unsafe. What I have done to remedy this is place a little plastic tab near the front of the magazine follower so that it acts like a ramp.

This works fairly well (though it's not very secure) and the last round usually goes into the chamber. However, I believe that my solution may have caused incorrect distribution of pressure since the follower now pushes against the last round at a slight angle. Feeding is now a 50/50 game. Pile this on top of the extraction issues and you'll begin to see what type of respect I have for Century...

Anyway, is there anything I can do short of sending in the rifle to be converted to accept FAL magazines that will fix this? Given all the information I have provided, am I correct in my analysis of the problem?

Thanks for your time.

 

[Kodiak AK]

Just be thankfull yours does not go slam fire full auto when you load it like mine did .

 

[wasrjoe]

Well, at least that would have been more entertaining than *bang* *clear jam* *bang* *clear jam* *clear feeding issue*...

 

[Kodiak AK]

Yea it was exciteing alright . In the hour I owned i I cleaned it twice and dropped 20 rounds .

I loaded the mag and used my right hand to rack the bolt with my left holding the rifle .It jumped back and smacked me in the shoulder and I barely kept it contained as it dumped the mag . I thought maybe it was a fluke so I broke it down and cleaned everything again , and tried it again , and the same thing happened , but at least this time I was expecting it and didn't lose control of it . Since that day I have always done the one round in the mag then 2 thn 3 thing instead of load and go.

 

[yankytrash]

I've heard noting but bad news about MAS 308 conversions, Century or not. Always a FTF issue. Makes me wonder if the feed ramp needs to be altered.

 

[telewinz]

It's a reloading solution. I had two in 308 and seated the bullet beyond OAL to make-up for the longer magazine. Feeding was perfect. I read a couple of years ago that someone was selling a magazine "filler" to resolve this issue. The standard 308 round is too short for the MAS (7.5) magazine to feed with any reliability.

 

[wasrjoe]

The entire reason I traded my 7.5 Mas 49 for this POS was because I didn't have money for a reloading kit and therefore the expensive ammo. What would someone pay for a not-completely-functioning Mas 49/56?