Value of MAS 49/56

[fatelk]

A friend of mine has a French MAS-49/56 rifle in 7.5x54. He offered to sell it to me but neither of us really knows what a fair price is for it.

It is not one of the Century rifles rechambered to 308. When he first showed it to me the barrel was rusted to where you could barely see through it. After a lot of scrubbing and wearing out a couple bronze brushes I found that the bore really isn't that bad, mild pitting. It was likely excellent until someone shot some corrosive through it and left it in the garage. The rest of it is in very nice condition. He said he paid $165 for it several years ago then couldn't find ammo. I don't want to take advantage of him but considering the bore I don't want to pay too much either.

I know I can get good boxer primed brass and use .308 diameter bullets.
What kind of reputation do these rifles have?

 

[chestnut ridge]

I have one and it is a good rifle. If you reload, try to find some of the
CCI military primers. WWGRAF and Sons keep them. They are "harder"
or less sensitive than commercial LR primers. The 49/56 has a reputation
for slam fires when using reloaded ammo. Most all the military ammo has
corrosive priming. The bore will rust again until you clean it with hot soapy
water. The salts will be down inside the pits; and will take several clean/
shoot with reloads/clean again sessions to get all the salt out.
As to value, 200 would seem fair for you. I bought a new example
with all the extra mags and "kit" for 350 about 2 months ago. good luck
and send us some pictures.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

I've always heard very good things about these rifles, and they're fascinating if you are interested in the French Indo-Chine (Vietnam) War, and the Algerian War.

I believe they have some in the earlier scenes of the film "Battle of Algiers", though the Paratroopers in the later scenes have M1 Carbines.

I'd say $200 would be a great deal, if you are indeed a reloader.

When shooting it, I would bring along some sort of non-lethal response to smack folks who feel obliged to make the "never been fired and only dropped once" jokes. Nothing quite like some sheltered twit from Leftknuckle, Illinois, talking smack about guys who fought the Viet-Minh and the Algerian guerillas.

-MV