Postwar Usage
The MAS-36 was extensively used by French Army and colonial defense forces during France's postwar counter-insurgency operations in the First Indochina War and the Algerian War, as well as in the Suez Crisis. During the Suez Crisis, French paratroop marksmen of the 2ème RPC (Régiment de Parachutistes Coloniaux), employed telescope-sighted MAS-36 rifles to eliminate enemy snipers. The MAS-36 remained in service into the early 1960s as an infantry rifle, often serving with indigenous colonial units. It was officially a substitute-standard rifle after France adopted the semi-automatic MAS-49 rifle series in 1949, though its bolt design lives on in a dedicated sniper version of the rifle, the FR F1 (now chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO) and its successor the FR F2 sniper rifle.
After the war, civilian hunting rifle versions were made by MAS and by the gunsmith Jean Fournier. These half-stocked rifles were chambered for the 7x54mm Fournier (common, 7.5x54mm necked down to 7mm), 7x57mm (very rare), 8x60mm S (less common), and 10.75x68mm (rare). Hunting rifles in the two latter calibers had integral muzzle brakes. Also imported into the United States were a few military surplus MAS-36 rifles, converted to 7.62x51mm NATO from 7.5x54mm. These rifles were modified to chamber the NATO round and also had an SKS type trigger safety fitted to them.
Read more about this topic: MAS-36 Rifle
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