1420.French MAS49 & 49/56 (7.5x54)As a follow on to the bolt MAS36 the French were working on a semi-auto rifle prior to WW2, the German invasion put a stop to it, at the time of liberation they went right back to work & adopted the MAS44 semi auto which was issued in very small numbers, in 1949 they deleted the integral bayonet & added a grenade launcher & put the MAS 49 into service, a modernized variant, the MAS49-56 was adopted in 1956. These rifles were chambered for the French 7.5MAS cartridge in service, some 49/56's were reportedly tried in .308 NATO (to standardize) but were never issued in that calibre. Some 49/56's were sold here in 308 but as far as I know these were rechambered guns for commercial sale.
