25 Comments

  1. “Woe are those that are fond of French mechanical things” – said a Citreon DS owner to me when I told him that I was interested in buying one.

    Glad that you got it running. Neat little gun.

  2. Never shot one but got to play with a friends neutrilized one here in France about thirty years ago. It was old style neutrilization so everything bolt trigger etc worked.
    What I noticed was that even for my small hands the grip was too short the trigger was hard and the folding trigger/safty pinched you
    But oh would I have loved a live one

  3. Champagne for everyone to celebrate the succesful repair!

    And another bottle for finally defeating the spinner target! 🙂

  4. I’ve read that the MAS 38 stayed in service with French police forces for a good many years, perhaps into the 1970s. It’s easily concealed, and easily handled in tight places.

      • In all honesty – if you slapped a Picatinny rail on top, this gun would not perform much worse than a present day SMG

    • It was light, compact, inconspicuous, and its 7.65 Long cartridge was less prone to overpenetration than 9 x 19mm. Remember, the police over there used FMJ until the 1990s.

      The standard rifle for their tactical teams was the M1 Carbine, for a lot of the same reasons.

      cheers

      eon

  5. A happy fella; machine gun, and… A “different” shirt; hat a great sight a full grown man with a face like child recieving an Atari St for Christmas in 1985 etc.

    “Yes it was kinda upmarket; I got that.”

    Hunter; pirate hard disc, actual seagulls…

    • Maybe holding the mag cover while gripping the mag, was the idea I.e. Without said cover you’d Just grip the mag, which… Can cause problems. Apparently; watching stuff on here. Sooo… Like the mag, cover was the handguard and the French felt well chuffed and forgot about 1870 for 2 secs. Quite good if it worked; no need for a handguard and keep your mits of the mag

      • For many SMGs, holding on to the mag is not a good idea.
        They stutter from it. Especially foldable SMGs.
        From MAS38, you should shoot like from M712 or APS, holding the butt with the other hand.

  6. At the age of 9 (1969) I got given an Action Man (UK Palitoy G.I. Joe copy). I could not afford many guns, but I did buy a special offer of 2 submachine guns; which forced me to go into the adult part of my Public Library in my home town; to discover that they were a M3 Grease Gun and a MAS 38. I have always had a soft spot for both, but I did worry about logistics, decades before I knew what logistics meant. I just knew one bullet would not go in the other gun, if they were real.

    Thank you for the childhood memory.

    • I got a bag of “ye olde” action men; wee moving eyes, aye. But check this, from a jumbke sale in a church hall, wee alu water bottles which filled up, pith helmets “oh aye” shorts, lugers, steyr m95, everything for said wee fellow, greatcoats.

      Gone are the days. I killed them all like recreating hill 70 in ww1. Rip.

  7. Proper grip?

    I’m guessing a right hand hold with the left holding onto the front end of the sling

  8. In the 1966 gangster movie “Douxieme Soufle,” the motorcycle cops escorting the armored car are both carrying MAS-38s.

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