The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The North Corral > Curios and Relics

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old August 24, 2011, 08:37 AM   #1
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
MAS 36 in .243 ???

my buddy has a MAS 36 he wants to do something with ( gun is solid, but needs a new barrel ) Century used to do .308 conversions... he's thinking about adding a .243 barrel... trouble is, the .243 is higher pressure than military .308...

anyone ever heard of any other cartridge conversions on the MAS 36, other than the .308 ???

thoughts ???
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 10:53 AM   #2
Cheapshooter
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 2, 2007
Location: Missouri
Posts: 8,306
Odd design, no safety, WHY BOTHER?????
I have a Mas 36, and 49/56 and enjoy shooting both as is , and for what they are. Unusual military surplus rifles.
BTW, why does his gun need a new barrel?
__________________
Cheapshooter's rules of gun ownership #1: NEVER SELL OR TRADE ANYTHING!
Cheapshooter is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 11:00 AM   #3
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
actually he is going to build his own trigger block safety, as well as I have seen talk of tang safeties on these rifles, so the safety is not a concern...

the rifle belongs to my retired tool & die guy, who has collected parts & parts rifles of milsurps for years... now he's just looking for interesting projects to keep his mind sharpe & keep himself busy...

he's a buddy of mine, so I try to help him out... he has tons of reference materials, tools, & parts... but doesn't play on the "puter"

trying to figure out if one of his dozens of take off barrels can be used...

he likes strange projects... for example, he put a 9mm barrel on an SKS 7 made all the dies & etc. for a 9 X 39 for his SKS... but he really loves working more on bolt actions
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 11:41 AM   #4
Pukindog
Member
 
Join Date: December 10, 2009
Posts: 90
MAS 36

One of the fellows I shoot with has one he did himself.
.45 ACP Very neat rifle.

Jeff
Pukindog is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 11:43 AM   #5
mapsjanhere
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 6, 2009
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 2,832
The 7.5x54 was rated at 40,000 PSI, Hogdon lists 243 Winchester loads with 58,000. Doesn't sound sound to me.
__________________
I used to love being able to hit hard at 1000 yards. As I get older I find hitting a mini ram at 200 yards with the 22 oddly more satisfying.
mapsjanhere is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 11:56 AM   #6
Cheapshooter
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 2, 2007
Location: Missouri
Posts: 8,306
You might get more help with your friends project posting it on the "The Smithy" thread rather than on the C&R thread.
__________________
Cheapshooter's rules of gun ownership #1: NEVER SELL OR TRADE ANYTHING!
Cheapshooter is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 12:37 PM   #7
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
Quote:
You might get more help with your friends project posting it on the "The Smithy" thread rather than on the C&R thread.
I tried already...
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 12:56 PM   #8
Cheapshooter
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 2, 2007
Location: Missouri
Posts: 8,306
I guess it's a topic without much interest!
Normally, I'm against any attempt to "Bubba" a milsurp, but as you described this project, it's really creating something from junk. That I completely agree with. The pressures sound like it wouldn't be a wise conversion, but I'm sure he can come up with something interesting. Keep us posted.
__________________
Cheapshooter's rules of gun ownership #1: NEVER SELL OR TRADE ANYTHING!
Cheapshooter is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 02:16 PM   #9
mapsjanhere
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 6, 2009
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 2,832
Well, for a really fun project, the 7.5x54 had the same rim diameter as a 45 acp...
__________________
I used to love being able to hit hard at 1000 yards. As I get older I find hitting a mini ram at 200 yards with the 22 oddly more satisfying.
mapsjanhere is offline  
Old August 24, 2011, 02:28 PM   #10
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
Actually that seems pretty interesting... did you have to build a feed ramp to get the fat cartridges to feed ???

one he was considering was the 358 Winchester, but figured ( besides possible too high a pressure ) that the round nose ammo wouldn't feed without adding some kind of feed ramp ???
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old August 25, 2011, 09:38 AM   #11
Gunplummer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 11, 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 3,364
I did one for a buddy in 20 Gauge. Used a Mossberg rifled slug barrel. Added a safety and scope. Held 3 rounds, one in the chamber. Until I was done the only thing original was the receiver and that had a lot of modifications. I don't remember anyone converting them to .308. Are you sure you are not talking about the semi-auto rifle the French produced? Those semi models were converted commercially. The bolt action is put together pretty ruggedly and would probably be O.K. Over the years the most problems people brought to me were usually reloading related. If you like to load .243's real hot , I would forget about it. Rarely does a rifle fly apart on the first shot unless some thing really radical was done (wrong ammunition, double charge). Generally, there will be warning signs of a problem that gradually get worse. Take one brand of brass that was already fired and trim them exactly the same after sizing. Do about 20-30 rounds. Load them up near the high end with the same loads. As you fire them, check the OAL on each case. If the length is gradually increasing, you are getting set back and it is no good. The MAS 36 receivers are not case hardened. I never heat treated a piece of one to check, but would bet the are chrome molly like Arisakas. Therefore you will get stretching and compression long before separation. Good luck with your project.

Last edited by Gunplummer; August 25, 2011 at 09:53 AM. Reason: missing word
Gunplummer is offline  
Old August 25, 2011, 10:34 AM   #12
Jim Watson
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 25, 2001
Location: Alabama
Posts: 18,486
Read about MAS sporters at:
http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showf...84&an=0&page=0

The emphasis is on 10.75x68 but one in 8x60S is shown.
There are at least two different patterns of trigger guard safety shown.

I think he could barrel it to about anything that would fit the action IF the loads were kept down. Most of those .308 conversions were so rough they were probably not shot much.

There were a few of the French commercial sporters in 7mm Mauser.
I bet he could make it an 8mm Mauser, the mild American ammo and load data would be in its range of operation.
Jim Watson is offline  
Old August 25, 2011, 05:19 PM   #13
James K
Member In Memoriam
 
Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
The rifle is plenty strong for .308 based cartridges, but I have to agree with Cheapshooter. I can't off hand think of a rifle that lends itself less to hunting than the Mle. 36. But then there doesn't need to be a reason for a project gun, does there?

Jim
James K is offline  
Old August 26, 2011, 04:47 PM   #14
Gunplummer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 11, 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 3,364
I used the .303 Brit,Russian Bolt,Carcano, Krag, M-98, Enfield, and Arisaka to hunt deer in unmodified condition. Some of these guns are worse than a MAS 36.
Gunplummer is offline  
Old August 26, 2011, 05:04 PM   #15
James K
Member In Memoriam
 
Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
"I used the .303 Brit,Russian Bolt,Carcano, Krag, M-98, Enfield, and Arisaka to hunt deer ..."

Sure, but the idea, like the conversion under discussion, was more to "see if it could be done" than to get the best rifle for the job.

Jim
James K is offline  
Old August 27, 2011, 10:35 AM   #16
Gunplummer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 11, 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 3,364
The idea was what I had to spend at the time, and bad info from "Expert hunters".
Gunplummer is offline  
Old August 28, 2011, 03:57 AM   #17
T. O'Heir
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 13, 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 12,453
"...the .243 is higher pressure than..." Nope. Runs about the same. However, as mentioned, a Mas 36 isn't exactly a hunting rifle. Mind you, neither is any other milsurp.
__________________
Spelling and grammar count!
T. O'Heir is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:29 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.07049 seconds with 8 queries