The MAT-49
 

A little history for the B's.
You may come across one of these someday.

The MAT-49 was a submachine gun which was developed by French arms factory Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Tulle (MAT) for use by the French Army and was first produced in 1949. We came across these on a fairly regularly because of the French involvement in SEA in the 40t's & 50t's.

I have fired the one we had in our museum collection, while I was the "curator", XO DIV HQ forward, 1st CAV in 1970. Not my favorite. The folding mechanism, which holds the magazine, can get worn and cause FTF and other loading problems.

The following pictures were posted this AM on AF15.com by the owner.

I AM SO JEALOUS,, He can purchase MG's at will :mad::mad::mad:

We had one in our gun room at Nam Pung Dam in 46th SFCo in 1973. Historically interesting but the Ppsh 41 was more fun to shoot. FWIW, if you are deployed, make friends with the EOD guys in your area. Usually, they are the ones tasked with destroying captured weapons and can be talked into giving "teaching samples" from the captured weapons...

Never shot one but got to finger fuck one that some host nation naval personnel had when I did a JCET in Africa back in the late 90s. It was quite heavy.

x/S

Thanks for the pics. That mag loader/assist tool looks strikingly similar to what Glock came up with in polymer many years later.

This is a problem with many of the open bolt subs, like the MAT-49, Thompson, & UZI.

The dam bolt can be 2lbs or greater, and the frame is reinforced to take the pounding of the slide, both in recoil and when thrown into battery. :munchin