MAS-49 Carabine Mitrailleuse: A French Prototype Lever-Delayed Assault Rifle

All the best firearms history channels streaming to all major devices: When France was developing it’s new suite of small arms in the late 1940s, there was a debate over whether to adopt an intermediate-power cartridge or retain the full-power round for the infantry rifle. Initially, a French cartridge was developed and used for several years of development (the US .30 Carbine round was also used). During this time, the MAS arsenal submitted prototypes for both submachine gun and assault rifle (“carabine mitrailleuse“ - machine carbine) trials. Their model 1949 system was lever-delayed blowback, and virtually the exact same design was used for both types of firearms. A number of different models were made, including folding wood stocks, collapsing wire stocks, and various fire control setups and barrel lengths. Today, we are looking at two of the MAS 49 Carabine Mitrailleuse prototypes, one long barreled with a progressive trigger and folding wood st