MAS-45: The French .22 Trainer Designed by Mauser
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- Опубликовано: 11 июл 2024
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When the French occupied the Mauser factory in April 1945, they found all the tooling to produce .22 caliber rifles still in place and in good order (among other things). The French military did not have a proper training rifle at the time, and they decided to have Mauser design and produce one. The result, adopted for production in August 1945, was essentially a Mauser KKW action with the detachable magazine from the Mauser 410B and a rear-mounted aperture sight. About 10,500 of these Model 45 rifles were made at Mauser by June 1946, when production was shut down in preparation for the demolition of most of the Mauser buildings.
The tooling and incomplete parts fort he rifle were relocated to the MAS factory at St Etienne, where production resumed and another approximately 30,000 were made. The MAS-45 would serve as a standard French training rifle until he 1970s, and remained in limited use afterwards (even to this day, in fact).
To see some of the French drill and shooting, check out Bloke on the Range’s video on the MAS-45:
• MAS 45 (aka Carabine D...
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How to kidnap Ian: “Ian get in my Van, I have French rifles in the trunk.”
Reminds me of the video where Karl and Ian get kidnapped and mailed to Finland.
French rifles made by German technology, oooohhhhh
>in my van
>in the trunk
So this plan involves placing a a wooden trunk inside the van for authenticity, yes?
It should be "I have cases and cases of French .30 Longe in the back
@@mpetersen6 even better "I have a converted pederson rifle in French .30 Longe, I'll let you shoot it?"
I have a feeling Ian's kid would be trained to shoot with this.
I have a feeling this rifle might not make it to auction
@@neonwhitea.1548 It is being kept in Morphy's basement where Ian has his apartment/bunker.
Just to correct you Ian, the bottom of the trigger guard is checkered so soldiers could strike matches to light up their Gitanes cigarettes, as per French military requirements.
He would have indicated that.... but what is the point? *puff puff*
Hi!
I have a question about the relation between french army, especially the foreign legion and the Gitanes cigarettes. Because when i was in highschool one of my friends uncle or a family relative came to visit my country (he came from france) and he was smoking Gitanes (I'll never forget them, they were strong as a motherlover. I was smoking Walter blue then and they bit my throat). If he is to be believed, he served in the foreign legion and he said that everyone there that smokes smokes only Gitanes.
Is it like a national pride thing or does the army get them for the soldiers at a lower price?
@@CRO_Bash95 I can't answer that exactly. But I do know that preferred cigarette choices have a tendency of getting absorbed by the higher levels. With American rations, typically the primary dispensers would claim the choice cigarettes before they made it to the front.
@@CRO_Bash95 When France was still officially supplying tobacco to the military it would have been "Gauloises Troupe" (Gauloise started as a military only brand). My best guess as to the popularity of Gitanes is that it's due to pricing (especially Gitanes Maïs but those have been discontinued). I have checked the current prices though and they aren't especially cheap anymore.
In the Legion they issued Cigarette rations even in early 80s, one Packet for two days/10 per day, forgot the name of the brand, blue Package with a Navy/airforce/Army coat of arms on the package
Not gonna lie, that's a nice looking 22 rifle I wouldn't mind having.
They’re a lot of fun. Also really satisfying to plink at 200 yards
Now I want to hear the train story, hopefully soon
He talked more about it in the prototype STG-45 video
The train story. Well if it's got Burt Lancaster (did all his own stunt work as usual) in it I'm game.
@@brendonbewersdorf986 and in the last ditch rifle videos. Edit: Gerat-06 rifle
the capture of the mauser train sounds like an amazing action setpiece in an action spy thriller
Went to French Commando school in 1978...we fired the 36 on the range for unfamiliar weapons training...very accurate...
Yeah, very accurate. Mine is a tack driver when put in a static mount.
Finally, Iain reviews a rifle I own! Mine is a Mauser production Mod 45, blued finish, oak stock, but a French MAS butt plate. I initially thought it was a replacement butt plate, but it could have been one of the last rifles assembled after French occupation. It’s definitely an iron sights tack driver.
interesting
Uhm... if Ian is doing an extra chapter for the 2nd edition of his book... you should send him pictures of the arrangement and serial number. Perhaps he can sniff up enough to make a serial number table with "most likely configuration" data for us gun nerds to get nerdy over :P
Joel, i happen to have a Mauser banner parkerised model 45A. I get the feeling there is some transition production during the move to france using some old german and french parts.
My friend just inherited one of these. Hope to shoot it soon.
Fabrique Nationale ended up with some of the tooling to make K98's, hence all of the post-war Belgian 98's.
Belgium was building 98 pattern rifles before the war.
@@Scuba128 yes they were, but not Kar98 clones to my knowledge.
Husqvarna bought Fn 98 actions for match and hunting rifles, both the 98 millitary look and the updated 640 series.
I believe that the center fire cartridge that they were considering was the 5.6x35R aka .22 Hornet. This most likely was to enable the training rifle to have similar ballistics to the MAS-36 rifles out to 200 meters. Cheaper practice ammo, lower recoil, st .
Coming soon, Ian’s new channel:
‘Forgotten Trains’
🤣
That sounds like a historical adult video.
There are any number of locomotives from the Steam Era I wish had been preserved. The M8lwaukee Road's Hiawathas come to mind.
"Forgotten Trainers", in which he reviews rare variants of the original Air Jordans - and 1970s sports shoes from behind the Iron Curtain. And French sports shoes.
I think these videos are very interesting, not only because the weapons are cool and historical, but Ian is great storyteller. Now I need to hear the train history from him!
This looks like something I would just take out to the range for my non existent kid to use
Thats kinda the point innit
My kid is not non-existent. He lives inside of me and absolutely loves a military style rimfire.
@@dbmail545 i thought about it and then i regret thinking about it
They are very cool and high quality rifles but quite heavy for kids...
do like i did. i "adopted" a friend's daughter and taught her to shoot. started her with the basic lecture, an airsoft pistol and tin cans. she graduated to .22, .38, .40, .357 and now my MAK90.
i'm giving her a .22 henry on her birthday.
I bought on of these rifles at Ft Bragg back in the mid 80s. Loved that rifle.
I purchased on elf these in the mid 80's fro under $150.00. When it arrived it was still in arsenal wrap and lots of cosmolene. This has been one of my favorite .22 rifles to shoot and I have trained many young shooters with this fine rifle.
It kills me that this is the type of thing I'd see at gun shows 30 years ago and ignore, because "who wants an old French .22?"☹
Looks to me like a perfectly good .22 carbine even for today's standards.
It's a really high quality rifle. If some company decided to make one today, who knows how much it would cost.
Only problem with this rifle is that they are quite heavy for a .22LR. but that's to be expected for a military training rifle.
Considering what a Remington 580 goes for or a kimber, cooper, winchester, bsa goes for these days, some people still appreciate quality and will pass over low priced guns to get it. Buying quality is never a mistake.
@@randomidiot8142 I certainly don't disagree with you but it would be a niche product. These days, so many people seem to think that a .22LR gun is somehow inferior than other chamberings and therefore should always be very cheap.
I don't understand why they think like that but it's definitely a reality.
@@AxLWake yeah, I'm with you on that. A lot of people give it so little credit or consider how potent it can be and just leave it to 100$ kids guns to be shot at 25 yards. There's no accounting for taste or mental processes. I've a high standard victor and a hammerli xesse (pistols) that shoot like rifles, and I wouldn't be too unhappy about having one of them instead of a rifle for small game hunting out to 100 yards. Imo, .22 is more dangerous than more powerful cartridges because people don't give them the respect they deserve that they give to larger cartridges.
@@randomidiot8142 Some of my favorite guns are .22LR as well.
Anyways, these MAS 45 in .22LR are great. My father has one, it's very nice to shoot.
Cool. I was given one years ago clumsily mounted in a sportered M98 Mauser stock. Found a correct stock on an Internet collector's site but I still need a correct butt plate and sling swivels and the centre action screw.
I was given a near pristine example of this rifle yesterday (11/30/22) My cousin and I were plinking charcoal briquettes on our range. He had one of these and never having seen or even known of these rifles, I asked to shoot it. It is an excellent shooter and made converting briquettes into dust very easy. As we were packing up to leave my cousin presented his rifle to me as a gift. I was surprised and grateful and I look forward to my next outing with this rifle with great anticipation.
We better get to hear the story of the Mauser train right soon. Sounds like an Amber Room kinda tale.
There's more in the video on the StG44 and the Gerat-06 last ditch rifle.
he's recounted it before.
In 1988 my then favorite LGS in Jackson,MS had several crates of these. For the time quite pricey for a surplus rifle at 180.00, at the time the same store had Pattern 14 Enfields for 75.00. I wish I had forced myself to spring for one. I now have several Olympic style target .22 rifles and some nice training rifles but these rarely come up for sale and even when adjusted for inflation that 180.00 appears a great price.
I have this rifle and it’s one of my favorite. Extremely accurate and reliable. Thanks for sharing!
That's a real beauty of a rifle!!
As a French person, I must show you my sympathy. You do a great job of highlighting French weapons (but not only) from all eras. You even wrote a book about their history and as such I am grateful to you.
Salutations de France.
In the 80's you could buy one of these for nothing in France (nostalgic sigh). Now a MAS45 in prime condition is around 1000€...
In the late 80s and early 90s they were imported into the US and retailed for about $150.
I would have thought the Soviets would be happy that the French were siezing the means of production...
The Soviets were perfectly happy with the idea of the workers siezing the means of production. As long as they where Soviet workers.
That 5 round magazine is super cute. XD
There are a lot of the magazines available pretty cheap, too.
Absolutely love my MAS45!
Handsome little rifle! Reminds me of my BSA Airsporter
What a lovely-looking little rifle
I love all these little military trainers it's a shame they're so rare. Would make a cool collection
@@logicthought24 I'll have to keep an eye out. Usually get a wild hair, look at gunbroker and get immediately turned off
That would be a really cool theme for a collection.
I've had my eye out for one of these for years, no luck.
I picked one of these up a few years ago. Fine rifle.
A question for you, Ian. What ever happened with the Calico? Round 4 was 7 months ago, is there a round 5? Did you find and fix the issue? Inquiring minds, etc. etc.
What a lovely little rifle!
Great rifle. Often admired by others when I'm at the range shooting mine. Got lucky at a gun show years ago for $325.
I can’t wait for the next episode of Forgotten Trains!!
That's a beautiful little rifle!
Oh my god! A French rifle that had escaped Ian! Looks like a perfectly good and reliable little squirrel hunter to me! :P
Mine sure is.
I bought one for $145.00 when they first came in.
Then I picked one up that the previous owner took
a file to the rear site and hacksawed the barrel for $75.00.
I had it turned into a squirrel rifle buy a gunsmith.
They are a true joy to shoot.
That rifle is so beautiful!
really looking forward for that train history
Those traditional wood-stocked .22s evoke a ton of nostalgia...this video makes me want to break out my Marlin 60, even though it's a tube-fed semi.
I have a Marlin Glenfield bolt action.
Outstanding rifle.
I used to have one of those. I don't know the model, but it was a Marlin tube-fed .22, but bolt action. Foolishly sold it while I was in high school. I think I needed to pay for something I didn't want my parents to know about. Speeding ticket or something, lol.
@@MichaelPoage666 mine is box mag fed 7 shot.
I have a model 410B which, as Ian correctly says, has the same trigger-guard/magazine assembly as the MAS45. It also has an almost identical front sight - and if it is the same, you don't have to punch out any pins to change the front sight blade. Mine has the sight blade secured in a dovetail groove parallel to the bore: you push down the tiny chequered button in front of the blade and that allows the blade to slide out towards the muzzle (with a little encouragement - it's a snug fit.) The 410B has a very different bolt/receiver - essentially a miniaturised Mauser 98 design.
I'd love to have one of those for hunting or weekend plinking.
I bought one of these from Navy Arms back in the 80's. this was a fantastically accurate rifle and i loved owning it.
1:35 Little piece of information: Kleinkaliber (small caliber), often abbriviated KK in German, is bassically synonimous to .22 lr.
I dont exactly know how it fared in the sporting community, but amongst hunter this has often been extended to .22 wmr, due to both of them being used for off-season and small game hunting on things like foxes, rabbits or crows. Because of the wimpy nature of .22lr, .22 wmr or even .22 Hornet have been becoming more prevelant.
This sometimes has lead to wrong entries in gun regestries as old .22wmr rifels have been entered as .22lr as many did not distinct the two calibers, they were just .22/KK/Kleinkaliber.
I got one of these for my dad. We both love it. It combines our love of Mausers with the cost effectiveness of .22
Mauser developed a rear locking bolt rifle??!!?? Gasp!!!! Clutch at pearls!!!
Feel like this would be fun to take in the backyard and do some plinking
"One day, son, when you've been plinking enough to be considered a man, every squirrel in a 150 meter radius will be shivering in their pelt at the sound of your footsteps." :P
We got a few of these from an importer back in the early 1980's: these things were Dead Accurate. We had a good customer who retrofit a Williams Sight mount with a Globe Front (convertible back to stock): he won more than one NRA Smallbore match with it.
I never heard of this before! Interesting.
The MAS 45 sold for about $150 at American Gun Shows in the 1980s.
I watch these videos to bed thank you for making them
Great video
Notice what wonderful mathematicians the French are. Per Ian, "The rear sight is graduated in 10 meter increments." I see even spaced markings of 30, 50, 80, 100, 125, 150.
My dad has an old soviet 22LR training rifle with a mosin safety and mosin styled bolt. Seeing this video just reminded me of the gem he might have. It's the smoothest shooting 22 I've shot.
cannot wait for the mauser train video
My 1930’s German made Mauser MS340b has the same magazine configuration they are so similar a MAS45 magazine will work
Very cool training rifle.
"Hey, Otto, design this rifle in
.22
"Nein. Nein!"
"No, two, two."
No , they did not design it in . 22 , but in 5,6 mm lfB ;-) ( lfB lang für Büchsen).
@@brittakriep2938 Did you watch the video?
@@kj3n569 : 5,6 mm lfB is the old german name for .22lr . lfB means ,lang für Büchsen' - in english ,long rifle'. What i wanted to say, the german engineers and workers of 1945 surely did not use the english name of cartridge.
@@brittakriep2938 Ok. Good to know. In America we tend to forget about metrics, but my joke wouldn't have worked with 5.6 as a punchline. Is that still a produced cartridge under that designation?
the cartridge was developed in the USA and we also say .22
Weird, unusual .22lr rifles? I want four, at least. I really like that rear sight. The Russians seem to be the only builders to adopt that French style on the AK-12.
super fine trainer
That sounds like a very cool .22 rifle!
I bought a brand new mas45 at a gun show in the 90s..wonderful piece
I have a bsa 1907 war office rifle.... a single shot 22lr trainer with sights similar to the smle. Very accurate with subsonic rounds for a rifle that old.
I learned to shoot with this rifle in the 60's, it was very pleasant
I need this in my life
Neat little thing! Am I correct in thinking that the proposed conversion was to 22 Hornet? That's often known as 5.6x35R in Europe.
A MASer, you might say?
Around 1985 I had a customer come in to where I worked with one of these he was asking more than the store would have given the guy. I was taken with this rifle and thought I had to have it so I purchased it for $175 dollars. Haven’t shot in years but most definitely still have it in the safe and would buy another for that price if I were to ever run up on one. The last one I ran across was kinda rough and they wanted $450, they may still have it
I'm currently training at 100m at the shooting range with a MAS 45 and it's a pretty little neat rifle. I'm glad i now know the story behind it !
I remember quite a few of those rifles being imported here in the US back in the 80's, and most still in the arsenal wrappers and as new. I don't remember the prices, I think they were under $200, but for the money they were an excellent buy for those who wanted a man-sized rugged .22.
I was very impressed, but already owning some full-sized .22's I passed on getting one. I'm not sorry but sometimes (not often) I wonder if I did the right thing.
Need to find one.
Looking over the catalog of this channel, the Brown Bess musket and Baker rifle are conspicuous in their absence.
You remembered them enough to look for then. Not very forgotten then.
@@AppalachianTemplar If you look over the catalog, you’ll see that the brand discipline behind “Forgotten Weapons” was lost long ago. A lot of the weapons Ian covers were never forgotten, doesn’t make the videos any less enjoyable.
I have a type A marked Mauser with a MAS mark squeezed in above - obviously none after parkerizing. It has the original Mauser magazine which differs from the French made ones in marking style.
Man. I want one of these!!!
I have had one of there for a couple decades and it is 100% Bright Nickel and I was told from the older Gent I bought it from, That it was used as a Parade or a Presentation rifle,
That thing is beautiful and interesting, I bet it's fun!
I have one and it's a very pleasant rifle to shoot.
I agree, very nice rifle to shoot. A good trigger as well for a military training rifle.
About your book: Leaving a Kraut weapon off of the Frog list makes sense to me. Now, snark aside, was the 25 variant also a rim fire?
There seems to be a mistake with the second sentence of the Video description. I believe it should be "Design and produce" instead of "Design a produce". Thanks
Sweet! Love .22's
Thank you for your interesting and informative video. I did have a UNFIRED example of that rifle with the FACTORY TAG still on it and the leather sling that had not been used at all. Unfortunately I got LAID OFF from my job in 2008 and I had to sell most of my COOL TOYS. I SOLD my FN-FAL in GREAT CONDITION 1964 ENFIELD armory, it had ALL THE WOOD PIECES and the NICE British optics 4X power. I had a BUNCH OF MAGS for it and lots of spare parts and upgrades. 🤔😯😳😵💫😖😡
Have you ever covered or come across the HK .22 trainer for the L1A1? I remember using one (or some) in a range resembling a cinema (RAF Regiment). Seems kinda silly now- you pull the trigger, there’s a crack, and the little case goes.... somewhere. That reminds me of another tale. I was in a cadet force doing a pre-Bisley shoot at RAF Caterrick. We out on the Yorkshire moors sighting in Lee Enfield at 3&400 yds. I was down in the butts and there was a particularly long pause between sessions. We were to,d to put the targets up and mine proceeds to disintegrate as about 2 or 300 rounds hit it in about the time it takes to mag dump an L1A1. Someone, probably RAF Reg. had turned up and gotten rid of some 762 they had spare. By the time we got back to the other end of range everyone was denying absolutely anything had happened.
a episode about outdated gunsmithing tools would be interesting
Was there ever a .22lr conversion for the FAMAS like the Atchison mk111 for the AR? Those things are a lot of fun, especially nowadays.
There was the Unique f11. It is a semi auto action in 22 built in a Famas frame
To this day, this carbine is a star in every french range.
So now I am more curious about this 5.7 x31R cartridge. Where can I find info on that.
This looks like something you'd see in a low detail (graphics wise) strategy game.
The two examples of this rifle I have shot (both later French production, I learned today) were both complete tackdrivers, FWIW. Of note, neither had the original front sight.
Got mine 30 years ago. Cool .22
They need to make these again
when recommendations are faster than notifications
I dont even subscribe to this channel,yet recommendations being nice to me this time
I thought your profile pic was part of your comment lmao.
No it was not
Gotta check all my notification settings and make sure the bell is set to *ALL*
MAS-45s are a ton of fun
I like how they didn't ground off the mauser banner on the first batch and instead added their own marking ontop
I've had one of these for years, built like a tank.
Last time I was this early, someone still thought the Maginot Line was a great idea.
If the Maginot line wasnt a great idea then why did the Germans go through Belgium and not just kick over the Maginot line like building blocks because they realised that hitting the defenses border head on would be a bad idea and it worked it would've been different if they went for the French-German border
It was it did exactly what it was intended to do. Move the battle to Belgium where the combined French Belgium forces were again on the wrong side of a damned near-run thing.
And it would've worked to if it wasn't for those meddling Germans and their Blitzkrieg
Maginot line sounds like political interstellar boundaries for magician astronauts.
It was, what was not a great idea was not extending it over the belgian border
The man knows his rifles.
.22 with aperture sights? wish they make these today.
4:44 spoilers, Ian. They didnt know that yet, lol.
I recently purchased a gras rifle .22 lr conversion - would like to see a video on this rifle