MAT 49-54 Police Submachine Gun
Forgotten Weapons
•
9m 3s
After the adoption of the MAT 49 as the standard French military submachine gun, elements of the French security services also adopted it to replace the 7.65mm MAS 38 submachine guns. These included the Paris Police, who developed a special variation of the MAT 49 for their use, designated the MAT 49-54. This model had a fixed wooden stock, a long (365mm / 14.4") barrel, and a new trigger mechanism with a semiauto trigger and a second full auto trigger with a special block to prevent unintentional use. Unlike the police model MAS 38 SMGs (which were rebuilt from standard guns), the MAT 1954 was produced as a special run by the Tulle arsenal from scratch. Only a few hundred were made.
Thanks to the French Ministry of the Interior for allowing me access to this example to show you!
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
Post-War Paris Police MAS 38 Variation
At the end of World War Two, the Paris Police decided that they needed a few different features on a police submachine gun than the then-standard MAS 38 offered. A few hundred were converted to the new police requirements, interestingly mirroring the characteristics that would be used a few years...
-
French Underfolding Paratrooper Rifle...
The CR39 ("crosse repliable", or folding stock) is the paratrooper version of the MAS 36. The need for a more compact and transportable pattern was recognized almost as soon as the MAS 36 was finalized, originally for paratroops but in practice also for alpine troops. Two years were spent devisin...
-
Britain's Tubeless WW1 Sniper Optics:...
When Britain entered the First World War, it had no formal sniper program. Germany was the first combatant to train and utilize snipers, and their effectiveness quickly convinced the British military that a similar program was necessary. Initially a wide variety of rifles were put into service, i...
