Book Review: The MAT-49 Submachine Gun
France
•
5m 41s
Schiffer Military History has a line of short (80 page) hardcover books they call "Classic Guns of the World", and one of the recent additions to it is Llc Guillou's "The MAT-49 Submachine Gun and Preceding French Submachine Gun Designs Including the MAS-35". It really should be called just "French Submachine Guns", as it covers the entire scope of French SMG development, starting with the first post-WW1 designs through the development of the MAS-35 and MAS-38, and also the postwar development of the MAT-49 (and variations like the police models of MAT-49). It also covers French use of foreign SMGs, like the guns that came over the border in the late 30s with Spanish Civil War refugees.
Guillou's coverage is a bit shallow, given that he is limited to just 80 pages, but very wide. The information covered here is completely unavailable elsewhere in English, and is much more densely packed than the only other book on the subject, which is Jean Huon's French-language "Les Pistolets-Mitrailleurs Français". Best of all, this book is a mere $24.99 from Schiffer.
Up Next in France
-
BUG Match with a 98-Year-Old 6.35mm L...
Today I'm at the BackUp Gun Match in Tucson with a first model Le Français made in 1923. This is an early French semiauto pistol design intended for pocket carry. It has a 7-round magazine and a tip-up barrel, so that one need not ever manually rack the slide. It's very compact, very light, and s...
-
Desert Brutality 2021 Day 1: Glory an...
It's time for Desert Brutality 2021! This match is a bit different form previous Brutality matches; it required three guns: pistol, rifle, and precision rifle. I chose to enter the Cold War division (all guns dating form 1946-1991) using a couple of French classics: my FAMAS and new FR-F2. For a ...
-
French 8mm Revolvers: Model 92 (NOT A...
Bloke's French cousin and his mate galliantly offered to talk about the French 8mm revolvers. The was an offer the Bloke could not refuse. There may have been red wine involved These revolvers, both the French-not-a-Lebel ones and the Spanish "Eibar" ones, stayed in military service until at leas...
