Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and I am here today courtesy
of the French Gendarmerie taking a look at a couple of
very cool prototype French submachine guns.
These are the MAC Model of 48 and 48LS,
or lightened and simplified.
Now a little while back we took a look at the MAC Model of 1947 prototype submachine guns.
These all come from a 1945 initiative by the French military to develop a new set of small arms.
Ultimately this would result in guns like the AA-52, the MAS 49 rifles and the MAT 49 submachine guns.
Well, ... each one of the three major French ... state-run arsenals
developed prototype submachine guns (as well as rifles for the rifle program),
but they developed prototype submachine guns to try and meet the French Army requirements.
So last time we looked at the 1947 Châtellerault (or MAC) examples.
Those were not deemed successful and so the next year, in 1948,
Châtellerault came back with a new design.
So their previous one was lever delayed and very light and compact,
the Model of 1948 kind of went the other direction.
These are simple blowback, they are substantially heavier guns,
they are more robust and they are definitely more shootable.
These are going to handle far better out on the range.
So there were a variety of these, we have two of them to take a look at today.
We'll point out these are both full-auto only, they don't have a selector switch.
There was a model of the 1948 pattern that had two triggers,
one for semi and one for full, we don't have an example of that to look at.
There was also a long-barrelled model of this guy with a longer barrel
... and a bipod off of a Châtellerault 24/29 light machine gun.
That would be cool to see, but we don't have one of those.
Anyway, some of the elements in this were very much derived from the Sten.
And the overall gun is starting to look more like the MAT 49 that would ultimately be adopted.
... With each iteration of this trials program
it becomes a little clearer and clearer what the troops and the government
are actually kind of looking for, what they're going to want to approve.
So let's take a closer look at these, and let me show you how they work internally.
Let's start with the standard Model of 1948.
There it is designated on the side of the receiver, and this one is serial number 17.
Now you already saw that the lightened and simplified version has a folding magazine well,
The standard 1948 is actually rather unusual in French developmental submachine guns
in that it does not have a ... folding magazine well, this is permanently welded in place.
They did put a nice wooden cover around it to act as a vertical front grip.
That's your magazine release right there, and this uses standard MP40 mags.
The previous year the 1947 guns had modified MP40 mags,
by 1948 they just went to a standard one.
Now, why the MP40 magazine? Well, pretty simple,
those were readily available in France after World War Two, the French had a lot of MP40s.
And it was a 9mm submachine gun mag that had a good reputation.
So previous designs by the French military had been in 7.65mm,
and so obviously the magazines for those were not going to be usable in a new 9mm design.
The sights here are basically the same as the 1947 guns,
although there is no longer a precision notch cut in the middle of that front sight post.
But the rear sight is still a two position aperture here, and that's 100 and 200 metre settings.
Instead of a manual safety this has a grip safety to it.
And the grip safety is going to prevent the bolt
from moving, whether it is in the forward or the rear position.
So you can't pull the trigger with the grip safety not depressed.
You also can't charge the bolt, it locks ... the bolt right there.
So I have to depress the grip safety before I can open the bolt.
We do also have a sliding dust cover, that's strictly a manual thing.
Although once it's forward if you pull the charging handle, again manually,
it does open up the dust cover.
That is a non-reciprocating charging handle, so you'd push it forward before using the gun.
And simply full-auto, there is no semi-auto setting on this.
After the really sketchy stock designs of the 1947 guns,
this nice solid wooden stock is a nice relief.
Although interestingly it's got a very low comb to it, and you actually kind of
have to get a chin weld on this thing to bring your eye in line with the sight.
So I think it's a stock that could have used a little bit more development.
Now as for disassembly of this guy, this is where we start to see some Sten inspired parts.
Disassembly is very simple, we're just going to take this end cap and push it in.
And then we can pivot the gun open, being careful not to throw the recoil spring across the room.
So that is very much taken from a Sten.
And we can pull the bolt out. This is a big chunky block of a bolt,
also clearly inspired by the Sten.
Larger in diameter and shorter overall than a Sten gun bolt, but the same functional idea.
Largely thanks to this instead of having a delayed blowback system,
the Model 1948 here weighs about 3.4-3.5 kilos, about 7.5 pounds.
So it's a substantially heavier gun, but also simpler to make.
This is way simpler to manufacture than a multi-part lever-delayed bolt system.
If we take a look inside here, this is the safety lock, that's the sear.
So when I depress the grip safety it's going to drop that safety lock,
which will allow the bolt to either drop or be cocked.
And then the trigger is just a very simple dropping sear right there.
There is really nothing to see down in the receiver tube, it's just a simple hollow tube.
There is the ejector riveted in there.
Here is the lightened and simplified model of the 48, the 48LS.
All the wood is gone so there's no longer a wooden front grip, the rear pistol grip is now metal.
The stock is now a collapsing stock very much styled after the US M3.
And this is very similar to what would be used later on in the MAT 49.
So that's only got one position, and it's a pretty darn long one there.
There's our marking by the way, Model 1948 LS, serial number 1.
The barrel has been shortened.
Interestingly, the front sight has been given a precision notch there.
The rear sight is still that same two position aperture.
Same grip safety, same basic fire control mechanism.
I will point out this gun is unfortunately missing its bolt, which is why that's not in there.
But it does have that same sort of sliding dust cover.
But the disassembly is totally different, and this is part of the simplified system I believe.
This is just held on by tension.
So I take this rear part of the top of the receiver and it just pops off.
There is a little bit of shaping back here which is going to hold the recoil spring in place.
You can see the two flats there, those are held by this.
But with the cover off I can pull out the recoil spring,
this is definitely Grease Gun inspired as well.
And normally if you had a bolt in here, once you pulled the recoil spring,
the bolt could slide to the back and just lift out.
We have the same style of fire control group. You can see that's the grip safety right there.
And then the sear is again just a simple dropping sear.
There are two controls back here now, this one is to lift or lower the magazine well.
And then this is your magazine release, push it forward and the magazine comes out.
And as I said it's just a standard MP40 magazine.
In my opinion this guy actually handles really quite nicely.
This is getting to be fairly similar in handling to the MAT 49.
And it's a nice little gun, I think frankly this one's nicer than the full size one.
Unfortunately, where we had ... a little bit of data on the testing of the 1947 pattern guns,
we don't have any trials reports (or at least I haven't found any trials reports) on the 1948 patterns here.
We do know that they were tested and they were rejected.
There are a couple of ideas I have as to why that might have been.
Part of that would probably be the functioning of the dust cover
which does not automatically open when the gun is fired.
And thus if you close the dust cover you can then depress the grip safety, fire the gun,
and you will immediately have a malfunction as the cartridge
tries to eject through the closed dust cover and jams.
That's just not a good design, it shouldn't have been done that way - but it was.
And that almost certainly contributed to the guns not being accepted after their initial testing.
So of course this program would never ultimately adopt a design from Châtellerault,
the winner of this program would be from Tulle, the ... MAT Model of 1949.
I do have a video on that final adopted gun
if you're interested in seeing where this trial eventually went.
You can check that out, I'll have it linked at the end of the video.
Hopefully you guys enjoyed this one, thanks for watching.
And a big thanks to the Gendarmerie for giving me access to these prototypes.