Posted on 11/18/2015 6:30:02 PM PST by Jed Eckert
As Americans are shocked and horrified by the carnage of another extremist Islamic attack in Paris-this one far worse than the Charlie Hebdo and Kosher market massacres-one of America's most popular rifles is once again on the frontline in the war against terror. And it's not a gun familiar from the nightly news. That gun is a nearly 30-year-old variant of the Ruger Mini-14 called the Mousqueton A.M.D., the latter is an abbreviation for Armement Moyen de Defense. The veteran rifles from Ruger have appeared on broadcasts around the world in hands of helmeted French police. And the guns are typically older than many of officers carrying them.
Adopted by France's Gendarme Nationale in 1978, the Mousqueton A.M.D. roughly translates as "carbine intermediate defense weapon" and the "A P" on the receiver of the example depicted here represents Administration Penitentiaire or "prison administration."
Back in the late 1970s, it was thought that a wood-stocked rifle with a 20-round magazine would not be as threatening on the streets of the "City of Light" as the bullpup FAMAS adopted by the French military and known as "the bugle." Now, of course not worrying about appearance, French Army troops man the streets with their FAMAS carbines. Also making an appearance on the streets of Paris is a variant of the Beretta Model 12 9x19 mm NATO submachine gun, identifiable by its forward pistol grip as well as its folding buttstock.
The wood-stocked A.M.D rifles were based on Ruger's selective-fire AC-556 and featured a black fiberglass top handguard and some other changes requested by the French. The A.M.D. is described in Ruger & His Guns as: "French National Police (Gendarme Nationale)": Approximately 2,500 rifles, variation of the AC-556 machine gun, with fiberglass hand guard, 18.5" barrel, blued, no warning roll mark on barrel, special front sight, gas block with side sling swivel, curved magazine latch, special roll mark. Some with specially checkered stock."
For deeper look at the Mousqueton A.M.D., see Field Editor Martin K.A. Morgan's article in Shooting Illustrated and then tune in December 30, 2015 to a new season of "American Rifleman Television" in which we feature the A.M.D. as the first "I Have This Old Gun" of the season.
Man I would love to have one of those!
***And the guns are typically older than many of officers carrying them.***
I bought my first Ruger Mini-14 back in 1976 when they first came on the market. Suddenly they disappeared from the market and you could not find them anywhere. Later I found they were being sent to France. During some riot over there about thirty years ago, I noticed the TV news showed the police armed with them.
They came back on the American market in the mid 1980s.
I noticed this being carried.
I was wondering how long it would take before an article appeared.
Its reasonably well known that Ruger supplied the French I think.
The recent “resurrected” guns item I found quite striking was the Brazilian police, having some bloody situation a couple of years ago, using ancient Madsen LMG’s.
Reading over the article again it appears these are semi-auto and not select fire. There might still be hope to get one someday. Already own a stainless Mini 14 & Mini 30.
Plenty scary for the guy on the rifleman’s left, though.
Got my first one (stainless) around '84 or '85. (The A Team's fault!)
So true.
If you knew I am from Connecticut, you’d understand. :)
Well they do have a super, extra, ultra, high capacity magazine. Does that count? And it's black (shudder). :-)
LOL...here in Connecticut, the legislature dummies still don’t know whether it is a clip or a magazine. Heh. :)
I saw them on the news and said, “French cops have Mini-14s?” Wow!
I was concerned about that, too, and was hoping the pic was the result of a telephoto lens “compacting” the group...
And that they were actually more strung out, and there was several feet of depth seperation between the officers...
But even at that, still very poor muzzle discipline, IMHO...
What is one of those worth to a dedicated Ruger collector in the United States? Especially one that could be shown as actually having seen service in Paris?
$10,000? $20,000?
Who knows?
Under a Trump or Cruz presidency, some might be allowed to be reimported back to the U.S., now that the French are willing to use their bullpups...
I'd like to have one of the stocks with the cut for the M1 carbine sling.
Before the French military FAMAS *clarion* bullpup carbine was manufactured by the French, some French Marines were carrying Mini-14 GB full-auto minis as a part of a military evaluation. Though the little rifles were thought too fragile magazines and sights] for military use, the three-shot burst full-auto mechanism was considered an improvement over that of the Colt M16A2.
And when the FAMAS was introduced with much fanfare, it's 3-shot selective full-auto mechanism was almost identical in design to that of the Ruger.
Vive le France!
I'll wait for a MAT-49, thank you very much....
Doesn’t the MAT 49 use that obscure 7.5 pistol round? 7.5x20?
Might be kind of hard to come by...
One of the first rifles I bough was a Stainless Ranch Mini-14. We still have it.
don’t they shoot ak rounds?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.