Posted on 06/03/2012 8:09:02 AM PDT by marktwain
All joking aside,they were excellent rifles.
Yep - dollar for dollar I think the Marlin 60 is one of the best deals still to be found. And, as you say, they are reliable and accurate.
They are also supposed to be the largest selling rimfire ever, so if you ever do need to find parts or a complete rifle the odds are in your favor.
I agree. I love giving it a soapsuds bath after shooting a few dozen surplus rounds through it. ‘Tiny bubbles’
I use soapy water and then ammonia
I use dish soapywater, then WD40, then the air compressor. Finish the bolt with CLP, too, and check the firing pin depth.
I use dish soapywater, then WD40, then the air compressor. Finish the bolt with CLP, too, and check the firing pin depth. ... I also reccommend firing five non-corrosive to finish the day ... takes less to clean it then.
It will knock you Skittles in the dirt, for certain!
Yeah, you gotta finish up with a modern product like CLP.
If memory serves, not many MAS 36s had been either made or issued before the fateful weeks in the spring of 1940.
It took over ten years for the French to finalize the design, there was a lot of interference in war production by the labor force (thanks to a strong French Communist Party in those days of Hitler-Stalin “unity”), and even without the labor sabotage French industrial practices were far from modern and involved lots of SLOW handwork. Also, for multiple reasons, the French government simply did not take rearmament seriously until they were at the “four minutes to midnight” point.
Most French troops went into battle with old 8mm Lebels from World War I...on quite a few levels, the French poilu was being forced to refight 1918 in the spring of 1940.
I was in grad school in the late 1980s. I worked at a large gun dealer during Christmas Vacation also any other time I had time off.
I recall he got in a fair number of those French bolt actions and all were in excellent condition. He also got even more of the French semi automatics.
They all looked good to me but I checked in several dealer flier and catalogs he had and the ammo was very hard to find. Finally decided it just wasn’t worth the bother despite the low prices.
One odd thing is they had no safeties, none at all.
In the last couple of weeks several French soldiers have died in Afghanistan fighting along side our US troops. I recently saw a video of them in action, and the only thing they were dropping was mucho firepower onto the terr perps, of which they finished off several.
The French government and military leaders over the years have more often than not been miserable failures. But the French soldier is just as good as those from any other country.
I down loaded “Devils Guard” to my Kindle. It is about an absolutely ruthless German battalion in the French Foreign Legion during the war in Indochina. It was composed of ex-Wehrmacht and SS men fresh from the Russian front in WW2.
Ex-German Waffen-SS officer Hans Josef Wagemueller is very correct when he explains as to why America could never win against the Vietcong and NVA. We were/are simply too PC to do the vicious type of war required against fanatics.
The book is about the strategy and tactics used by the German Battalion against the Viet mien and why it was so effective. The Germans could. would, and did out terrorize the terrorists. They took no prisoners, surrender, and they were executed on the spot, they also left the so called civilians no choice but to inform on the commies.
They argument still goes on today as to whether Devil’s Guard was fact or fiction. But one thing for sure it is more than a little blood curdling
I read a book several years ago called “ashes of honor”. It was by a French soldier who joined the Waffen SS during WWII. His outfit was all French.
They fought in some horrific battles against the Russians and I am pretty sure they were the most decorated battalion in the German military.
On the other hand, I remember reading that the French Kings at one time had as their body guards a group of 100 mercenaries from Scotland. They were called the “Scots Guard”.
Ammo today is readily available from several sources. The same for brass to reload the 7.5x54. For reloading, the 7.5 can use the same .308” diameter bullet as many other rifle cartridges.
When ammo was hard to find, the 6.5x55mm Swede Mauser only requires one pass in a 7.5x54 FLSD to open up the neck and ready to be reloaded. Other brass such as the 7 or 8x57mm Mauser, 7.65 ]Belgian (Argentine) Mauser and even including the .30-06 could be converted to 7.5x54 without much fuss.
The French never had safeties on their rifles for many decades, although the Mas 1936 could be carried with bolt handle slightly raised and it can not be fired. The Mosin Nagant M91 rifle has the appearance of a safety, but it was/is seldom ever used due to the difficulty of setting it for most people.
I remember at the time I knew it was easy to make the French round from 6.5X55 but I didn’t want to use up any of my Swedish Mauser brass either.
I did not know about the .308 brass. Anyway I never got one and they are not common now.
The French volunteer SS unit (”SS Freiwillinge Division Charlemagne”, I think) was one of the German units that chose to stand and die in the final battle for Berlin in 1945.
During WW2, the Finn’s had Waffen SS units fighting the Soviets. They were decorated several times for their bravery, once even by the pervert Himmler. The Finn units were allowed to resign and go home when Finland and USSR declared an armistice ending the Continuation War, 25 June 1941 – 19 September 1944. In August 1944 the USSR had had another go at conquering Finland, they went in deep and hard before tiny Finland once again gave them a very bloody nose and stopped them once again. I think the Russkies were just damn glad to be done with it, for they knew even if they won, they would be in for a long and bloody protracted guerilla war with the Finns operating out of Sweden and Norway. This would have perhaps given ideas to other conquered countries to enter into guerilla wars of their own. Not to mention the USSR still faced almost a year of hard slogging against the Nazis.
Some of the Finns hated the Russians so much, they served in the SS to the bitter end
Yup Sako, same here
Yup Sako, same here
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