Hello bajtársak and fellow forumdwellers,
You may remember these guns because I already suggested them once in the old format and now I’m updating the suggestion to the new format and requirements.
The Mas-40 is a gas-operated French semi-automatic rifle firing 7.5x54mm rounds and has an integral 5 rounds magazine and is fed by a stripper clip.
The Mas-40 was the fruit of two decades long trial and error.
The French army wanted to adopt a standard issue semi-automatic rifle since the Great War however the 8mm Lebel cartridge was unsuitable.
A decade was spent on developing the ideal cartridge for a semi-auto rifle only to reinvent the 8mm Mauser as the Mle 1924 7.5x54mm, naturally this was completely necessary since no self-respecting French man would ever use barbaric German ammo.
Another decade was spent on experimenting with semi-automatic rifles.
First the transitional Mas-36 bolt-action rifle was adopted and would serve alongside the Mas-40; they shared many components so both could be kept in service indefinitely.
The Mas-40 is one of the biggest “what if” weapons, it is as reliable and capable as the M1 Garand but did not get a chance to show during the war because mass-production was planned to start in 1941… One year after the 7th Panzer division won 1940´s tour de France.
The Mas plant was inspected by the Germans and they saw no interest in the Mas-40 at the time thus only a limited Mas-36 production was set up for German occupation.
However in September of 1944, the Germans retreated from the plant and the French resistance looted the factory, taking the 50 Mas-40 rifles with them and all machinery and material they could move (doing more damage in a matter of hours than the entire German occupation in four years).
Personally I think that the Mas-40 should be added as a BR2 French premium/event guerrilla squad´s weapon.
- Yes
- No
- As a tech tree weapon
- As a Battle Pass weapon
- As Premium/Event squad weapon (ideally with French resistance).
In 1944 the liberation of the Mas armoury opened the possibility of mass producing semi-automatic rifles, the Mas-40 design was revised into the Mas-44 with the experience gained during the war and the fixed 5 round magazine was replaced with a detachable 10 round magazine.
In very early 1945 the Mas-44 went into mass-production with a total of ~7000 rifles made before production had ended a few months after the war had ended.
Although the rifle had many advantages over the M1 Garand such as higher reliability, very easy maintenance and a detachable magazine preventing garand thumbs, the Mas-44 had only seen a limited deployment with the French navy and French commandos due to logistical and heavily political reasons.
Even though there was a major shortage of M1 Garand and M1 carbine rifles in the Free French army, therefore creating a high demand for a semi-automatic rifle capable of replacing the Garand.
The Mas-44 is the ideal BR4 tech tree semi-auto rifle for Allies, it is the most logical BR4 rifle, its a genuine WW2 design, quasi mass-produced or better said far more numerous than pre-WW1 British or interwar US prototype rifles we could get as alternatives.
- Yes
- No
Scoped Mas
The Mas-40 could be attached with an APX M686 scope as well, attachable on the Mas-44 as well.
- Yes
- No
- Mas-40 in the tech tree
- Mas-40 as event gun
- Mas-40 as Battle Pass gun
- Mas-40 as Premium/Event squad
- Mas-44 in the tech tree
- Mas-44 as event gun
- Mas-44 as Battle Pass gun
- Mas-44 as Premium/Event squad
Mas-40 with Châtellerault FM 24/29 25 rounds magazine.
As pointed out by @_DELAVR in the comments, the magazine is detachable, pure BR4 material like Mondragon rifle with 30 rounds mag.
- Yes
- No
- Event weapon
- Premium/Event squad
- Battle Pass weapon
Thank you for your time and attention!
