The Countdown Continues: The Ugly French Duckling Part 1

Recently I hunted with old military workhorse type rifles in their battle ready state reflecting the time when they were called to duty. That means I hunted while utilizing their "primitive" sights while firing a cartridge in each that was developed over a hundred years ago.

Having shot one deer with the old 1903 Springfield, and another with the close cousin of the WWI era M17 Enfield, The Model 30 Express Remington last season, I have to say that I'm addicted to the cheap thrill of sighting game down the same focal planes of warriors and soldiers before me as I take a shot.

The 1903 Springfield's Doe in the snow.

And that leads me to the next challenge I'll undertake, hopefully, in the coming deer season of 2011-2012 provided I live long enough. (Those who really know me, know there's always a distinct possibility that I will not.) I write deer, but who's to say that I couldn't kill a coyote or some other varmint with another war-horse rifle. Given the chance to rid the world of an invasive species, I, of course would try.

So, who's up next? Remember too, that I have a buddy who's challenged me to hunt and kill, at least once, with every rifle in my safes before I can use any rifle again. So far, it's been a really neat challenge, and works well to keep me motivated to get to the range, practice and stay on top of shooting many different types of rifles chambered in many different chamberings.

Only dropped once! Get it? It's French.

The next is a rifle I've had for a very long time as a shootable oddity. It is a French, MAS (Manufacture d'Aremes de Saint Etienne), Model 1936 in 7.5 X 54mm. Developed a few years after the cartridge was developed (in or about 1932), the M36 was to become the French weapon in WWII and beyond. It's an ugly affair with a metal, slab sided receiver and two piece wooden stock. A nifty rear "peep" sight and hooded front sight.

The forward bent, dog-leg bolt is held in place by two innovative twin rear locking lugs. And the extractor is a very serviceable and very large cartridge-rim-catching hook that could've changed how some people view push-feed rifles had the design not been used and lost in such a forgettable rifle. It also has an integral bayonet that rests inside a tube under the barrel when one ain't stabbing Germans or Viet Minh.

Dog legged bolt? Rear Locking lugs? Pretty.

Mine is in great shape. ("Only dropped once," Brian likes to say.) I paid a whole $89.00 dollars for it at a Greensboro Gun Show before 2000. It was so odd, and in such good shape that I had to get it. I remember the guy smiling/laughing at me when I bought it. After the paperwork, he sneered, "You can't find ammo for it right now, but check back with us in a few months." I sneered back (on the inside) for as a reloader, I knew I could manufacture my own ammo...

I tucked the cosmoline covered rifle under my arm and headed for the reloading vendors on the floor of the gunshow and learned I was gonna have to work harder than I thought to feed this rifle. At the time, the bastard was right, there were no commercial loads for the rifle. There was no brass to be had, and dies for the cartridge would have to be ordered off this thing called "the Internet". The only thing I had going for me was the bullet diameter of .308 inches...that I could handle.


Old timers from the club told me to get "Swedish" brass and resize it to 7.5mm X 54mm, and that is just what I did. Along the way, I got suckered into getting hundreds of 6.5mm x 55mm cases which in turn opened another chapter in "ancient" but useful cartridges in brett's big gallery of guns--but that's another story (you'll see). 500 pieces of brass later, and some dies from Lee Precision, Inc., I was off to the races.


The cartridge boasts a rim at the bottom of .482 inches so one cannot use good old 30-06 cases as they're only .473 inches. The Swede has a rim of around .480 so you'd think it'd work as a substitute for an honest 7.5mm case. The load data from Lee had the powder charges the same as for the (even) old(er) 30-40 Krag and upon firing, the sooty, bulging cases came out of the chamber and I swore I'd bought a stinker! I mean, I was scared these jury-rigged cartridges were gonna blow my pretty face off by leaking propellant gases by the case (and into my face) even though, by the lack of recoil (and sooty cases), I could tell the cartridges were terribly underpowered!

Wee knurled handle for bayonet.

Bayonet extended.

I decided to hang it up, until a few years later when commercial brass in 7.5X54 was for sale right here in America--mail order! By this time, this Internet was alive and well and easy to use. And after my box of brass showed up, I ditched the weak-ass Lee Precision loads and followed the loads listed in Cartridges of the World, 8th edition. With these loads, I put the cartridge and rifle right up on par with the old .300 Savage round. In other words, this dog will hunt.

Model 30 Remington's Doe.

And then, inexplicably, I left the thing sitting in the back of a safe until shooting the above doe bolstered my confidence in open sights, and 44 year old eyes! If this rifle can hang in the accuracy department with the 1903 and M30, we'll be in business next fall. Because now I know, I can shoot deer without any help from Mr. Leupold...well, maybe I'll hang onto his binoculars.


Now my plan was to take this rifle out today and shoot it at some paper, but the showers that came after brunch changed my mind for me. I can handle being cold without too much whining, and I can handle being wet with the same aplomb, but not wet and cold at the same time. The range time will have to wait...and so will I.