MAS 49/56 Muzzle device question

[RANGER295]

If the bottom sleeve that slides up and down and the grenade seats against is removed, IMHO you no longer have a grenade launcher on the rifle because you could not launch a grenade from it. My question is whether the muzzle device on the end would be construed as a flash hider or a muzzle brake. A quick google search had people calling it both though most called it a "muzzle brake". What do you guys think? See picture below

[kcheung2]

Would need to see a picture of the opening to really say.

[Bainter1212]

Would need to see a picture of the opening to really say.

Yep. The vast majority of them have flash hiders. A few of us lucky gents posess type 2 muzzle brakes. The only difference between the 2 is the size of the opening on the business end.

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[smle-man]

The French language manual for the 49/56 calls the device a 'flame suppressor'. What the DOJ calls it is anyone's guess.

[Bainter1212]

There is a type 2 brake for sale on ebay right now for an exorbitant price.......I got lucky and snagged mine for cheap from a Gunboards posting. Simply removing the flash hider will put you into compliance.

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[onelonehorseman]

Yep. The vast majority of them have flash hiders. A few of us lucky gents posess type 2 muzzle brakes. The only difference between the 2 is the size of the opening on the business end.

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Then it should be easy for OP to have his flash hider machined to be only a brake, yes?

[Bainter1212]

Then it should be easy for OP to have his flash hider machined to be only a brake, yes?

No. You need to ADD material to make the flash hider into a brake. The French actually converted a lot of their muzzle brakes into flash hiders by simply opening up the muzzle end of the device.

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[dfletcher]

If the bottom sleeve that slides up and down and the grenade seats against is removed, IMHO you no longer have a grenade launcher on the rifle because you could not launch a grenade from it. My question is whether the muzzle device on the end would be construed as a flash hider or a muzzle brake. A quick google search had people calling it both though most called it a "muzzle brake". What do you guys think? See picture below

I have a MAS 49/56, you may find more information on the issue in the C&R section - several threads there. In my opinion removing just the ranging ring means you may still have a grenade launcher on the rifle, just not an as useful one that can't be regulated. My experience with grenade launchers is limited to the old bloop gun and later 203s, so I don't know how well the ring removal would affect it. I suppose doing that alone could pass muster, I'm not sure

Regarding the "device" and asserting it is a brake. The exit diameter is open and not of nearly the same size as the bullet diameter. And, there exists a device for the MAS 49/56 that has those characteristics and is recognized as a brake. I would not consider the device you have to be a brake but rather a flash hider.

After fiddling with sleeves inside or out my approach was pretty simple. Although some may quarrel with the modification I rethreaded the muzzle to 5/8X24 to accept standard AR 10 brakes. Easy to do with a hand tap, TAT and cutter. The most challenging part was dressing down a standard 7.62 TAT to fit the 7.5 French bore - it's a tad smaller than standard .308.

IIRC the original threading is 16mm, the 5/8" cutter obliterated them and are strong and proud. Whether one could do the same with 15mm (HK) and use their brake, I don't know for sure.

I went with an Armalite (or Bushmaster, can't recall) single chamber brake because a) its wider body diameter prevents slipping over a grenade and b) finish and style match the MAS perfectly. It just looks like it belongs. BTW, removing the existing brake and attaching the replacement is made a bit more complicated by the locking washer. The tab has to be manipulated for removal & set right with locking ring for proper orientation.

On the theory that looks may count I removed the greanade's ranging ring.

[bigstick61]

I honestly find it hard to figure out what in practice is acceptable when it comes to rifle grenade spigots and what is not. There have to be at minimum hundreds of thousands of the things on rifles or off of them in California. Have an FR-8? You have a rifle with a grenade spigot. Have an AR with an A1 or A2 flash suppressor? You have a grenade spigot. Have a CETME/G-3/HK-91 with the standard flash suppressor? You have a grenade spigot. Have a FAL with a combo device? Yup, you have a grenade spigot, and the list goes on and on. Lots of devices used in CA qualify as such. It seems like only some rifles or their spigots are targeted, or have people concerned about them, like that of the Yugo M59/66.

As configured, the MAS-49/56 pictured is more than capable of being used to launch rifle grenades. The flash suppressor acts as the primary spigot and the rear part with the spring as the secondary one, with the spring aiding in retention. The flip-up sight is for direct fire, ranging rings for indirect fire with a fixed elevation. Neither is required for aiming if you have the disposable plastic quadrant or ladder grenade sights that attach to the fins.

[SVT-40]

It's still a launcher with the ranging ring removed.

As said above many muzzle devices are sized and intended to be both a muzzle break and a grenade launcher. The device on the rifle below is a FN grenade launcher. It's exactly the same size as a FN FAL combo device. It just lacks the holes.

Your Mas rifle was intended to launch grenades. So if I were you, I would do something so no grenade will slip over the muzzle device. Weld a couple of dabs of metal at a few points at the tip... Then no rifle grenade can fit.

[RANGER295]

Thanks guys. The picture was not of my rifle... just one I found online. The device was removed prior to me taking possession of the rifle. The rifle has been sitting in the back of the safe for a long time. I have never fired it. I just picked up a can of ammo for it and decided to pull it out. It looks really stupid without the flash hider. I think I will turn an insert for it on the lathe to sleeve the inside. I will leave a bit of a tack on the outside to keep a grenade from being slipped on... that said, I think it is stupid being that I have several of the other muzzle devices mentioned above such as several A-2 flash hiders which no one seems to care about.

[dfletcher]

Thanks guys. The picture was not of my rifle... just one I found online. The device was removed prior to me taking possession of the rifle. The rifle has been sitting in the back of the safe for a long time. I have never fired it. I just picked up a can of ammo for it and decided to pull it out. It looks really stupid without the flash hider. I think I will turn an insert for it on the lathe to sleeve the inside. I will leave a bit of a tack on the outside to keep a grenade from being slipped on... that said, I think it is stupid being that I have several of the other muzzle devices mentioned above such as several A-2 flash hiders which no one seems to care about.

One of my 1st fixes was an insert, fellow on here did the work. He did some for others and I later received a message from him that after a while the plug started working its way out. If I had the ability my choice would be to thread a disc into the open muzzle end (either inside the opening or a cap over the outside, which would also serve to eliminate the grenade slip over) and then drill out the appropriate sized exit hole.

[smle-man]

I had a gunsmith cover my 49/56's FH with an outside sleeve so that a NATO diameter grenade could not be slid on over it. I engaged in an email discussion with a DOJ person about the modified FH and if the sleeve took it out of the class as a FH. He wouldn't commit and invited me to be the test case with their
agency on this issue but I declined.

[ucladude101]

This is so confusing. So even if we remove the ring we are still not complaint? Cause it can still technically launch Grenades? And the muzzle device is a Flash Hider....

[bigstick61]

Lots of muzzle devices in use on rifles in California are non-compliant. I suspect that most people who do not have a spigot that only functions as such (especially the detachable ones) or has for whatever reason caught special attention from the DOJ and LE, and don't have them on semi-auto rifles with detachable magazines, don't have much to worry about in practice.