Tunisia

[Anchors]

My grandpa on my mom's side of the family is Tunisian (French Tunisian).
He was born there and my mom lived there until she was like 10.

I was wondering if there are any C&R rifles form Tunisia specifically?
Like maybe a mauser or carcano with Tunisian proofs? I thought it would be nice to have.

I see the modern military's Honor Guard is using polished mausers here.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Tunisian_guard_-_North_Africa_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial.jpg

[bigstick61]

Any C&R stuff would in all likelihood not be marked by Tunisia but rather be French. It's possible that some French weapons were marked by units or agencies specific to that colony but I cannot say for sure. You could look at Lebels, MAS-36s, etc.

[Anchors]

Darn. I'll just buy a Turk Mauser and pretend the star and crescent are Tunisian haha.

[Milsurp Collector]

A movie you might be interested in seeing is Days of Glory (Indigenes).



It is the story of some Algerian soldiers who fought for the French in World War II. Like Tunisia, Algeria was a French North African colony prior to World War II. It's a good movie that was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award in 2007.

It shows the French Algerian troops using various US arms that we supplied to the French forces, including M1917s.

[bigstick61]

Just get something French from colonial days. I would imagine colonial days are a brighter spot for most pieds noirs anyways.

[glennsche]

so your family were "Pied Noir" ey?

well, Algeria was for all practical purposes part of france from mid 19th to mid 20th century; it was divided into arrondisments etc and was administered differently from, say, colonial africa or s.e. asia... algeria was for a brief time france. but well im sure you know this already

as for algerian specific arms, i think the syrians were the only mediterranean french possession which had their own manufacturer, i've not heard of "algerian" this or that.

[Anchors]

so your family were "Pied Noir" ey?

well, Algeria was for all practical purposes part of france from mid 19th to mid 20th century; it was divided into arrondisments etc and was administered differently from, say, colonial africa or s.e. asia... algeria was for a brief time france. but well im sure you know this already

as for algerian specific arms, i think the syrians were the only mediterranean french possession which had their own manufacturer, i've not heard of "algerian" this or that.

No, but close. Tunisian.
French Tunisian Jews. haha.

Too bad there aren't any guns specifically Tunisian marked around.


I will check out that movie though.

[Interloper]

Obviously, there should be huge numbers of French weapons in Tunisia. I'm not sure how well MAS 36's were distributed through the colonies. It wouldn't surprise me at all if indigenous forces and gendarmes were armed exclusively with Berthiers and Lebels.
After gaining independence in the 50's, Tunisia probably needed to modernize it's military. Like many other nations they may have purchased surplus Mausers to retire obsolete arms. So in answer to your question...no. I doubt there are Tunisian made arms. Your best bet would be a Lebel or Berthier.

My great uncle fought in France's war in Algeria. From all accounts he suffered what we today call PTSD. He said it was an ugly, ugly war. I guess he contracted some kind of protozoan or something that completely ruined his guts. Poor guy.

[bigstick61]

I agree with a Lebel. The last weapon used in colonial Tunisia as a standard issue rifle was the MAS-49 and those are available in the U.S. as well, so that would be a good choice, too.

[Anchors]

Obviously, there should be huge numbers of French weapons in Tunisia. I'm not sure how well MAS 36's were distributed through the colonies. It wouldn't surprise me at all if indigenous forces and gendarmes were armed exclusively with Berthiers and Lebels.
After gaining independence in the 50's, Tunisia probably needed to modernize it's military. Like many other nations they may have purchased surplus Mausers to retire obsolete arms. So in answer to your question...no. I doubt there are Tunisian made arms. Your best bet would be a Lebel or Berthier.

My great uncle fought in France's war in Algeria. From all accounts he suffered what we today call PTSD. He said it was an ugly, ugly war. I guess he contracted some kind of protozoan or something that completely ruined his guts. Poor guy.

That is a shame. I can imagine.
I knew my other grandpa was in the Army (I finally found out he was an Officer in the reserve and then became an Officer in the Coast Guard).
My Tunisia grandpa was also in the U.S. Army. I forgot about this because no one in my family ever talks about it. I'm not sure when he was in or what he did. I just thought it was strange that a non-citizen (which he is now) would have been able to join the Army.

I agree with a Lebel. The last weapon used in colonial Tunisia as a standard issue rifle was the MAS-49 and those are available in the U.S. as well, so that would be a good choice, too.

The MAS-49 looks pretty sweet and not even that expensive.
I bet ammo is a pain to find though if you don't reload (I don't).
Stupid Tunisia not being a real country enough to produce their own guns.
I wonder if they even make their own to this day. Probably not. Probably have old Commie AKs.

[bigstick61]

That is a shame. I can imagine.
I knew my other grandpa was in the Army (I finally found out he was an Officer in the reserve and then became an Officer in the Coast Guard).
My Tunisia grandpa was also in the U.S. Army. I forgot about this because no one in my family ever talks about it. I'm not sure when he was in or what he did. I just thought it was strange that a non-citizen (which he is now) would have been able to join the Army.



The MAS-49 looks pretty sweet and not even that expensive.
I bet ammo is a pain to find though if you don't reload (I don't).
Stupid Tunisia not being a real country enough to produce their own guns.
I wonder if they even make their own to this day. Probably not. Probably have old Commie AKs.

7.5 French can be found at good prices from Prvi Partizan. AIM has it for $13.95/box ($13.75 in quantity). It comes in the standard military load, so the sights will be calibrated for the loading.

[Interloper]

7.5 French can be found at good prices from Prvi Partizan. AIM has it for $13.95/box ($13.75 in quantity). It comes in the standard military load, so the sights will be calibrated for the loading.

MUCH easier to find than the various flavors of 8x50r. And lord help you if you get a Berthier with the original 3 round magazine. Those clips are as scarce as hen's teeth.

[bigstick61]

MUCH easier to find than the various flavors of 8x50r. And lord help you if you get a Berthier with the original 3 round magazine. Those clips are as scarce as hen's teeth.

And Prvi makes that as well. Love those guys.

[harmoniums]

Probably have old Commie AKs.

I believe they use Steyr AUGs

[a.tinkerer]

Ryan-


Good success to you in your search.
Those mausers look chrome plated to me, not just polished.

Have you put "tunisian rifle" in a google box yet with quotation marks and hit the search button?
I just did and saw a fair bit of good conversation and documentation on the topic.
I haven't yet done an image search, but I'm thinking that a bit of experimentation with search phrases with quotations might get you closer to what you want to see.





Cheers
Tinker