The MAT-49: The best gun France ever made?
The words “great French weapons” are not often seen in the same sentence. Haunted by the adoption of several dated and troubled designs such as the disastrous Chauchat light machine gun, the pipsqueak M1892 revolver and the ‘also-ran’ MAS-49/56 battle rifle, the French military is not renowned for their modern small arms. The MAT-49 subgun, however, is something of the exception to the rule.
After World War 2 the French military, devastated and largely disarmed by the German occupation of 1940-44, had to be remade from scratch. One of the most widely spread weapons of the previous war was the submachine gun and France needed them badly. The French national arms concern Manufacture Nationale d’Armes de Tulle, better known as MAT, started working on the design. Adopted in 1949, the designation became the MAT-49 for obvious reasons.
And it wasn’t half-bad. (the rest at my column at Guns.com)
