The MAS 44 is a French gas operated semi auto rifle.
History
The MAS 44 comes from a line of French prototype rifles pre-dating WW2. The concept of Semi-auto rifles was foreign to the French high-command as they thought that it was a waste of ammo in a conscript's hand. Even though the project carried on. After the Germans invaded the project was hidden to prevent capture from the Germans as they had done in Czechoslovakia. After the Allied powers liberated the region of the St. Etienne factory, the engineers scrambled to get back their prototypes and research material on their pre-WW2 gun, eventually making the MAS 44 rifle. They never got it in production before WW2 ended, and after the war the French army asked for around 150 rifles to trial the gun. The army never ordered any guns but the French Marine division asked for 50,000 rifles to be made, but only 6,300 were ever produced.
Design details
The MAS 44 is a gas direct-impingement operated design that, unlike it's predecessors had a detachable box magazine. After some testing by the French military, the design was updated to the MAS-44a version. Which later would lead on to the MAS 49.
Variants
There was 3 variants of the MAS-44, the MAS-44a, MAS-44b and the MAS44c.