MAT-49

In 1949, after evaluating several other submachine gun prototypes (including a collapsible design from Hotchkiss), the French MAT factory began production of the MAT-49 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun. The MAT-49 used a machine stamping process which allowed for the economical production of large numbers of submachine guns, then urgently required by the French Government for use by Army, French Foreign Legion as well as airborne and colonial forces to meet the need for a compact weapon.{{Cite web |url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/mat-49-54-police-submachine-gun/ |title=MAT 49-54 Police Submachine Gun |first=Ian |last=McCollum |date=January 22, 2020 |website=Forgotten Weapons |access-date=April 26, 2020 |archive-date=April 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427031941/https://www.forgottenweapons.com/mat-49-54-police-submachine-gun/ |url-status=live}}

Production continued at MAT until the mid-1960s, then switched to the Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne plant (MAS), where the weapon was produced until 1973. In 1979, the French armed forces adopted the FAMAS 5.56 mm NATO assault rifle, and the MAT-49 was gradually phased out of service.

File:Mortier2.jpg from the French Foreign Legion storming Kolwezi in 1978.]]

The MAT-49 saw widespread combat use during the First Indochina War and the Algerian War, as well as the 1956 Suez Crisis.{{Cite web |url=https://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2508 |title=The French MAT 49 Submachine Gun |website=Small Arms Review |access-date=2021-09-14 |archive-date=2021-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612201416/http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2508 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=Leulliette |first=Pierre |date=1964 |title=St. Michael and the Dragon: Memoirs of a Paratrooper |location=New York City |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin & Co |page=29|url=https://archive.org/details/stmichaeldrago00leul/}} The weapon found considerable favor with airborne forces and mechanized troops, who prized it for its simplicity, ruggedness, firepower and compactness.

After French forces left Indochina, the People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Minh continued to use many captured MAT-49s into the Vietnam War. Some were converted to the Soviet 7.62 mm Tokarev pistol cartridge, then available in large quantities from the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. These converted versions could be distinguished by a longer barrel and a higher rate of fire at 900 rpm.{{Cite web |url=https://www.5rar.asn.au/weapons/mat49.htm |title=French MAT-49 Sub-Machine Gun |website=5rar.asn.au |access-date=2021-09-14| archive-date=2020-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322070250/https://www.5rar.asn.au/weapons/mat49.htm |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |url=http://www.virginia1774.org/DIA-ST-HB-07-03-74.pdf |title=Small Arms Identification and Operation Guide – Eurasian Communist Countries |first=Harold E. |last=Johnson |date=September 1973 |edition=3rd |page=98 |publisher=Defense Intelligence Agency |access-date=2016-11-21 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090738/http://www.virginia1774.org/DIA-ST-HB-07-03-74.pdf |url-status=usurped}}

North Vietnam covertly provided MAT-49s to anti-French occupation groups during the Algerian War after the French left Indochina.{{Cite web |url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/vietnamese-guns-for-algeria/ |title=Vietnamese Guns for Algeria |first=Ian |last=McCollum |date=October 18, 2016 |website=Forgotten Weapons |access-date=September 5, 2017 |archive-date=September 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905184624/https://www.forgottenweapons.com/vietnamese-guns-for-algeria/ |url-status=live}}

The MAT-49 had a short, retractable wire stock, which when extended gave the weapon a length of {{convert|720|mm|in|abbr=on}}, and the magazine well and magazine could be folded forward parallel to the barrel for parachute jump or with a 45° angle hence allowing a safe carry until the magazine well is brought back to vertical position before opening fire. Barrel length is {{convert|230|mm|in|abbr=on}}, with the MAT-49/54 manufactured with extended barrels and non-retractable wooden stocks. As issued, the MAT-49 fires a 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge, using a single-column 20-round magazine for desert use or 32-round similar to the Sten magazine.

The MAT-49 is blowback-operated and box magazine-fed, with a cyclic rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. Some of the MAT 49/54s, modified MAT-49s manufactured for police forces, had two triggers, allowing use of full-auto fire or single shots, but most were manufactured as full-auto only. Minus magazine, the MAT-49 weighs about {{convert|3.5|kg|lb|abbr=off}}, which is heavy for a submachine gun. The weapon incorporates a grip safety which is located on the backside of the pistol grip. The rear sights are flip-up and L-shaped, and marked for a range of {{convert|50|and|100|m|yds|sp=us}}. Production ceased before the introduction of the FAMAS assault rifle in 1979.

• MAS-48 - prototype variant.
• MAT-49 - main variant.
• MAT-49/54 - gendarme variant with extended barrel and fixed wooden stock with a sling bar.
• MAT-49 silenced - variant fitted with a suppressor.
• MAT-49 M - variant modified by the Viet Minh, firing in 7.62×25mm Tokarev. It had a longer barrel, modified 35-round magazine, and a higher rate of fire (900 rpm). It was distinguished from the 9mm version by having a letter "K" stamped on the top of the receiver's endcap and the side of the compatible magazines. Spare parts were still produced in the early 1970s, the gun being used by the Viet Cong.{{cite book |title=Personal Firepower |first=Edward Clinton |last=Ezell |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1988 |series=The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War |volume=15 |oclc=1036801376 |url=https://archive.org/details/personalfirepowe00ezel |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/personalfirepowe00ezel/page/18 18], 35, 42|isbn=978-0-553-34549-0 }}

File:MAT-49.svg|MAT-49: left and right views; view with stock retracted and magazine in safe position

File:MAT-49 54.svg|Police MAT-49/54 model

File:Togolese naval honour guard 070521.jpg equipped with MAT-49 in 2007.]]

File:MAT-49 Users.png

• {{flag|Algeria}}{{cite book |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Richard D. |date=January 27, 2009 |title=Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009/2010 |edition=35th |publisher=Jane's Information Group |isbn=978-0-7106-2869-5}}
• {{flag|Barbados}} {{cite book| last = Ezell| first = Edward| author-link = Edward C. Ezell| title = Small Arms Today| publisher = Stackpole Books| volume = 2nd| edition = | date = 1988

| pages = 54| language = English | isbn = 0811722805| jfm =}}

• {{flag|Benin}}
• {{flag|Bolivia}}
• {{flag|Burkina Faso}}
• {{flag|Burundi}}
• {{flag|Central African Republic}}
• {{flag|Chad}}
• {{flag|Comoros}}
• {{flag|Republic of the Congo}}
• {{flag|Cote d'Ivoire}}{{cite report |language=fr |title=Enquête nationale sur les armes légères et de petit calibre en Côte d'Ivoire: les défis du contrôle des armes et de la lutte contre la violence armée avant la crise post-électorale |trans-title=National survey on small arms and light weapons in Côte d'Ivoire: the challenges of arms control and the fight against armed violence before the post-election crisis |first=Savannah |last=de Tessières |publisher=UNDP, Commission Nationale de Lutte contre la Prolifération et la Circulation Illicite des Armes Légères et de Petit Calibre and Small Arms Survey |date=April 2012 |series=Special Report No. 14 |url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/C-Special-reports/SAS-SR14-CoteIvoire.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118234610/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/C-Special-reports/SAS-SR14-CoteIvoire.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 18, 2012 |page=97}}
• {{flag|Djibouti}}
• {{flag|Equatorial Guinea}}
• {{flag|France}}: Adopted by the French army in 1949. Also used by the National Gendarmerie.
• {{flag|Gabon}}
• {{flag|Guinea}}
• {{flag|Guinea Bissau}}
• {{flag|Iran|1964}}: Used in small numbers by the Shahrbani.{{Cite web |url=https://silahreport.com/2021/06/21/iranian-submachine-guns-1941-1979/ |title=Podcast V33: Iranian Submachine Guns (1941-1979) |date=June 21, 2021 |website=Silah Report |access-date=July 26, 2021 |archive-date=July 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726045738/https://silahreport.com/2021/06/21/iranian-submachine-guns-1941-1979/ |url-status=live}}
• {{flag|Kingdom of Laos}}: Received from French government during First Indochina War.{{cite book |title=The War in Laos 1960–75 |url=https://archive.org/details/warlaos00conb |url-access=limited |series=Men-at-Arms |volume=217 |first=Kenneth |last=Conboy |date=23 November 1989 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-0-85045-938-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/warlaos00conb/page/n13 15]}}
• {{flag|Laos}}
• {{flag|Lebanon}}
• {{flag|Madagascar}}
• {{flag|Mali}} - Armed and Security Forces of Mali
• {{flag|Mauritania}}
• {{flag|Morocco}}
• {{flag|Niger}}
• {{flag|Senegal}}
• {{flag|Seychelles}}
• {{flag|Syria}}: used by police and special forces
• {{flag|Turkey}}:{{Cite web |url=https://www.armyrecognition.com/turkey_turkish_army_land_ground_forces_uk/turkey_turkish_army_land_ground_armed_defense_forces_military_equipment_armored_vehicle_intelligence.html |title=Turkish Army Land Forces: Military equipment and vehicles of Turkey |date=15 April 2010 |website=World Army Equipment |access-date=2021-05-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808171857/https://www.armyrecognition.com/turkey_turkish_army_land_ground_forces_uk/turkey_turkish_army_land_ground_armed_defense_forces_military_equipment_armored_vehicle_intelligence.html |archive-date=2018-08-08}} Captured MAT-49s donated to Village guards.
• {{flag|Togo}}
• {{flag|Tunisia}}
• {{flag|Vietnam}}: used 9mm and 7.62mm MAT-49s.

• 22px National Liberation Army (Libya){{cite news |url=https://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/04/libyas-rebels-fight-with-ancient-useless-weapons/ |magazine=Wired |first=Spencer |last=Ackerman |title=Libya's Rebels Fight with Ancient, Useless Weapons |date=April 21, 2011 |access-date=March 8, 2017 |archive-date=December 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222174449/http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/04/libyas-rebels-fight-with-ancient-useless-weapons/ |url-status=live}}
• 22px Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army{{Cite thesis |url=http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/ArtOfWar_RhodesianAfricanRifles.pdf |title=The Rhodesian African Rifles ~ The Growth and Adaptation of a Multicultural Regiment through the Rhodesian Bush War, 1965-1980 |first=Michael P. |last=Stewart |date=2012 |pages=41–42 |type=MA |publisher=Command and General Staff College |location=Fort Leavenworth, Kansas |access-date=2013-05-03 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150821222415/http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/ArtOfWar_RhodesianAfricanRifles.pdf |quote=The Armageddon group, like the other ZANU terrorists sent into Rhodesia, was armed with a mixture of semi-automatic Soviet SKS 7.62mm rifles, French MAT-49 9mm submachine guns, German Luger 9mm pistols, Soviet F1 and RGD5 grenades...}} Quoting {{cite book |last=Wood |first=J. R. T. |date=2009 |title=Counterstrike From the Sky: The Rhodesian All-Arms Fireforce in the War in the Bush 1974-1980 |location=South Africa |publisher=30 Degrees South Publishers |isbn=978-1-92014-333-6}}
• 22px Viet Minh,{{cite book |last=McNab |first=Chris |title=20th Century Military Uniforms |year=2002 |edition=2nd |publisher=Grange Books |location=Kent |isbn=1-84013-476-3 |page=304}} known as Tuyn, from the name of the manufacturer (Tulle).{{cite web |title=Những vũ khí viện trợ đã ra trận cùng QĐVN trong trận Điện Biên Phủ |trans-title=Weapons of the Vietnamese Army in the battle of Dien Bien Phu |language=vi |date=11 November 2014 |url=https://tintuc.vn/nhung-vu-khi-vien-tro-da-ra-tran-cung-qdvn-trong-tran-dien-bien-phu-7732 |website=tintuc.vn |access-date=10 January 2019 |archive-date=10 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110235037/https://tintuc.vn/nhung-vu-khi-vien-tro-da-ra-tran-cung-qdvn-trong-tran-dien-bien-phu-7732 |url-status=live}}
• {{flagicon|Basque Country}} ETA: Produced unlicensed copies of existing weapons in an underground workshop at Mouguerre after it was raided by police.{{cite news |url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/02/10/paisvasco/1328900209.html |title=Hallan en Francia un viejo arsenal de subfusiles de ETA de los años 70 |trans-title=Found in France an old arsenal of ETA submachine guns from the 70s |first=Ángeles |last=Escrivá |date=10 February 2012 |newspaper=El Mundo |language=es |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108142028/http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/02/10/paisvasco/1328900209.html |archive-date=2014-01-08}}
• 22px Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic{{cite book |url=https://e-archivo.uc3m.es/bitstream/handle/10016/17377/04_conflictos_saharaoccidental_2006.pdf |title=El conflicto del Sahara occidental |trans-title=The Western Sahara conflict |language=es |first1=Ignacio |last1=Fuente Cobo |first2=Fernando M. |last2=Mariño Menéndez |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Ministerio de Defensa de España & Universidad Carlos III de Madrid |year=2006 |page=69 |isbn=84-9781-253-0 |access-date=2018-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616062508/https://e-archivo.uc3m.es/bitstream/handle/10016/17377/04_conflictos_saharaoccidental_2006.pdf |archive-date=2019-06-16 |url-status=live}}
• {{flagicon|Mozambique|1974}} FRELIMO{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/modernafricanwar00abbo_283 |title=Modern African Wars (2): Angola and Mozambique 1961–1974 |last=Abbott |first=Peter |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-85045-843-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernafricanwar00abbo_283/page/n14 14] |url-access=limited}}
• Séléka{{cite news |url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/166718/politique/centrafrique-le-soudan-a-t-il-arm-les-ex-s-l-ka/ |title=Centrafrique : le Soudan a-t-il armé les ex-Séléka? |trans-title=Central African Republic: Did Sudan arm the ex-Séléka? |first=Laurent|last=Touchard |date=17 December 2013 |work=Jeune Afrique |language=fr |access-date=29 January 2019 |archive-date=30 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130111716/https://www.jeuneafrique.com/166718/politique/centrafrique-le-soudan-a-t-il-arm-les-ex-s-l-ka/ |url-status=live}}
• {{flagicon image|FNL Flag.svg}} Viet Cong{{Cite web |last=Laemlein |first=Tom |date=2021-10-26 |title=Small Arms of the Viet Cong |url=https://www.thearmorylife.com/small-arms-of-the-viet-cong/ |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=The Armory Life |language=en-US}}

• Gevarm D4
• Halcón ML-63
• Hotchkiss Type Universal
• Sola submachine gun
• Vigneron submachine gun
• MAS-38 replaced in the 1950s by the MAT-49 submachine gun.

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|MAT-49}}

• {{cite web |url=https://modernfirearms.net/en/submachine-guns/france-submachine-guns/mat-49-eng/ |title=MAT-49 |website=Modern Firearms|date=27 October 2010 }}

Category:7.62×25mm Tokarev submachine guns

Category:9mm Parabellum submachine guns

Category:Blowback-operated firearms

Category:Cold War weapons of France

Category:Infantry weapons of the Cold War

Category:Submachine guns of France

Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1949