Skip to content
Menu
  • Original Short Fiction
Menu

Military Weapons From the Past: French MAC-47/1 Sub-Machine Gun

Posted on 8 March 2016 by The Tactical Hermit

MAC

The Pistolet Mitrailleur des Manufactures d’Armes de Châtellerault Modele 47/1 was one of a number of French compact submachine gun designs that various arsenals and private companies developed during the late 1940s. It was a product of the government arsenal Manufactures d’Armes de Châtellerault, an institution best known for its FM M24/29 light machine gun.

The Pistolet Mitrailleur 47/1 came chambered in nine-millimeter and rather ingeniously fed from MP40 magazines, which were in abundance at the end of World War II. The MAC 47/1 had a folding stock and magazine assembly.

With the war having halted French small-arms development, in the late 1940s demand spiked for new infantry rifles — a need the MAS 49eventually met — and new submachine guns, the latter to replace theMAS 38s, STENs and other war-surplus designs then in use with the French army.

Manufactures d’Armes de Châtellerault offered the MAC 47/1 for the submachine-gun requirement. Like Hotchkiss’ Pistolet Mitrailleur “Type Universal” and the MAT 49 — the weapon the French army eventually adopted — the MAC 47/1 was as small and compact as its designers could make it. The MAC 47/1 weighed just 2.1 kilograms and was just 40 centimeters long when folded. An integral magazine well cover rested behind the stick magazine, making a fore grip, and covered the well when the magazine was folded forward.

While Hotchkiss’ design lacked in ergonomics, MAC’s gun appears even less user-friendly with its stamped metal stock and its lack of a pistol grip.

The French army’s technical section tested the MAC 47/1 in May 1948. Testers praised the weapon for its light weight and ease of folding — a useful feature for transport and parachute operations. However, the weapon’s poor ergonomics and lack of grip made it difficult and unpleasant to shoot. Testers also found that the recoil spring wasn’t strong enough due to poor spring quality. As a result, the army dropped the weapon from the trials — and ultimately selected the MAT 49, instead.

This article originally appeared at Historical Firearms.

Read the Article as it is Seen Here at War is Boring

1 thought on “Military Weapons From the Past: French MAC-47/1 Sub-Machine Gun”

  1. Pingback: Military Weapons From the Past: French MAC-47/1 Sub-Machine Gun | Rifleman III Journal

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tactical Hermit Substack

Recent Post

  • Bee PSA
  • Evening Laugh
  • Race Reality in South Africa: Anybody Can Farm, Right?
  • How Putin’s new Drone War is getting Deadlier
  • Duckmen 3 & 4
General Franco (2008-2024)

Book of the Month

Fellow Conspirators

Area Ocho

American Partisan

Western Rifle Shooters Association

Brushbeater

Von Steuben Training and Consulting

CSAT

Politically Incorrect Humor and Memes

Freedom is Just Another Word

Prepared Gun Owners

Fix Bayonets

The Firearm Blog

BorderHawk

Cold Fury

Don Shift SHTF

NC Renegades

Big Country Ex-Pat

The Bayou Renaissance Man

Bustednuckles

The Feral Irishman

It Ain’t Holy Water

Evil White Guy

Pacific Paratrooper

Badlands Fieldcraft

Riskmap

Stuck Pig Medical

Swift Silent Deadly

Spotter Up

The Survival Homestead

Bacon Time!

SHTF Preparedness

Sigma 3 Survival School

The Organic Prepper

The Zombie Apocalypse Survival Homestead

Texas Gun Rights

The Gatalog

Taki’s Magazine

Defensive Training Group

The Trail Up Blood Hill

No White Guilt

Europe Renaissance

Vermont Folk Truth

The Occidental Observer

The Dissident Right

Daily Stormer

American Renaissance

Blacksmith Publishing

Arktos Publishing

Antelope Hill Publishing

White People Press

White Rabbit Radio

White Papers Substack

Viking Life Blog (Archived)

Identity Dixie

The Texian Partisan

Southern Vanguard

League of the South

The Unz Review

Dissident Thoughts

The Third Position

Renegade Tribune

COPYRIGHT NOTICE/DISCLAIMER & FAIR USE ACT

All blog postings, including all non-fiction and fictional works are copyrighted and considered the sole property of the Tactical Hermit Blog. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in the short stories and novelettes are entirely fictional and are of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or organizations or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental, The information contained in the articles posted to this site are for informational and/or educational purposes only. The Tactical Hermit disclaims any and all liability resulting from the use or misuse of the information contained herein.

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any of the companies that advertise here. 

Much of the information on this blog contains copyrighted material whose use has not always been specifically authorized by the rightful copyright owner. This material is made available in an effort to educate and inform and not for remuneration. Under these guidelines this constitutes "Fair Use" under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. The publisher of this site DOES NOT own the copyrights of the images on the site. The copyrights lie with the respective owners.

© 2025 | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme