MAS-49 Battle Rifle

The MAS-49 Battle Rifle is a rifle used by the North Vietnamese in Rising Storm 2: Vietnam.

As a primary weapon available to the Guerilla class of the National Liberation Front, the MAS-49 shares characteristics with the SKS: semi-automatic fire only, high damage, and accuracy even at range. The MAS has a distinct ammunition advantage over the SKS, since because the box magazines are detachable, when reloading with one round left, a soldier simply swaps one magazine with a fresh one, creating a ten-plus-one capacity for the MAS. However, it also shares some of the SKS's drawbacks, such as a lengthy reload time (topping off involves loading via stripper clips) and a relatively slow rate of fire. With no bayonet, the MAS-49 has even more limited effectiveness in close quarters than the SKS, which does have a bayonet. Nevertheless, it is a powerful weapon in long-ranged engagements.

Historically, the MAS-49 was developed by France shortly after World War II, to replace its outdated arsenal of mainly bolt-action rifles. Firing a relatively powerful cartridge and built robustly and reliably, the MAS-49 quickly found affinity in French forces, and saw combat in Algeria and Indochina, both of which were rebellious French colonies until the 1950s. When France withdrew from Indochina in the late 1950s, they left behind, among other weaponry, quantities of MAS-49 rifles. The newly established People's Republic of Vietnam and its army initially took on these weapons as their own, but as they became more and more supplied with Soviet/Chinese weaponry, they handed their French weapons down to the National Liberation Front (aka the Vietcong), their Communist guerilla allies operating in the southern Republic of Vietnam. Additionally, some French weaponry were simply holdovers from capturing them after victories against the French - guns used in the 1950s were still used by guerilla forces a decade later.

The variant of the MAS-49 found in Rising Storm 2 is the original production run, with the shorter and lighter 56 variant only being produced after France's involvement in Indochina.