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.

[5] 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.

[6][7] The weapon found considerable favor with airborne forces and mechanized troops, who prized it for its simplicity, ruggedness, firepower and compactness.

[8][9] North Vietnam covertly provided MAT-49s to anti-French occupation groups during the Algerian War after the French left Indochina.