In addition, the adoption in 1888 of the German Kommissions Gewehr with its rimless cartridge had shown the obsolete design of the French 8×50mm rimmed case.

The final choice for a case length of 56.95 mm (2.242 in) was made in 1912, and the original loading delivered a muzzle velocity of over 1000 meters per second.

The onset of World War I in August 1914 put a halt to a project that would have equipped the French Army with its first semi-automatic infantry rifle.

During spring 1914, MAS tooled up to produce 5000 Meunier rifles each month, but the decision to launch mass production was cancelled due to the risk of introducing a new system at a moment when a conflict with Germany appeared inevitable.

Eventually, 1,013 Meunier rifles were manufactured at Tulle arsenal (MAT) by the time World War I broke out; these were tested in the trenches.

The Meunier A6 rifle can be seen at the Musée de l'Armée, Les Invalides, Paris, France, as a part of the permanent WWI (1914–1918) arms, uniforms and equipment displays.

The Springfield Armory in Massachusetts, USA, has in their archives a single Meunier A6 carbine, a trials version manufactured by cutting down a full length A6 rifle.