Egyptian Contract (Belgian made) FN 49

[Phosphorus32]

The FN 49 was a great rifle that suffered from being a semi-auto 10 round capacity heavy (9.5 lbs) long barrel (23.2") rifle design in an era when most of the armies in the world were adopting lighter weight shorter assault rifles with higher capacities and rate of fire. 

I picked up this example in July on the Broker.  It's a well used matching FN 49 made by Fabrique Nationale on Egyptian contract and chambered in 8mm Mauser.  These came in a variety of calibers on contract to different countries: .30-06 for Belgium and Luxembourg, 7.65x53mm for the Argentine Army, .308 for the Argentine Navy, and 7mm Mauser for Venezuela.  I believe that's all of the calibers but it isn't all of the countries.  I think the largest order was for the Egyptian military and Century imported a lot of these many years ago, which accounts for the CAI (St. Albans, VT) mark under my barrel.

These are really well built SA rifles and have some nice features.  The gas system is easy to break down and clean and has an adjustment sleeve that is adjustable by 9 full turns from completely covering an oval vent in the gas tube to completely uncovering it for especially hot cartridges.  You need to loosen the barrel band and lift off the front handguard in order to access the adjustment sleeve, so it's not exactly adjust on the fly, but it is a nice feature for different types of cartridges.  When I first shot it I left it as found with it fully closed and the brass was flying 30 plus feet.  This rifle is not a reloader's dream, since even with the gas vent half open, where I have it now, the ejector takes a chunk out of the base of the cartridge.  The safety is nice and it has a tactile cocked action indicator pin on the bottom of the trigger guard (out when cocked).

I was rather perturbed when I received the rifle, as the seller had advertised it as having a "good" bore.  After A LOT of cleaning with brushes and Hoppes and patches, it turns out it has strong sharp lands, though the pitting remains (see below).  After some shooting, it's smoothed out a bit more.  Still, I would still say that "good" was being a bit generous      It actually shoots well, groups well, and is surprisingly light on recoil for an 8mm, due to the weight of the rifle and the gas system. The trigger is fairly good; it has a rather heavy 8 lb trigger pull, but it has a short travel and the ergonomics of the stock and trigger suit me, so I like it better than the weight of the pull would suggest.  Also, it's not a super crisp break but it's acceptable.  The sturdy military trigger you would expect rather than a match trigger.

Enough yammering...let the pictorial onslaught begin!

























NICE INLETTING





GAS SYSTEM





CLOSED


HALF OPEN


FULLY OPEN


SERIAL NUMBERS







FN STAMPS



SAFETY ON


SAFETY OFF



BORE BEFORE



BORE AFTER

[running-man]

Now you're talkin' Jon! 

The SAFN49 is my absolute favorite battle rifle of all time.  I would have to say that I still like to shoot mine over my Garand, though the M1 is a very close second.  One day I might be fortunate enough to grab an SVT-40 and G43 to round out the big four battle rifles of the era, but seeing as the SAFN-49 was the very first rifle I ever picked up on my C&R FFL03, it'll always have a special place in my collection.

One thing to note is that this gun does not like the 'hot' Turkish 8mm surplus that is prevalent out there.  As you've seen, you can adjust your gas port settings somewhat (did you notice that it is opposite from being intuitive), but the slow burning Turkish powder doesn't have as big a dropoff as some of the other flavors.  Every time I see that an SAFN49 has had catastrophic issues, it's with Turkish 8mm.  Could just be coincidence, but regardless of gas port adjusting, I could not get mine to quit flinging brass 10 yards and disfiguring the rims to the point of uselessness.  It will eat Romanian steel case all day though so who knows...

Did you notice how similar the design is to the SKS?  It's scary similar!  Saive and Simonov didn't collaborate as far as I know, but they sure reached similar conclusions with their designs!

Mine is an Egyptian gun about 3000 below yours.  It was restocked at importation with one of the ugly Century pieces of wood, so I don't have the brass disc on mine, but I got lucky and they actually put the brass buttplate back on instead of the cheap plastic ones I've seen:




The one ding I'd give would be the rear peep sight.  I'm not a huge fan of it, but then again my eyes are terrible:



I've posted this one before, but it surprised me how similar the SAFN49 is to the Garand.  Maybe Saive took one and copied certain aspects of it?

[Loose}{Cannon]

Very nice...  I need an fn49!

If only it were an sks variation.   

[Phosphorus32]

Thanks guys! 

Yes, it is very similar to the SKS. There's your angle LC, you need it for comparative purposes 

If you split the gas piston into a separate gas piston and op rod it would have nearly the same composition and arrangement of parts as the SKS, even though he and Simonov were surely unaware of each others designs. The trigger group and overall appearance I would say is more like the Garand. I'm sure Saive had access to examples of the Garand while he was in exile in Great Britain during WWII. 

I too have poor eyes but I like peep sights a lot.  That sharp angular hardened steel ejector post is definitely designed for durability not gentleness on brass 

Of course one would like original wood, but your stock looks pretty nice. I have the opposite situation where my Garands have CMP new stocks, which are very nicely fitted walnut, but not original.

[Phosphorus32]

The buttstock repair is rather elaborate    I have no idea why they made the layers but it's cool!  I suppose repairs are necessary after a soldier drops it on a rock in the Sinai Desert just before jumping in the Suez Canal and swimming for the other side 

[Dannyboy53]

Absolutely beautiful examples...both! I have long admired and seriously coveted these rifles. I still mentally kick myself in the seat of the pants when I recall the one (.30-06) I passed up in the early 70's for $50. Dammit...just dammit.

[Phosphorus32]

Absolutely beautiful examples...both! I have long admired and seriously coveted these rifles. I still mentally kick myself in the seat of the pants when I recall the one (.30-06) I passed up in the early 70's for $50. Dammit...just dammit.

Thanks Danny! Good to hear from you!

Well, the early 70's was quite a while ago and $50 in 1973 dollars is a lot more than $50 in 2015 dollars.  Nevertheless, a Luxembourg (or Belgian) contract FN 49 for $50, yeah, that would've been a deal 

[Dannyboy53]

Absolutely beautiful examples...both! I have long admired and seriously coveted these rifles. I still mentally kick myself in the seat of the pants when I recall the one (.30-06) I passed up in the early 70's for $50. Dammit...just dammit.

Thanks Danny! Good to hear from you!

Well, the early 70's was quite a while ago and $50 in 1973 dollars is a lot more than $50 in 2015 dollars.  Nevertheless, a Luxembourg (or Belgian) contract FN 49 for $50, yeah, that would've been a deal 

It was in a wooden crate in a gun shop in Alexandria, Louisiana...I believe it was 1970....maybe '71.

[Phosphorus32]

Absolutely beautiful examples...both! I have long admired and seriously coveted these rifles. I still mentally kick myself in the seat of the pants when I recall the one (.30-06) I passed up in the early 70's for $50. Dammit...just dammit.

Thanks Danny! Good to hear from you!

Well, the early 70's was quite a while ago and $50 in 1973 dollars is a lot more than $50 in 2015 dollars.  Nevertheless, a Luxembourg (or Belgian) contract FN 49 for $50, yeah, that would've been a deal 

It was in a wooden crate in a gun shop in Alexandria, Louisiana...I believe it was 1970....maybe '71.

Wow! Sharp memory Danny! It must've made quite an impression