Just bought an FN49!

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Betty

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
933
Location
Nashville, TN, USA
FN49left_s.jpg

FN49topreceiver_s.jpg
photos by Oleg Volk

We (Oleg, me, my bro & his friends) went to the Smyrna gun show this past weekend. I didn't plan on buying anything ;) so I didn't strap myself with cash.

Anyhow, no sooner had we pulled into a parking spot when this guy walks by with the 8mm FN49. My brother and Oleg: GRAB HIM!

My brother starts to quietly whine about wanting it and not having the dinero. We all walk into the show while talking to the seller, and Oleg is scrutinizing the rifle. I can almost see this little blob of drool form on my brother's lower lip when he discover the seller is asking for $400. He sulks off to mingle into the show, knowing that maybe if he's lucky, we'll buy it and let him shoot it. :p

So I begin with my deep down internal dilemma...

I don't really "need" it. But it's nice rifle. We don't have room in the safe. Heck, I can take one of the crusty old Mosins out to make room. We need to save more money. But the price is such a bargain! I don't have enough cash on me, and neither does Oleg.

to Oleg: "Hey, want to split for the rifle?"
to the seller: "You take checks?"

And he said yes, so can guess the rest. :p

It's not in tip top shape - there's alot of repair on the wood, but that actually makes the rifle quite interesting. You can see and feel the history. The FN has Egyptian markings on it, and the seller said he did find little chunks of what appeared to be shrapnel imbedded in the stock. I can only imagine what happened to the orginal owner of that rifle. :eek:

I'd like to get a bayonet for it (gotta have the sharp pointy thing!) and the rifle can fit a scope, so we'll see what happens... Hopefully we can make it to the range this weekend. We're stocked rather well on 8mm. :D

So, any FN49 comments out there?
 
I have one of the FN49's also. I love the workmanship and the cheap 8MM ammo out their. They are so well made (they rarely have a breakage) that getting parts for them can be a bit of a challenge at times but all the major parts stores carry most of what you could ever want. The most powerful 8mm round out there is the Turk surplus stuff (150gr) going for about 4.70 a bandoleer of 70 rounds. Just make sure you open the gas ajustment all the way and work in until you get reliable function. The kick is a bit more than 30/06 so you won't be shooting several hundred rounds at a session. The standard bullet weight is around 195 gr and there is plenty of surplus available for that too. Its a classic rifle thats second to none. Good luck:)
 
1) Sand paper... smooth out all the bumps.
2) Wet towel and an iron. Put the wet towel on the rifle, and the iron on top, bubble up the remaining "gunk" on the furniture.
3) De-gunk, let it dry, and resand it.
4) Then steel wool it.
5) A little tac-paper..
6) Lynseed oil.
7) A nice polyeurathane coat on top
8) Make that a few coats
9) You've got a brand new rifle!

As for the metal parts... I have found, a nice bath in transmission oil, + a toothbrush makes everything squeeky clean.. The great solvents in the tranny oil does a great job cleaning gunk.. Also, you can soak parts in it without rust or pitting worries like other solvents...
 
Please CLOSE the gas port and open a little until it functions ok. Big open port hole + lots ogas pressure=wreaked rifle. I have a Argentine 7.65 one that I converted to 7mm with a surplus barrel and bolt and springs(everything I could find that was different bewtween 7.65 and 7mm version) back in 70's when you could get lots o parts cheap. The gun sleeps in safe with a factory scope mount but no scope as I never could locate the factory sniper scope.
 
These are great 2nd gen semis I have the 06/8mm/7x57/and the 308 ,they all work great with ball ammo,maybe a tad heavy but built like a tank
 
Congratulations! Those are pretty neat rifles, and a fun way to burn surplus 8mm Mauser.

The markings on the rear sight look Persian, not Egyptian. See if Oleg can provide a closeup, but I'm pretty sure that's a Persian FN49 made for the Shah of Persia (now Iran) in the early 1950s.

I could be wrong, though...wouldn't be the first time. :)
 
Check out the trigger assembly...

Make sure it's clean, without a lot of extra gunk inside. Then take a look at the striker, they came in one-piece and two-piece versions. The one-piece version replaced the two-piece, which had a tendency to slam-fire.

My own 8mm FN-49 had an out-of-battery fire, where the round went off before the bolt had completely tipped down and locked. The stock was split and ruined, as was my underwear. Gunsmith inspection later revealed no other damage to the action, although it appeared either the hammer had followed the bolt into battery, or the striker nose had stayed forward into battery. This was my Thursday night High-Power match rifle, which had several hundred rounds fired in competition. I sold it for parts, it scared me that much. But I'm always looking for another one to sit next to the Ljungmann and Garands. :(
 
Please remind me how to regulate the gas settings...is it the same as with a FAL or different? This rifle was a shooter, and seems to be in working order.
 
What research I did on the FN49 says Egyptian, there is no record of Belgium making them for Persia, If I'm wrong then you have a priceless collector's item. Also I did mean start with the gas cylinder run out (but not off of course) when using the Turk 8MM surplus ammo. It is much more powerful than other military loadings, several dealers warn you not shoot that ammo in any semi-auto!. Starting out with too little gas pressure is safer than too much, there have been reports (documented?) of semi's failing due to the lighter bullet weight of the Turk ammo throwing the "timing" out on semi's action and effecting there lock-up.
 
Last edited:
Oh gosh, Runt, I used to have one of those!

I shot my first three gun match with an FN 49 7x57 in the late 70's! What a great rifle! I sold mine to my old college roommate who almost immediately blew it up with bad handloads. Somewhere in this house I still have an old manual for the FN 49. If I can find it, do you want it?
 
Congrats! Never shot one but I've handled a couple. Very impressive. Don't see 'em much up around these parts. I'd love to have one of those. As semi autos go, it's the one I want the most.
 
I may have spoken too soon!

I've been tearing up the bookshelves looking for the manual. Haven't found it yet. I'm nearly sure it's here somewhere. I'll keep looking.
 
Congrats!

If I'm not mistaken one of the gun rags had a small article on those recently. Anyway, I believe they had said you could make a gas regulator tool out of a spent casing and a file.

I've been wanting one and saw one at a local shop, but the shop owner stated that it was in 30-06 instead of 8mm. I didn't know they came in 30-06 so I held back until I could investigate further.

Good SHooting
Red
 
Link to online manuals for FN 49s

Some day that old manual of mine is going to turn up but I can't find it right now.

Here's a link to FN 49 info. Other military rifles are here as well.

http:/users2.ev1.net/~lertsman/rifle3.html

The site is Big L.E.E.'s Military Rifle Page. I didn't read everything but it should have information on gas settings, etc.

Enjoy the rifle.:D
 
Something else to look for...

A LOT of those Century Arms 8mm FN-49's had horrible muzzle erosion, presumably from cleaning rod wear. It's probably the reason one finds new surplus 8mm FN-49 barrels available for so cheap. :(
 
Gas Adjustment
The gas cylinder is located under the front handguard. A threaded sleeve is provided on the outside of the gas cylinder in order to adjust the opening size of the gas bleed vent. This adjustment is used to regulate the amount of powder combustion gas that is applied to the end of the piston rod. The sleeve is screwed farther onto the gas cylinder toward the front sight in order to block the gas vent reducing its size, thereby increasing the pressure applied to the piston rod. Alternately, it can be rotated the opposite direction, away from the front sight, to open the gas vent, thus reducing the amount of gas pressure applied to the piston rod._

Proper adjustment of the gas system is needed to prevent violent ejection that results in excessive wear and tear on the rifle. Gas pressure can increase or decrease with different types of ammunition, ammunition production lots and atmospheric conditions. The gas system has a broad operating range and does not require minor adjustments when set properly for the type of ammunition and powder being fired. Once the gas regulator is set, mis-adjustment through tampering or accident is prevented by having the regulator sleeve located under the front handguard._

To adjust the gas system, begin by removing the front handguard. This is accomplished by first removing the stock end cap screw and then the stock end cap located under the front sight assembly. Once the stock end cap screw is removed, the stock end cap is removed by sliding it forward to disengage it from the tabs on the front handguard and then downward off the barrel. The front handguard is then removed by sliding it slightly forward out from under the lower stock band and lifting it off the rifle from the forward end. Removal or loosening of the lower stock band should not be required._

Begin the gas adjustment procedure by rotating (opening) the gas regulator sleeve on the gas cylinder until the gas vent is completely unblocked. From a standing position, fire a single round of ammunition of the desired type. Note how far the spent cartridge is ejected from the rifle. If the spent cartridge fails to clear the receiver or is not ejected sufficiently to achieve approximately 8 to 15 feet to the forward and right of the firer, screw in the gas regulator sleeve several turns until the gas vent is slightly blocked and repeat the procedure. The proper setting is attained when a spent cartridge is usually ejected some 8 to 15 feet to the forward right of the firer. A setting that causes the spent cartridges to be ejected farther can cause excessive wear and stress on the rifle. Too little gas pressure can result in unreliable spent cartridge case extraction and lack of ejection. In my experience, it is not unusual to have a spent cartridge ejected rather close to the rifle now and then, but on average they should fall approximately 8 to 15 feet from the rifle._

Excessive gas pressure can cause premature extraction of the cartridge case, even before chamber pressures have decreased sufficiently to allow the cartridge case walls to contract from the chamber. A sure sign of extreme gas system pressure is having rims torn off spent cartridge cases by the extractor. Excessive gas pressure will also be evident when spent cartridge cases are being ejected into low earth orbit, are being heavily dented by the receiver cover, or the spent cartridge case fails to be extracted from the chamber altogether. "Hotly" handloaded cartridges as well as extended range factory loads can cause this same problem and even a properly adjusted gas regulator sleeve and gas vent system may be unable to compensate for these excessive pressures. Like most semi-automatic rifles, the FN-49 functions best with cartridges loaded to the middle of the normal pressure range. The FN-49 is built sturdy enough to handle "hot" loads quite well, but the gas system may not be able to function properly in those circumstances, and semi-automatic firing should not be attempted. In these cases, such as when using extended range factory loads, set the gas plug to single shot operation (see the section below under grenade launching)._
 
Oleg, does it have a stock disk on the right hand side of the buttstock?

Do you need a manual? I've got one I'd be happy to copy and send to you. Email me directly.

Make sure you find Goose52's survey and give him the numbers for it. He's got over 600 rifles in it now and every one helps.

Also, make sure you've got a 2 piece firing pin in there. The one piece has some issues with slam fires. The 2 piece elimnates that.

Finally, there's a neat little feature on the rife. Since the mag doesn't come away from the rifle without falling apart, you strip rounds into it. There's a little lever on the left hand side of the receiver. Pull the bolt back, press that little lever, and let the bolt go and it'll lock back in place so you can top off the mag. You can also remove the mag and keep the bolt open if you need to.

Rome
 
Hello,

Rome just tipped me off about this Board in general and this thread in particular. It looks like we have a few FN-49 owners on this board so I'll start a new thread and post my survey. I have 664 rifles in the data base - my goal is 1,000 and beyond so I can ALWAYS use more data !

In regards to the posts above, it looks like everything is now straight after a few course corrections:

Open gas port = more gas vented to atmosphere = less pressure on gas piston.

No FN-49 Persian contract - just the Egyptian contract for some 37,000 rifles. This production quantity is confirmed by my survey data - I have 242 Egyptian contract rifles in the data base with the serial number range well filled in between the low rifle of 5x to a high so far of 3742X.

The 2-piece firing pin design replaced the 1-piece. If you own an FN-49 you should, as Rome said, ensure that you have a 2-piece pin installed.

As several people said, the Turk ammo is loaded with powder with too slow a burning rate for optimal use in semi-autos. Some FN-49s will run on Turk OK . . . many will not - it just depends on tolerances in the gas piston to gas cylinder fit and other variables. Rifles that won't run on the Turk can exhibit problems ranging from cycling malfunctions, through broken extractors, up to case-head separations with resultant gas dump into the action (and usually a cracked stock and perhaps injured shooter).

SteyrAUG asked if the FN-49 is available in .308. The answer is that Argentina converted their rifles from 7.65 to 7.62x51 - about 800 to 1000 of the converted Argentine rifles were imported to the U.S. around 1995. Price usually runs around $800 + or - depending on condition. You really have to be an FN-49 collector to justify the price as if you just want to burn 7.62 a FAL or CETME can do it more cheaply !

HTH

Goose
 
Keep Going Goose!

Caught you before at another Web site. Don't stop talking now, with all the info you have on the FN49, I'll never have to buy the book. Good Job:)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Janos Dracwlya
  • Locked
FN49 Stocks
Replies
6
Views
957
Rifle Country
Full Clip
F
T
  • Locked
Turk 8mm ammo and the FN49
Replies
1
Views
492
Rifle Country
GD
G
S
  • Locked
FN49
Replies
11
Views
746
Rifle Country
Kor
K
V
  • Locked
SAFN FN49 info required
Replies
2
Views
368
Rifle Country
Float Pilot
Float Pilot
E
  • Locked
Garand vs. FN49
Replies
27
Views
3K
Rifle Country
Coronach
C
Top Bottom
Back