FN-49 Survey - All Contracts

[Goose52]

Hi – I just found your Board and it looks like there are some FN-49 owners here. I have been running several FN-49 surveys on a number of Boards for the past 13 months. I now have data for 664 FN-49 rifles in my data base. We have learned a lot about the FN-49 as a result of Board member’s contributions.

I would appreciate it if all FN-49 owners on this Board would participate in this survey. The more rifles in the data base . . . . the more we learn. The survey questions are posted below. You may post your results on this thread, or if your prefer, you may email me direct at [email protected].

Notes:

I DO NOT retain any actual names or Board names/nicknames with the data. Also, feel free to replace the last digit of your serial number with an “X.†This limits the fidelity of the data, but protects everyone’s privacy.

The "scope cut" is a very shallow female dovetail, .5" in height, that runs along the left receiver rail. The upper part of the dovetail is visible - the lower end of the dovetail is usually at or slightly below the stock. (see pics 1 & 2)

SURVEY QUESTIONS:

Egyptian Contract (8x57 chambering - 7.92x57 for you purists):

Serial Number
Receiver ring crest (crown or eagle)?
Have scope cut on left receiver rail? (see pic 1)
Have a middle sling swivel located about 2" in front of the magazine?
Have a reinforcing crossbolt in the stock? (see pic 2)

Optional question: Is the bolt machined to take a firing pin safety stop as shown in pic 3 ? If so, does the bolt serial number match the receiver serial number?

Venezuelan Contract (7x57 chambering):

Serial number
Have a circular "Fuerzas Armadas Venezuela" cartouche on the right side of the buttstock?
Does the rear guard screw (behind trigger guard) have a small lock screw? (see pic 4)

Optional question: Have a 2-piece or 1-piece handguard? (requires loosening the lower band in order to wiggle the handguards to find out).

Note: It's generally accepted that all Venezuelans had the scope cut and muzzle brake so I am not surveying for that data.

Argentine Contract (7.62x51 chambering w/detachable box magazine):

Serial number
Have scope cut on the left receiver rail? (see pic 2)
Have an "ARA" cartouche on the buttstock? On left side or right side?

Note: If you have an Argentine in the original 7.65 chambering, please feel free to share your good fortune with the rest of us!

30-06 RIFLES

Which Contract? (check receiver ring marking - see legend below)
Serial Number
Have scope cut on the left receiver rail? (see pic 2)
Which buttplate? (stamped steel w/trap OR ridged steel with no trap OR, for Colombian rifles only, a rubber pad?)
Have a reinforcing crossbolt in the stock just below the receiver ring? (see pic 2)

Receiver ring legend:

"AL" = Luxembourg
"ABL" = Belgian
Colombia has National Crest
"FP" & Lion = Congo
"ALRI"/"ADRI"/"AURI" = Indonesia
Brazil = unknown - probably National Crest

***********************************************

That's it. Thanks in advance to all contributors.

Goose

 

[geekay]

FN49 Total 176,264

6.5=5, 7mm=8,003, .30M2=125,075, 7.5mm=1, 7.62mm=1, 7.65mm=5,541, 7.92mm=37,641.

 

[Goose52]

Greetings to the land down under!

Thanks for taking the time to reply. The production numbers that you quoted were originally published in the Don McLean foreword to the FN rifle manual back around 1970. These numbers are well known and have now been republished many times.

The purpose of the survey is partially to validate those numbers but more importantly to go beyond the total production numbers. For instance, approximately 125,000 FN-49s were made in 30-06 but how many rifles were included in each of the 6 contracts that were delivered in 30-06 chambering? The survey is revealing those numbers.

Another example - is the scope mounting dovetail feature on FN-49s rare? Not really as perhaps as many as 1/3 of all FN-49s made had this feature. What serial number ranges in each contract included the scope feature - again the survey is revealing this data.

Anyway, if there are any FN-49 owners out there that would like to contribute, jump aboard !

Thanks,

Goose

 

[BHP9]

I was reading geekay's post about owning a 6.5 caliber FN. I have never heard of the FN in 6.5 and judging from the serial number of 5 leads me to believe that maybe this was some sort of an experimental gun. Is this correct or did they make a lot of them in 6.5 and if so, what country or countries bought them?

Ditto for the 7.5 also.

Very curious at outpost no. 9.

 

[Goose52]

Hi,

The numbers that geekay quoted weren't serial numbers - they were total production numbers in each of those chamberings.

The 9 production contracts for the FN-49 were chambered for 7x57, 30-06, 7.65x53 (some say 7.65x54), and 7.92x57 (aka 8x57). Not important for this discussion are the Argentine contract rifles that were converted from 7.65 to 7.62x51 and are therefore not an original FN factory chambering.

The other chamberings mentioned in geekay's post (6.5, 7.5, 7.62) are believed to be test rifles made to "prove" the chambering in the rifle and to then be part of the FN available chamberings when they were making their sales rounds.

There is some discussion regarding exactly which chamberings were being referred to. Was 6.5 intended to mean 6.5x55 Swede?(probably). Was 7.5 meant to mean 7.5x54 French or 7.5x55 Swiss? (we're thinking it means the French - not so much for the French who had the MAS 44 and 49 during this time frame, but for former French colonies/allies that may have been armed with MAS 36s). 7.62 is thought to mean 7.62x51 as the other likely candidates can be eliminated (7.62x63 = 30M2, 7.62x39 too short, 7.62x54R = rimmed).

The above mentioned test rifles probably never left the factory although the Belgian Royal Army and Military History Museum has what I believe to be a few prototype rifles in their collection that could have come from FN.

HTH

Goose

 

[Goose52]

Hmmmm - no FN-49 owners out there?

Goose

 

[Goose52]

Not even ONE FN-49 owner ??????????



Goose

 

[Goose52]

Goose