Fn49

[jmohme]

Anyone else here have one.

I have a Columbian FN49 and would love to hear from others with any variation of this fine military rifle.

[geeorge]

Sorry all my military rifles are US mostly WWII

[jmohme]

The FN was indeed late to the game.

There are those that say the FN49 was actually a better firearm than the Garand, but just came into the scene too late.

I have both and don't necessarily agree. I think both were fine rifles, but I can't say that one is actually better than the other.

[jmohme]

Update on the FN49

When I first acquired it I saw that a previous owner had done a butcher job on the front sight with a hacksaw. He had cut off the ears on either side of the sight blade so that he could install some abomination of a front sight that he undoubtable thought to be ultra cool.

The biggest problem is that the front sight is part of the gas piston assembly, so I had to find and replace this part. 

It is now back to near original condition, other than the recoil pad that the same previous owner also installed, so now the search is on for an original type steel but plate.

 

[Valmet]

I've handled a few and always thought they were kinda neat, but for the money they bring, I've never "had to have one." 

[Moshe]

I love FN pistols, though, I haven't warmed up to their striker fired.

I like these unaffordable beasts; however,

FN m4a1

Edited May 11, 2020 by Moshe

[Borg warner]

On 8/9/2017 at 3:06 PM, jmohme said:

The FN was indeed late to the game.

There are those that say the FN49 was actually a better firearm than the Garand, but just came into the scene too late.

I have both and don't necessarily agree. I think both were fine rifles, but I can't say that one is actually better than the other.

One thing that was definitely better about the FN49 was that it had an adjustable gas port. This allowed it to be chambered in different cartridges, from the 7mm to 7.65, to 8mm Mauser and even the 30-06 and the .308. The 30-06 rifles are fairly rare and 6000 rifles were made by FN for Luxembourg. However, I think the Colombian rifles were also 30-06.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Borg warner

[jmohme]

9 hours ago, Borg warner said:

One thing that was definitely better about the FN49 was that it had an adjustable gas port. This allowed it to be chambered in different cartridges, from the 7mm to 7.65, to 8mm Mauser and even the 30-06 and the .308. The 30-06 rifles are fairly rare and 6000 rifles were made by FN for Luxembourg. However, I think the Colombian rifles were also 30-06.

Yes, the Columbian is chambered in 30-06 and the adjustable gas port also allows adjustment for firing of modern 30-06 ammo.

The other advantage to the FN was that no clips were needed for loading. It could be loaded using stripper clips or one round at a time. The other advantage to this was that there was no "Bing!" when the clip ejected to let your enemy know that you now needed to reload

The Columbian was also the smallest contract with only 1000 guns. Actually 1001 if you count the first sample sent to them, but I don't know if it was even marked or otherwise identified as a Columbian contract rifle.

Mine is #76 out of the 1000 produced.

[Borg warner]

4 hours ago, jmohme said:

Yes, the Columbian is chambered in 30-06 and the adjustable gas port also allows adjustment for firing of modern 30-06 ammo.

The other advantage to the FN was that no clips were needed for loading. It could be loaded using stripper clips or one round at a time. The other advantage to this was that there was no "Bing!" when the clip ejected to let your enemy know that you now needed to reload

The Columbian was also the smallest contract with only 1000 guns. Actually 1001 if you count the first sample sent to them, but I don't know if it was even marked or otherwise identified as a Columbian contract rifle.

Mine is #76 out of the 1000 produced.

I didn't realize that only 1000 were made of the Colombian rifles, and to think that some yahoo took a hacksaw to the front sight assembly and put a recoil pad on it. The only drawback to these guns is the scarcity of the magazines. I think the one FN49 I would most like to have would be the Venezuelan FN49 in 7x57 Mauser but I wouldn't mind having one in any of the other calibers. The only ones I've ever seen have been 8mm Mauser.

[jmohme]

The magazines are somewhat of an issue, but not because of lack of availability. Spares are of little advantage for two reasons. First being that the release has to be pulled away from the magazine by getting a flat screwdriver or other prying tool behind it.

Then once out of the gun there is nothing to hold any rounds in the magazine while loading them. That may be because there is still something wrong with mine, but I believe that it is removable only for servicing purposes.

Edited May 14, 2020 by jmohme

[Fnfalman]

I remembered reading in one of the old guns magazines that the .30-06 version supposedly can use modified BAR mags. 
 

how true that claim is, who knows. 

[Valmet]

IIRC the Argentine Navy purchased a handful of these in 7.62 NATO with 20-round magazines. I think Century brought some in in the late-90s and offered them for sale. 

[jmohme]

23 hours ago, Valmet said:

IIRC the Argentine Navy purchased a handful of these in 7.62 NATO with 20-round magazines. I think Century brought some in in the late-90s and offered them for sale. 

In 1954, Argentina was the 8th country to contract with FN for these rifles. They were originally chambered in 7.65 Mauser, and there were 5537 of them delivered. Most were converted later to 7.62, and yes they had a 20 round magazine

So if you ever come across one in 7.65, you have a very rare find.