FN49 (Egypt)

I own an FN49 Egyptian contract in immaculate condition however it appears to lack a firing pin safety stop which apparently rides on top of the bolt. Numrich has shipped me the part but there is no way to install it. It just does not fit. Can anyone tell me if any of these rifles were produced without this part ? I have just about every manual and description of the FN 49 but the part appears in all. This rifle is 8mm and I had fired it quite a bit many years ago. Recently on discovering there was no stop I chambered a primed case and the primer was dimpled but did not detonate.

Primers often dimple but seldom detonate in semi autos. I suggest you already have this in the breech block and you shouldn't worry. If it was going to fire out of battery or go off when going into battery I'd think it would have already. All our self loaders have this dimple when checked. Don't worry about it.

Thanks Jim. The part,or feature, is definitely misssing from this particular rifle when comparing to existing schematics of the 49 however as I have used the rifle in the past with no problem I believe you are right. Thanks again.

I also use a Garand, with a free floating pin, but have never checked the dimpleing thing. Must do that :-)

Regards, John G

Any rifle that does not have a spring loaded firing pin will dimple a primer like that as it's the primer when the round is chambered that pushes the pin back in.

Hey jgass. Congrats on picking up the Egyptian FN-49. Jumping in late to the conversation but your rifle is among the Egyptians that has no milling slot for the FPSS in the bolt. (ref. p 147 of Wayne Johnson's excellent reference book - "The FN-49 -The Last Elegant Old World Military rifle" Out of print, but worth trying to track down).

You could look for a bolt from a different contract that has an FPSS slot (of the right type - there are two types). Other preventative measures to prevent an OOB incident include swapping out the one-piece firing pin with a two-piece and sticking to milsurp ammo with their harder primers. It's recommended if reloading that CCI 34 primers (haven't seen them in a while, though) or CCI 200 primers in their absence.

Fabulous rifles. I love shooting my Egyptian.