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This is the shooter I picked up this weekend. I've been chasing one of these for a long, long time. This one is strictly going to be a shooter for fun. It's a very early Century import 8m/m barreled action and the rest is most likely from a 30/06. When I shoot up the foot locker full of 8 m/m I've got. I'll get the 30/06 conversion kit and swap it over (I hope)-SDH:D
Nice looking rifle. Be sure to let us know how she shoots.
Results coming soon (I hope)-SDH
How do you tell if it has been tampered with? I just bought two different FN49's, one is an Egyptian 8x57, and the other is a Venezuelean 7x57.Quote:
Originally Posted by sdh1911
The Egyptian one has definitely been screwed with, (the stock was PAINTED!:madsmile:), but the Ven. one looks OK. But how do I know for sure?
Check for matching numbers first. If you can, take pics of the markings and post them up.Quote:
Originally Posted by TooTall
Other than the painted stock, the Egyptian may be fine.
On mine the stock has the 30/06 style butt plate and standard numbers on the ladder rack look like the graduations on the 30/06 style. The receiver has the Egyptian eagle, wings down on it. I got it just for some fun shooting. If I had a numbers matching Egyptian I'd have changed the rear sight anyhow and found a close matching round (trajectory) to shoot with. So when I found found this gun I was real happy. I took it to the mountain range yesterday, but mother nature rained on my parade-SDH
Just a bit of trivia, more for Cdn members. If you encounter a FN49 in .30-06, ex-Belgian army, inspect the left side of the trigger guard and the wood just above the trigger very carefully. If there is an A stamped on the root of the triggerguard, and a narrow slot in the wood above the guard, you have a dreaded CA. A percentage of the Belgian 49s were selective fire, and some came into Canada, as CAs, along with the rest. At the time it didn't matter, now it does.
I have the slotted stock, but, the opening for the mag is narrower than the F.A. model plus there is no cut for the disconnecter. Yep, I was very concerned too, so I did a by the book inspection just to be sure. The only thing I really hate is the bushing on the barrel rather than a flash suppressor. I'll be correcting that sometime in the future-SDH
Range report: runs like a swiss watch, no failures with around 140 rounds through it w/o as much as a patch run through it. It shot steel case very well with groups running around 2.5"@100 yards and some 1950's brass case stuff shot 4"@100 yards, both to point of aim + or - 1". It was well worth the wait-SDH
Well if the numbers on the 8mm on the sight leaf is anything but Arabic script then well you got a 30-06Spring upper receiver on it most likely.Quote:
Originally Posted by TooTall
Well you don't have a original FN49 that was in Egyptian Military service, After the fall of the Kingdom in 1953, the Egyptians ordered 1,500 receivers in 1955 which were never assembled into complete rifles in Egyptian service till they came across the pond and Century assembled them using a variety of 8mm and 30-06 parts. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by sdh1911
Dimitri
Thanks Dimitri, I knew it was a Century up front. Thats what I wanted from the start. If I had bought a numbers matching SAFN-49, I'd feel bad about abusing it the way I'm planning on doing to this one. I am going to look for a numbers matching gun in the near future for collection. I got very lucky in so far as I would have put the 30/06 top on a parts gun, if I'd gone that route, when I saw this one I had to have it. The price was very reasonable and it was just what the doctor ordered.
I took it out again yesterday and fired 360 rds. through it without a single hick-up. I used 1953 vintage brass case ball and some steel case stuff, it didn't care what I fed it, it ate it just fine. The whole premise of this gun was a semi shooting 8 m/m that I could run with any dirty old mil-spec ammo. This gun so far its living up to expectations and then some. I'm going over the gun each cleaning to look for wear items and when I get them figured out, I'll make a trip down to Sarcos and stock up on spare parts, M/T-SDH
sdh1911,
My goal is to get one of these "sporter" Eagle FN49's one of these days, going to turn it into a :yikes: sporter carbine of the FN49 once I have my way with it. :yikes:
Dimitri
Go for it! Those guns are great for sports shooting and even accurate enough to hold its own in a match, B.O.L.-SDH
Yah, just need to wait a while, got to get my deer hunting rifle first, then a CNC milling machine and lathe. :thup:Quote:
Originally Posted by sdh1911
Dimitri
I hear you load and clear, it took me 20+ years to put together a full shop, Milling machine. lathe, surface grinder, sandblaster etc. I've found that having that stuff around has proved to be a great investment. The only down side is the space it takes up and the 200 amp electrical installation was a very large investment. Since I've had the shop, I've spent the better part of 10 years plus building the fixture needed to build rifles and general gunsmithing. It has more than paid for itself in the terms of ease of use and turnover time, good luck in your endevores-SDH
Thanks sdh1911,
Although its difficult getting a job in the trade now (The voices in my head tell me to go West to get a job) I am going to stick to this trade and hopefully have my own small machine shop one of these days. :)
Dimitri
I got lucky and found a school that was selling off its older machines, I made a very low offer and got it. That was the beginning. You might want to contact some of your local trade schools in your area and find out what they do with there old stuff, F.W.I.W.-SDH
No room to put them anywhere right now, so I need to get some sort of shop/garage set up to put them in first. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by sdh1911
I'm 19 and got time. :)
Dimitri
I know a guy who took a semi-bubba 7mm SAFN and rebarreled it with a Rem 700 .308 barrel. Built a nice near-copy scope mount for it too. Very nice package.:thup:
Sounds very cool, I'm sure once I beat the bore out this one, I'll be looking to go that route. I'd really love to have one in 6.5 X 55, but I've got to do a little planing, many thanks-SDH
I saw one of the dreaded CA's a number of years back....it was before the registration days, and I don't know what ever became of it.
NS