FN49 Barrel Swap - Complete

[spencerhut]

Got a FN49 as a gift from the wife. It had badly worn barrel and the chamber was so loose the brass was all being destroyed. Found a new/surplus barrel from SARCO. Ordered headspace gauges from Brownells and started looking for a receiver wrench. Never could find one so I ended up making my own from a 1/4" x 3" flat bar. I already had a Farrel barrel vice. Soaked the receiver threads in Kroil and heated it every day for a week putting more and more pressure on it until it finally broke loose.
The new barrel was a bit different than the old one, slightly thicker flange. I had to face the receiver a tiny bit with some 180grit sanding cloth to get it to clock properly.
When I checked headspace the locking block need to be taken down from .308 to .306 to let the bolt fall gently into battery.
Once it was all back together I test fired it and accuracy was good and the brass was coming out unharmed, other than a dent or two.
Success!

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