Fabrique Nationale's FN-49: last of the WWII-era battle rifles

Guns Magazine, Feb, 2007 by Holt Bodinson

It is distinctive in its lines. Crafted from machined steel and walnut wood. Imported via the surplus pipeline in a variety of calibers from many countries. Turns up frequently at gun shows. Was the evolutionary ancestor of the FN-FAL and its design history reads like a good James Bond novel. Meet the FN-49, also known as the SAFN-49 (Semi-Automatique Fabrique Nationale).

Following the death of John Browning (1855-1926), his close assistant at FN, Dieudonne Saive (18891973), became FN's chief designer. Saive's primary focus during the 1930s was the design of a self-loading rifle to replace Belgium's aging arsenal of bolt action FN Mausers.

What emerged from his labors was typical of 1930's battle rifle design. The rifle was large and heavy. It weighed 9 1/2 pounds unloaded, was 44" long and fired a full-power military cartridge. Saive's genius was his design incorporated a one-piece short stroke piston with an adjustable gas regulator and its carrier-guided tilting bolt locked down against a steel lug in the receiver.

The tilting-bolt system proves to be a popular design solution during the era and we see it used in the Tokarev 38/40, MAS 49, Ljungman AG42B, FN/FAL and the SKS. It was not a new idea, the French military having claimed it for their own in the MAS 1928.

Plans Shelved

By 1936, Saive had patented the basic elements of his semiautomatic design. FN was in line to produce and market the new rifle, but Hitler had other plans. In 1940, Germany occupied Belgium and took control of the FN plant. Saive, being the patriot he is, is not about to work for the Nazis. Gathering up as many advanced weapons plans as possible, Saive and several fellow FN engineers, at great personal risk, make their way across Vichy France, Spain and Portugal to arrive in England. There for the duration of the war they work with the Royal Ordnance Corps Small Arms Design Unit at Enfield Lock.

The British are sufficiently impressed with Saive's rifle design to take it through the experimental phase, develop production drawings and by 1944, order 2,000 to be made at Enfield for field trials.

Plans Shelved Again

History then throws another curve ball in the FN-49 story. Belgium is liberated in 1944, so Salve and his team immediately pack up and return to Belgium to assist in the rebuilding of the FN plant. The following spring, the war ends and the British cancel the Enfield order for 2,000 rifles. But that was not to be the end of the FN-49 story.

Saive continues to refine the design, and by 1947, FN begins to shop it around in the world of the non-aligned nations. In 1948, Venezuela signs the first large contract for 8,000 FN-49s in caliber 7x57 to be followed by eight other major orders extending through 1961 including Argentina (7.65x53), Belgium (.30-06), Belgium Congo (.30-06), Brazil (.30-06), Columbia (.30-06), Egypt (8x57), Indonesia (.3006) and Luxemburg (.30-06).

In total, approximately 176,000 FN-49s were produced. They saw serious combat notably in the hands of the Belgians in Korea and later in the Belgium Congo, with the Egyptians during the Suez-Sinai War and with the Indonesian army in a variety of regional conflicts.

In fact, the first FN-49s to hit the surplus pipeline were captured Egyptian rifles from the 1956 Suez-Sinai War in 1958 followed by more Egyptian rifles in the mid- 1980s. During the 1960s, virtually all of the Colombian, Luxemburg and Venezuela contract FN-49s were imported into the United States.

The most recent imports have been the Argentine Navy rifles converted in Argentina to caliber 7.62 NATO with a detachable 20-round magazine and imported (with a 10-round magazine). In short, there is a sizable number of FN-49s to be found in collecting circles with the majority

being Egyptian contract models in 8x57. Moreover, who knows, there are still thousands of FN-49s from the Belgium, Belgium Congo, Brazilian and Indonesian contracts yet to surface widely as surplus.

Variants

Over the production life of the FN49, there were numerous minor variations of the design and parts. The most important variations were a sniper model with a scope mounting rail incorporated on the left side of the receiver and an ambidextrous wood cheekpiece as well as a selective-fire model, known as the AFN (Automatique Fabrique Nationale), with a selector switch mounted on the left side of the triggerguard. It is said (and I can confirm this from my own military experience with a full-auto M14) the FN-49, firing a full-power service cartridge on full auto, climbed fully off the target by the 3rd round sent downrange.

Good And Bad

Like all firearms, the FN-49 has its strong and weak points. It is mechanically simple, robust, reliable and weatherproof. It can be fieldstripped in seconds and would be simple to repair. The Parkerizing under black enamel paint finish is tough and wear resistant. The piston, gas tube and gas cylinder plug are chrome plated to minimize corrosion.

The double hook sear system adopted from Browning's autoloading shotgun and seen on the Garand and other military models is highly functional. The resulting two-stage trigger is crisp with little slack. It's a safe firearm with a safety lever physically blocking your trigger finger and with a cocking indicator projecting at the forward edge of the triggerguard.