FN49, should I buy?

[Junk Yard Dog]

It just became to expensive to produce, that killed the SAFN, that, and the FAL coming along.

[srv1]

Well picked it up today. I have to learn how to tear it down. Here are the pictures:

[Junk Yard Dog]

Yea, I recognize that rifle Spent a lot of time with it back in the 90's when I had crates of Egyptian ammo

[srv1]

Anything I should look for when I take it apart? Underneath the front sight was rusty so I assume it had to be from all that corrosive ammo. I assume this is the gas plug area. Are these similar to the AK platform?

[Junk Yard Dog]

Similar in that there is a gas piston, just give it a good scrubbing, probably a lot of carbon in there.

[desdem12]

That looks great.

[srv1]

Probably alot of rust. I see that Numrich has tons of parts for this which is good. They even have barrels for it. I scrubbed the barrel and their is still rust on top of the lands. Do you think putting some rounds down through it would help get some of the rust out? What ammo can I run in this? I only have commercial ammo to use and I'm afraid it is too hot for this rifle.

James

[Junk Yard Dog]

The commercial ammo is perfect, it's never loaded hot because they expect you will use it in the oldest possible rifles. Shooting it will blast loose some crud.

[srv1]

The commercial ammo is perfect, it's never loaded hot because they expect you will use it in the oldest possible rifles. Shooting it will blast loose some crud.

This is true since I do not think anyone makes a modern rifle chambers in 8mm Mauser, right?

[Junk Yard Dog]

Technically anything from WW2 on would be "modern" but semi auto rifles are regulated for a specific load, the '49 isn't as picky as the Hakim, but you don't want to push it.

[srv1]

Another question is, the left side of the receiver is machined for a scope mount right? How come most of the FN49's do not have this? Even some of the Egyptians are not machined out.

James

[Junk Yard Dog]

These rifles were built under contract, they were customized as the customer requested, the basic design of the rifles are the same but the small details will vary between Belgian, Argentinian, Venezuelan, Egyptian, Luxembourg and so on.

[gurn]

Cool! now to find a mount and scope

[srv1]

Cool! now to find a mount and scope

Let me put it this way, the scope and mount would be more than what I paid for it. I would like to put a scope on it because I cannot see through peep sights. I tried searching on how the scope mount is attached and I cannot figure it out.

JAmes

[desdem12]

http://www.google.com/search?q=fn49+sni ... 66&bih=673
A few pics but not sure if this helps any.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Only 100 sniper SAFN49's were delivered to Egypt, finding one would be very rare, and the rifle very expensive. FInding any sniper mounts for any of these rifles would be some find, and expensive, they used a 4x scope. Not all that many rifles total sold around the world, and each country that bought them only bought a very few as snipers.

[srv1]

Only 100 sniper SAFN49's were delivered to Egypt, finding one would be very rare, and the rifle very expensive. FInding any sniper mounts for any of these rifles would be some find, and expensive, they used a 4x scope. Not all that many rifles total sold around the world, and each country that bought them only bought a very few as snipers.

So what do I have then? If it is machined for a scope mount, does that mean this rifle was a sniper SAFN?

[gurn]

I would say so. My Egyptian doesn't have the slots. Ex-sniper? If so super cool! I wonder if there are any numbers as to how many were really ordered.

[srv1]

I would say so. My Egyptian doesn't have the slots. Ex-sniper? If so super cool! I wonder if there are any numbers as to how many were really ordered.

Junk said only a 100 Egyptian's sniper rifles were shipped. But he also said they could have been ordered that way in general.

James

[Junk Yard Dog]

It wasn't a sniper rifle until the scope and mount were put on it, otherwise it was a regular rifle. Unlike the Mosin the SAFN's didn't need special tuning to be used for sniper work other than setting the scope. They all had good triggers, and had already had to meet a minimum standard of accuracy. The dedicated sniper rifles had a raised wood cheek piece on the left side of the buttstock to ensure proper eye alignment with the scope, most regular rifles while capable of mounting a scope mount will not have the addition to the stock.