My sweetheart: FN49 rifle

[Mark K]

I thought I should post a thread here as I have a fascination with firearms mainly the old fashioned heavy wood and good quality steel kind with the exception of a good hunting rifle of course .My sweetheart is a safn 49 Battle rifle in caliber 30-06 My particular rifle would appear to be a belgium contract rifle as the top of the receiver has been scrubbed and then reparkerized. As this is only an assumption at this point this brings me to my first question does any one have reference books or know a source were I can track my (serial number lot) and or the existing stamps and marks on the rifle to see were it ended up after production and more importantly what year she was born, The second thing is more of a point of interest Last night I was examining a K-98 bayonet and thought the bayonet rail on my fn-49 looked the same or real close anyway so just for laughs I thought I would try and attach it and the dam thing fits on there like it was made for it so I just thought I would share that bit of info with you all I dont know if it was common knowledge but I found it an interesting cross over between to weapons. Here are a few pictures to view any and all comments good or bad are appreciated I will try and post a new weapon in a few days to look at .


Regards Mark K

[Eric Zentner]

Very sexy I have never had one in my hands before very nice Mark.

Eric

[zwerge]

Mine is serial #14271 it is part of the Belgian contract,also 30-06,here is the bayonet for it.

[Mark K]

Very nice I see that are two rifles are very close in lot numbers I have been trying to find the proper bayonet for her but they are as elusive as moon cheese or hens teeth. Did you notice the diffrence in the finish from your rifle compared to mine I beleive mine is reparkerized in a zink finish ? were your rifle has been finished with the more traditional matt gun blue

[zwerge]

Try this website. FN 49 Info

[rdcessford]

Here's an (apparently) unissued 30-06 FN49 in Canada: serial #55603
Looks like mid-production of 125,000 Belgian contract.
Why it's apparently unfired or issued is a question.
It does NOT appear refinished and NO markings except serial # several times and the standard FN maker stuff.

[lithgow]

It's not uncommon to find military rifles that went straight to store and were never issued to the armed forces-called 'war stocks' that might be used in case of conflict or to top up weapons in normal service use-if the type of rifle is then replaced by something else especially in a new calibre, they then get sold off-I have 3 different service rifles that are 60-70 years old and are 'brand new in the grease'.

[Mark K]

lithgow you are correct there are many weapons that are locked away in armories all over the world I am shur that have never seen a round put through them and then as you stated they will do a caliber upgrade or they will change up to a more modern firearm to meet the needs of there armed forces and they are sold of in lots to allies or on the open market . rdcessford WELCOME TO THE FORUM the FN-49 that you are showing in the photo is this your own rifle it looks to be in excellent condition.

[samnev]

Very nice I see that are two rifles are very close in lot numbers I have been trying to find the proper bayonet for her but they are as elusive as moon cheese or hens teeth. Did you notice the diffrence in the finish from your rifle compared to mine I beleive mine is reparkerized in a zink finish ? were your rifle has been finished with the more traditional matt gun blue

IIRC all FN 49's were finished in a black baked on finish over parkerizing, at least my 3 are ( Egyptian, Venezuelan and Belgian contracts). Hope that helps.