FN Model 1949 and Variants

After searching my American Gunsmith article list, I revealed that the Fabrique Nationale Herstal Model 1949 and variants haven not previously been discussed. So an opportunity presented itself when one came into my shop for a deep cleaning (to remove the Cosmoline) and a thorough inspection of the rifle. A full function test was performed to ensure that the rifle was empty and worked properly. The first thing I found was that the safety was nearly impossible to rotate to engage it.

But, when applied, it stopped rearward travel of the trigger, so it was working properly, just tough to move. The rifle appeared to be in great shape other than a split in the stock on the left side of the action. Trying to look down the bore netted nothing but black, and no light could be seen when using the bore light. With the initial inspection and function testing out of the way, I began photographing all of the visible markings found on the rifle prior to the disassembly.

Researching my files and library, I found that this rifle had Egyptian markings on the receiver and stock. A check for importer markings came up negative. The FN Herstal’s were chambered in the 7.92×57 Mauser (or 8mm Mauser), 7.62x51mm NATO, 7x57mm Mauser, 7.65x53mm Argentine, and in 30-06 Springfield calibers. Typically, there are importer markings on the barrel and/or receiver, but this one had neither. The rifle appeared to be original though, based on its configuration (lock, stock, and barrel).

After recording the markings found and the serial number, I began my research into the background of the rifle. The prominent crown emblem with Egyptian lettering located on the top of the receiver recoil ring pretty much summed up either where the rifle came from or was assembled and later to be delivered to.

I found that nearly 38,000 of these Egyptian marked rifles were made beginning in mid-1948 and continued for some amount of time after that until all 37,000-plus rifles were delivered to Egypt under These markings are very helpful when determining where the rifle came from or was supposed to go to. contractual agreements. The lack of serial number date information found during my research generically places the date of manufacture for this rifle somewhere in the late 1940s and into the 1950s.

Records seem to be missing for any specific manufacture or assembly date. Since I couldn’t see through the barrel, I decided to clean it out first to determine both the caliber and condition of the chamber and bore. While moving a brass cleaning rod down the bore, it became hung up, and then broke free and two plugs came out made of tightly wrapped cloth. Such plugs are typically used to keep the Cosmoline inside of the bore during shipping and storage.

Although the bore was still full of Cosmoline, it had a lot of rust, so much so that after much scrubbing with a copper bore brush, the bore would not shine up, being black and hazy looking. Once I was able to remove all remnants of the Cosmoline and red rust coming out, I did another 30 minute scrub of the bore with a newer copper bore brush and heavy duty solvent. The added time spent worked quite well because when I was done with that procedure, the bore now had a nice

This pin is actually the hammer spring guide (48) leg. When the hammer is fully forward and not in the cocked and locked position, the pin doesn’t show/protrude. shine to it all the way through. The lands and grooves cleaned up well and were in like-new condition. At this point I realized that the rifle most likely had not been fired since being crated up back when it was manufactured.

With the bore and chamber now clean, bright and shiny, I was able to finally determine that the rifle was chambered in 7.92×57 Mauser, also known as 8mm Mauser or 8x57mm. Historical records found state that most, if not all, of the Egyptian made rifles were in fact 7.92×57 and this one was no different.

There were actually a number of different cartridge offerings across the FN Herstal rifle production history, including 7.92x57mm Mauser, 7.62x51mm NATO, 7x57mm Mauser, 7.65x53mm Argentine, and also reportedly in 30-06 Springfield, although I have not run across one in that chambering yet. FN-49 rifles are gas operated with a piston driven system and sports a ten-round magazine which limited its use by some countries and other law enforcement and military departments.

It also appeared with a 20-round detachable box magazine in some of the Argentine 7.62x51mm NATO rifles. The rifles are fed via stripper clips; typically are 43.5 inches long, and weigh nine and one half pounds unloaded. All were fit with iron sights but some were topped with scopes and used as sniper rifles, although details about that are limited. These rifles are considered to be fairly accurate, simple to use, sturdy, and now have become sought after collectibles.

The value of any FN Herstal is based on where it was made, the caliber, configuration, where it was sent, and often in the eyes of the buyer. With many online gun sales available today, the value of a firearm may be as simple as how much a buyer (or competing buyers) wants to pay for it.

Turning my attention back to the task at hand, and after successfully feeding a few home-made dummy rounds (cartridges reloaded with no primer or powder) through it, I began the disassembly process so I could get a better look inside. Disassembly When you first get one of these in your shop or hands, you may auto- Far The magazines are made to stay in place and to be charged when empty with the use of stripper clips.

This lever is rotated upward to begin removal of the cover and subsequently the bolt carrier and bolt assembly.

matically think the military configuration of the rifle will have the capability of being broken down fully in the field for servicing by those that carried them. And although that is somewhat true about some of the steps, it goes beyond in the-field stripping to disassemble the rifle for a deep cleaning. In other words, if you plan on removing the barreled action from the stock, it will require screwdrivers and a little time.

We’ll begin here with the field strip that can be done fairly quickly for a light cleaning and inspection of the fire control group and the gas operating system. First, pull the bolt rearward and look in the chamber and magazine to ensure no live cartridges are in the rifle. Disassembly is not recommended unless you are replacing or repairing component parts.

Make sure that you remove the firing pin and spring assembly each and every time you get one of these rifles in the shop as a broken firing pin can cause doubling or automatic fire. Don’t assume a two-piece firing pin is not actually a broken in half one-piece firing pin. Depress the magazine follower while holding onto the charging handle and allow the bolt to slowly close. There is a reason you don’t want to allow the bolt to slam forward and I’ll cover that later on.

With the rifle unloaded, the bolt fully closed and the hammer now in the cocked position, rotate the safety (56) downward until it stops. Note that the safety is simply a trigger block and prevents the trigger (38) from being moved rearward if properly working. There should be no rearward movement of the trigger when pulled while the safety is engaged.

One thing that is unique about this rifle is the hammer cocked or hammer lowered indicator pin (48) which is actually the hammer Far The back of the firing pin can be seen here and is contained inside of the bolt. If the gas cylinder plug is installed upside down (which you can) it will block the gas system and the rifle will be a single shot. The upside down installation of the gas cylinder plug is only used when the grenade launcher is attached and ready to fire. spring guide pin.

Looking at the forward edge of the trigger guard, you will either see a pin sticking downward at an angle or you won’t. If you see it protruding, the hammer is cocked and ready to fire. If you cannot see it, looking at it sideways, then the hammer is in the fully forward or fired position—a handy addition to an arm made during that time period. You can quickly see or feel if the hammer is cocked (or not) or feel for the hammer spring guide pin to verify it is cocked (or not) if in total darkness.

Moving on with the field strip procedures for light cleaning, turn your attention to the magazine (65). Use a pin punch or tip of a full metal jacketed bullet to pry back on the spring loaded magazine catch (59) located at the rear of the maga-

Keep an eye on this piece when removing the trigger guard from the stock and ultimately the barreled action from the stock. You can see the excess Cosmoline still in the receiver area. zine. Place the punch in between the magazine catch lever and the back of the magazine and pry the lever rearwards until the magazine releases and can be removed from the bottom of the stock.

Note that the magazine follower (53) and spring (66) are not secured by the magazine body; when it is pulled free, you will see the spring and follower standing fully exposed from the magazine body. However, the spring is attached to the bottom of the follower.

Next, locate the takedown lever located at the rear of the receiver cover assembly (1); this lever is not specifically numbered in the attached schematic but is attached to the receiver cover assembly (1) and must be rotated to the fully upright position to begin disassembly of the cover. With the lever in the upright position (it moves in either direction when moving it) grasp the receiver cover and slide it forward until it stops, and then tilt the rear of it upwards and remove it from the receiver.

It is under spring pressure so hold the receiver cover firmly. The rear sight (4) works well for getting a good grip on the cover during removal. As you remove the cover, pull the recoil spring assembly (7, 8, and 9) out from the back of the bolt carrier (19). You can now remove the spring assembly from the front of the receiver cover. The recoil spring assembly consists of four parts: the outer recoil operating spring (8), the two inner recoil springs (9) inner and the inner recoil spring guide (7).

To remove the bolt assembly (16), grasp the bolt and bolt carrier (19) with thumb and forefinger and slide them rearward until they stop. You will see two "ears" on each side of the bolt carrier (19) that will align with the grooves cut out in the receiver for them to clear when removing the bolt and bolt carrier. With the bolt and carrier now removed, move on to removing the gas cylinder plug (27) located on top of the gas cylinder (24) forward of the handguards.

To remove the gas cylinder plug, depress the spring loaded detent pin on the cylinder plug fully, rotate the gas cylinder plug 45 degrees or so to unlock the lugs from the gas cylinder (24), then pull the gas cylinder plug out. Some are under spring pressure and others are not. To be safe, grasp the gas cylinder plug firmly while rotating and removing it. This brings me to another key area. The gas cylinder plug (27) has writing on the top of it and none on the bottom.

During reassembly, you will need to ensure that the writing on the gas cylinder plug is upright when re-installed as it can be installed with the writing facing downward. If you were to install the plug with the writing facing down, you will have locked the gas system which was done when using a grenade launcher on the rifle. If you get one of these rifles in the shop reported by your customer as being only a single shot, look at the gas cylinder plug first to see if it was installed correctly.

For the rifle to cycle properly when firing, just make sure the writing on the gas cylinder plug is facing upwards so you can see and read it. With the gas cylinder plug removed, tilt the rifle muzzle downward and the gas piston (21) and piston spring (20) will come out far enough so that you can pull them fully free from the gas cylinder (24). At this point, you have field stripped the rifle and no other tools are necessary.

This works for most cleaning applications, inspection of the bore and gas tube, as well as the gas system components. If you are planning on removing the fire control group and the barreled action from the stock, begin by removing the screw (52) that secures the metal stock end cap (54) to the barrel and secures the front hand-

guard (25). Removal of that screw will allow you to move the stock end cap forward, allowing it to tilt downward at the front to remove it from the barrel. Next, either carefully pull the front handguard (25) forward and then upward to remove it now, or remove the barrel band (50) that secures both the front (25) and rear handguards (22) to the stock itself. Removal of the screw under the barrel band (50) will also release the front sling swivel (49) if so equipped.

Note that the barrel band is under spring tension and will spring open when the screw is fully backed out. You’ll have to squeeze the barrel band together while reinstalling the screw and swivel during reassembly. Now remove either the rear or both of handguards. Continuing, turn the rifle upside down and remove the guard screw stop screws (62) that are used with the front (63) and midtrigger (57) guard action screws. Now you can remove all three guard screws: front, middle and rear.

This will release the barreled action from the stock. While the stock is still upside down, remove the fire control group (34) or trigger guard assembly by lifting it out from the bottom of the stock. Go slowly here as the bolt stop assembly (43) is seated underneath the bottom of the receiver and can fall out and become lost or misplaced if you don’t watch for it while removing the trigger guard unit.

Note how the bolt stop assembly (43) is positioned before removing it next so you know how to properly reinstall it during assembly. Remove the barreled action from the stock, lifting it upwards and out from the top of the stock (51). You can now access all parts that may be in need of inspection, function testing, repair or replacement, or simply disassembling for a deep cleaning.

Speaking of cleaning, check that trap door in the brass butt plate (31) as there might be a cleaning kit still housed inside of the butt stock which adds value to the rifle if still present. This item often goes overlooked during routine cleaning. This rifle did not have the kit inside though. Typically, the fire control group won’t need to be disassembled unless repairs or part replacement is necessary. Therefore, I am not covering that here.

You should, however, turn your attention to the bolt (16) and firing pin assembly (10, 12, and 13). This is critical. If you haven’t separated the bolt body from the bolt carrier (19), do so now. You can test the firing pin to see if it is under spring pressure now by grasping the bolt body and pressing downward on the rear of the firing pin (10) to see if it moves and the tip of the firing pin protrudes past the bolt face.

If it does, you will still need to remove the firing pin for inspection as they break, typically into two sections if it is a one-piece firing pin. The one piece firing pin is not shown in the schematic. To disassemble the bolt, begin by using a flat blade (thin) screwdriver to lift upward on the extractor spring (18) at the front of the bolt.

Place the screwdriver bit under the thin part of the extractor spring, lift it up enough to clear the extractor (17) and extractor seat in the bolt, and then rotate it 45 degrees downward, lifting the extractor spring out from the bolt body. Doing this releases the firing pin. If difficult to remove the extractor spring once rotated, depress the back of the firing pin (10) to take spring tension off of the extractor spring (18) and lift it out.

It should be noted here that some of these FN Herstal 1949-type rifles had a firing pin safety stop (14) while others did not. If you have a bolt in front of you with the firing pin safety stop (14), lift it out from the bolt body. Just know that it was not "required" according to information located about these particular rifles during assembly. Once the firing pin (10) has been freed, pull it rearward out from the bolt body.

Don’t forget to either dump or pull the firing pin spring (13) out as you will want to clean the inside of the bolt body to ensure no calcified grease, Cosmoline, or other debris is inside. You will also want to closely inspect the firing pin. They made and installed one and two-piece firing pins in these FN Herstal guns. Some are considered early with the one piece and late with the two piece pins.

But I have seen where truly early rifles had two-piece firing pins installed—most likely due to being repaired after breakage. Discharge Issues Always inspect the firing pin in front of you closely as sometimes a one-piece firing pin that was broken is assumed to be a two-piece pin. Overlooking this could create a dangerous situation for the owner/ shooter or anyone that might be in front of the muzzle while simply loading the rifle.

A broken firing pin can lodge in the nose of the bolt face and will create doubling or multiple shots firing at times. In some cases, simply charging alive round while in the garage or at home could cause a primer hit and the rifle will fire. Unfortunately, the design of the bolt and firing pin system itself are to blame.

I tell every customer that brings me in one of these rifles to never load the rifle at home and only charge alive round when you have the rifle pointed at a safe backstop in case of an accidental primer detonation. Folks, this can happen and you really need to have your wits about you when loading and firing one of these rifles. This potential for a discharge while chambering alive round matters not if a given FN 1949-type rifle has a two-piece firing pin or onepiece, the danger still lurks.

I am not saying that all of these rifles are unsafe for use but if you are going to shoot one, make darn sure you

FN Model 1949 (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 1 Receiver Cover Assy 2 Bolt Carrier Catch Stop 3 Bolt Carrier Spring 4 Rear Sight 5 Rear Sight Spring 6 Bolt Carrier Catch 7 Recoil Spring Guide 8 Outer Recoil Spring 9 Inner Recoil Springs 10 Firing Pin Extension 11 Sliding Dust Cover 12 Firing Pin 13 Firing Pin Spring 14 Firing Pin Safety Stop 15 Receiver 16 Bolt 17 Extractor are pointing it at something that will stop a bullet and not hurt anything of value if it does fire while simply charging alive round.

I also recommend that you always try firing only one round loaded in the magazine first, to ensure that once fired, the hammer locks back correctly and does not drop the hammer again with one pull of the trigger.

When shooting targets at the range, just load one round at a time to be safe and to prevent multiple rounds from 35 Auxiliary Sear Spring 36 Sear Spring Plunger 37 Auxiliary Sear 38 Trigger 39 Bolt Stop Retainer 40 Bolt Stop Retainer Plunger Spring 41 Trigger Spring Plunger 42 Trigger Spring 43 Bolt Stop Assembly 44 Outer Hammer Spring 45 Bolt Stop Plunger 46 Ejector 47 Inner Hammer Spring 48 Hammer/Spring Guide 49 Lower Band Swivel 50 Lower Band 18 Extractor Spring 19 Bolt Carrier 28 Piston Spring 21 Piston 22 Rear Handguard 23 Barrel 24 Gas Cylinder 25 Front Handguard 26 Gas Adjusting Sleeve 27 Gas Cylinder Plug 28 Front Sight 29 Muzzle Cap 30 Buttplate Screws 31 Buttplate 32 Butt Swivel Screws 33 Butt Swivel 34 Trigger Guard going off due to a bad or broken firing pin.

The inertia (force) of the bolt and bolt carrier group can lead to the firing pin moving forward with enough force that it can detonate the next chambered cartridge. Keep in mind that most modern primers made today are much thinner than their military cartridge counterparts that used steel or other thicker material as their primer cup.

Steel or thick primers more than likely will not go off accidentally 51 Stock 52 Stock End Cap Screw 53 Magazine Follower 54 Stock End Cap 55 Rear Guard Screw 56 Safety 57 Center Guard Screw 58 Magazine Catch Spring 59 Magazine Catch 60 Trigger Pin 61 Hammer Pin 62 Guard Stop Screws 63 Front Guard Screw 64 Magazine Catch Pin 65 Magazine Box 66 Magazine Spring when feeding—but follow my instructions above about not loading this rifle unless it is safe to do so and control the muzzle so that no one can get hurt.

Typically, I tell my customers that these rifles are more a collectible rather than a daily shooter and are not a good choice for any real use. Remember, when battle rifles were made, they were made to work and keep firing, and not so much about being safe. The rifle may seem somewhat complicated but it really has a rather simple design. No doubt they are not the best for complete field stripping by a soldier or law enforcement officer, but they can be quickly disassembled for most cleaning applications.

During reassembly, you’ll want to have the hammer cocked and the safety engaged before installing the trigger guard unit. Also, when reinstalling the firing pin (10), press the firing pin forward from the rear while inserting the extractor spring (18) lug that secures the firing pin inside the bolt body. There are no other reassembly tips to share other than what was previously discussed about installing the gas cylinder plug (27).

FN Model 1949 rifles area neat piece of history and were considered workhorses during their term of use 60 to 70 years ago. There are still parts available for them but it is best not to use them due to their safety issues. I always provide my customers that own one of these rifles a warning notice about their inherent safety problems and that I don’t recommend they be fired anymore.

This can help protect you as the gunsmith that cleaned or worked on one if something should go wrong, particularly if your customer doesn’t heed your warnings. That said, if the customer has a numbers-matching rifle that is complete and operational, it is still fairly desirable as a collectible. I have seen them sell for prices between $1,000 and $3,000 depending on the condition and issuing country of the rifle. AG