Gunboards Forums banner

unusual FN49

9K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  Goose52 
#1 ·
Hello all.
I have been collecting FN49s for many years and recently acquired a rifle with some unusual features. Spotted this rifle in a pawn shop labeled “Venezuelan Fabrique National”. It has seen some field use. There was no magazine.
It had a slotted muzzle brake, milled scope mount slot, but the wrong butt plate for a Vene. Then I noticed the large magazine release.
I asked to see the gun. No Import stamps. Sloppy black paint. ARA markings as I suspected. After bargaining the price down as the gun had no magazine and a repaired crack in the stock I purchased it.
I know this is an Argentine contract gun. I have a magazine for this rifle. The unusual features are the muzzle brake, scope mount slot, and absence of import marks.

Here are my other FNs.


I have degreased and posted pictures so you can evaluate my newest find.

















The Insides. All numbers match. The bolt is not numbered.



 
See less See more
11
#2 ·
Congrats you have a nice Argentine FN-49.Has Argintine crest on receiver,and I have Argetnine mfg 09 bayonets that have the ARA marking on them.Argentine navy.The 7.65 mm chambered ones are very hard to find.The mags will be very tough to find
 
#4 ·
The story of this gun may be as interesting as a rare DMR built by the Argentine Navy along the lines of their Venezuelan neighbors rifles, hence the low rack number, or a Bubba special.
Or I may tell my grand kids this sniper rifle was captured at the Battle of Goose Green by a Royal Marine Major in the Falklands, then won by me in a poker game in Kandahar on a bluff during a mortar attack!
I think that is as likely a family legend as all the WWII weapons that were "taken from a dead German Officer".
Thanks for your reply.

PS. I paid $550 as the rifle had no magazine!
 
#5 ·
The muzzle brake looks like the one for the Venezuelian FN49. It could have been added by Bubba so I would measure the bore diameter of the muzzle brake before shooting 7,62mm ammo as the exit hole in Venezuelian FN49 muzzle brake is designed for 7mm ammo.
 
#6 ·
It's on odd duck for sure.

You didn't post a close-up of the right receiver rail. Are there any FN roll-markings there? Normally, an Argentine contract rifle would have the FN roll-markings on the left receiver rail. If FN milled the scope dovetail on the left, then they would have put their FN roll-markings on the right side. If there are NO FN roll-markings on the rifle, then either FN made a big-time mistake by not applying their roll-markings, or someone milled the slot after the rifle left FN. Could have been in Argentina - or bubba in the U.S.

On the muzzle brake - an excellent caution about checking the bore diameter of the device. No telling where the brake came from. Original Venezuelan brakes have been floating around for nearly 50 years, plus, these devices have been reproduced at least 3 (and probably more) times.

On the import marks - occasionally some rifles are missed during import. There were two imports of the Argentines, the last import - the markings were ep'd under the barrel; on the first import, the markings were laser etched on the right rear of the receiver, and are covered when the dust cover is to the rear. You do have a photo showing that area of the receiver and I can't see any marks...but sometimes you need a magnifying glass to pick them up.

Goose
 
#9 ·
Hi,

Very nice collection! The bottom rifle in your first picture: is that a sniper variant of the Egyptian 8mm FN49? I have a sniper cut one that I am looking to find a mount and some sort of replica scope since the original scopes are very hard to find.
 
#12 ·
I ran across one of those Argentine FN49's just today at the gun show in Lima Ohio. It was in quite good condition, had one detachable magazine with it, and his before-dickering asking price was $600.

If I wasn't pretty much dirt-poor at the show today, it would have definitely come home with me.
 
#13 ·
Thanks for all of your comments.

This rifle is an Argentine arsenal conversion to 7.62x51 NATO. All the re-arsenal marks are present.
The absence of Fabrique Nationale roll marks point to a post-manufacture scope rail dovetail milling.
The muzzle brake bore is 0.34 inches.
Some or all of these changes may have been made before the caliber change.
Absence of Import Marks....Missed on importation or entered the US before markings were required.

Does the low rack number painted on the stock (08) point to other guns like this rifle still out there?

I may never know this rifles pedigree. I would like to imagine this rifle was built out of need by Argentina as a Sniper/DMR along the lines of their Venezuelan neighbors.

commandpostman69: I do have an Egyptian three swivel rifle. Wayne Johnson's book addresses these rifles. Not all dovetailed rifles were snipers.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the reply..........I will have to check Wayne Johnson's book out. I would love to find an original mount or even a B-square mount for it. Its pretty dang accurate as it is with iron sights.
 
#15 ·
These are Elegant Battle Rifles. The original mounts, rings or scopes are very expensive, when you can find them.
A reproduction mount, civilian Echo rings and civilian scope combo just sold for $300+ on Ebay.
I have sets of civilian Echo rings if you are interested.
 
#16 ·
One thing I noticed about the Argie 7.62 rebuilds that I haven't seen mentioned. The right front corner of the receiver cover is ground away. Sometimes the grind is very neat, but more often, it looks looks a job assigned to the newest guy in the shop. I have no idea why this might have been done.

Regarding the Venie flash suppressor, I bought one of the aftermarket ones a while ago and found that unlike the correct one, the slots didn't line up vertical when screwed on all the way.

David
 
#18 ·
Excellent observation David! I never noticed that after all these years. If there is ever a second edition of my book, you will see mention of that receiver cover mod in the Argentine contract section. As to why it was done - I would imagine to enhance ejection reliability. Perhaps they were looking at timing issues in the change from 7.65 to 7.62 NATO ammunition and the ejection dynamic was different with the 7.62 ammo....
 
#17 ·
Look's to me like barrel was replaced at some point, i have one i had to replace a barrel on in 8mm looks pretty close to that length and finish, but i have the original sniper flashider on end of mine that came with the barrel which was sniper designated from everything i have found on it..The brake /flashider probably was added at another time and aftermarket. NIce looking rifle but deff different. Nice find for a pawn shop buy ,getting hard to find good mil-surp firearms in pawn shops anymore.Most have been bubba did it up.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top