To: New or prospective SAFN owner/shooter
Congratulations, you have in your hands a very fine combat rifle.
The FN-49 was built by Fabrique Nationale to replace bolt-action Mausers used by Belgium and various other countries. Although designed by noted F.N. arms designer Dieudonne Saive in the 1930's, the rifle didn't go into production until after World War II. It was offered in caliber 7mm Mauser, .30-'06, 7.65mm Mauser and 8mm Mauser. The Belgian Model 1949 version and those adopted by Luxembourg, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands East Indies and the Belgian Congo were in caliber .30-'06. Venezuela used the 7mm Mauser version and the Egyptian's ordered their's in 8mm Mauser.
Although similar in some respects to the U.S. Cal. .30 M1 Garand, the SAFN design pre-dated that of the "best battle implement ever devised."
The FN-49 is known by several names....SAFN (Semi-Automatic F.N.) or ABL (Armee Belge Leger). This stands for Belgian Army in French and Flemish, the two languages used in Belgium.
The rifle is a shoulder-fired, semi-automatic weapon with a tilting breech- block action. It holds 10-rounds in a semi-fixed box magazine. Two 5-round Mauser-type stripper clips are used to load the magazine. Some models come with a muzzle brake while others do not....one can always be ordered from Gun Parts Corp (914) 679-2417 and it screws directly onto barrel's muzzle using the existing barrel threads.
One feature is that the rifle can be converted to a single-shot rifle by simply turning the gas cylinder plug 180 degrees so that letter "A", or possibly an Arabic letter is down....when turned with the marking up the gas cylinder plug will open and the weapon is again semi-automatic.
Your rifle is well designed and reliable; it is among the better semi-auto military shoulder arms. Production was discontinued in the late 1950's when F.N. began production work on their next famous rifle....the FN FAL.
I owned a FN-49 SAFN in .30-'06....the rifle had only one fault, it was one of the heaviest rifles I ever carried. This is due mainly to the one-piece walnut stock and there isn't much that can be done to lighten rifle. Even so I kinda miss my SAFN and someday I hope to locate & buy another .30-'06 FN-49 if I can find one in decent enough shape with an acceptable price.
In the United States the .30-'06 SAFN is more desirable than other variants, to get one of these you pay a premium price that can run a good deal more than the price asked for Egyptian 8mm SAFN's found at the gunshows....maybe as much as $150 to $200 more....or higher?
For parts call Gun Parts Corp (see above)....they carry FN-49 parts in the current edition of Gun Parts Corp Catalog. The stock, front handguard and rear handguard are starred (*) items....not always carried in current stock.
Hope this file is of some help....if you don't own a SAFN and have a chance to purchase one, don't put it off....DO IT!....the rifle is worth having.
Just my 2-cents worth....YMMV.