Gentlemen...Luxembourg FN49 & Friends

[echo1]

Hi Fellas,

Just picked up a Lux FN49 that I traded 3 SKSs for. It's in decent shape and on the rack with an SVT, 7mm Venezuelan FN49, 8mm Egyptian FN, and a Winchester Garand. I'm a happy camper. PAX

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[Belevolk]

great pics and I will admit I had never seen one. So I when out on the WWW and found that this rifle came along about a decade after the M1. There are folks in both camps. I do not owned either one. I have one of those terrible things called the Armalite A10.
The only 7mm I ever owned was 7mm mag which was a loud sob. I was offered more than I paid for it and let it go down the road.
I do not know anything about 8mm.
Very nice wall rack. I tried that once the wife put up with it for a few years and then it came down. Then she went away.

 

[echo1]

Thanks. Wayne Johnson has an excellent resource book, "The FN-49, The Last Elegant Old-World Military Rifle". Copies of the Luxembourg sale invoicing (6160 rifles, the entire Army inventory), has my rifle in crate # 147, of 154 crates, at $21.00 bucks per rifle, in 1966. They retailed for $79.00 then (crank up the time machine). The FN49 and the FAL were developed by the same designer, Dieudonné Saive, and produced almost simultaneously. I'd like a FAL but I've got an SAR8 (Greek HK91 PSG1 clone) in 7.62X51 NATO. With 4X50 glass, it;s a tack driver at distance. I've been at it since 1960 and sold off my iron twice in 40 years . PAX

 

[Old18C]

Saw my first Belgian 30-06 in 1978 and finally got my own in 1987. GREAT rifle, outshot my match grade M-1 Grand so I sold my Grands and kept the FN-49.

 

[echo1]

great pics and I will admit I had never seen one. So I when out on the WWW and found that this rifle came along about a decade after the M1. There are folks in both camps. I do not owned either one. I have one of those terrible things called the Armalite A10.
The only 7mm I ever owned was 7mm mag which was a loud sob. I was offered more than I paid for it and let it go down the road.
I do not know anything about 8mm.
Very nice wall rack. I tried that once the wife put up with it for a few years and then it came down. Then she went away.

I also have this cabinet,


This case of 38 SKSs and a rack of mostly bolt guns. There another cabinet of .22 semis and 2 more gun racks with milsurp bolts. PAX

 

[DunRanull]

"Very nice wall rack. I tried that once the wife put up with it for a few years and then it came down. Then she went away."
Wives will do that these days.
Before I married my first wife I told her that if we ever divorced it would be unwise to come after my admittedly modest gun collection... The inevitable divorce 20 years later got messy over various objects and finances, but never once was my collection mentioned. She knew me that well, it seems. In the event she really had no idea of what I had anyway, aside from a couple inherited family heirlooms... She was a good woman and it's sad the way things work out sometimes. I always advise younger friends embarking on their first marriages to never let their wives know what they have, except perhaps a couple of "throw-downs" of no real value emotionally or monetarily.. What they don't know ya got they can't steal. Ironically, a lesson I learned from HER Dad...
You have some interesting stuff there!

 

[Belevolk]

I have tried and failed at the marriage thing. My collection came up once, in court. The judge told her to stand up and then said, your getting the bank account, the house and a paid for Mercedes, yes was her answer, and you want MORE?
Mr. XXX your excused from the rest of the proceedings. Her attorneys started objecting and the last thing I heard was something about contempt of court.
I gave her everything she asked for and then she wanted more. Sure glad she is someone else's problem now.

 

[DunRanull]

Hi Fellas,

Just picked up a Lux FN49 that I traded 3 SKSs for. It's in decent shape and on the rack with an SVT, 7mm Venezuelan FN49, 8mm Egyptian FN, and a Winchester Garand. I'm a happy camper. PAX

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I've had a couple over the years, my experience is that the Vennies, Luxies and Belgians are the best, Egyptians so-so mainly because some importer years ago put cheesy stocks with plastic buttplates on them. Great for burning thru the surplus 8mm Mauser ammo that was imported by the shipload from Eastern Europa after the Iron Curtain opened up. Better in some ways than the Garand- 10 round mag and doesnt need an en bloc clip to operate. Unlike the Garand, there is a gas adjustment so firing different lots of ammo generally isnt a problem. The march of firearm technology has left the FN49 far behind, but it was advanced for its day, and while it's no AK, would still serve as a reasonable "Going To H*ll" rifle.