FN model 49
| FN model 49 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| general information | |
| Civil name: | Saive rifle |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Dieudonné Saive, FN Herstal |
| Manufacturer country: | Belgium |
| Production time: | 1949 to 1955 |
| Weapon Category: | Self-loading rifle |
| Furnishing | |
| Overall length: | 1200 mm |
| Weight: (unloaded) | 4.3 kg |
| Barrel length : | 589 mm |
| Technical specifications | |
| Possible magazine fillings : | 10 cartridges |
| Cadence : | 20 rounds / min |
| Number of trains : | 4th |
| Twist : | right |
| Charging principle: | Gas pressure charger |
| Lists on the subject | |
The FN Model 49 (or SAFN 49 , Semi-Automatique Fabrique Nationale modèle 1949 ) is a Belgian self-loading rifle that was manufactured by the Fabrique Nationale Herstal company.
history
The design of the weapon came from Dieudonné Saive , who took over the post of chief designer at FN after the death of John Moses Browning . There it was planned to replace the manufactured Mauser type multi-loaders with modern semi-automatic rifles. Before the production of the pre-series could start in 1939, the whole project was stopped. With the German invasion of Poland , the production of the existing FN models had priority. In 1940 Belgium also fell, Saive fled to Great Britain from the occupation by the Wehrmacht and took the plans with him. There he perfected his construction and returned to Herstal at the end of the war.
Use and technology
At FN, production began immediately. Old repeating rifles from war stocks and new ones from military aid stocks circulated in large quantities, but many armies outside Europe began modernizing their arsenals. Although the SAFN appeared years later than planned, it was nevertheless able to be exported in considerable numbers. FN offered a large number of available calibers:
- 8 × 57 IS : for Egypt
- .30-06 Springfield : for Belgium, Colombia, Brazil, Luxembourg
- 7 × 57 mm Mauser : for Venezuela
- 7.65 × 53 mm Mauser : for Argentina
- 7.62 × 51 mm NATO : conversion of the Argentine models
The SAFN was a gas pressure loader . The gas pressure could be regulated depending on the degree of contamination of the weapon; the gas channel for locking could also be completely blocked for firing rifle grenades . The box magazine could not be changed, instead the weapon was ammunitioned with loading strips or with individual cartridges. When the 7,62 NATO cartridge was established as the new standard ammunition of the Western Defense Alliance in the 1950s, the model itself was already out of date. However, based on the SAFN and the NATO cartridge, Saive had designed a rapid-fire rifle that was available when the new ammunition standard came into force: the FN FAL .
Web links
- www.cruffler.com: SAFN-49 Battle Rifle (English)