Luxembourg FN49 Semiauto Sniper Rifle
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After World War Two, Luxembourg was one of the nations which opted to purchase new FN-49 rifles. It bought a total of 6,203 of them for the military - an initial purchase of 4,000 semiauto SAFN rifles and a followup purchase of 2,000 AFN select-fire rifles and 203 semiauto rifles fitted with Belgian OIP telescopic sights. The scope mounts were commercial Echo mounts, designed and manufactured by an American engineer named Herkner, in Boise Idaho.
When Luxembourg replaced its FN49 rifles with the newer FN FAL type, the snipers were either scrapped or sold as surplus, but the scopes were kept and reused on FALs. However, the Luxembourg rifles used the same pattern OIP scopes as the Belgian military, and these are often found mounted to surviving Luxembourg rifles.
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So accurate you can shoot a man on the Belgian border of Luxembourg while standing on the German border of Luxembourg.
that's not saying much x'D
International Ballistic Marksman Rifle or IBMR. Its anyone's guess why the US or Soviet Union never discovered this concept during the cold war.
There is literally a point where the borders meet.
@@FreeOfFantasy I think that was the point of the joke.
ukezi r/wooosh
8:47 Being a belgian scope (and me being dutch) it's dutch. Scherpsch. is the abbreviation of "Scherpschutter", meaning "Marksman".
So the inscription says, "Tireur d'elite téléscope, telescoop scherpschutter". Just like ABL means "Armée Belge, Belgisch Leger".
PS. In German it would have said "Scharfsch." (Scharfschütze)
Awesome info!
Actually Belgians would say Flemish, but practically it is pretty much the same. ;)
@@mycosys All the Dutch-speaking Belgians I met when I lived in Brussels called themselves Flemish and the language Dutch.
When it is written the language is simply dutch.
Just remeber that it very hard to read the soft g in scherpschutter.
@Baron Von Grijffenbourg Some Countries just do not do S.S as abbreviation. The winter semester here has the official abbreviation of WS, the sommer semester as SoSe.
This "private collector" has an amazing arsenal. I wonder how much of their collection you've put to video. Tell him or her thanks from the viewers.
What the fuq is going on here
@@dadurkey8287
I'm not sure you want to know ...
@@STG44VOLVO
Speaking from experience ...?
@Stanz Skinz wait you wouldn't eat his wallet?
I have heard that Steven Spielberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger have massive firearm collections (The irony is amazing). I hope it’s one theirs and Ian gets his Gun Jesus screenplay green lighted.
my grandfather was a firearms instructor in the belgian army. He really liked the SAFN(or FN 49). But one time he got very pissed when he saw a recruit using the buttstock of a brand new SAFN to smash wallnuts. He had to peel potatoes for weeeeeks for that
He needed to !!!
..
Kinda like the prince using the royal seal to Crack walnuts on Twain's "Prince snd the Pauper"....
Dammit Ian, I can't stop pawing at my screen in unbridled desire for these two.
Peter Larkin Know what you mean better than a pair of Breasts! Smiles
That’s a damned fine looking firearm.
@Fabio DeVita It's SVT.
I agree
I am from Luxembourg and I never expected to see a luxemburgish gun on this site! Thank you Ian
Hey if he did Croatian(šokac I think) I dont see why he wouldn do Luxemburgish, cant deny that this is a nice rifle
Hans Strouf Waat een Topert
The FN49 was actually designed before WWII in the late 1930's. After Belgium was invaded, the designer, Dieudonne Saive, escaped to England and developed the rifle further in the UK. Enfield ordered 2000 for trials, but the war lead to the order's cancelation.
sitting at work in a locksmith shop in Boise. "The scope mount was actually made by a guy in Boise, Idaho." Nice. :)
Shout out your shop and I'll call you next time I need a locksmith.
lying in bed while watching this - in Luxembourg - noice
hello fellow Boisean
Hello fellow Idahoan
Have been lookin at moving to Idaho in the future because of the lots of animals woods and gun friendly”ness”
The only thing with more wood than those rifles is me.
Never seen this rifle before I think, It's absolutely gorgeous!
Lol.
Easy there Pinocchio.
@@ovaerd I agree, it's a beautiful rifle
I got issued one of those scopes on my FAL in 1989 as "sharpshooter" (Not sniper) but it was offset left and fitted on the FAL dust cover which was not very accurate so we actually hardly ever used it.
I had a Luxemburg FN49 in Australia. Brand new Luxemburg crest never fired it. It went to gun heaven in the 1997 gun ban
I just acquired an ABL sniper model dated 1951-serial 134**, later pattern scope -complete
Thanks for the video Ian, invaluable information
LUXEMBOURG! IT'S LUXEMBOURG! This is truly a brilliant day for the world of firearms history...
My grandfather used the FN when he was in service in Lux. Good rifle but they rusted faster than you could re-oil them
I would have to respectfully disagree with that. I have an fn49 that has been in the family since the early '60s. In fact my dad purchased it when you could still mail order firearms directly to your house without background check. It's sat in our gun cabinet not being fired and not being oiled for years and years. I have had trouble getting the thing to cycle and so I haven't shot at a bunch but I really have an oil that a lot either. I just get around wipe out once in a while and rub down all the exposed metal parts. Hasn't rusted on me yet.
In Belgium they speek French and Dutch; Scherpsch. means scherpschutter which is Dutch for sharpshooter:)
We also speak German in some places. We have 3 national languages.
is the flemish word for target "french" LUL
More French OR Flemish, than French and Flemish.
Correction plattsdeutsch dialect. They speak exactly the same crappy ugly dialect 2 km from the border in Germany.
Since I have nothing to contribute as far as the rifle goes, let me just say that Luxembourg is an amazing little country that shouldn’t be overlooked by tourists and history buffs alike. I spent a total three months there over three consecutive summers, and I’ve been itching to back since. If you have the ability to visit, GO!
What's so great about it, then?
I've been there as a teen, and passed through a few times. Can't say it made much of na impression, but maybe I missed something. It's green, I'll give you that.
MrTubularBalls You’re not much of a history guy, are you 😂
I kind of am, actually.
As a luxemburger I'm proud to see a weapon from the army of Luxemburg here😋🤘
der die das Spartafel Made in Belgium
@@s.v.o.579 I Know but Our army used it too;)
Funny, the other day I saw one for 1400 euros completely serial number matching except for the scope offcourse. The scope on it however was a luxenbourg marked one with matching leather carrier
I don't know what financial situation you are in or if you have whatever license you need to get that rifle in your country. But if I were you, I would jump on that. These old sniper rifles are skyrocketing in value, especially the automatics.
@@thewaraboo2824 problem is that I'm a master at finding great deals :) I try to collect mostly eastern block weapons but because I find so many deals I have a safe full of rifles that I really don't like necessarely but couldn't pass up because they were so cheap (like a 150euro lee enfield no7mk1). I know it's a great deal but I try to not spend more then 300euro's if it's a rifle that I don't necessarily like, even if it's a great deal (I'm a student so I have to watch where I spend my money on :) ) I live in belgium so the chances of me finding one ever again (should I ever want one) is probably not THAT hard
jefkevermeulen You make a good point. I’ve tried to do the same for my collection of mostly Japanese guns, and I’ve made out pretty well. I’m still pissed at myself for missing out on a couple of snipers that went for far less than I thought they would, but whatever. Good to see FN 49’s aren’t too uncommon in Belgium I guess, they go for a lot here in the US. And it’s hard to not get drawn in by these snipers even if they’re out of my general area of collecting.
Nice find i Guess you are located in Belgium then by your name
@@brianilbrink correct
As others have no doubt already mentioned, "Scherpsch." stands for scherpschutter. It's Flemish/Dutch (the majority language of Belgium) for sharpshooter.
are things that are a bit like a FAL called FALlic?
I'd say fallish, but that just wouldn't be as funny.
Oh, jeeze Louise they are now.
😁
Thanks so much for doing a 49 Ian it brings back great memories of my safn49👍
Ah yes a Lee Garandfield Mark IV
Finally...I have owned a venezuelan FN49 in 7mm for about 8 years and I have been waiting for a forgotten weapons video on it.
Can't believe I just found this channel..after all the firearm channels I have followed and am just now finding this? Negative 15 here I'm Central Illinois so great way to beat cabin fever. So interesting!
A great example of how 1 person or a small company can innovate in a way big companies often have trouble doing. Really cool story.
ECHCO stands for E. C. Herkner Co. . And for who are interested in this sort of techogeek stuff the patent is 2,427,784 issued 23 September 1947 Mounting for Telescope Sight.
Good looking rifles. Thanks Ian and private collector :)
That's a really cool story about the scope mount. Smart of FN to recognize the superiority of the mount, rather than spend big bucks developing a proprietary mount of their own.
Why Ian didn't talk about the FN49 rifle, only the mount and scope? I looked and he did not have another video about the rifle. I need to know more.
Yeah, I wanted to know about the extractor, the scope look so close.
seriously!!! this is one of my fave rifles..... bit let down TBH
I think there's a video on the Egyptian contract 8mm FN-49. I bought one of those for about 250bucks in the mid 90s. Nice shooter.
Welp if he had one , I can't find it. He has a vid specificly about Egyptian firearms and it isn't there either. Kinda weird as the rifle is pretty easy to find, but not well known.
magoid Yes Ian... please do a full SAFN49 video... history of development, Saive, disassembly, and on the range of possible!!!!!! Please Gun Jesus!!!!!!!
Very Cool Sniper rifles Ian. Thanks for showing them Sir
It is so awesome to find a local link (I live in Payette ID) to a historical sniper rifle from Europe.
Thank you ,Ian .
That "AL" looks like it's hand engraved, also love the bolt on cheek piece!
Thanks, Ian. What a great looking weapon.
This is a great gun. My dad purchased one in the '60s when you can still mail order guns to your home without a background check so that tells you how long it's been in the family.
The thing is I really love the gun but we had huge problems getting it to cycle. I tried almost everything. This was of course before the internet and it was difficult to get information on guns of that type that weren't heavily distributed. Even now with the internet it's not incredibly easy to get a lot of information on the FN. I don't know why it's a great gun.
It's too bad it wasn't made in time enough to be filled it in world war II. I would have loved to have seen the British use this gun. Even if the British didn't replace it's 303s and start using this gun it would have been good to see somebody used it in world war II.
I especially would have liked to have seen dad on the FN compared to the M1 Garand. My cousin and I just had a debate over which would be better. I don't have an M1 yet but I want one and I mentioned that I don't think it would be a completely horrible gun to have in an SHTF situation. It might even be a great gun in some aspects because you're getting a much bigger caliber on Target. You're getting a caliber that can break through many types of cover.
My argument was that the M1 would have been better because of the eight round u-shaped clip that could be loaded much faster I think. The FN of course would take a 10-round strip clip. So with the FN you are getting two more rounds but I still would say that the M1 clip would be better than a 10 round strip clip. However the British soldiers were pretty damn quick reloading their 10 round 303s.
If anyone out there is still commenting on this video I would like to know your opinion. Would would either gun have been just as good or would one have been better than the other? Same caliber. However the FN I do believe is heavier than the M1. However that added weight seems to ease up the recoil a bit.
Those look great!
Also really strange to hear about little old Boise showing up in something from Luxembourg. Ian even had his pronunciation correct.
No, he didn't.
Congratulations on the 1.1 million subscribers in keep up the great work and thanks for all the info
had a standard fn49 one time in 30 ort 6 ,dame fine rifle good shooter, wish I still had it.
Another great video sir
6,000 for the Luxembourg military....So they bought a thousand rifles for each troop? Seriously though, neat rifle and scope that almost no one know about, the best kind of forgotten weapons video
Wow, those are two beautiful rifles.
Neat scope mount system, simple and highly accurate.
Unrelated to the video itself. If you have a chance to go to Luxembourg, do it. It's a beautiful little country and it was a certain charm to it in winter. If you are from the US please stop by the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial and pay respect to our guys.
Thank you! The war memorials in Luxemburg look very nice and well cared for.
Another FN amazing video, Ian.
Finally an FN49 video! I would have liked to see much more of the gun, preferably with some shooting. How about a follow-up?
These rifles are utterly cool.
Was the reference to the rifle being “Belgium’s sniper rifle” at 2:05 a goof or did I miss a transition?
Oops - it *was* Belgium's standard rifle as well, but I meant Luxembourg.
Luxembourgish guy here, we share a lot of stuff with Belgium (military and economy-wise), i.e. I think the militaries share some assets like ships/planes and such and at some point before the Euro was introduced we even accepted each other's currency.
@Sven3xs it still is with the coins for the most part
@@ForgottenWeapons Not a entire opps. This is a Korean war era rifle. And Luxembourg troops served with the Belgians in Korea.
Thanks for the video Ian I love the fn49.
My local gun store has 2 of these for sale, pre-owned. One for about $1,900, and the other for about $2,500. The want is there, but the money is not
Wow! 2 out of approx 93?
Sure they aren't the Belgian version?
@@williestyle35 Not too sure. They don't have a lot of info posted for them (probably because they don't know a whole lot about them), but this is one: shop.x-ringsupply.com/product.fn-model-49-safn-8
The other can also be found under the pre-owned tab
Without being able to see the serial numbers... no way to tell if either one is from Luxembourg. But both rifles look good and the price is competitive. Nice store to have as your local. (:
I feel your pain!
Dang, was hoping for a disassembly video too. Nice job anyway Ian!
The last time I was this early, Gun Jesus hadn't risen yet
@Sven3xs The Gun Tomb, it's where Jesus sleeps with his guns.
Only the Belgian army would have SAFN sniper rifles and FAL rifles for training and then issue old, worn WWII vintage Mark IV Lee Enfields to active duty troops (Granted it was Navy and Air Force security, but we're talking 1980's NATO here, not Farawaynomoneyshootwhatyougotstan)
Funny is that I've seen recent pictures of soon to be belgian special forces during their survival training with lee enfields in their hands. No idea what they use them for though
gotta use that old stock!
@@nathan655555 Probably dummy rifles used for drill training and for actual carrying around through the mud and muck. No sense getting a nice new FNC beat up and broken due to training.
@@thewaraboo2824 I'm sure they aren't dummies and yes I thought that was the reason they used them as well but I've only rarely seen them used and it was always during sf training. Normally they do use the fnc for that because the time fnc's were nice and new is loooooooong gone. Almost everyone has the fn scar now
@@nathan655555 Until quite recently troops on the hill phase of SAS selection were issued pre-production trials SLRs. I suppose an obsolescent rifle that's in current inventory is far easier and cheaper to issue than a purpose-made dummy rifle or to risk damage to a current-use rifle.
Had one of the FN49 nonsniper rifles. Darned heavy beast, but very well made. Never understood why they didn't build it with a detachable 15-20 round magazine, or later modify them to accept one.
Huge numbers of ex war industry machinists and sevicemen both established postwar US manufacturing and engineering businesses set up by the massive surplus of precision machinery and machine tools at ridiculously low prices. The Herckner of Boise Idaho would have been one, another is Abom79's grandfather.
The scope mount is brilliant its like mlock with a tension screw rotated about 270.
i remember assembling the bolt backwards and it still worked
Great history, thanks Ian as always !!
Great video Ian!
Wow the cheek weld on the stock... futuristic
Please Ian... we need a full SAFN49 video... anything about the history of development and how Saive was working on it in the mid-late thirties... possibilities of British adoption, any differences in different caliber versions, full disassembly and shooting if possible. Also the Argentine 20rd magazine conversions. Please!!!! I love the look of this rifle... need to get YOUR assessment tho!!!! Please Gun Jesus, answer our prayers!!!!🤞
Nice Rifles.
Yes thank you Private Collector.
Interesting Ian was talking about the Belgian Army they are now known as the Belgian Land Component of the Belgium Armed Forces and still use FN made weapons.
6000 sniper rifles for Luxembourg? Today their army has just 1000 soltiers altogether.
I imagine around the time of WW2 and immediately after they would have increased their military as a precaution.
you see Arno, when you have six rifles, you don’t need to reload
6000 rifles, only a few sniper rifles! and you know you always buy extras in case recrute Jempy loses his or brakes it or whatever
5000 semiauto rifles, 1000 select fire rifles, and 203 sniper rifles
@@chekovsgunman Exactly what I was thinking, a modern adoption of early Boer voorlaaier (muzzle-loader) tactics, where from the safety of a wagon laager each man would have several rifles with women and children reloading and passing them forward to be fired again.
There are a bunch of complete original ones in the Luxembourg military museum in diekirch
There is a very good Collector grade book on this by R. Blake Stevens .
As a general rule; if it's Belgian and features French and another language, the other language will be Dutch; there around 10.000 German speakers only in Belgium and they are most of the time forgotten. And most of them (if not all) speak perfectly French so.. yea.
An AL-marked Luxembourg contract FN49 in .30-06 is quite a prize. It's a strong yet heavy rifle. The Collector Grade book on the FN49 is indispensable. The other markings "Scherpsch." are in Dutch (Flemish) as @StillCrazy1968 points out.
That scope mount story is incredible. I mean, this is the military firearms industry we're talking about here - why the hell didn't FN just buy a commercial one and just rip it off for their own needs??? That really is kind of mind blowing, lol, I guess ol' boy drove a hard bargain with his pricing
And, BTW, how about some props to that guy for even being able to fulfill that contract! I know it's a small basic part, but the stories of unfulfilled military contracts are, at times, almost legendary...
They look sturdy and old school, i like 'em.
If you carried or shot one much you wouldn't. I owned two in 8x57...Egyptian surplus. They are old school. Heavy, not ergonomically designed, sharp recoil, cracked stocks and receivers common. M1 Garand much more shooter friendly. FAL was a quantum leap forward. Swedish AG42b another old school semi that was obsolete when it went into production....superbly accurate but overly complicated, expensive and outmoded. Had one of them too.
man ,ian you got the THE job.
Luxembourg is so small country that only place you can hide&shoot (snipin' around) is your own tumbstone :D
I'm wondering just how many guns"fire place guy" actually has. It's a damn nice collection
It is a photo backdrop. The shadow never changes...
Those two rifles are one the most attractive military surplus rifles I have seen. Too bad they are scarce.
That black paint finish *looks* cool, but at its current age I'm kinda surprised it wasn't peeling off on Ian's hands.
I enjoy shooting my FN49. It's a cool old rifle.
That is one handsome military rifle.
It might have been better to name the title after the scope, you spent 2/3rd of the video on the scope in stead of the rifle haha.
Still loved it, like all of your vids!
Great looking rifle!
Sweet looking rifle!
8:24 We have an old microscope that has the same OIP logo on it. The company still exists and makes things like heads-up displays and night vision goggles.
I think the FN49 is alone a good candidate for a video
The Belgians made some absolutely beautiful guns.
Beautiful rifles
How would have FN contact the guy making the scope mounts, or even know he existed or that he made good scope mounts? I mean, there was no worldwide address book I am sure, or shotshow to show off his work. Just curious.
That's actually an interesting question. Considering the mass scattering of people during the war, I wonder if one of FN's people fled to the US, saw this mount on a converted/sporterized M1917 Enfield (nee Remington 30),thought this was something cool, and sent back a sample after the war was done?
@@cg8212 I expected many sarcastic responses, glad that is not the case. I guess this is just a general question about how communication worked around the world and international business before large scale telephone development and internet. Firearms were sold between countries even before WW2. They could not have all been found through combat trials. In this case there is no way he traveled to Belgium to sell his product. Maybe he mailed FN a letter and a mount to test.
Browning Arms Co. may have clued them in, given their business ties. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of FN personnel having subscriptions to US publications like the American Rifleman, Field & Stream, and Outdoor Life. Some FN personnel had also been making regular trips to the US in support of the FAL during its testing by the US Army. You had regular telegraph and air mail services.
@@danielwatters1203 that makes a good amount of sense. Thanks for the insight. I am a pretty young guy, 26, so I don't ever think about magazines and things like that.
You know FN had some substantial contacts in Utah....
OIP is still going strong in the optics game.
Old scopes always have that sexy tubular look :D
Great video as always. Is there any chance you could make some videos explaining how some guns work in a more simple way? I have a strong interest in guns but I admit to not being technologically inclined and therefore have no idea what many of the terms in your videos mean. There aren't very many sources for newbies like me to learn about guns on a basic level. Keep up the good work!
Check the Forgotten Weapons channel, Ian is coveting many firearms operating systems.
And any nations Army basic firearms handling manual will inform you as to how the parts work.
1:47 O.I.P. had a great engineering team, lead by the famous I.P. Freelie. But none of it would have been possible without their subsidiary company MotherMayi C.U.P. which was lead by their CEO Seymour Butz. Unfortunately when Seymour was replaced, it ended up being pretty shitty.
Gorgeous rifles! Wow!
Nice looking gun
These Babies kinda look like the MAS 36 but in semi auto
Has a MAS49 vibe tbh
@Michael Meyer Cant look it out right now, they both were direct impingment too, weren't they?
@@Batmack No, the 49s piston
Fun stuff! Thanks!
What a beautifull looking rifle
Would you need to remove the scope the reload since the magazines were fixed?
To use clips, yes. To just load rounds one by one, no.
They are top loaded by 5 round stripper clips. Like most rifles of the time. The Fn 49 is the last to use that system. Everyone started going to detachable box designs from 1950 on...
Nice. I have one of these, an Egyptian contract 8mm.
What a beautifull serial number...
that's a good looking rifle
Last of the wood and blue steel era. The era of plastics and polymers begins.
black paint * finish. Notorious for not lasting.
Damn that's a good looking rifle. Not fully digging the cheek rest, but I can deal with that. Now unfortunately I'll probably never own one because of how rare it is. Darn.
Very cool to see this video! I just saw that exact herkner echo mount on ebay for about $50! Im now sorry i didnt buy it! My remington model 14 has the echo mount and im trying to find the scope side half of it in a 1" ring size.... VERY hard to find!!
6,203... A very pleasant prime number, but a very odd quantity of rifles to purchase.
This video has more likes than Luxembourg's active Army has in service.....
I love the FN-49