FN-49 WARNING: 8mm Egyptian Using Igman ammo

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campo_one

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This is being posted in the interest of the shooting enthusiasts safety

My beloved FN-49 8mm exploded using Igman 8 x 57 mm IS – 170 Gr/11 g SP ammo
The exact same incident happened to another shooter using ammo from the same batch.

Here is the chain of events.

Being new ammo, I set the gas port to minimum pressure (that is port wide open). I have fed this baby virtually all kinds of ammo (both surplus and factory) over the 25 years or so that I have owned it. Never had an issue until now.

Fired first shot with one round in mag. Checked to see ejection of case and sure enough it went to the optimal point (8 feet in front and to the right)
Fired second round still with one in mag. Same results. All looked GOOD.
Inserted three rounds in mag to test in semi auto mode. Fired and BANG.
This is what me and other experienced shooters think happened.
First round fired as normal (in fact I hit the bulls eye dead on with it). Later found that spent brass and it went to the optimal area and was not marked.
As the bolt came forward and stripped the next round, the round detonated UNSUPPORTED blowing the third round down into mag bulging mag and cracking stock.
The blot flew back and bent the return spring guide in the bolt cover.
On the bolt, the extractor holder is bent.
The detonated case was mangled and landed to my rear and left
The detonated case base was still being held by the extractor and appeared NOT to have any firing pin marks on the primer

Previous to this the other shooter had thought his FN49 had gone full auto. His damage is very similar to mine

Others and I are theorizing that the igman ammo primers are too soft and detonated when picked up by the bolt.

The other shooter has communicated with Igman via their web site.

I will assess the damaged and see if it is recoverable.

HAS anyone else had an incident similar to this?

THIS WAS one of my favorites rifles and sad that it is damaged BUT I am sure glad I was not injured in any way
 
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Wow close one. I used Igman ammo but all in bolt rifles with no issues.
Please post pics so we can see the extent of the damage.
 
I will put together a picture gallery soon BUT wanted to get the message out so that others are at least careful.
If it is NOT soft primers then does anyone have any theories as to what could have happened so I can explore.

BTW both I and the other shooter checked our remaining Igman ammo and did not find any protruding primers.
 
I had the same thing happen to me about a year and half ago.
Same rifle, same ammo,all i can say is thank god i was wearing
safety glasses.
Mangled up the FN pretty good,i do not trust Igman in semi's.
 
glad you are not hurt, that is a real hard pill to swallow loosing such a nice rifle.

I would be tempted to have an xray done to see how much anvil movement occurred in the undented primer.

Am I right in interpretting this thread that we have 3 rifles destroyed by the same ammo!!!!!!!!!
 
I remember this issue had been posted a few times before (a few years ago) Too bad you didnt ask around 1st :(

Good thing you're ok though...
 
It may well be a firing pin issue (as raised in the other thread). I have fired 7mm Igman through an FN49 with no issues whatsoever. It certainly is worth taking some caution, however ...
 
As Campo one describes it, he was feeding the rounds from the mag, as it should be done.
Some of the M-305 blow-ups happen when you put a round in the chamber, and drop the bolt on it.
You may get a slam-fire. That doesnt seem to be the case here.
 
Yes, this does happen. It is almost always with a military semi-auto using commercial ammo with "soft" primers. I am not overly familiar with the FN, but does it have a free floating firing pin? Had you been using Igman/PPU military ammo, this would not have happened. The problem is that if they make it with mil primers, they get complaints saying the ammo has duds, so they use soft commercial primers. But, as we see this cause a safety issue. The primers spec are very different for sensitivity. A military is less than half as sensitive as a commercial primer.
Also a reason when your gun says 7.62x51, to use mil-spec ammo.
 
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I don't know much about FNs but I own a SAFN-49 Egyptian 8mm.

The firing pin goes through a spring. That wouldn't be a free floating firing pin.

If I recall correctly (and I may not), they were originally manufactured with a one piece firing pin which they revised into a two piece. I think the one piece had a tendancy to bend. If someone knows more about this, I'd be interested in hearing. **Just read the thread on FN49 and more information is available there**

Maybe that is something to look into this particular blow up. I feel for you campo, these are really nice firearms
 
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Sorry in advance for the length of this post, I have had a lot of time to think about this problem...

I had my 8mm Egyptian FN-49 blow up on me too, only mine was with one of my reloads... my mistake - using CCI 200 primers instead of CCI #34's. The primers were seated at least 0.006" below flush, the brass was properly FL sized, and bullet seated 0.050" off the lands. This is with a 2 piece firing pin in good condition by the way.

So, soft primers can definitely be the issue, free floating firing pin or not the firing pin can still make contact with the primer. For example in the FN-49 if the recoil springs are extra stiff and slam the bolt home with more energy than normal (i.e. using non-spec springs) and the firing pin spring is on the weak side, more energy may be transferred to the primer than normal during loading. Now this normally wouldn't be an issue... but combining this with a soft primer or a particularily soft primer in a batch and you can have a problem.

Only the Egyptian FN-49's lack the device on the bolt called the Firing Pin Safety Stop, which is present on all other models of SAFN-49 and is there to limit forward travel of the firing pin while the bolt is closing and not yet in battery, in effect removing most of the firing pin inertia that would be transferred to the primer. Only the Egyptians who ordered these FN-49s know why they lack this feature (which was obviously included for a reason, IMO), but I suspect that it is because they cheaped out.

Firing pins in FN-49s can be stuck forward as well, and this could also cause a out of battery KB like the one you described.

At least you're alright! Get any slivers?
 
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Thank you all for the information. This answers why my FN does not have the firing pin safety stop as described by the schematics.
My FN49 had the single piece firing pin until it broke at the base last year and I replaced it with the two piece as well as the stiffer spring.

Now the big question.
My FN will be recoverable. I have ordered the extractor and the extractor holder spring.
Using proper mil spec ammo have any of you who have had an incident fired your FN in semi auto afterwards? OR in single mode OR fired it at all?
 
Just fired 40 rounds through my svt-40 today then I read this time to check my firing pin and see if it is free floating any body know
 
Just checked the svt-40 does not have a free floating firing pin has any body had this happen in there svt-40 with sporting ammo Igman or other I was going to go hunting with mine next saturday? I know Globe used to rebarrel svt-40's to 303 brit. and sporterize them for hunting.
 
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campo_one said:
Now the big question.
My FN will be recoverable. I have ordered the extractor and the extractor holder spring.
Using proper mil spec ammo have any of you who have had an incident fired your FN in semi auto afterwards? OR in single mode OR fired it at all?
Click to expand...

Is your reciever bent out at the back? This happened to mine when I had my KB... the bolt came back so hard that it bent the reciever out at the back a little bit and I had to bend it back with a shop press. You have to be careful when bending it back because you dont want to push it too far back and overwork the metal, and you have to use a strong c-clamp to hold the sides of the reciever so they dont bow out when you apply force on the end of the reciever. Or, if it is not bent too bad and you can still get the cover on, you could always live with it.

I have fired it after I got everything put back together, but only single fire. I am currently waiting for some CCI #34 primers and I am sure this will fix the problem, because it was caused by soft primers in my case.
 
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