Handloading for 8mm FN-49

T

The_Champ

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
19   0   0
Location
The Prairie
I'm about to start experimenting with handloads for my Egyptian FN-49. Its always run pretty well with factory ammo, however given the various horror stories that go around the internet about these particular rifles, I decided I ought to mitigate the risk.

My plan right now is IMR-4064 for the correct burn rate(and multi use in other loads), a lighter bullet (likely 175 grains), and No. 34 CCI for harder primers. A lot of these tips come from a fellow on American boards, Goose52, who is something of an expert of the SAFN, and literally wrote a book about them.

Any other tips? Any favourite handloads for FN-49s or just 8mm Mauser in general?
 
8x57mm - 150gr - 50gr 4064
8x57mm - 175gr - 48gr 4064

Both loads function fine in my Egyptian FN49 but the 175gr are more accurate. Harder to find though.

If your firing pin isn't a 2-piece, get one.
 
BlackVoid said:
Horror stories are about one piece firing pin and absence of out of battery safety.

Nothing to do with ammo.
Click to expand...

I think there might be some legitimacy to issues with factory ammo and powder burn rates being hard on the mechanism. This certainly seems to be well accepted knowledge when it comes to the M1 Garand, so why not the FN? As for the catastrophic failures, I'd agree most likely culprit would be broken or out of spec firing pins. Harder military style primers might help guard against this.
 
Walther_PPK said:
8x57mm - 150gr - 50gr 4064
8x57mm - 175gr - 48gr 4064

Both loads function fine in my Egyptian FN49 but the 175gr are more accurate. Harder to find though.

If your firing pin isn't a 2-piece, get one.
Click to expand...

Yep got the two piece firing pin.

Your powder charge is on the higher end for the 175 grain according to my Lyman reloading manual..... did you ever tinker with a lighter powder charge and get the rifle to function well with the right gas setting? I'm not looking for a fast deadly accurate load for killing critters or winning completion, just like to plink with my old guns, so a lighter charge makes sense to me, if the gun will run.
 
I believe the proper load for that particular rifle is the 154 grain spitzer shaped projectile at appx 2900 fps and generating around 47,000 PSI of pressure. That pounds per square inch.

People run into issues with the FN49 by feeding it ammo that generates to much recoil.

This is a good video on how to adjust the gas port opening. This is only the first part and the second part will show up on the right side of the screen.

https://youtu.be/rXmz_5eB9hE

I saw a lovely Egyptian FN49 come apart because the operator loaded it up with HOT 198 grain handloads. Caution and and paying attention to proper pressure levels are the key to keeping your rifle in one piece and without breaking parts.

The 8x57 is a pretty hot cartridge that easily matches the 30-06 in most bullet weights. I hunted with one for a lot of years as a teen. I was lucky enough to have access to European loaded RWS ammo in those days. Mr Lever used to sell it to me at his cost, which was a lot more expensive than the crates of surplus available in his facility. 8mm bullets, suitable for hunting were hard to find back in those days.

As with everything, especially rifles like the FN49, which IMHO are excellent examples of early cutting edge auto loaders, need to be coddled a bit. Parts are not readily available for one thing. Keep your loads within milspec tolerances and all will be well.

The militaries that used the FN49s found them to be finicky when it came to ammo. Just like any semi auto rifle, they need to be fed ammo that has consistent pressures. Some of the Egyptian and Turkish ammo left a lot to be desired as far as consistency goes.

If that were my rifle, it wouldn't be fed a diet of anything other than 154 graun spitzer loaded to 46,000 psi generating around 2800fps. With that load, nothing will break and it will give you many decades of good service.

I remember an article in the National Rifleman about the Egyptians putting out a warning that the 174 grain cartridges should only be used if the 154 grain cartridges weren't available and then only if necessary and not to use their heavy 8mm 196 grain ball ammo, for machine guns in them at all.
 
The_Champ said:
I think there might be some legitimacy to issues with factory ammo and powder burn rates being hard on the mechanism. This certainly seems to be well accepted knowledge when it comes to the M1 Garand, so why not the FN?
Click to expand...

Because you can adjust the gas setting so FN49 purrs like a cat. It's a PITA, but works. Just get a gas key from Numrich.

Sorry for butting in on reloading question.
 
Last edited:
BlackVoid said:
Because you can adjust the gas setting so FN49 purrs like a cat. It's a PITA, but works. Just get a gas key from Numrich.

Sorry for butting in on reloading question.
Click to expand...

I've heard it suggested that even with the gas port wide open, hot heavy loads like S&B's 196 grain might still be way out of spec for what the rifle was designed for.

I'd agree most of the FN49 kabooms I've read about sound like broken rifles or user error.
 
bearhunter said:
I believe the proper load for that particular rifle is the 154 grain spitzer shaped projectile at appx 2900 fps and generating around 47,000 PSI of pressure. That pounds per square inch.

People run into issues with the FN49 by feeding it ammo that generates to much recoil.

This is a good video on how to adjust the gas port opening. This is only the first part and the second part will show up on the right side of the screen.

https://youtu.be/rXmz_5eB9hE

I saw a lovely Egyptian FN49 come apart because the operator loaded it up with HOT 198 grain handloads. Caution and and paying attention to proper pressure levels are the key to keeping your rifle in one piece and without breaking parts.

The 8x57 is a pretty hot cartridge that easily matches the 30-06 in most bullet weights. I hunted with one for a lot of years as a teen. I was lucky enough to have access to European loaded RWS ammo in those days. Mr Lever used to sell it to me at his cost, which was a lot more expensive than the crates of surplus available in his facility. 8mm bullets, suitable for hunting were hard to find back in those days.

As with everything, especially rifles like the FN49, which IMHO are excellent examples of early cutting edge auto loaders, need to be coddled a bit. Parts are not readily available for one thing. Keep your loads within milspec tolerances and all will be well.

The militaries that used the FN49s found them to be finicky when it came to ammo. Just like any semi auto rifle, they need to be fed ammo that has consistent pressures. Some of the Egyptian and Turkish ammo left a lot to be desired as far as consistency goes.

If that were my rifle, it wouldn't be fed a diet of anything other than 154 graun spitzer loaded to 46,000 psi generating around 2800fps. With that load, nothing will break and it will give you many decades of good service.

I remember an article in the National Rifleman about the Egyptians putting out a warning that the 174 grain cartridges should only be used if the 154 grain cartridges weren't available and then only if necessary and not to use their heavy 8mm 196 grain ball ammo, for machine guns in them at all.
Click to expand...

I’m pretty sure most of the 8mm FN 49s I’ve heard of blowing up is because of Turkish surplus (I.e. patrone ‘S’, the 154grn at 2900ft/sec). I think they were intended for the 198grn loading.
 
We are all talking about the one piece firing pin,which was a safety issue,some would break and jam in the bolt causing KB's,but The biggest safety issue,and this only applies to the Egyptian rifles,is that they omitted the firing pin safety stop,all other variations have them.This allows the firing pin to move forward under inertia and cause an out of battery explosion usually destroying the rifle and injuring the shooter.
When Dieudonne Saive designed the rifle before and during WWII in England he incorporated this very important safety in his rifle,it locks the firing pin inside the bolt until it is completely in battery,thus preventing slam fire,why the Egyptians opted out of this feature is anybodies guess.
I knew a local gunsmith who had an Egyptian FN49 blow up on him and he swore he would never touch another one again!
So,what I have done with all the semi's I own,I make up a dummy load with a life primer,the hardest one available,no powder of course and a normal bullet,and cycle it through the action and see what kind of a mark the firing pin leaves on the primer,that gives a good idea of how much a risk there is of an OOB firing.
 
The_Champ said:
Yep got the two piece firing pin.

Your powder charge is on the higher end for the 175 grain according to my Lyman reloading manual..... did you ever tinker with a lighter powder charge and get the rifle to function well with the right gas setting? I'm not looking for a fast deadly accurate load for killing critters or winning completion, just like to plink with my old guns, so a lighter charge makes sense to me, if the gun will run.
Click to expand...

I did. Can't remember the exact load data, but I CAN remember it was a jam-o-matic ever third round or so. I haven't had any failures with this load so far and I found the data on some USA forums from people loading for this rifle.

I don't shoot the FN much so I don't really play around with loads after I find one that functions and looks good on paper.
 
I have more experience with my 7mm FN49's but I have done some load tests with my 8mm FN49 as well. So far the 8mm has been easier on brass compared to my 7mm FN49's but I haven't really matured the load or found a grouping that has led me to stop tinkering.
Anyways if you're reloading with a lock n load or some thing that meters better will ball powders I have been having good luck with BLC(2) in all calibers of the fn49.

For the 8mm specifically here's where I'm at,
50.0gr of blc2 powder, cci #34 primers, ppu brass, ppu 8mm psp bt 175gr Bullets, 3.010" oal, and averaging about 2457.2fps on the chrono. As for gas system, mine is set at 11 clicks closed from wide open. I think I will close it a little more just to get a more reliable ejection. It's close, I just get the occasional brass that doesn't eject and instead jams and gets "eaten"

I tried some win 748 but I was having good luck with the blc2 that I decided to stick with the blc2 and keep the gas system tuned to blc2.

Anyways if anyone is interested I have more blc2 loads with the Fn49 in 7x57, 30-06, and just got a 308 Argentine that I'll be making loads for in the future.

I also 100% agree with everyone suggesting the use of the 2 piece firing pin and Mil spec primers. May as well use mil spec primers for any older military rifle for that matter. Had my SVT 40 with an upgraded lighter titanium firing pin slam fire on me once using non Mil spec primers. Made the switch after that. Also keeping the gas system as open as possible will vent excess and unneeded pressure from being a) hard on the internals b) reducing bolt momentum which reduces the potential of firing pin momentum and slam fire potential and c) reduce the brass being thrown 3 meters ahead and 1-2 meters right.
 
Last edited:
Way back when, George Nonte praised the 49 as being one of the best milsurp semi for cast bullet shooting, due to their adjustable gas mechanism. While I could get them to function well, they were a clunky rifle and awkward to shoot, at least for me.
Every one I ever had, was full of gunk and needed a thorough cleaning.
OTOH, some of the self appointed gurus have criticized the M1 rifle for being fussy for cast bullet loading, but I've never had a problem with them.
 
If anyone is interested in my results, I finally got around to a little test. Loaded up 20 rounds as follows:

- Once fired PPU & S&B brass
- #34 CCI Primers
- 44 Grains of IMR 4064 (this is on the low side, my Lyman's manual shows 43.5 min & 48.5 max)
- nice cheap Hornady 170 Grain RN bullets

Don't have a chrono, but again by Lyman's numbers this load should do around 2400 FPS, generating about 38,000 PSI.

Surprisingly this light load, with the gas port wide open, functioned flawlessly, locking back every time and still giving fairly emphatic ejection. I was expecting to have to do a bit more tinkering, so this was a nice surprise.

Wasn't really there to test accuracy, however this FN-49 has always been among my more accurate milsurps, and seemed to group about as well as always.

Nice bonus was that the 100m rear sight adjustment was bang on at 100m.
 
Good info in this thread. Years back, before the 'net, we fired crates of 8mm surplus ammo in Hakims. I have a nicely refurbed Egyptian 49 that we fired some surplus in, but not a great amount. I am not sure about my 49 firing pin. It has been years since I've fired it. Next job will be to check it over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom