Firing a Luxembourg contract FN-49 rifle, loaded with stripper clips of .30-06 HXP surplus ball ammo.
The FN-49, also known as the FN Model of 1949 rifle, was Belgian Fabrique Nationale's post-WWII battle rifle. It was designed during the late 1930s through the 1940s by Dieudonné Saive (dee-you-dawn-ay save, as I found out 2 minutes ago) but the German invasion and occupation of Belgium delayed its development.
The FN-49's design was finalized after the war in 1947. However, the post-war weapons market was saturated with surplus rifles of all types. Additionally, the FN-49s protracted and delayed development period meant that it was no longer just competing against bolt-action rifles and M1 Garands and such, but also newer designs like the AK and even FN's own FAL, as well as other similar battle rifles from various countries.
Its fixed magazine was small and slow to load compared other rifles like the AK, FAL, and M14, and by the end of the 1950s many militaries were moving to intermediate-caliber rifles like the AK. The FN-49 was the last "old-world" battle rifle and as such it was immediately obsolete right out of the gate.
Despite this fact, FN still picked up a number of small contracts all over the world, primarily in Latin America but also in Egypt and Indonesia as well. Its mother Belgium ordered 87,777 FN-49s (by far the largest contract), and the one seen in this video was made for Luxembourg. Only 6,306 of these were produced, making it one of the smaller contracts and also one of the most sought-after because very few other .30-06 FN-49s from other nations were imported into the US.
Despite the production total of the FN-49 being less than 180,000, they are still reasonably attainable on the US surplus market and all versions are sought-after forgotten pieces of history.
The Egyptian 7.92x57mm ones are the by far the most common, but others are pretty rare to see since the contracts were often quite small and people tend to hold onto these things because they're great. If you see one in .30-06, though, grab it, because you'll probably never see one again. They're also not horribly expensive (of course, "expensive" is a relative term; they ain't cheap either) considering their relative obscurity.
Once you tune the gas system the 49 is a joy to shoot and it's by far the rarest rifle I've ever owned, which is cool in itself. I highly recommend them, just do some research on their firing pin-related safety concerns before you get one.
