FN Model 1949

The FN Model 1949, known as the FN-49, is a battle rifle designed by Dieudonne Saive and built by FN Herstal in Belgium, entering service in 1948 and remaining in production until 1961 with roughly 176,000 rifles made. It was chambered in a range of cartridges depending on the buyer, including .30-06 Springfield, 7.92x57mm Mauser, 7x57mm Mauser, 7.62x51mm NATO and 7.65x53mm Argentine, and found modest adoption among non-aligned nations, though it arrived too late for the Second World War and its ten-round magazine limited the effectiveness of its selective-fire versions. It saw combat in the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, the Congo Crisis and the Falklands War.