Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Fn actions?

For the mauser custom rifle fans, do you hold rifles built on FN actions (commercial and/or military) in the same regard? They are certainly a lot easier to find "up here" and in decent shape, just not sure they are held in the same regard?

Yes,or at least I do.

Second Ken's statement....
I like the early ones that were single broached.

I prefer the commercial 98 actions that FN built for Husqvarna as their 640 series during the late 1940's and early 1950's.

In the universe of LR 98 military actions, i think that those built by FN between WW1 and WW2 are among the best made military 98 actions in all aspects; manufacturing, materials, fit, and finish. I have a couple of rifles built on the Venezuelan 24/30 actions and think that they are first rate.

I hold FN actions in very high regard. Every bit the equal of a German action. I think the whole C-ring vs H-ring thing is way overblown.

MTdan,
Agreed, it's a personal thing.
But, once you take that first step away from original you wind up with that ugly Browning bolt release.....
And then you go to the Dark Side into the Remington Empire.....

Fair enough. FN lost their way as soon as they started making their actions push-feed.

I like the C-ring actions with the charger guide and thumb cut best, but I own several solid wall commercial FN actions and all have been excellent

I'm inclined to agree with you. My two major builds are on H ring FNs. They work just fine.
Paul B.

What do you like about having a charger guide and thumb slot on a sporting rifle, particularly one with a scope installed on it?

When Husqvarna was looking for a way to improve the SR 1894/1896/38 series actions for sporting rifles, they "strengthened" that action design by eliminating the thumb slot in the left receiver rail. I don't know if omitting the thumb slot made any significant difference in the strength of the action or if it was a marketing ploy, but they did that on their SR 640 series rifles.

I love picking up the FN 98's Sears brought in their Models 50 and 51, sometimes Sears guns don't command a very high price.

It's just an aesthetic preference. For a scope, they're not an asset.

I fell into a C-ring almost by accident. The auction description mentioned the 1948 date, and by golly, it was one of the "good ones", with the FI logo on the receiver. My Husky was also advertised as a 1948, but not sure where that came from as it's not marked as such, and it's double-broached. No biggie either way. Great rifles, my overall favorites in fact. I don't even mind the slide-off floorplates and wing safeties, although the latter make bolt disassembly a bit of a pain compared to the military ones.

I paid $600 for the FI, and "took a shot" at $375 on the Husky with a 4x Lyman Perma Center and nailed it. Both are excellent shooters.

Also if you can find a 1909 Argentine action made by dwm. Those are very well made and finely. finished

The issue with the C-ring cut was one of gas control. You lose that with the double broaching. The thumb cut was great for military use ( fast loading of sporters also ) but brought about the need for the guide on the bolt. It would also allow gas to divert. The flange on the bolt shroud was supposed to deflect the final bit of any gas from case rupture.
All fine points of German design.
Hot loads weren't considered. Early smokeless and tropical temperatures were.
While a Remington 700 handles gas better than any bolt action, it wouldn't survive a week on the battlefield.
Deflecting gas?
Look at a High Wall, Ruger 1, or even an Encore.....

Posted this pic many times before, but here’s my Husqvarna 146 I rechambered to 9.3 x 62 ctg.



And here’s my 146 that I left in 9.3 x 57 ctg.



Both produced in 1938. Nice FN 98 actions. I’ve taken both nilgai and elk with the x 62. I have that nice new 1.5 x 5 Leupold on it now I got from old son. I really need to work up a new load for this old war horse.

Folks use the term "strength" a lot without any real context. How is it "stronger"? Omitting the thumbcut still leaves the receiver about as stiff as a wet noodle.

I like the charger hump on open sight rifles, I prefer it removed or the FN Commercial bridge for scope use. But I do have a few Mausers that have the charger hump and are scoped.

A question...what strength is needed in that area when the pressure is on the front ring ?

Not many of those here in Canada.

There's still a few JC Higgins kicking around. I had this one show up this week for a project. The safety will be replaced but even so, the factory safety is much more useable than the old wing safety.

When you want to get rid of the FN safety I can use it....

With the thumb cut its a bedding issue. Not much difference really than one without it.
If bedding isn't correct and the screws aren't to torqued properly the action can twist, bend, etc so then it's possible to put pressure on the bolt affecting the seating if the bolt lugs.
In other words accuracy suffers....