FN49 WOES,please help...

[Near Sighted Sniper]

Hello all,I hope one of you guys can help me with a small problem.I recently had my Egyptian FN 49 re-barreled,the smith did a good job however he could not remove the front site.I didn't think it would be a problem at the time,I remembered a few places online that sold front sites so I figured that I would just buy a new one & install it myself,how hard could it be?Well,I finally got around to buying the site from Apex[Sarco & Northridge were out] & for the life of me I can not slide the site into the dovetail base.Am I not understanding something?Is there some secret way that these sites go in?
Please somebody help me,this has always been one of my favorite rifles [if not my favorite].I would hate to never shoot this one again,& I really don't want to send it out to someone who specializes in these just for this small issue.
Any ideas?Thanks in advance,Mick/NSS.

[bykerhd]

Are we talking about an Egyptian 8mm ?
The front sight on mine is marked with a 6.
The front sight blade on the 8mm FN-49 is dovetailed in to the slot and should be easily removable by any half-way competent gunsmith.
Unless someone silver soldered it at some time in the past.
Century might have done almost anything.
And even that only requires a torch.

If the gunsmith still has your old barrel, ask him to give it back to you.
If you get lucky, you can at least compare what is on the old barrel to what you have from Apex.
Drive the sight blades off to the right, install from the left. I think ?
A brass drift and a hammer should be all you need.

[Orion the Hunter]

**Note, as the previous poster mentioned, there are several sizes of sites. I looked at old one I was about to remove PRIOR to using my site remover tool so I could buy the exact size (I believe it was a 6.0) If you scratch up the numbers by accident, you will never know what that number was??!! Since you have a new barrel, you might have to do some troubleshooting to see what elevation height you need. I bought my spare from Numerich Arms.

So...I had the exact same problem, except my site was bent, and here is how I dealt with the darn thing. After trying the brass punch trick (which banged up my site even more and scratched the surface of my dovetail groove...) and having our local armorers tell me there is nothing more that could be done....

I purchased an AK-47 front site adjustment tool (you know, the type that looks like a c-clamp of sorts). It cost about $15.00 at a local gun shop. I brought in my rifle to make sure that the clamp portion would clear the site protectors (ears). There was a couple different types, but one worked mighty fine.

Next, I removed the threaded wing-lever (adjuster for the AK) and went to my local hardware store with the c-clamp portion and bought (2) fine threaded bolts that threaded back into the c-clamp. One for an extra in case my grinding got out of hand...

Finally, it was off to the grinder. I held the bolt head with vice grips and did my best to grind the bolt tip down round until it cleared the dovetail edges through the site ears, but enough surface to land on the site edge itself. I ground the tip flat and straight to the naked eye so there was as much surface area as possible. That way it doesn't mar the new one going back in. (The first prototype one I made had more of a tip than a flat surface and pushed a small dimple in the side edge...it went into the trash and I ground down the other bolt that I bought at the hardware store). Make sure to leave enough threads on the bolt head side to still thread through the c-clamp and be careful not to gall those threads by the bolt head while grinding...

**As you also mentioned, mine too would not fit in the groove of the dovetail rails at first. I got out my small file and carefully...slowly...cautiously filed away a little on each edge of the site edges until it started to fit into the dovetail groove. Once I got a bite , I filed a tiny bit more and called it good. This is rather time consuming, grab yourself a couple of cold ones cause it is going to take a few minutes.

Finally, I put on my c-clamp tool and used a crescent wrench on the bolt head to wind it in and push the site through the dovetail groove without getting hung up on the dovetail rails.

It worked absolutely perfectly, not only for site removal...but for site adjustment as well... plus I can still replace it with the original wing-lever for my AK-47!

Good Luck! If you get in a jam, let me know with a post. I know how frustrated you are right now! I nearly drove the Fiance insane with all my cussing and griping prior to fabrication!

[Near Sighted Sniper]

Originally posted by bykerhd
Are we talking about an Egyptian 8mm ?
Yes Egyptian 8mm.

The front sight on mine is marked with a 6.
Mine is also a 6 on the old barrel the new site is also a 6.

The front sight blade on the 8mm FN-49 is dovetailed in to the slot and should be easily removable by any half-way competent gunsmith.
That's what I thought,the smith I took it to has a GREAT rep,in Pa he is known for his competence/great work.

Unless someone silver soldered it at some time in the past.
Century might have done almost anything.
And even that only requires a torch.
My FN 49 is not a Century rifle.I'm "ALMOST" insulted [joke]

If the gunsmith still has your old barrel, ask him to give it back to you.
If you get lucky, you can at least compare what is on the old barrel to what you have from Apex.
Drive the sight blades off to the right, install from the left. I think ?
A brass drift and a hammer should be all you need.

He gave me the old barrel when I picked up the rifle,I have been trying to drive the site out,this thing just does not want to budge!!I'm really frustriated.At this point I just want to remove the original front site on principal.I'm tempted to file down the new front site so that I can install it but I've never done any filing before & don't have much in the patience dept.

[Near Sighted Sniper]

Originally posted by Orion the Hunter
**Note, as the previous poster mentioned, there are several sizes of sites. I looked at old one I was about to remove PRIOR to using my site remover tool so I could buy the exact size (I believe it was a 6.0) If you scratch up the numbers by accident, you will never know what that number was??!! Since you have a new barrel, you might have to do some troubleshooting to see what elevation height you need. I bought my spare from Numerich Arms.

So...I had the exact same problem, except my site was bent, and here is how I dealt with the darn thing. After trying the brass punch trick (which banged up my site even more and scratched the surface of my dovetail groove...) and having our local armorers tell me there is nothing more that could be done....

I purchased an AK-47 front site adjustment tool (you know, the type that looks like a c-clamp of sorts). It cost about $15.00 at a local gun shop. I brought in my rifle to make sure that the clamp portion would clear the site protectors (ears). There was a couple different types, but one worked mighty fine.

Next, I removed the threaded wing-lever (adjuster for the AK) and went to my local hardware store with the c-clamp portion and bought (2) fine threaded bolts that threaded back into the c-clamp. One for an extra in case my grinding got out of hand...

Finally, it was off to the grinder. I held the bolt head with vice grips and did my best to grind the bolt tip down round until it cleared the dovetail edges through the site ears, but enough surface to land on the site edge itself. I ground the tip flat and straight to the naked eye so there was as much surface area as possible. That way it doesn't mar the new one going back in. (The first prototype one I made had more of a tip than a flat surface and pushed a small dimple in the side edge...it went into the trash and I ground down the other bolt that I bought at the hardware store). Make sure to leave enough threads on the bolt head side to still thread through the c-clamp and be careful not to gall those threads by the bolt head while grinding...

**As you also mentioned, mine too would not fit in the groove of the dovetail rails at first. I got out my small file and carefully...slowly...cautiously filed away a little on each edge of the site edges until it started to fit into the dovetail groove. Once I got a bite , I filed a tiny bit more and called it good. This is rather time consuming, grab yourself a couple of cold ones cause it is going to take a few minutes.

Finally, I put on my c-clamp tool and used a crescent wrench on the bolt head to wind it in and push the site through the dovetail groove without getting hung up on the dovetail rails.

It worked absolutely perfectly, not only for site removal...but for site adjustment as well... plus I can still replace it with the original wing-lever for my AK-47!

Good Luck! If you get in a jam, let me know with a post. I know how frustrated you are right now! I nearly drove the Fiance insane with all my cussing and griping prior to fabrication!

Thanks bro,I think before I try the C clamp/filing method I'm gonna order 3 or 4 extra front sites,this way if I mess something up I allready have the replacement site,with my luck I would damage the new site,throw it away & apex would be sold out & I would be S.O.L.!!!!

[tac-40]

Ditto on the AK sight tool. I also widened the insides of the C-Clamp portion to allow it to fit over several sizes of front hoods/ears. Now I have a tool that not only adjusts front mil-surp rifle sights but can be used to remove them also.

[Orion the Hunter]

Ya no kidding, that sounds like my luck! Actually I was forced to start the whole c-clamp modification after I purchased a custom K98 front site tool on Gunbrokers. I figured "Hey, the sites look so similar, they should work just fine?

Not! It works excellent in my K98, but didn't fit my FN49 at all.

Here is Numerich's site-site:

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/...spx?catid=2154

It should drop you right on the FN49 parts page. Looks like they are missing a couple though?

good luck!

[Orion the Hunter]

Did you grind down a bolt like I did, or did you find something more user friendly to thread in there?