While your firing pin spring seems very weak I believe the main culprit is that the firing pin safety stop is missing from your bolt. At approximately 4:05 next to your right thumb you can see the channel where it's supposed to be seated. This spring prevents the firing pin from moving until the bolt is in battery. If the firing pin stop was present the weak spring would have led to slam fires but the gun wouldn't have fired out of battery at least.

I have an Egyptian model FN49. When I received it I completely disassembled, cleaned/lubed, inspected, and replaced all worn or broken parts, and replaced ALL the springs. It already had a 2 piece firing pin but a non firing pin safety bolt. I replaced the bolt with the safety cut-out and the safety lever. She runs perfect. ALWAYS completely disassemble, clean, and inspect surplus guns before firing them. Talking from 30+ years of experience here.

Glad everyone is okay. Venezuelan FN49 are known to have out of battery or slam fire issues because of the firing pin return spring being weak or one piece firing pins getting stuck. Upgrading the firing pin return spring and getting a two piece pin should fix the problem.

Sucks to see such a gorgeous gun go down, but I’m glad you guys are alright.

Sorry for your misadventure glad you’re ok.

I’m glad you and your friend are okay Thanks for sharing. Hope you can get that beautiful rifle back to functional condition

I am glad your friend and you are not hurt. I had one Egyptian FM49, they are known for this issue, (the firing pin being stuck forward). My firing pin was wedged forward and caused a premature detonation out of battery. When this happened to me the breach block flew out of the rifle and tore my right arm as it flipped past my head. I had all the PPE on too. Your receiver is bent and likely cannot be fixed, I hope it can be fixed. These rifles started out having a one pcs firing pin, then migrated to a two pcs fining pin for this reason. The FN 49 is a good heavy rifle, but the two-piece firing pin with the safety slot cutout is a must. Keep us posted on the rifle's repair.

Back in the 70's I was serving in the army, and I had an SLR (a semi auto version of the FN Fal) go full auto on me. This happened because the firing pin broke and jammed. I was expecting one round to be fired, but there came 20 rounds in just over one second.

For the "good" rep that the FN49 apparently has, them blowing up seems EXTREAMLY common. Ever single person Ive meet whos had one has had the exact same thing happen to theirs.

Super unfortunate that this happened and hopefully it can be made good as new, but I’m extremely grateful that you shared it. I literally just picked one of these up (well, an Egyptian model) and this caused me to educate myself on this potential issue.

Truly a Bolt Forward video. Glad none of you got seriously hurt.

I am glad you and your partner were not seriously injured. In the past, whenever a new firearm came into my possession (new or used) I always broke it down, cleaned and examined all functioning parts, confirmed safety features worked properly, then did a primer only function test. A good swabbing of the bore ensured no grease or contaminants then single shot with live ammo. I have always worn safety glasses, even when shooting a .22 rimfire. Thank you for sharing this video.

Glad you are ok. I had a Venni in the 80-90s. Never had any issues with it and loved it.

Scary situation glad your ok

I had a Belgian FN49 in .30-06 that started doubling on me. Turned out the firing pin was broken. It would fire normally and then go full auto with the firing pin front section flopping back and forth under inertia. Scary. Thanks for sharing this.

Glad your ok man!

there's supposed to be another OOB safety on the bolt itself in the channel on the top of the bolt that looks like its missing. did that get blown off in the explosion or did it never exist there?

Your gun is probably salvagable. Start by replacing the sight base cover assembly, which took the brunt of the blow, and you probably need a new main spring also. Sarco and Numrich gun parts inc probably have all the parts. Inspect the bolt carrier and bolt, they're probably ok. The broken bolt can be center punched and drilled with a reverse twist drill bit I got a set from harbor freight tools a while back; the idea is you run the drill in the reverse rotational direction so that as you drill in you might get lucky and the bit grabs the bolt and screws it out nice and easy. The stock can be repaired with acraglas from Brownells, which can be tinted to match the wood. You will need to glass bed the receiver into the stock, once that is done the stock will be better and stronger than new; with care the glass bedding and repairs will be invisible. If you need to remove the deformation at the back of the receiver, I suggest putting a bolt and washer in the cleaning rod hole at the back of the receiver, then carefully hitting the bolt head with a hammer to slowly move the metal to its' correct shape; so you take some measurements, pound on it, then take out the bolt and washer and see how your new sight base cover assembly fits, then repeat until the parts fit right. Don't get in a hurry and don't over do it. Naturally you need to replace your firing pin with the two piece firing pin and spring; make sure the spring comes all the way to the tip of the firing pin. With diligence and care, your FN49 can be repaired to better than new condition. Don't be discouraged. Best of luck. Ben

I picked up a couple of FN-49s in 8mm about 20 years ago. Fun guns to shoot, loved the gas turn-off feature to allow single round shooting like a straight-pull rifle, but when I made ammo for it (standard loads) all of the brass came out chewed up bad. Ejector would bend or rip chunks out of the R-P brass and the upper recoil rod (don't know the exact part name) would leave serious dents in the sides of the ejecting brass. Out of 100 rds I loaded, I lost over 20 rds - pure throwaways. I am able to reload and fire the rest in my bolt action 8mm rifles, but after that experience I got rid of both of the FN-49s. They appear to be VERY sensitive to what loads are used in them.

Hate to say it but finding someone to repair it is going to be hard. I'm not sure it can be repaired. What's worse, the Venny FN49 guns are the hardest to find parts for. Every Venny FN49 needs to have the firing pin changed to the two piece with the firing pin safety cut.

I'd bet money you had the original 1 piece firing pin. They are well known to break in half and the front piece gets wedged forward. FN fixed that problem by making a 2 piece pin. Venezuelan contract was before that upgrade happened. They are readily available for around $30. Ive had my Venezuelan for 6 years but just coincidentally checked a week ago and mine still had the 1 piece so i ordered a 2 piece pin the same day. Sorry to see. That happened to my egyptian before i got it. Can't tell besides the ballooned mag and repaired stock.

I've made a habit in the last two years to replace all springs on a firearm when I purchase it when possible before using it.

Man, Bless Jesus you and your shooter friend are OK. Sometimes it is cheaper to just move on. Get another copy and use what’s left for parts. Fine and informative vid. Thanks

Glad you both are ok.

Was it a one piece or two piece firing pin? Also, does the hammer look like it was polished ?

Yeah that firing pin channel must of had some rust or dirt in it that caused the firing pin to stick out. It is strange because normally you associate this type of malfunction with rifles that have free floating firing pins, not spring loaded ones. Capandball also ran into a very similar problem that you had with a SVT-40, which has a design pretty close to a FN-49. I clean the bolt of my SVT religiously now after that video.

Such a beautiful weapon. Glad yall are both ok. looks like some pretty serious damage to the receiver.....hope its able to be saved. some of us learned something on this. Always wanted a 49 but didn't have the money...even when they ran less than 400. regrets.

I've got a Lux FN49 that has given me problems for years with the firing pin getting stuck forward enough to cause slam fires. Seems to be an issue with these things.

Not good Bolt glad your ok !! hope you can fix the 49.

I’m almost wondering if your firing pin spring may have been weak. This may have allowed the pin to move forward under inertia when the bolt lost velocity while stripping the next cartridge.

i read the comments about the firing pin safety and for all i know thats right. what i see is, slowed way down, the fired case is barely out when the next exploded and it is not anywhere close to the chamber. im saying the projectile may have been in the chamber but none of the case was. the first round is only maybe an inch away from the bolt on its way out. the bolt has just begun to move forward so like you say, the primer was out and struck the case then the primer.

Sorry for your rifle! Years ago I had a similar issue with my wife's Glock 17: I just put in another magazine, pressed the silde release and it went off without me even touching the trigger. The firing pin was stuck forward because of brass shavings blocking it. This particular Glock has been producing al lot of brass shavings from the beginning when we bought it new. Fortunately, no damage occured besides a hole in the floor of the indoor range some meters in front of me.

good analysis.

Lessons learned. Glad you're OK!

Known issue. You do not say if it is a single piece firing pin? Initially FN split the firing pin in 2 pieces to counter this, later a firing pinn safety was added to lock the pin before it was in battery. Egyptian contract rifles do not have this but at least mine has the 2 piece. Was it a 2 piece or a 1 piece firing pin?

Glad you and your friend are ok. I shoot a lot of milsurps and I have learned that lesson of check, clean, check and clean before shooting. Then check and clean when putting back in storage. A stuck firing pin is bad juju. Sorry your rifle looks to be done but maybe she can be repaired and please give us an update. Thank you!

Looks like the firing pin was momentarily stuck protruding out. That was a common problem with SKS two and a half decades ago because people were firing them before doing a thorough disassembly and cleaning

Is it just me or does this work similar to the sks, i see lots of similarities

I hate to say it likely it will be a wall hanger or parts gun. If it was mine, i have to have it, magna fluxed ,and penatrateion dye checked for cracks in the receiver.. plus, in the process of trying to correct anything bent, it might crack or alter the heat treatment. I lost most of an AR 15 with an OBDE ( Out of Battery explosion ) . The Furniture , barrel, FCG , and a few other parts was all I was able to salvge. So it might be cheaper fo purchase a nother rifle. Because you figure it likely going to cost 100.per hour for the Dcoa ( disassembly, cleaning ,observation and acounting ) older surplus firearm sometimes parts are not available or if they are the want a kings ransom . Just like ive been looking for close to 15 years for a Pattern 14 Enfeild Auxiliary Volly sight front sight,screw and wave washer. Found a place that sold it but the conversion rate ian international shipping was going to cost over 300 .00 dollars for three peices of metal that would fit into a mint tin. Good luck it might be okay but being a gunsmith, I've seen a few that the guns were great once but not worth the expense or couldn't guarantee safety of it.

Earned a like and comment for the tldr

hats up for the TLDR. Decided to watch it all at that point

I've seen one blow up. Blew the strap/rail off action. Brand new surplus Luxembourg crested. Blew a huge chunk of woof from just in front of where the breech starts up to 2.5 inch wide near stripper clip point for reference, and narrowed down to a point just above trigger. 30.06. That's what happend when you get a 8mm round mixed up

Reading in between the lines, the initial round worked fine but the 2nd round did all the damage as you've just described?

I had a new AMT Hardballer that fired a double then the firing pin fell out. The screw in the adjustable rear sight was to long and protruded into the firing pin area, the pin would get stuck then when the gun picked up the next round it loosened up but the retaining piece fell out and the pin fell out, what a mess, I got rid of that as well, went back to a standard M1911A1.

Gun done its job and protected you from any shrapnel. You’re lucky none of you got hurt. You dealing with an explosive charge basically since the powder is an explosive and it’s even worse when a round is half way or a 1/4 of the way inti the chamber when it detonates. It’s a confined space so you’re dealing with thousands of pounds of square inch of force. I hope you checked for a squib just incase as well.

Well, the lesson here is to strip, throughly clean, and relube any milsurp rifle before firing. I’ve had three FN-49s pass though my hands, none of them ever misfired, one of which I still own and have rebarreled. A little online searching would have told you what to look out for.

In handguns its called primer drag ...But it shows the same on some rifles ..its definitely showing that .. SKS rifles also suffer from this firing pin issue more ..that gun now most likes unsafe without some modifications to beef up the spots that bowed out ..

I've had a Venny FN49 since 1970, did not know there was an active FN49 community. I knew there were issues about breaking firing pins, and recently (1 week ago) learned that could cause OOB firing. I did know till reading this that there was a solution available for the firing pin problem, and I will be looking for a 2 piece pin. if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be grateful. I have a lathe and mill and can make any necessary modifications on the bolt. Thanks.

I once bought a semi-auto .22 Magnum, took it out to the range, second round blew the gun, blew the magazine out spit powder and my hand tingled for a bit as the stock actually broke. It went back to the gun shop and I got a full refund. After that I insured that I thoroughly cleaned and lubed every rifle I purchased before firing it, I had taken this one from the gun shop to the country to pop off a few rounds.

🇦🇺😎👍Wow… I had a FN49 years ago when they were legal in the early 80s …all gone now

Darn it, so sorry to see this happen but thank god that everyone is safe. It’s a lively rifle

I have a century arms Egyptian fn49, I believe the issues like this are solely the non refurbished Egyptians.

That seems beyond professional gunsmithing repair to me. I mess around with old guns, but if that happened to me? Bad JUJU! That gun needs to go! It is compromised! Salvage the trigger group, furniture, minus the stock, whatever. Or just hang it on the wall as a non-firing historic weapon. A piece of history that has seen it's time and is done now. Retired.

Did that headstamp say 7*57 ? if so, wouldn't that be 7mm Mauser ? I thought these were 8mm. Hard to see in the video

My sks has done that before get a 3 or 4 shot burst before it freed up.

Fn 49s and firing pins stuck forward are too common. There are fixes for it. Glad you are ok. My Argentine had the pin stick forward. Had 16 rounds left in the magazine when it decided to run away on me. Not fun

Probably had cosmoline on the firing pin, that stuff gets into everything.

Glad this wasnt as bad as kentucky balistics

Always wear safety glasses.might save your eye.😮.

Military 7x57 has significantly harder primers. Looks like you were shooting all commercial. All you need is a little dried cosmoline gunk to bind up the pin. I throw every milsurp bolt in the dishwasher (no soap) before I shoot it but an ultrasonic cleaner would be better. I had similar but non-catastrophic issues with my MAS49 that went away once I got a lighter titanium firing pin. No more issues with sensitive commercial primers. Just a thought

Maybe I missed it, but did you check to see whether you have a one piece or two piece firing pin? Slam fires caused by a one piece firing pin jamming are a known problem with these rifles and you have to replace it with a two piece before shooting them.

I don think its worth trying to get that fixed unfortunately. the rear of the receiver being bowed out like that is not going to be easy to get back into spec and i'd be worried about structural damage to the metal of the receiver and bolt too.

Ahh man reminds me of my old Cetme!

Thankfully that's a relatively easy fix by a competent gunsmith. Submerge the receiver in water, heat up the bulged area with a torch and gently hammer it back flat. Good as new :D

I had a 7mm fn49 explode as well.

My rifle does not have a safety stop 🤯 I was told to never fire commercial ammo 😬 only mil spec ammo to avoid slam firing 🤔 I will have to look into changing my bolt and carrier

2:05 That look like 2 rounds was been fire. Out of battery fire on the second round.

Thanks for an excellent cautionary video. I guess I will stick with my old M1 Garand. Glad that you and your friend were not badly injured. Carry On.

Looked like a slam fire to me. Military ammo tends to have a harder primer. If you were using commercial ammo, especially with match primers, the softer primer may have been the cause.

Looks to me it may have been trash brass off the previous cartridge that caused the malfunction. As far out of battery as it fired something definitely jammed the firing pin out. I don’t think I would be risking repairing the rifle and using it again. There are too many other old rifles out there that aren’t prone to trying to kill the shooter.

Soft primers?

I had a 8mm and it had a two-piece firing pin.

I had an Oviedo mauser blow up on me, also a 7.62. Ironic, both spanish rifles in that cal. Mine split the receiver, but i put a lot of ammo through it bfore that happened Watching the video now

The Privi Partizian commercial ammo, might have a more sensitive primer than the military ammo the FN 49 was originally used with? If the 7 mm Privi Partizan cartridges you were firing. Were meant to be used in commercial bolt action hunting rifles? Their primers might be softer than the original military ones, and subject to premature slamfire. Which seems to me, to what happened to your rifle.

you got a wall hanger now

Back when I had mine had one.Issue with ammo not chamber I seen the bolt would not go fully closed It was surplus ammo But I did not blow mine up. It was a good gun Too bad.I hate seeing a old old blow up but ever ok The main thing

Beware of surplus ammo, some of it has been in bad storage for almost a century now. Some of the ammo was loaded for heavy machine guns, and will blow up a rifle in no time. As a gunsmith, I have seen this sort of thing before, it happens.

Maybe you can find someone on KZfaq that could use it as a video to fix and get it done for free or cheaper since it’s a more unusual rifle

Thanks for sharing!

My MAS49 went full auto yesterday 😂

Good RO

Only gun smith that i know thst can fix it, is mark novak, he has a you tube channel.

You most likely had an out of battery because your chamber clearance was right. You needed to no go and go gage it. It doesn’t look like the bolt was the issue but your casing bing a couple thou outta place.

Rifle might be or is toast. Bend back a receiver ?

Not sure that is economical to repair. That's well beyond most gunsmith's ability.

What's the purpose of the PVC pipes in the picture?

i would not shoot it ever again

That is now a parts rifle unfortunately

Expensive problem. It became an open bolt machine gun......sort of.

Is that a 7mm or 8mm rifle? Be careful. Surplus ammo varies a lot on date of mfg and nationality. There plenty of 8mm ammo that is strictly for Mauser 98 and K 98 actions and is too HOT loaded for semiautomatic rifles. Turkish 8mm is a good example. Be careful use commercial ammo is recommended for many old 1940s vintage European semiautomatic rifles

Pants filled...

I wonder if it was a slam fire 🫤

If you have older firearm, please do not use surplus ammo....the powder might be total dust and it will blowup even otherwise sound gun...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Self loading Ammo 🤔

A bummer of an outcome! One every body can learn from tho! When purchasing a milsurp have it inspected by a professional gunsmith familiar with the gun before shooting. Glad everyone walked away in one piece!

Hate to tell you this, But that gun is probably dead. I doubt it would be worth what it cost to fix it, unless a gunsmith was willing to hammer the back of the receiver to try to bend it back. And even then, it wouldn't be as strong, and might be out of shape. Hopefully , it can be fixed, though.

On an adjustable gas system, you don’t adjust gas to the carrier by direction or distance of ejected case. Follow the factory manufacturers instructions. Start with higher gas bleed off, single load, check for bolt hold open. If not bolt held back with bolt hold open latch, reduce gas bleed off til it does

Maybe you should stand behind the guy shooting, where you should have been.

Clean you guns boys 😮

I heard that all calibers of the fn49's had that issue also some of the G3 clones