Bought an original FN in 404 Jeffery

[peter1983]

Hi there, first post here but I have been gathering good info here on this forum for quite a while. I am a 36 years old sportshooter from Belgium (mostly handguns from .22 to 460 S&W Magnum and pretty much everything in between) who has been fascinated with big bore rifles and their hunting nostalgia. I have two Ruger No1 rifles in 458 Win Mag and 375 H&H Mag and recently bought a Brno ZKK602 from 1992 also in 458 Win Mag.

Today I bought an original FN mauser 98 style rifle in 404 Jeffery (or 404 Rimless, just says cal 404 on the barrel). I bought it through my gunshop who is selling several rifles from an 80 year old collector who is getting rid of all his rifles. These kind of safari rifles are not that popular in Belgium so I paid only € 500 for it, which is roughly US $ 550. The owner of the gunshop also had two full boxes (40 rounds) of RWS 404 Rimless ammo which he gave me for free, I was quite happy with this gesture to say the least. These are some older boxes as you can see in the pictures, but the rounds still look like new.

Does anyone of you guys have any more info on my new FN rifle based on the pictures? I am guessing it is from the 1950's based on the info I found so far (serial number is 34xxx), but I couldn't find much. The bolt really glides in the action like a knife through hot butter (quite a difference compared to most other bolt actions I have handled so far), but the "Chrome Vanadium Steel" stamp on the barrel somehow gives me the impression that the rifle may be a bit younger, but I am definately no expert here, more an enthousiast. I also have the impression I did a real good deal here, especially with the ammo tossed in for free. According to the gunshop owner the previous owner only shot 1 or 2 rounds with it, but of course I do not know if he was the very first owner, altough the rifle is in excellent shape and I do not suspect it has seen much hunting.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

 

[cpr0312]

Hello and welcome to AH!

What a nice find and price!! Congrats! Oh yeah and I'm jealous

 

[Shootist43]

Welcome aboard Peter1983. My welcome is short lived though. I think I'll call the Belgium Police and have you arrested for theft and that 404 confiscated. But only after I make arrangements to have it shipped directly to me. Only Jessie James could pull off a robbery like that. Next question, what and when do you plan on taking African game with your new found toy?

 

[Rem700stw]

With envy green as Yoda I am.

 

[Bruce]

Super rifle.. Very good find and purchase.. Wish I could get some Sent here to RSA...

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Sweet!

 

[ActionBob]

Great find! Congratulations

 

[Major Khan]

Hello , Peter . Wishing you a most warm welcome ... On behalf of the entire African Hunting Forums community .
My , my ! That is quite a beautiful rifle ... Which you have acquired . And at that price , too . I have not seen a steal like that in years ! You are most fortunate .

Your rifle is ( obviously ) built by Fabrique Nationale . It was built prior to 1962 ( Based up on an educated guess ... I would have to say mid 1950s ) .
Your rifle was made in the golden days of Fabrique Nationale / Browning . From 1963 onwards ... Fabrique Nationale began to omit the bolt guide from these rifles and also discontinued the control round feed design ... In favor of a push feed design . This , they did ... In order to reduce manufacturing costs . As opposed to improving quality . Long story short ... You have a jewel on your hands .

I have a scan of Fabrique Nationale's catalog on my IPAD ... Which displays this rifle . Should you desire ... I could post it here , for your perusal .

My clients regularly used to bring the .458 Winchester magnum calibre variant of your rifle ... To India , for shikar .A small word of warning ... Is requisite , however .

The .458 Winchester magnum calibre variants made by Fabrique Nationale ... Used to have a nasty tendency of having the magazine floor plates spring open , due to recoil . Whether or not this problem exists in the .404 Jeffery calibre variants ... I can not say . However , if you experience any such problems ... Then , have the coil spring replaced with a heavier 1 .

I absolutely adore Belgian fire arms , as well . I have been using this 12 Bore Belgian Guild Gun for the last 61 years ... Almost exclusively , for all of my hunting purposes . It has never , ever let me down .

I am also a MASSIVE admirer of Auguste Francotte , Dumoulin and Lebeau Courally .

 

[Red Leg]

You have what is obviously a very rare rifle in outstanding condition. According to the newest "Blue Book of Gun Values" the FN Supreme Magnum was built from 1957 through 1975. In this country, the markings were slightly changed and it was sold as the Browning Safari Grade. The largest caliber listed by Blue Book is the .375 H&H and one in 90-95% condition would have an estimated value of $1100-1400. I know that the .458 WM was also produced by FN (the Blue Book is a great reference but not an infallible one!) The Browning Safari was also offered in .375 and .458 WM. In any case, a factory .404 - and this certainly has the hallmarks of being exactly that - would be an extraordinary find and would have a significant premium on its value. You found yourself an incredible and wonderful rifle at a remarkable price.

I too suspect this might be a late fifties - early sixties rifle. The only concern with any of the FN and Browning rifles and shotguns are those made from 1967-69. During that period, FN attempted to use a salt-based drying technique to speed up the use of walnut for stocks. This was obviously an idea generated by an accountant rather than a gunmaker! If you remove the barreled action from the stock, it sadly will be abundantly clear if the stock was so treated. The hidden metal is almost always badly rusted. However, I am pretty confident that this rifle is earlier.

Congratulations on a wonderful acquisition. By the way, those two boxes of ammunition are worth a couple of hundred dollars.

 

[One Day...]

The Holy Grail has been found ... and "stolen" !!!!

Woah!

• No thumb cut;
• Original Mauser bolt stop and ejector;
• Original Mauser bottom plate lock;
• Integral barrel boss rear sight base;
• Apparently as-new shape;
• Fantastically low price (you essentially paid for the ammo and the transfer paperwork and got the rifle for free !?!?!?!?!?!!?)

I believe your rifle pre-dates the Safari Grade series because to the best of my knowledge (admittedly limited) the Safari Grade had the Browning ill-fated, cost saver, spring-blade bolt stop abomination; and they had an inside the trigger base plate lock. It appears to be one of these rare immediate post WW II rifles built on new FN commercial actions (no thumb cut, no stripper clip notch), from late 1940's / 1950's.

BRAVO!

The duplication on the barrel itself of all the proof stamps on the action makes me think that it may not be a pure factory offering. In addition, like Red Leg, I was not aware of a .404 factory offering, and I have not seen another Safari Grade with a barrel boss rear sight base. But it could be a custom shop offering (?) and in any case, I do not think that it matters, this is a great rifle...

 

[Wheels]

Fantastic pickup at a great price.

I never realized that FN built a postwar magnum other than the 375 and 458. Looks like you have the original barrel, so yours is the first I have heard of.

Somewhere around 1960, FN started making rifles for Browning. FN then integrated the Browning slide safety into their own design from what I understand. You obviously have the Mauser butterfly safety, so as long as it hasn't been altered, it would seem to be from the 1950's. The buttplate also seems to reinforce this. When FN started making rifles for Browning, they installed a waffle pad on the magnums, and only used the plate on smaller calibers like the 30.06.

Looks like you found a gem! Especially since it is from your home country. Now to get to Africa, or at least find a roe deer.

All the best.

 

[Deleted member 53080]

Awesome rifle! Congratulations! You hear about deals like that but it never happens to you.. Maybe one day

 

[Major Khan]

Here is every thing that you need to know about your rifle , @peter1983 . The .404 Jeffery ( referred to , here as the " .404 Eley ) and the 10.75×68 mm Mauser calibre variants were discontinued before 1960 . Yours has a magazine , utilizing a 3 cartridge capacity .

 

[CAustin]

What a great find.

 

[Red Leg]

View attachment 349358 View attachment 349357 View attachment 349356

Here is every thing that you need to know about your rifle , @peter1983 . The .404 Jeffery ( referred to , here as the " .404 Eley ) and the 10.75×68 mm Mauser calibre variants were discontinued before 1960 . Yours has a magazine , utilizing a 3 cartridge capacity .

Aha! The confirmation that we needed that the .404 was a factory chambering. It must be an extremely rare find. I am envious. And no need to be concerned about a salted stock. Good work Major!

 

[Major Khan]

Aha! The confirmation that we needed that the .404 was a factory chambering. It must be an extremely rare find. I am envious. And no need to be concerned about a salted stock. Good work Major!

Why thank you so much , @Red Leg Sir . Much like yourself , I collect vintage fire arms and ammunition catalogs . Currently , I am on the look out for the John Rigby & Co. - 1968 catalog and an 1970s era Eley catalog . Those salted wood stocks were disgusting aberrations .
My former fellow professional shikaree , the late Tobin Stakkatz used to own 1 of these Fabrique Nationale Mauser 98 bolt rifles , chambered in .423 Mauser ( 10.75×68 mm Mauser ) . He purchased it in 1956 .

 

[peter1983]

WOW! Thanks for all the kind replies, I didn't expect so much info so fast. I definately came to the right place!

Shootist43: funny that you mention Jesse James, I have been told I look like the identical twin brother of the real Jesse James (the first picture you see on his Wikipedia page), altough I would have preferred looking like the Jesse James from the Brad Pitt movie

Major Khan: thanks for all the info and the pictures with a lot of additional info you posted, will print them on Monday at work. It seems to me my particular FN rifle predates the rifle from the catalog you showed, the lack of screws in the receiver to fit scope rings is (at least to me) an indication of that (you can see the holes in your last picture). So a 1950's rifle seems very plausible, and it's great to hear that happened to be the golden age of FN, it's something new I learned today.
Interesting that you also mention the floor plate, I have absolutely no fear mine will be "jumping loose" while shooting as I can't seem to open it. I can press the spring loaded button just fine, but the floor plate doesn't move. I could try to pry it open when holding the button down, but at the risk of damaging the stock, so I don't think I will try that. I could also take the screw off, but also here I don't want to risk damaging a screw that has been fixed in place for over 60 years. All the screws in the rifle look untouched and I sort of have a bad reputation for screwing up screws By the way, nice looking (seems well used) 12 bore!

Red Leg and Wheels: thank you as well for all the info! The rifle has indeed a butterfly safety, I didn't know it was called a butterfly safety, but seeing how it operates it makes perfect sense. I can also tell you the barrel is definately an FN original barrel as the serial number engraved on the barrel is in the same font as on the receiver which has the big FN logo on it. Underneath the bolt handle you can also find the serial number, and of course they are all matching (luckily).

One Day: no costs for paperwork in Belgium, at least for bolt action rifles, lever-action rifles, blackpowder rifles, blackpowder handguns and .22 pistols. At least if you have a sport shoorters license (which I have), so buying a rifle is just as easy for me as buying a new phone (of course getting the sport shooters license requires some effort). Centerfire handguns and semi-auto rifles require some more paperwork and a couple of months patience however. You also mentioned the position of the base plate lock, it is indeed outside (in front) of the trigger guard. If FN didn't make a factory offering of the 404 at that time this one may indeed very well be a custom shop rifle produced on the request of a customer.

The FN factory in Herstal is actually a one hour drive for me, never visited it however (shame on me, I know) and what's more, as a Belgian I only own one Belgian firearm, and it's this one. All my other firearms are made in USA, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Italy. FN nowadays is actually not too keen on selling firearms to their fellow Belgians, an FN SCAR rifle for example has to be imported from the USA if you want to buy one here in Belgium while it has been produced basically around the corner, so it will end up costing twice what its worth, so a lot of guys (me included) buy foreign firearms as they are in fact easier to obtain, at least for the new firearms, the used market is a different matter of course. But Belgium is a weird little country so somehow it makes sense that FN does things like that

No hunting trips are planned so far, in Belgium this also requires a big effort to got the right license for it and time is not on my side. But owning and shooting the rifles that are used for safari hunts give me a lot of joy and satisfaction, so that will have to do for now. I am like the guy who buys a sportscar but never actually goes to the racetrack

 

[peter1983]

Update: Major Khan, I missed the last bit you wrote under the pictures of the catalog you posted, you solved the mystery! Magazine capacity is indeed 3 rounds.

It is definately a rare find this FN in 404, and at that price it is indeed a steal. The hunting community in Belgium is mostly interested in rifles that are adequate for European game, the biggest they will encounter in Belgium is a wild boar, and for that you do not really need a 375, 404, 416 or 458. So that's why all these beautiful safari rifles are way under-priced here in Belgium. For my Brno ZKK602 in 458 Win Mag, which came from the same collector, rifle was brand new, I also paid € 500 ($ 550). For my Ruger No1 rifles in 375 and 458 which were almost brand new (maybe 20 shots fired) I paid even less! But these came from a friend who had to downsize his collection, so that's a different story altogether. But still, prices for big bore rifles are very low here in Belgium. Even the ammo for these safari rifles can be bought extremely cheap from time to time if you know where to look. I recently bought a whole lot of Federal 458 Win Mag Safari Premium with Barnes 500 grains Triple Shock bullets for € 1,71 each round ($ 1,88 for one round), that's cheaper than the bullet or empty case! And that is the factory ammo in the clear white plastic boxes with the African landscape sticker on it.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Peter1983, welcome to the forum full of info!
WOW am I ever envious of your find! Here’s hoping it shoots as good as it looks!

 

[peter1983]

Major Khan, again a big thank you for the catalog pictures, with your help I just found out how to open the magazine floor plate. Apperantly you do not only push the spring loaded button, you have to simultaniously push the floor plate with your thumb towards the trigger guard, and only then it releases the entire magazine floor plate with spring and follower. Without the info you posted I wouldn't have known this in a hundred years. I didn't receive a manual for the € 500 I paid I have never encountered this kind of magazine release on a bolt action rifle.