I originally posted this in another section and received no responses. I am hoping for better luck here!

I recently picked up a large ring action off of Gunbroker. It cam out of a gunsmiths estate sale. His name is not known to me.

It appears to be a military FN action. It has the FN crest on the front ring, The serial number is on the right side of the front ring it is 32424.

the writing in the right side of the receiver is;

Fab. Nat. D'Armes de Guerre
Herstal Belique

The stamping is a lot smaller than that on a 1950 FN I have.

The proof marks are on the right side of the ring but are nery faint.

I apologize for the out of focus pictures, they were the best I could take.

The stuff that appears to be rust, near the crest, is actually Walnut Media.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Any knowledge about problems with this action, hardness etc would be a big help.

Thanks in advance
Shane

Early post war FN made rifle; the early ones were made like the military actions with the thumb cut. Later they filled it in. It might say Made in Belgium underneath the action. Never have to ask about quality of FN made rifles or actions. They are always good. This one started out life as a complete rifle as it has a serial number; most actions sold as such, didn't. BTW, your pics are terrible.

thanks for the info dpcd.

I agree with you on the pictures!

I tried lighting it several different ways; indirect, direct and with and without flash but this was the best I could come up with.

I think these were called 1948 FNs. I don't know if that has anything to do with the date of manufacture.

Actually they may have been 1947 FNs........

Belgian Proof Marks carry a discreet "date" letter code. Is there a letter with a crown over it on either the action (that you have) or was there on the take off barrel?

I forgot about that; starts with A for 1948 and they are Greek letters, not Roman. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, I don't know the rest. Delta?

Hi. I'd confused myself. Anyway. The crown isn't a crown...old age memory lapse....it's a star type symbol...over the letter is the inspector's mark and it is from the years when that inspector was active that that individual letter appears. From that you can, as much as possible, date the gun if it is a rifled arm.

I'd forgotten! But that is how the Proof House at Liege explained to me how to do it when I had exactly the same need as yours, to date an artisan made ex-Nazi Mauser 98K converted into 280 Remington. Mine had a star or * over R so late 1950s to early 1960s. So although the link say Damascus barrels it is a wider resource than that....just keep scrolling down!

It is Controller of Proof Codes that you seek.

http://damascus-barrels.com/Be..._All_Proofmarks.html

thanks for all the info!

I do not have he original barrel.

The proof marks on the action are very faint.

The only mark that really stands out is on the left side of the recoil lug

For lack of a better description it looks like a straight line with swept back wings toward the bottom

That is a little statue or column called a Perron; the Liege city seal and has been used for hundreds of years.