New Member

[carl]

Greetings from South Africa.

I have recently got my hands on an early model F.N 1900 in 35 Rem. I have a few questions that I'm hoping some experienced members can assist me with? I'm a complete novice when it comes to these firearms.

I will post some photo's tonight with serial numbers for your records. Unfortunately the firearm is in a very poor state and I would like to see this rifle serviceable and returned to its original functional state. I do not know if the firearm is capable of firing.

My biggest issue is that at some point the barrel shroud and receiver were left to rust and it now has bad pit marks. The previous owner, in his infinite wisdom, decided to ceracote the rifle. To make matters worse this was done without treating the rust and the rust is now bubbling though the ceracote in a few places.

The stock has been sanded, cut short and a recoil pad installed.

The internals look ok (And I'm hoping all there) except for the magazine indicator spring which is broken (A smith should be able to make me a new one as I have the broken part).

I'm in two minds as what to do about the finish of the rifle. I can remove the old ceracote but I'm worried the receiver and barrel shroud was sanded, which means i will have to re-blue the rifle (something I'm incredibly hesitant to do). Alternatively i can just treat the rust and live with it. Do any other members have any experience with this and can offer advice?

I would also like to know if anyone has any schematics of these rifles? As I have no faith in the previous owners ability I decided to strip the rifle to check function. I don't think the barrel was assembled correctly? It came apart easily by hand which I'm assuming could mean the recoil spring is shot or something else is wrong? I would like to make sure all the parts are there and correctly installed.

Lastly, after a thorough clean of the barrel, I tried to insert a cartridge into the chamber however a cartridge wont chamber and about 10mm of the cartridge protrudes. I measured the ID of the chamber at 0.452" which seems a little tight and under Saami spec of 0.458". Were these rifles chambered tight or is there perhaps some thing else that could have gone wrong? I have thought about casting the chamber to see if there is perhaps something wrong.

As indicted above I'm not someone who believes in re-finishing rifles, I have many original vintage rifles that I actively hunt with, but my choices are limited and I would like to see this rifle working again. I'm sure I will have many more questions as I embark on this project, just hoping there is a sympathetic member out there.

Thanks and regards

Carl

[jack1653]

Hey Carl,

Welcome to our Forum. You have acquired a rifle that is hard to find. I am confident that you can find some items on the forum that will answer your questions. There are several videos that can assist you with disassembling your FN 1900. The videos will be of the Reminington model 8 & 81, but these rifles are identical with the FN mechanically so you shouldn't have any difficulty in identifying the internal components. There are some differences in the parts dimmensions so you will not be able to interchange some parts with the Remingtons. The disassembly will be the same. The operation of the Remingtion 8 & 81 is identical to the FN 1900.

If you have any issues, just ask and we will be glad to assist you with the answer.

Kindest Regards,

jack1653

[81police]

Hi Carl, thanks for the post. I'm very curious and eager to see photos of your FN and serial number to see if it's in our worldwide database.

Here are some helpful links, one with disassembly videos and another with manuals and troubleshooting guides & schematics...

https://thegreatmodel8.remingtonsociety ... age_id=842

https://thegreatmodel8.remingtonsociety ... ge_id=1855

Considering the rarity of the rifle, even in poor condition, I would do whatever measures were necessary to stop & remove all rust. If that necessitates having to reblue the rifle then that might be necessary. The goal, at this point, sounds like preservation.

[81police]

There is only 1 FN we have on file in South Africa, #1111 which was painted black and is in poor condition. I'm curious to know more about yours.

[carl]

Thank you Gentlemen

I appreciate you comments

My serial number is #561

#651

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I loosely assembled the firearm for the photos

LHS

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As you can see the firearm was cera-coted, most of the rust is on the receiver

Receiver

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I did a full strip of the rifle and unfortunately I'm missing parts. The two biggest parts are the Barrel lock & spring and the Bolt carrier latch. I've managed to find some Model 8 parts but im not sure if they are interchangeable? If they are interchangeable i will get them but i cant seem to find the barrel lock spring. Does any other member perhaps know where i can get one or perhaps even the dims that i can have one made?

The Main spring has a Allen wrench bolt and the trigger spring is home made but i have found replacements.

The Ball detent for the safety is missing. Is this just a ball bearing? do you know the diameter?

Also there is no firing pin spring or firing pin buffer spring. I don't know if the F.N 1900 had firing pin springs like the model 8? if so do you know where I could get or the dims that i can try source locally?

I think for now i'm more interested in getting this old girl functional again. i will treat the rust and once its working ill look at the various options regrading finish and preservation. I will also post some more photos for your reference.

Thanks and regards

Carl

[carl]

Some more photos

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[carl]

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[carl]

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[carl]

One thing i did notice is that my checkering on my forearm is somewhat different from that listed on your F.N page. Not sure if mine is original.

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[81police]

Most Model 8 parts should work directly or with minor modification/fitting. The checkering is not the original FN pattern, but done sometime later.

The closest relative of your rifle is # 566, an FN without a barrel rib located in Canada.