Bought an original FN in 404 Jeffery

[Wheels]

Peter 1983 – gratulation ! You bought a very great FN-Mauser in an rare caliber configuration for a very low price! Lucky man!

I like and prefer those FN- sporting rifles too - their action is very smooth, reliable and they show so much craftmanship.
Many years ago, I visited an old friend of my father, who supported my first hunting steps. He was an african hunter, who owned a farm nearby Outjo in Namibia. He showed me some of his hunting rifles and shotguns, when my eyes felt on an big 98-Mauser rifle with an badly cracked stock. The complete rear stock is missing, broken by the grip. The owner told me, that he preferd using this rifle on his hunting trips till the day, when it fell out of an running hunting vehicle. My interest grew, when I saw the caliber oft the sporting rifle - 404 Jeffery – and that it has a solid side wall receiver and was made by the well known FN factory. The owner noticed my interest and at the end of the day, I leave his house with an Winchester 101 super grade shotgun and an half FN–mauser action big bore rifle donated by this generous man. I think you can comprehend, how happy I was about this unexpected present.

The FN-Mauser was fitted with a today vintage 3-9 x 36 Diavari C - Zeiss scope and a strong and reliable EAW-Mount. When you look from above, you can see the FN-Logo on the receiver top through the front mount hole. Im sure that the rifle has already been refurbished and reblued, because the stamps are a little bit flat. The bolt knob is wonderful engraved and the stock abutment shows on one side a symetric flower engraving and on the other side the „404“ in the middle of an globe engraving - great! 404 all over the world. The magazine box/trigger guard and the magazine bottom plate were factory scroll engraved.
The rear sight was probably changed sometimes into an strong one blade sight. The 3-position safety lever was changed by the preowner into a later 2-Position left side lever, because the scope doesnt allow the three position lever (great luck- the original lever was found in the gun cabinet). On the right receiver back bridge are two (factory) drilled holes for mounting an lyman diopter sight.
Very interesting is the silver plate which is welded on the barrel. A preowners name is engraved, the year 1961 and the tanganjikan town of Arusha. I researched that the name belongs to an famous professionel hunter, who was working for a big safari company in Arusha in the late fifties and early sixties. The preowner requested me not to mention the name oft he preowner, so I respect his whish and erased the engraved name on the foto.
The cracked barrel was replaced by an high quality Mauser stock - I was not able to get an original FN stock for a rifle like this. I bought a later safari grade rifle in 7 RemMag (with the mentioned salted wood stock), but the stock is different because there ist the safety deepening behind the bolt, which doesnt have the older models.
I visited the FN museum in Liege/Belgium and asked for the history of such sporting big bore rifles. Everyone was helpful, but the only information I could get about the 404 is, that the rifle with this big bore-cartridge is rare and was built in the Fifties. The production began in 1948, which was also written down in the "Mauser Oberndorf sporting Rifles" by Jon Speed (page 302). Sadly, they curators could not answer how many rifles in that configuration (with the wing safety, the massive mauser bolt stop/ejector) were built. But as a consolation I got an original Safari Grade brochure from the seventies, which included the later sporting rifles like my later bought View attachment 350740 7 RemMag-model from 1970.


Shooting precision oft he 404 is excellent and the scope is very clear, compact and functionel with the wide adjustable magnification and the 30/30 reticle.
It would be interesting which serial number Peters 1983 FN- Rifle owns. The serial number of my rifle is 4027x (last number is replaced with the x) and it is stamped on the right side of the receiver. The caliber stamp „404“ on the barrel is different on both rifles – my rifle has only the „404“ stamp without calibre stamp.


Hopefully I can take this great FN-rifle in the future back for an hunting trip to namibia together with my prefered hunting guide Philip Hennings of Khomas Highland Hunting Safaries.


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Great looking rifle.

Can you tell us what the other word on the plate, on the barrel, with the word Arusha 1961? Is that an individuals name or possibly the name of the establishment it was purchased at.

 

[mr mauser]

Wheels, it is definitely the name of the owner - not the company.

 

[mr mauser]

Wheels, it is definitely the name of the early owner, not the companies/establishments name.

 

[KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS]

Mr. Mauser, thats a fine gun made for Africa! looking forward welcoming you back on the Dark Continent on a real classic Safari hunt!

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Congratulations , it really is an exceptional rifle , since it is in a 404 Jeffery caliber it really is a perfect hunting rifle..according to my own opinion the 404 Jeffery caliber rifle is the fastest growing caliber rifle in the hunting environment, even on our great forum the 404 Jeffery has a huge following and a lot of hunters wanting a 404 Jeffery caliber hunting rifle...a few young hunters /PH candidates recently bought 404 Jeffery rifles from Johan Greyling...every owner of the 404 Jeffery caliber fell in love with this great historical caliber...at this stage it is my one rifle hunting caliber ...

 

[peter1983]

mr mauser, interesting story, your deal sounds even better than the one I made!

My FN in .404 has a serial number in the 34800 range, so it predates your rifle, but by how many years, I have no idea.

I also found some good info on the proof marks online, but unfortunately the dating system with the letters doesn't see to apply to our rifles (at least I don't see it).
But is is interesting to note that both of our rifles have that weird shaped symbol (looks sort of like a dancing monkey) which indicates the barrel has been sent to a foreign proofhouse. Which I find remarkable in the case of my rifle since according to the info I received it was bought new in Belgium by a local man who sold it decades later to another local man. Maybe back then all of the .404 barrels had to be proofed in the UK, hence the special proof mark?

Also worth noting is that you can even find out the name of the man who did the inspection of your rifle. It is the letter with the little star above it. In my case the letter "K" which stands for Walthere Delsaux who did this job from 1929 to 1968. For your rifle it is the letter "R" which is Sylvain Wagemans who did this job from 1951 to 1965. So your rifle is at least definately a post 1951 rifle. For my rifle it will be somewhere between 1948 and 1960. I have a day off today so I will contact FN, send them some pictures and if they reply I will post it here.

Here's the link: http://www.hunting.be/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Belgian-Proof-Marks.pdf

 

[mr mauser]

Peter 1983, thank you for your quick and interesting answer. Hope the FN - factory or the FN-museum can tell something new about the history of our early post war hunting rifles.
When I read your detailed answer, I remembered an article about the FN -Mausers in the book "Mauser Bolt Rifles" from Ludwig Olsen (third-edition). I add for your information this article and the fotos, which show a so called "1948 version" of an early FN Mauser. Olsen shows also the later versions including the Browning High-Power Safari Grade rifles.

The original FN safety of my 404 - leaf type safety, with the leaf on the left side of the bolt - was replaced by me against a high grade Recknagel leaf type safty, with the leaf type on the right side of the bolt. Reason: the original safety was very loud an makes "click" when you change from "safe" to "fire"-position. No-go when hunting. The Recknagel-safety doesnt and is working more comfortable, because you can handle it with your right hand automaticly without leaving your hand from the grip before shooting. Because my rifle is not such an untouched original like yours, it is "allowed" and can be quick dismantled.

 

[Tony Landino]

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.

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Want to sell it?

 

[Dwight Beagle]

Congratulations. I am green with envy.

 

[Tony Landino]

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.

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No need to have that many large bore rifles. You need to sell the .404 to me.