herb wrote:Herb,
I will take a good rifle without a name over a mere name.
Best-
Vikram
Share the sentiment.
So true! Regarding the Husqvarna being made on an FN action, I found many years ago that, in the 50s and 60s, FN workmanship was excellent -- far beyond what we can get in even expensive guns today. Nowadays, even the old Interarms (from Yugoslavia, if anyone here is old enough to remember that country) would look great, but compared to a fine old FN, these they had dished scope mount holes from over polishing, machine marks, second rate bluing, etc. Now, so much of this is overlooked because the "old stuff" is long gone.
Anyway, the old FNs were tight and smooth, not made to loose tolerances, like a lot of the military rifles. The finish was impeccable, too. Places like Husqvarna used these FN barreled actions and their craftsmanship in bedding, fitting, and finishing the firearm were done to the same standards.
Many firms used these FN actions or FN barreled actions. From Frank de Haas's book "Bolt Action Rifles":
One of the first large scale custom rifle makers to adopt the FN action was Waetherby of South Gate, California. They used these actions almost exclusively for their expensive custom rifles in the standard and Weatherby Magunum calibers until 1958, when they introduced their own bolt action.
…
Several large gunmaking firms also chose the FN actions on which to build rifles bearing their firm names.
As already mentioned, FN made rifles on these actions. The Browning firm, which is associated with FN, also made several fine grades of high power rifles on the slightly modified version of the FN action. A number of other firms formerly made rifles on these actions, including Sako, Parker Hale, Colt, Marlin, High Standard, Winslow, Harrington & Richardson and others. No bolt action could have a more distinguished endorsement than the wide use of the FN.
Mr. de Hass's list is by no means complete. Other firms that one doesn't usually associate with fine firearms used the FN action, such as Sears & Roebuck (Under the Ted Williams brand). I believe the Sears rifle that used the FN action was the Model 51. So, as herb points out, these rifles have not seen a lot of collecting pressure, and if you want a real FN action rifle, something better than 99% of what you can buy today (in my opinion, of course), you can still find real FN action rifles, if you know what to look for and what you are looking at.
