The STG58C features a sturdy bipod that allows the operator to swivel the rifle on uneven terrain and folds neatly out of the way into the handguards when not in use.

A rifleman at heart, he was quick to share his feelings on the STG58 in Austrian service, and on its replacement, the Steyr AUG. He was very impressed with the STG58 as a combat rifle. He felt that it was a robust and utterly reliable rifle with good hitting power and excellent long-range accuracy. When fired in the fully automatic mode he felt it to be much more controllable than the G3.

When asked about the lack of a bayonet he laughed and stated that they trained to literally jam the muzzle of the weapon into an opponent in CQB. He said, "Have a friend poke you in the chest just as hard as he can with the grenade launcher and see if you like it. Plus it has the advantage of not getting stuck in a man’s ribcage like will often happen with a bayonet."

I was interested in if the metal handguards ever gave a problem in extreme cold, but he said, "No," not that he knew of. The only negative comment Captain Furthner had was that sometimes there was a corrosion problem due to the bluing being worn from training. However I have found this is pretty typical of well used and abused training weapons.

While officially replaced in Austrian service in 1977 by the Steyr 77 AUG (Army Universal Gun) the STG58 soldiered on until 1994 or 1995. The last units carrying them in the Austrian Army were the Jagdkampf. who are similar in concept to our Green Berets. Tasked with a behind the lines guerrilla warfare roll, they preferred the 7.62x51 NATO round over the 556x45 due to its ability to shoot through trucks and light cover during ambushes. They also liked its ability to bump off AKM armed troops at long range with relative impunity.

Close up of the STG58’s action. Notice the safety/selector is within easy thumb mach. Entréprise. Arms combines U.S. and Austrian parts for a saleable FN-FAL variant.

Surprisingly Captain Furthner preferred the STG58 over the newer AUG due to its power and long-range accuracy. He talked of an incident where Omani troops who had just received the AUG into service found their jeep patrols being ambushed at long range. The guerrillas were engaging them at a distance of 800 meters with "obsolete" Lee Enfields and Mosin-Nagants.

They would disable the vehicles and then pick the troops off with relative impunity, safely out of range of their AUGs. This did not endear the AUG to its users, so they were quickly pawned off onto the Presidential Guard and replaced with G3s. In his mind the STG58 was an honest to God rifle that if you did your part it would do its part whether your target was at 200 or 600 meters.

So just what are the origins of the STG58 and the FN FAL it came from? To find the beginning of the story you have to flip the pages back all the way to the 1930s, At this time a Belgian named Dieudonne Saive, working at Fabrique Nationale (FN), was engaged in designing a self-loading rifle. He knew that the writing was on the wall for the conventional bolt-action magazine rifle, and that all the world’s armies were searching for self-loading replacements. The race was on and the stakes were high. Saive’s design was not perfected when the Wehrmacht Blitzkrieged through Belgium in 1940. Not wishing his design to fall into German hands and be used against the Allies, he and several of his colleagues fled to England to continue their work.

During the war he continued refining his rifle at the Design Department of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield. However it was not accorded high priority. After war’s end, his rifle was produced back home at FN as the SAFN. A conventional-looking rifle, it seemed more at home in the 1930s when it was envisioned than the late 1940s and early 1950s when it was finally produced.

In place of the grenade launcher Entréprise Arms has installed its Zeroclimb muzzle brake. "Flash hiders" are bad, but compensators OK under the 1994 Crime Act.

Manufactured in 7.92x57, 7.65x54, 30-06, and 7x57mm, it was adopted by several countries and is usually referred to as the FN Model 49.

A gas operated self-loader, the FN M49 had a number of good features. It used a rear locking, tilting bolt. The gas system featured an adjustable regulator that could increase the gas flow to the piston that operated the mechanism. This could be adjusted by the user as required by operating conditions or ammunition for reliable cycling. While dependable, it also had some drawbacks. Among them was being chambered for outdated cartridges, having a 10-round box magazine loaded by chargers, and being fitted with a heavy conventional wood stock that did not aid its controllability.

FN was not long in bringing out a more modern rifle in line with the times. The firm abandoned the old full-power cartridges, and set out to build a true assault rifle. The design was originally chambered for the German 7.92x33 Kurz used in the MP44, then the British .280 round.

The latter launched a 140-grain .276 diameter projectile at 2415 fps from the 24.5-inch barrel of the British EM-2. The Belgians were quick to grasp this round’s potential, which was far ahead of its time. Two models were developed, a conventional rifle and a bullpup version, the bullpup eventually being dropped.

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