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Posted: 6/3/2023 2:56:11 PM EDT
| I am a complete noob to anything transferable. But I’ve been thinking lately about parking a few bucks into something I could have a little fun with. LGS just got a 4 position 5.56 FNC this morning and offered it to me for $17k. Looks to be in great shape, but I have no idea if it’s a good deal or a great deal. Since this particular LGS is ran by a great guy, I assume it’s a deal, just not sure how good of one. Any insight into current pricing would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. |
| Registered receiver or sear? It's fair price assuming it's in good condition and a registered sear gun. Especially if it's already in inventory and ready to be transferred immediately. Registered receivers are less desirable than sear guns, but also less common. Most of the transferable FNC's out there are S&H registered sear conversions. |
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Originally Posted By mak0: Registered receiver or sear? It's fair price assuming it's in good condition and a registered sear gun. Especially if it's already in inventory and ready to be transferred immediately. Registered receivers are less desirable than sear guns, but also less common. Most of the transferable FNC's out there are S&H registered sear conversions. Registered receiver. |
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Originally Posted By morning_would: Registered receiver. Originally Posted By morning_would: Originally Posted By mak0: Registered receiver or sear? It's fair price assuming it's in good condition and a registered sear gun. Especially if it's already in inventory and ready to be transferred immediately. Registered receivers are less desirable than sear guns, but also less common. Most of the transferable FNC's out there are S&H registered sear conversions. Registered receiver. Do you know who did the conversion? If it's a Fleming it's probably fine, anybody else I'd inspect it closely and test fire it before buying. |
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Agreed $17K is a good price. Most folks seem to want $20K for them but they seem to sit forever at anything $20K or more.
I honestly don't think it makes much of any difference if its a registered receiver or sear as the sear can't really be moved to different platforms or even to another FNC without a lot of work. Just in case you are new to the FNC platform there are critical parts on those guns that if you break them you are pretty much SOL. Items such as bolts, carriers, gas blocks, are virtually impossible to find. Even some of the small parts like hammers, fire control, and extractors, etc. can be very difficult to locate. FNCs are robust guns but they are now all 35+ years old and most of them (especially the MG variants) have been shot a lot at this point and every gun eventually breaks something. If you plan to shoot it just be aware that if you break one of these critical parts you are most likely going to need to buy a semi-auto FNC at $5000 to $7000 to get say a replacement carrier or bolt. Just something to keep in mind as you can find M16s in the mid $20K range and parts virtually grow on trees for that platform. |
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Originally Posted By rssc: I am always surprised at how expensive FNC's have gotten, given the spare parts situation with the guns. I remember when they were 8k to 12k. I think they made a lot of sense at that price. I do not think they make sense at 17k+. I stumbled across two FACTORY built FN registered FNCs at 8K each. I was a newb to MGs at the time. All the experts waived me off because of parts scarcity. Experts. Yeah right. |
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Originally Posted By lightguy: I stumbled across two FACTORY built FN registered FNCs at 8K each. I was a newb to MGs at the time. All the experts waived me off because of parts scarcity. Experts. Yeah right. I am a big fan of the FNC and at that price I'd buy one in a heartbeat (even before the run up in prices). At the time that a FNC mg cost 8k to 12k, you could get a semi auto for parts for 3k. That made sense. |
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It is perhaps one of the ugliest transferables made as well minus like the Spitfire and some of the other weird stuff. There was one I liked on Sturm a while back that was a shorty folder done up in FDE. I would say you’re ok if you’re an occasional shooter but for hard use I would look elsewhere just due to parts availability. I have a MAC, an M1919 and an M16 and will shoot the shit out of them because if I break something it’s easy enough to replace. The Valmet is a little more “special occasion” kind of gun. |
| Used to own a FA FNC but I sold it years ago. The lack of parts availability is a real problem, however I genuinely do miss that gun more than any other I've sold. It was an extremely smooth shooter and balanced quite well with the folding stock. Mine ran flawlessly and loved gen 3 pmags so you don't need fnc mags. I could hold it on target for the entire mag in full auto with ease. Something that i find not as easy to do with an m16. Someone else said its a cool straight up euro assault rifle and I agree that there is something about holding one and shooting one that you will love. |
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Originally Posted By kingoftheriver: Dealer I bought my FNC from was of the opinion that there were more sears out there than there were FNC rifles to put them in. RCA That was a widespread opinion that most people discarded about a decade ago. Highest serial number observed on a sear was around 3700. 6000 FNCs were imported. |
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Originally Posted By Quake_Guy: That was a widespread opinion that most people discarded about a decade ago. Highest serial number observed on a sear was around 3700. 6000 FNCs were imported. Originally Posted By Quake_Guy: Originally Posted By kingoftheriver: Dealer I bought my FNC from was of the opinion that there were more sears out there than there were FNC rifles to put them in. RCA That was a widespread opinion that most people discarded about a decade ago. Highest serial number observed on a sear was around 3700. 6000 FNCs were imported. My FNC was my first machine gun. Bought it from a St Louis dealer and a good friend, Chris Mergenthaler, RIP, a long time ago. With any machine gun, bad deals seem to look quite good after a short period of time. RCA |
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I bought an FNC sear in 2012 for $2,800 and a really cool FNC paratrooper model with the short barrel and folding stock for $3100. I sold both because they CAN and occasionally DO break parts, and so you need to buy a spare FNC as a parts donor. So I figured that a more parts-friendly gun like an M16 or Thompson was a better choice. My FNC was kind of unusual because it came with an Armson Occluded Eye Gunsight on an actual true-blue FNC mount. Supposedly made for the NJ State Police. It's a cool gun, and it was a reasonable choice at the prices that I paid back then, but at today's prices that would be a firm NO. For me anyway. Even though $17k is a good price, the spare FNC is going to run $6k now, together that puts you within punting distance of an M16 clone. Check this guy out: https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1039411372 Gunbroker sure has a lot of true optimists on it. Dreams can come true, if you wish upon a star... Gun collectors have a giant throbbing phallus for mint unfired guns in the original box, but not $15k worth of phallus. LOL |
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Originally Posted By sleestakwhisperer: I bought an FNC sear in 2012 for $2,800 and a really cool FNC paratrooper model with the short barrel and folding stock for $3100. I sold both because they CAN and occasionally DO break parts, and so you need to buy a spare FNC as a parts donor. So I figured that a more parts-friendly gun like an M16 or Thompson was a better choice. My FNC was kind of unusual because it came with an Armson Occluded Eye Gunsight on an actual true-blue FNC mount. Supposedly made for the NJ State Police. It's a cool gun, and it was a reasonable choice at the prices that I paid back then, but at today's prices that would be a firm NO. For me anyway. Even thought $17k is a good price, the spare FNC is going to run $6k now, together that puts you within punting distance of an M16 clone. Check this guy out: https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1039411372 Gunbroker sure has a lot of true optimists on it. Dreams can come true, if you wish upon a star... Gun collectors have a giant throbbing phallus for mint unfired guns in the original box, but not $15k worth of phallus. LOL I generally agree. I don’t really shoot my FNC with s&h sear because of those exact concerns. With that said, things are looking up. Spare bolts are being made, which really opens up the long term viability of the FNC. Barrels are available through Green Mountain. Firing pins are available. If we ever see Pindad imports that will cause an even bigger jump in viability and pricing. |
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Originally Posted By JoshNC: I generally agree. I don’t really shoot my FNC with s&h sear because of those exact concerns. With that said, things are looking up. Spare bolts are being made, which really opens up the long term viability of the FNC. Barrels are available through Green Mountain. Firing pins are available. If we ever see Pindad imports that will cause an even bigger jump in viability and pricing. If a reasonable supply of the hard-to-get spare parts turned up, I bet the price of FNCs would jump $10k in a month. I think the thing holding the price down is the spare parts aspect. You hardly ever see a FNC discussion that doesn't immediately turn to the spare parts situation. |
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Originally Posted By sleestakwhisperer: If a reasonable supply of the hard-to-get spare parts turned up, I bet the price of FNCs would jump $10k in a month. I think the thing holding the price down is the spare parts aspect. You hardly ever see a FNC discussion that doesn't immediately turn to the spare parts situation. The run of spare bolts is likely going to make the price of FNCs jump. |
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Originally Posted By LonghornAR: Wasn't Pindad going to export US variants of the AK5 and PM12? Do the AK5 have parts commonality with the FNC? ATF closed the door on ANY new FNC clones that are sear compatible and even if the Pindad models get here, I would put big money on the odds of them having denial features that will prevent a FA bolt and autosear. Read this letter very carefully, especially towards the end- https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/ruling/2008-1-fabrique-nationale-herstal-sa-fn-fnc-rifle/download |
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Originally Posted By ImperialArms: ATF closed the door on ANY new FNC clones that are sear compatible and even if the Pindad models get here, I would put big money on the odds of them having denial features that will prevent a FA bolt and autosear. Read this letter very carefully, especially towards the end- https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/ruling/2008-1-fabrique-nationale-herstal-sa-fn-fnc-rifle/download Originally Posted By ImperialArms: Originally Posted By LonghornAR: Wasn't Pindad going to export US variants of the AK5 and PM12? Do the AK5 have parts commonality with the FNC? ATF closed the door on ANY new FNC clones that are sear compatible and even if the Pindad models get here, I would put big money on the odds of them having denial features that will prevent a FA bolt and autosear. Read this letter very carefully, especially towards the end- https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/ruling/2008-1-fabrique-nationale-herstal-sa-fn-fnc-rifle/download It'll depend on how/if Pindad redesigns the upper. The current semi FNCs have a milled bolt carrier but the rest is compatible. Would be interesting to see all those autosears find a home after all these decades. |
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I just thought of something: There was a huge hubbub about these FNCs back in 2010 or so. A big pile of loose FNC sears appeared on the market, because of some sort of fraud case or lawsuit with the original manufacturer. The guy went to jail. And then there was a big battle with ATF about machining the semi-auto FNC lowers to fit the sears, because the AR15 guys complained that machining the lowers was making a new machine gun. And they kept asking if they could machine an AR15 lower to fit the sear. Or put it in a newer FNC rifle that had just come out. Or something to that effect. So the ATF made a special ruling that the UPPER is the registered FNC MG and not the lower, and that is how they got around the issue. I remember this because my LOWER had the serial number on it and I remember puzzling over it. Or something to that effect. If someone remembers the exact saga, please elucidate. |
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Originally Posted By sleestakwhisperer: I just thought of something: There was a huge hubbub about these FNCs back in 2010 or so. A big pile of loose FNC sears appeared on the market, because of some sort of fraud case or lawsuit with the original manufacturer. The guy went to jail. And then there was a big battle with ATF about machining the semi-auto FNC lowers to fit the sears, because the AR15 guys complained that machining the lowers was making a new machine gun. And they kept asking if they could machine an AR15 lower to fit the sear. Or put it in a newer FNC rifle that had just come out. Or something to that effect. So the ATF made a special ruling that the UPPER is the registered FNC MG and not the lower, and that is how they got around the issue. I remember this because my LOWER had the serial number on it and I remember puzzling over it. Or something to that effect. If someone remembers the exact saga, please elucidate. I thought the problem was guys dropping the sears in scars. |
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Originally Posted By sleestakwhisperer: I just thought of something: There was a huge hubbub about these FNCs back in 2010 or so. A big pile of loose FNC sears appeared on the market, because of some sort of fraud case or lawsuit with the original manufacturer. The guy went to jail. And then there was a big battle with ATF about machining the semi-auto FNC lowers to fit the sears, because the AR15 guys complained that machining the lowers was making a new machine gun. And they kept asking if they could machine an AR15 lower to fit the sear. Or put it in a newer FNC rifle that had just come out. Or something to that effect. So the ATF made a special ruling that the UPPER is the registered FNC MG and not the lower, and that is how they got around the issue. I remember this because my LOWER had the serial number on it and I remember puzzling over it. Or something to that effect. If someone remembers the exact saga, please elucidate. AR-18 have some similar weirdness. The upper has the auto sear and has the makers markings. The serialized lower lacks makers markings and a semi-position selector stop but otherwise is the same as a semi lower but populated with a different hammer, selector, maybe disconnector. I believe some AR-18 parts kits without lowers were chased down for destruction after they were imported and sold. A travesty for such rare artifacts. I haven’t seen any rulings on AR-18, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there is one. |
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