New FN Rifle being Placed in Hands of Canadian Troops
Ottawa Citizen, 9 May 1957
Dave McIntosh, Canadian Press Staff Writer
In 1957, the 13 infantry battalions in the Regular Force were:
- The Canadian Guards
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
- The Royal Canadian Regiment
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
- Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
- Royal 22e Regiment
- 1er Bataillon
- 2e Bataillon
- 3e Bataillon
- The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
- The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
The new FN (Fabrique Nationale) Belgian rifle now is being placed in the hands of Canadian troops.
It is expected that the 13 infantry battalions in the Canadian Army will be fully equipped with the FN by the end of this year, and that the army as a whole will have completed conversion to the new weapon a year from now.
The Belgian-designed .300-calibre automatic rifle is being manufactured by Canadian Arsenals Ltd., a crown company.
It has many Canadian improvements and is rated a far better weapon than when the defence department bought several hundred from Belgium for trials some three years ago.
U.S. Rejects
Britain has also adopted the FN as the standard infantry weapon for its army but the United States recently rejected the FN and decided on adoption of its own T-44. However, both the FN and T-44 fire the same ammunition, the 7.62 round, better known to Canadians as the .300-calibre.
Officials say the FN is a much better weapon than the Lee-Enfield .303-calibre it is replacing. Its chief advantage is that it is automatic. It can fire 20 rounds with one squeeze of the trigger. The Lee-Enfield has to be cocked for each round.
The FN's cocking handle is on the left and thus a soldier does not have to swing off the target while reloading. The bolt has only to be pulled back and then released. With the Lee-Enfield, the bolt must be pulled back, then shoved forward and down.
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