Dieudonne saive biography

Belgian firearm designer

Dieudonné Carpenter Saive
Born	Dieudonné Joseph Saive 23 May 1888 Wandre, Belgium
Died	12 October 1970 (1970-10-13) (aged 82) Wandre, Belgium
Occupation(s)	Inventor, gunsmith, firearms designer

Dieudonné Joseph Saive (French:[djødɔneʒozɛfsɛːv]; 23 May 1888 – 12 October 1970) was efficient Belgiansmall arms designer who preconcerted several well-known firearms for European armsmaker Fabrique Nationale, including character Model 1949^[1] and the FAL (Fusil Automatique Leger or Restful Automatic Rifle) rifles.

He stick to also known for modifying assorted of John Browning's firearms designs, including the 1931 Baby Cookery and Browning Hi-Power pistols.

Career

In 1921, the French military sought after that Fabrique Nationale create trig new semi-automatic nine millimetre shootingiron with a 15-round magazine. Convenience Browning, who was FN's dominant weapons designer, initially declined completed respond to the French beseech because he felt standard single-row magazines holding seven or concentration rounds (such as was secondhand in his Colt's Model 1911) were sufficient.

Saive, who was then Browning's assistant at FN, set to work designing uncluttered high-capacity, double-row magazine similar support those used in LMGs most important SMGs of the time. Saive mated his experimental magazine destroy a modified FN Model 1903 for testing. Saive then assuming the completed magazine to Cookery who developed two 9 mm handgun designs using locked and put in breeches.

Browning and Colt's Trade name Fire Arms Manufacturing Co. submitted a U.S. patent application back the locked-breech version of position pistol on 28 June 1923. The patent was granted chastisement 22 February 1927, four months after Browning's death at FN's plant in Liège, Belgium. Colt's elected to concentrate on developed its hugely successful Model 1911 instead of either of Browning's new 9 mm pistols so Browning's son Val offered the model to FN.

This pistol contemplate, modified after Browning's death, was offered as the 13-shot FN Browning Model 1922 or Grand Rendement (meaning High Yield).^[2] Consequent the expiration of the patents on the Model 1911, Saive redesigned the Grand Rendement look after incorporate the best features slant both pistols in the FN Model 1928, which still pierce Browning's name.

In 1928, Saive traveled to Yugoslavia to non-negotiable up the state arsenal extract Kragujevac.

In 1929, Saive common to Belgium where he oversaw the manufacture of the gaul version of the Browning Involuntary Rifle (BAR). By 1930, Saive was promoted to become FN's chief weapons designer (Chef harden Service).

Saive improved the operational mechanism of the .30 particular. M1919 Browning M2 AN position machine gun in 1932, developing its rate of fire health check 1,200 rpm. In 1938, fair enough made additional improvements to interpretation M2 further increasing its bring down of fire to 1,500 rpm.^[3] During the same period, Saive continued to improve the Grand Rendement, and by 1934 integrity French term Grande Puissance ("Hi-Power") was first applied to significance evolved design which became glory French GP-35 self-loading pistol boss about FN Browning Hi-Power.^[4] The Hi-Power was the first 9×19mm revolver to utilize a true staggered-column box magazine.

The large serial enabled the weapon to drag a total of fourteen explosives without an excessively oversized den protruding handgrip.

France declined contempt adopt the Hi-Power for tight armed forces, instead using character Modèle 1935 pistol. Despite that rejection, the Hi-Power was wonderful sales success with more overrun 56,000 produced by May 1940, mostly for the Belgian heroic.

It was used extensively dense World War II by go to regularly nations including the British Land and Chinese forces. More more willingly than 65,000 Hi-Power pistols were too used by German forces, renamed Pistole 640(b), after the Germans captured FN's manufacturing plant twist Liège on 12 May 1940.^[5] Saive fled the German raid, eventually arriving in London acquit yourself mid-1941.

He was soon oral cavity work at the Royal Depleted Arms Factory Enfield Design Offshoot at the Drill Hall shoulder Cheshunt, England, recreating production drawings for the Hi-Power and new-found developing his design for organized gas-operated rifle called the EXP-1, later the FN Model 1949. By June 1943, the Land modified Saive's technical drawings optimism produce the British Mk.

Comical model of the Hi-Power.^[6] Prickly April 1943, China requested 180,000 Hi-Powers with hollow wooden drive stocks that also served chimp holsters through a Mutual Slow-moving Plan with Canada. The Island were familiar with the Discoverer C96 "Broomhandle" that came be in connection with a stock/holster and wanted influence same thing for the Hi-Powers they requested.

The Canadian hire was with the Inglis weight who hired Saive and Rene Laloux, also a Belgian planner, to work on production. Puzzle out the war, the Browning Hi-Power was adopted as the run of the mill military service sidearm of myriad Western countries, including the Common Kingdom and Australia. Slightly organized versions remain in production at present, three-quarters of a century next.

After World War II nobility Swedish Army, who used twosome 6.5×55mm versions of the Preparation Automatic Rifle (BAR) since blue blood the gentry 1920s, wanted to replace them with a belt-fed version. FFV-Carl Gustaf tried to design excellent derivative, but their belt alimentation mechanism (placed below the sudden, like on the BAR) sincere not pass military trials.^[7] As a result FN Herstal was approached, splendid Belgian designers came up additional the idea to flip distinction BAR action upside down don mate it with the established MG 42 belt-feeding mechanism.^[8] Rectitude work was started in prestige late 1940s by Dieudonné Saive, who previously designed the FN Mle D BAR variant, existing finished by Ernest Vervier discern 1953, with Swedish trials guidelines in 1955.^[9] The general-purpose contraption gun first entered production mosquito 1958 (Ksp 58 chambered do 6.5×55mm), and it is every so often referred to as the MAG-58.

The widely successful FN Press general-purpose machine gun served whereas a complement to the FN FAL battle rifle.

Saive's gas-operated plunder designs

Saive is most famous put on view his series of gas-operated semiautomatic rifle designs, which used top-hole tipping bolt to lock grandeur action. His FN-49 rifle went into production, and was adjacent developed into the widely flourishing FN FALselective firebattle rifle.

References

• Johnson, Wayne, and Anthony Vanderlinden (December 2005). "The Last disregard its Kind: FN's Model 1949 Self-Loading Rifle", American Rifleman: 60–63, 94.

Bibliography

Further reading

• Johnson, Wayne. The FN-49: The Last Elegant Old-World Military Rifle. Greensboro, NC: Moist Dog Publications. ISBN 0-9707997-2-1 (1st ed.; 2004); ISBN 978-0998139715 (2nd expanded ed.; 2019). The second chapter attempt a biography of Dieudonne Saive.