1948 and delivered by June 10, 1949. While initially a small contract delivery, Egypt would eventually purchase 37,602 SAFN 1949 rifles total. The third contract was ordered by the Belgian government, starting with thirty test rifles on May 12, 1949, received on August 31, 1949, and a second larger order for 100 test rifles delivered by December 12, 1949. The Belgians would make a contract for production of the SAFN 1949 rifle on August 24, 1950 for 6000 rifles in caliber .30-06 Springfield. The Belgians designated the rifle as the ABL SAFN-49, ABL is an acronym for the Belgian Army in both French and Dutch; "AB" for the French "Armée Belge" and "BL" for the Dutch "Belgisch Leger". The contracts for the SAFN 1949 rifle made by FN for Belgium totaled 87,777 rifles total, composing almost half of all FN-49 rifles ever produced. A fully automatic, selective fire version, known as the AFN was produced for the Belgian military. It is sometimes stated that all the ABL weapons were either built as a selective fire automatic rifle or that all could be readily convertible to selective fire automatic rifle. The AFN was also used by the Marines of the Belgian Navy or ZM-FN. (Zeemacht - Force Navale). Luxembourg was the fourth country to order the SAFN 1949 rifles, with the first order placed on October 4, 1950 and taking possession of the first 1,500 rifles by May 5, 1951. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg would eventually purchase a total of 6,306 rifles, including rifles specifically for Luxembourg's Gendarmerie, which were FN-49s that comprised standard models, training cut-away rifles, and sniper variants, all in caliber .30-06 Springfield. The Luxembourg models, except for the Gendarmerie contract, were sold as surplus in the United States. Some were distributed to purchasers in larger US chain retail outlets. The Luxembourg models are sought after for two reasons: first, because of the particularly good condition of the Luxembourg surplus rifles; and second, because these FN-49 rifles were chambered for the .30-06 Springfield, a cartridge popular in the US sport shooting and hunting communities. Very few .30-06 FN-49 rifles from other contracts have been imported into the United States, making the Luxembourg rifles the only affordable option for an FN-49 in that caliber. Indonesia, the Belgian Congo, and Colombia would make up the fifth to seventh contracts, all produced in caliber .30-06. Argentina requested the eighth contract,