There was an article in a recent issue of The Shotgun News about the FN-49. It said that all FN-49s were made by FN, regardless of their end destination. They further stated that the vast majority were chambered in 30.06 with 8mm Mauser a distant second.
This was pilfered from rec.guns:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>HISTORY
In the 1930's during the height of a world wide demand for new military self loading rifle designs, Dieudonne J. Saive began work on the FN-49 for Fabrique Nationale. Production of this promising new rifle design was delayed when Saive fled for England just before Nazi troops began the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. While Saive lived in England, he continued work on his FN-49 and other firearm designs, at the Royal Arsenal at Enfield Lock. It is believed that he built a prototype of the FN-49 chambering the 8mm Mauser cartridge while in England and tried to interest the British in adopting the FN-49 design. At that time the British showed little interest in semi-automatic rifles. They favored instead their bolt action Enfield rifles feeling them superior to just about any other rifle design. It was also felt by the British that semi-automatic rifles placed in the hands of their troops would lead wasted ammunition.
After the Allied liberation of Belgium, Saive returned to the Fabrique Nationale firm in Belgium to finish the FN-49 design work and see that it was placed into full production.
The FN-49 was manufactured using high quality machining and milling techniques, and was designed in such a way that made it difficult to produce in a low cost fashion. In the high competition world of modern military assault weapon sales, inexpensive manufacturing techniques are required to keep production costs at a minimum. Very few low-priced sheet metal stampings will be found on the FN-49 rifle. When the FN-49 was first introduced for sale on the world's arms market, bolt action rifles were the norm and competition against other semi-automatic rifles was relatively scarce. For a few short years, the FN-49 enjoyed good sales to a variety of countries despite its cost.
Unfortunately, the FN-49 could not be sold competitively when the military semi-automatic rifle sales competition finally did start to heat up. The obsolete manufacturing techniques that gave it superior quality and strength also doomed it to collector status by the 1950's. It has been suggested by several sources, that to build the FN-49 today using the original manufacturing techniques, it would cost many thousands of dollars. Its high selling cost added to its lack of certain modern "in demand" features required of current military shoulder weapons (such as a true detachable magazine and high ammunition capacity) led Saive to assist Fabrique Nationale in exploring a new, overhauled, more modern battle rifle. The FN-FAL rifle series of was born out of this re-design project. The FN-FAL rifle shares many of the innovative design features first implemented in the FN-49 rifle, such as a tipping bolt. The FN-49 is in a sense the father to the famed FN-FAL rifle.[/quote]
There is also a notable table that lists the distribution of FN-49s by country and caliber. Follow the link:
http://www.recguns.com/IIID2b616.html