I believe FIC was a mere importer and distributor, and not a manufacturer of firearms. Like most importers, they just bought rifles and shotguns from manufacturers in Europe, stamped their name on them as importer, and resold them wholesale to large retail stores and large gunstores.
Importers come and go, and there is nothing interesting about them in any respect. They are strictly middle men.
All that is important is that you do have a rifle that was made by FN (Fabrique Nationale) in Belgium. These actions are among the finest commercial actions made in the world.
I suspect that FN made a large run of their rifles, but put a very basic quality stock on them, no floorplate, and a really basic grade barrel on them, to keep the price of the rifle really low. They probably also have the standard mauser type military grade trigger. They then sold these to many importers, allowing them to put their names on them.
In the 1960s, FN made large numbers of these rifles and sold them directly to Sears (who sold them under the trade name of J.C. Higgens), and also to Montgomery Wards (who sold them under the trade name of Western Field.)
Although these rifles were inexpensive models of the FN Mausers, they were basically very sound rifles and most of them shoot very very well. Gunsmiths buy up these rifles at gunshows, merely to get the actions. They then use the actions to make custom mausers for other people, by adding a high grade stock, floor plate, high quality barrel, and timney trigger.
I hope that this information helps.
Best Regards,
Big Paulie
