Spanish FR-8 - thoughts, facts and opinions please

D

davery25

New member
Hi guys,

A spanish FR-8 has just come up for sale at a reasonable price. There's not a great deal of info available about these things except that they were built off m98 actions from germany's leftovers.

Do i need to know anything about it before i buy it? Weakpoints or oversized chambers or anything else relevant or interesting?

Cheers
 
FR8 rifles were built on Modelo 1943 actions manufactured at La Coruna armory in Spain. They were configured to resemble a more modern military rifle. The actions are strong and well-made, manufactured on machinery bought from Germany in 1942. The Mauser 98 based rifle won out over other rifles offered to the Spanish military, including Springfields and SMLE rifles. FR8 rifles have a very interesting rear sight that adjusts for different ranges by rotating the rear sight peep.

The rifles made up from leftover German rifles were the Modelo 1944 Luftwaffe rifles, and there were not very many of those made.
 
There's been a lot of back and forth about are the FR-8's safe to shoot with 308 Winchester ammo. They were actually chambered in 7.62 NATO and not 308 Winchester. I've shot 308 in them with no problems, but you might want to do some research on the subject for yourself. Either way you might want to have the headspace checked especially if the bolt serial number is mismatched to the receiver.

I've read production numbers on the FR-8's was around 10,000 rifles.
 
There's been a lot of back and forth about are the FR-8's safe to shoot with 308 Winchester ammo
Click to expand...

Never heard anyone have a problem with .308 ammo in a FR8.

The FR7 and M1916 Spanish Mauser they are derived from, yes (and frankly I wouldn't shoot .308 or even 7.62 NATO through either), but I have never heard anyone say a Mauser 98 based FR-8 is not up to .308 pressures.
 
Take a hard look at the front sight. I purchased one that had the front sight stripped out by some ham fisted loon. Didn't figure it out in time to avoid the purchase. :(
 
I have heard the 308/7.62 issue but after researching it along with the 5.56/223 thing I've decided I don't buy into it.

How's accuracy on the FR-8's? Are they known for having lots of dings in the stocks like the Swiss k-31s?

Al - this rifles in other state but i'll ask for pictures beforehand.
 
The couple I owned weren't target rifles by a long shot, but you have to figure the wear and tear thats been put on them over the years.
 
Many people on various websites repeat anything they hear and confuse the strong, large-ring FR8 with the weaker, small-ring FR7.

The FR8 has the action of the 8mm Mauser.
The weak FR7 has the smaller action of the very old 7mm Mauser.
Many 7mm Mausers were converted to 7.62 NATO.

People assume that the Spanish 7.62 NATO ammo was designed for the FR8.
No, this milder Spanish ammo was designed for the weaker 7mm Mausers converted to NATO 7.62, only some of which were cut down to be the FR7.

A fairly murky area is old military cup, copper units of pressure. This is Not the same as the newer "psi".

An old 'cup' of about 52,000 might be roughly equivalent to a Saami psi of about 60,000-62,000 psi, or something similar, unless I'm mistaken.
For the present-day FR8 owners, can anyone post documented data comparing NATO 7.62 'cup' with modern commercial .308 (in Saami psi)?

The few FR8 bores I've looked at with bore lights are very bright and shiny (even with really 'dinged' wood), having excellent rifling, because they weren't used much by the Guardia Nacional, and their ammo was Not corrosive. I bought two of these rifles, both of which have matching bolts to help ensure extra safety.
The commercial .308 field gauges have excellent results, and seem to be valid in these military chambers.
 
Last edited:
FALPhil:

Thanks very much for the link to the superb article which you researched and published.

If people understood that 52,000 CUP is equal to 62,000 Saami psi along with the difference between the FR7 versus FR8 etc, the FR8 would be more popular, and maybe Ruger would not sell so many GSRs for iron sight shooting
 
;) lots of fun

Handy rifle. They came with bayonets, slings and a tube type cleaning kit under the barrel.
506351c6.jpg



We used a few for hunting pigs the first year with 150g soft points in LC brass loaded to 2600 fps. No problems.

cheers
..MJ..
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top