FR8
Encyclopedia
The FR8, FR-8 or Santa Barbara Carbine as well as the FR7 or FR-7 are bolt-action, Mauser rifle variants produced by the Spanish military. From 7x57 mm (FR7) and 8x57 IS (FR8), they are chambered in 7.62x51mm calibre, and have a relatively heavy recoil and muzzle blast due to the short barrels and light weights.

History

The FR7 and FR8 were introduced as the Spanish military was already implementing the CETME
CETME
CETME is an acronym for Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales , a Spanish government design and development establishment. While being involved in many projects CETME was mostly known for its small arms research and development...

 automatic rifle, but did not yet have sufficient inventory to equip and train all troops. The rifles were made from existing stockpiles of Mauser
Mauser
Mauser was a German arms manufacturer of a line of bolt-action rifles and pistols from the 1870s to 1995. Mauser designs were built for the German armed forces...

 bolt-action rifles, the FR-7 from the Spanish M1916 rifles with two locking lugs and the FR-8 from the Spanish M43 with the additional locking lug of the Karabiner 98k
Karabiner 98k
The Karabiner 98 Kurz was a bolt action rifle chambered for the 8x57mm IS/7.92×57mm IS cartridge that was adopted as the standard service rifle in 1935 by the German Wehrmacht. It was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles...

.

Apart from the military for training purposes, it was also used as a service weapon by the Guardia Civil.

Features

The flash hider was designed to be compatible with NATO-standard rifle grenade
Rifle grenade
A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade was thrown by hand...

s. The under-barrel tube, which resembles the gas cylinder found on automatic weapons, actually serves as the bayonet mount and as storage for cleaning gear. The rear sight is an elevation-adjustable rotary type with aperatures for 200 m (218.7 yd), 300 m (328.1 yd) and 400 m (437.4 yd), as well as an open "V" notch for 100 metres (109.4 yd). The front sight is elevation-adjustable via a special tool. Operation is identical to the standard Mauser design.

Weblinks

  • http://world.guns.ru/rifle/repeating-rifle/sp/fr-7-fr--e.html
  • http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/fr8/index.asp FR-7 and FR-8 description of a collector/marksman

Sources

"Guns Magazine", May 2006, Holt Bodinson; text transcript under www.findarticles.com
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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