I also thought of them as $300-$350 rifles, but they've gone up in price. I just picked up an FR8 in trade, had one years ago and regretted getting rid of it. Also I haven't seen many for sale in several years, and I am sure supply and demand is driving the price up. I did give 350 for one that has a SWEET tiger striped stock, but that was just because I wanted it.

Also, Spanish documents on ammunition indicate the CETME round as having the same pressure as the NATO round (a faster-burning propellant is used in the former) or, in some manuals, only a small difference in pressure (with the CETME having an insignificantly lower pressure).Īs to what they cost, my personal limit is 300 unless it is a real beautiful rifle. They are also zeroed for that cartridge, which has a different trajectory than the 7.62 CETME cartridge. The Spanish manuals indicate that the main cartridge intended for use in both rifles is the 7.62 NATO cartridge as adopted by the Spaniards. And what's the difference mechanically between a CETME and a G3? Not anything that has anything to do with the chamber and bolt. The 7mm Mauser round works at similar pressures to 7.62 NATO, so even if it's built on a small-ring receiver, assuming the gun is good shape, why would there be a problem? Keep in mind that a) people run NATO ammo through actual CETME rifles all the time, and b) the CETME variant ammunition was downloaded to improve manageability in full auto fire, not because the gun wasn't up to handling the full power NATO round. There should be NO issues with running NATO ammunition through FR-8s, though a lot of people seem to think that they were built for CETME ammo. The FR-7 conversion was intended to use the standard NATO ball ammo safely, contrary to claims by many that they were designed to use the 7.62 CETME ammo (although they could and sometimes were used to fire it, IIRC, although the sights are not calibrated for that round, which has a different trajectory).What are the references for that?Īn FR-8 has a G3 barrel (various sources call it either a G3 or CETME barrel, but they were made the same) and is built on a large-ring Mauser receiver. I wouldn't shoot many hot loads through an FR-7, though. Some people have also bent the bolts after the fact.ħ.62X51mm NATO ammo can be shot through both.

Some FR-8s were imported with bent bolts most were not. All were also made before WWII, while most of the FR-8s were built during or after WWII (speaking of the receivers as used in the original configuration prior to conversion). Most FR-7s have the crest removed, to include the date.

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