FR-7 Spanish Mauser

Spain had developed and accepted the auto-loading CETME rifle to be the standard arm of the military in the 1950’s. The Spanish military decided to supplement the CETME while production and deployment was trying to catch up to the needs of the army with a rifle that would ease transition from the earlier bolt action rifles to the new age of auto-loaders. The result is the Fusil Reformado or FR7 and FR8 rifles. The rifles were based on either the Model 1893 or 1898 actions then in service in Spain. The 1893 converted rifles would be known as the FR7 and the 1898 would be the FR8. Both the FR7 and FR8 were converted with features of the new CETME rifle to provide familiarity and training to soldiers with the intent that they would become proficient in those features until production caught up to the need of the military. Those features included a flash hider that doubled in function as a rifle grenade launcher. The rifles were converted to 7.62.51 NATO and utilized a rotary rear sight to provide similar shooting characteristics of the CETME. The false gas tube under the barrel is used to store a cleaning kit and doubles as a bayonet mount for the CETME bayonet. The model here is an FR7 made on an action originally made in Oviedo in 1926. Aside from the difference in actions, the FR7 features a turned down bolt while the FR8 features a straight bolt handle. I have found mine to be an accurate and very pleasant shooting rifle.