I was gonna get one when Big5 had 'em for about $150, but all I could find about them said stay away, soft metal, crappy tolerances. I don't have any first hand experience, though.

I can't remember if it was Allans Armory or Empire Arms, but one of them mentioned that he would NOT reccomend shooting .308 it them and suggested surplus 7.62 Nato only.

I've also heard that you should not shoot .308 in these rifles.  7.62X51 is fine, though.  I've read that the "fake" gas tube is for a cleaning rod.

Bradd

Funny you should ask. I just bought a real nice one an hour ago from a local gun store.
It's an FR-8.
I don't know if its the same gun as you're asking about or not.
I haven't actually shot it yet but it handles real good. Can't wait to shoot it.

Check out these links:
[url]http://www.gunsworld.com/spain/cetmefr8_us.html[/url]

[url]http://www.gunsworld.com/index.html[/url]

FR-8.  About a million years ago they were reviewed in S.W.A.T. magazine by Gary Paul Johnson and Dick Fairbain (different articles).  History quoted was that the Spanish military had them build from existing stock of 98's to assist in transition training to the CETME.
I had one that Century International Arms brought in about 6 - 8 years ago, great little knock around rifle, shot really well once I got the sights regulated. Enjoy it, BTW I used NATO standard loads and stayed away from Isreali GPMG ammo in it.

My Dad, owns a FR8 in 7.62.  It, for some reason, likes 180gr bullet weight ammo.  Anyway I dont know why you are all worried about shooting certain kinds of ammo in it.  Its a 98' Mauser with a funky barrel so it will digest anything.  They are all rebarreled 8mm, and military 8mm was loaded up to something close to our 30/06, no mean trick considering the heavier bullet and having a 6mm shorter case.  There are no cases of this type of Mauser failing where any other Mauser type action would not have also failed- usually attributed to overloaded cartridges.

When my Uncle gave this gun to my Dad in 94, after restocking it in black synthetic stock, he gave him some really strident 180gr "elk bashing" handloads to go with it.  Since we have never been lucky in the lotteries they have only been used at the range, but they do kick and are listed in the Nosler handbook as being maximal for a .308 Win.  And this is using the thick hull Lake City brass. Never even had a stuck case or a blown out primer- both of which I have experienced with my 7x57.

The Spanish Army did issue a downloaded version of 7.62x51mm as their service cartridge.  But it was not for the sake of the bolt rifles. It was because they had full auto on their CETME's and they had the same controllibility problmes as we did with the M14 on full auto.  Their answer was to download the cartridge to something roughly akin to the old .300 Savage and use a lighter bullet.  This and a new design of compensator brought the gun down to a controllable level.  But it had NOTHING to do with the old bolt rifles that were still along side.  The BS about Spanish guns being made out of bad metal is just that- BS.  Spread by magazine writers who were paid by American gunmakers to say it in order to scare customers away from less expensive Spanish guns after WWII.

The only thing good about it is that it has saved me some bucks, as Spanish guns to this day have no resale value.

I used to have a Spanish Mauser in .308............But it was a diffrent model than you have. I have seen the ones that you are talking about.
Mine was a Model of 1893 I beleive. It looked like a standard 7mm carbine, but was rechambered to .308. It had a turned down bolt. I don't think this M93 action is up to the strength of shooting modern .308 ammo. I think I bought this one for about $80 in 1991 and resold it a year later for $110. I kick myself that I let all the once fired brass go with it, as now I have an AR10.
If the one you have is a M98, you have no worries in the strength department. if I am correct, Pre-M1898 actions, except the M1896 Swedish, are NOT acceptable for rechambering to modern high pressure rounds like .308. I was told this by a gunsmith/FFL when I was going have him order me some rifles from Century Arms.
OSA

I have a freind who has one and I am ordering one. It is a CETME barrel and I think the CETME bayonet will fit. For more info go to www.milsurpshooter.com they have a forum dedicated to these rifles. Hope this helps.

Thank you [b]raf[/b], sometimes I loose words during the path from my brain to my fingers.  That is what I meant, they are not acceptable.  

OSA

I have a 93 Mauser in .308, it does just fine with anything the FAL will use. The Fr-8 is even stronger.

Try this link.
[url]http://www.storm.ca/~debin666/html/the_fr-8_page.html[/url]
Its got alot of good info on it.
I've shot mine a few times and it does kick a bit, but I like it. A very compact rifle.

There's some good dope already posted in this thread, but I just wanted to comment a bit on the safety of 1893 and other pre-'98 Mausers.

These earlier model actions are probably almost equal to the M98 in actual strength. The main locking lugs are practically the same size, and the steel quality (variable in both types) likely averages about the same. This explains why the early actions do not typically blow up when .308 is fired in them.

The real problem or danger is not in strength, but in gas handling ability. Overloaded rounds, blown primers, and brittle cases cracking their heads are random events that become much more likely or more dangerous when dealing with .308 pressures than when dealing with traditional 7X57mm pressures. And when bad things happen, those 1893 actions are much more likely to spit gases and brass particles back toward your face. Also, the absence of the M98's "inner collar" breech means that already-escaped gases could more likely burst the receiver ring like what used to sometimes happen with low-numbered M1903 Springfields.

It's not that accidents are that much more likely to happen; it's just that they are more likely to be serious when they do occur.