From the previous article on the MAS-49 sniper rifle and its subsequent modernization, it became clear that the French army did not always have sniper weapons corresponding to the level of weapons of other countries. Despite the fact that the weapon could well perform most of the tasks, the ego's low effective firing range, as well as not the best accuracy with a big stretch made it possible to call the rifle a sniper. Naturally, the situation needed to be corrected, however, re-equipping the army with a new model of weapons, even taking into account the fact that usually a large number of sniper rifles are not required, would cost a fairly large amount, which naturally did not exist. Thus, it turned out that it was necessary to meet the needs of the army for new sniper weapons within a very small budget. What is remarkable, even despite this, the sample turned out to be quite interesting, having, albeit not the best, but quite good characteristics and at the same time quite simple. We are talking about the French FR F1 sniper rifle, but at the same time we will get acquainted with its modernization FR F2.
The FR F1 sniper rifle was developed in 1964 under the leadership of Jean Fournier. By modern standards, this weapon has a rather old appearance, and in comparison with its peers, this rifle looks like an old woman. Despite this, the weapon is quite convenient, it has a lot of simultaneously interesting and cheap solutions to many problems that can be found in modern weapons. Unfortunately, some of the solutions in this rifle cannot be called successful. So, first of all, the forend of the weapon catches the eye, which is not only rigidly attached to the barrel, but also connected to the rifle receiver, which reduces the accuracy of firing from the weapon, although judging by the reviews this is not so critical, since ammunition 7, 5x54 still does not allow to unleash the potential of a free-hanging trunk, which means that it is not needed there. The butt of the weapon is also wooden, does not have the possibility of precise adjustment along its length, only by replacing the butt pad, but it can have a cheek rest. A wooden pistol grip also goes down separately from the buttstock, which significantly increases the convenience of controlling the weapon. It would seem a trifle, but this detail was noted as a separate plus of the weapon, making the pistol grip almost the main “plus” of the weapon. The bipod of the rifle is not fixed normally. Their fastening goes through a wooden fore-end, they fold forward and in the folded position are located on the sides of the weapon.
We should also talk about rifle shops. Unlike its predecessor, the FR F1 was fed from detachable magazines with a capacity of 10 rounds with two-row ammunition. In order to exclude the ingress of dirt and water into the magazines during transportation, the magazines themselves were closed with rubber covers, which, when the magazine was attached to the weapon, were removed and put on already from the bottom of the magazine, thus creating a convenient stop for the shooter's second hand. New detachable magazines of relatively large capacity were received with a bang, since thanks to them, the practical rate of fire of the weapon was significantly increased. Let me remind you that in MAS-49, the stores were integral and were equipped from clips.
Considerable attention was paid to increasing the rate of fire of the rifle, however, financial constraints did not allow creating a self-loading sample, and many believed that this could lead to a significant decrease in the accuracy of fire, and the training of snipers would have to be carried out according to a slightly different program. For this reason, it was decided to give preference to the sliding bolt, which locks the barrel bore when turning. In order to increase the rate of fire, it was decided to place the lugs on the bolt at the rear, which reduced the bolt travel. A lot of attention was also paid to the convenience of reloading, as evidenced by the shutter handle bent in all possible places, although you cannot tell how convenient it is from the picture.
Despite the fact that they abandoned automation in weapons, the result in the form of an effective range of use was far from the best, 600-800 meters for a rifle was the limit, the location of the stops on the bolt and the forend on the barrel and not the best ammunition affected here. In order for the shooter to hit the target at least at this distance, in addition to the optical sight, the rifle can also be used with open sights, consisting of a rear sight and a front sight with light-accumulating paint marks, for ease of aiming in low light conditions. The optical sight, which is used with weapons, has a multiplicity of 3, 5-4.
The total length of the FR F1 rifle is 1138 millimeters with a barrel length of 600 millimeters. The weight of the weapon is 5, 63 kilograms.
It cannot be said that the weapon fully satisfied all the requirements that were imposed on it, but it coped with its tasks. Subsequently, after France joined NATO, and they do not enter into a good cause, it was necessary to replace the ammunition, and therefore the weapon. At that time, it was possible to acquire a more modern model in its armament, which would be self-loading and had the same characteristics, however, apparently all due to the same economy, this did not happen. In 1984, a modernized rifle was introduced with the name FR F2. This weapon did not differ fundamentally from its predecessor, but much has been changed in it. First of all, the absence of wood is striking, now both the forend and the butt and the pistol grip are made of plastic, which not only positively affected the cost of production, but also made it possible to reduce the weight of the weapon. Rather, the weight of the weapon, on the contrary, became larger, but this happened due to an increase in the length of the barrel to 650 millimeters, as well as the installation of a casing on the barrel, so that with wooden parts the weapon would weigh much more. The total length of the weapon became 1200 millimeters, and the weight of the rifle became equal to 5.77 kilograms.
To increase the strength of the butt while reducing its weight, so that you can safely move the enemy into the jaw and not be afraid that the butt may be broken at the same time, a steel "skeleton" was introduced into its design, which was covered with plastic, so that the butt is hollow inside, but at the same time quite durable and lightweight. The barrel shroud is a simple plastic tube that fits over the barrel of the weapon and is tied to the forend. Thanks to this simple addition, the weapon has become less visible to the thermal imager, in addition, this casing does not allow warm air to rise from the barrel, which interferes with aiming. It is usually noted that this sniper rifle does not have sights, but this is not the case. The simplest rear sight and front sight are located just on the barrel casing, how comfortable they are and at what distance the weapon will be effective when using them can be judged simply by their appearance. So, in principle, we can really say that the weapon does not have open sights.
In addition, the method and place of fastening of the rifle bipod was changed, which began to be mounted on the receiver, in front of the top, which added stability to the weapon when firing. The replacement of ammunition and these simple innovations made it possible to use the rifle with a guaranteed result at distances up to 800 meters, but one kilometer remained a dream or a success.
