The original Spanish CETME are excellant rifles but are hard to find and top dollar these days. The kits built by Century and others, on U.S recievers and selling for about 350.00 have the looks but are mechanicaly inferior and you get what you pay for. I had one of the century built one and I had to jump on the charging handle to charge the rifle, had to use a punch to pull the pins to tear down the rifle and it jammed alot. It was advertised as new but when I wanted to return the rifle to have it fixed, Century told me it was military surplus and bought as is :evil: Now if you are a gunsmith and have the tools to fix the problems then it can be a good rifle.
CETME
what do you guys think of the CETME rifle?
any opinions i'de like to hear.
thinkin of buying one just for a shooter. the prices seem right and the mags are cheap. i've heard mostly good for what it is.
does anyone know if the HK type rear sight (knob type?) is available on the CETME or if they only come on the G3 type guns.
thanks in advance, shotgun
any opinions i'de like to hear.
thinkin of buying one just for a shooter. the prices seem right and the mags are cheap. i've heard mostly good for what it is.
does anyone know if the HK type rear sight (knob type?) is available on the CETME or if they only come on the G3 type guns.
thanks in advance, shotgun
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
I bought two Century Cetmes and both had problems. The first one shot four inches to the left at 25 yards. Though the front sight is adjustable for windage, it gives a unusal looking sight picture, the post is no longer centered in the circle of the front sight housing. To correct this windage problem I had to heat the front sight base and wack it with a plastic mallet to staighten the windage.
Also, had to grind on the magazine catch and well so all magazines would lock. The trigger is full of creep and heavy, needed to do a trigger job. The muzzle break is extremely loud and drew complaints from shooters on either side of my position. On the plus side, very accurate and very light recoil, like an AK!
The second Cetme would not feed from all magazines even though I modified the magazine catch and well. It too needed a trgger job and was hard to . It's Cocking handle stop cracked and I had to return it to Century for repair. Sold both of them!
Do yourself a favor and buy an M1A or an Armscorp!
Also, had to grind on the magazine catch and well so all magazines would lock. The trigger is full of creep and heavy, needed to do a trigger job. The muzzle break is extremely loud and drew complaints from shooters on either side of my position. On the plus side, very accurate and very light recoil, like an AK!
The second Cetme would not feed from all magazines even though I modified the magazine catch and well. It too needed a trgger job and was hard to . It's Cocking handle stop cracked and I had to return it to Century for repair. Sold both of them!
Do yourself a favor and buy an M1A or an Armscorp!
Tommo
In the last twenty years have bought many rifles and they hang on my wall. In all that time I have only gotten rid of 3 rifles 8O Two were Sharps but were sold to me with out my dealers concent. He was out of town and his subordanit sold them to me. My dealer was bumed do to the fact he knows once a rifle is in my collection it never leavs. But I was nice enough to trade them back. Dont want to bite off the hand that feed me :lol: The only other one was the century built CETME. It didnt deserve to hang with my original CETME. I had two choices. when shooting the darn thing I came with in an inch throw of jsut breaking the thing in half because of frustration. so Breaking it in half and throwing it the trash was my first optiion but a second option came into play. some one actually wanted to buy it. I told him it was junk but he still wanted it. I never heard back from the guy again. He must have been an FNG to rifles and thought that was the way they work :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: AgreedDo yourself a favor and buy an M1A or an Armscorp
In the last twenty years have bought many rifles and they hang on my wall. In all that time I have only gotten rid of 3 rifles 8O Two were Sharps but were sold to me with out my dealers concent. He was out of town and his subordanit sold them to me. My dealer was bumed do to the fact he knows once a rifle is in my collection it never leavs. But I was nice enough to trade them back. Dont want to bite off the hand that feed me :lol: The only other one was the century built CETME. It didnt deserve to hang with my original CETME. I had two choices. when shooting the darn thing I came with in an inch throw of jsut breaking the thing in half because of frustration. so Breaking it in half and throwing it the trash was my first optiion but a second option came into play. some one actually wanted to buy it. I told him it was junk but he still wanted it. I never heard back from the guy again. He must have been an FNG to rifles and thought that was the way they work :lol: :lol:
I have not heard any complaints from whoever my dealer sold them to. On the one that had feeding problems, I was able to get 7 out of the 15 mags I had to feed reliably, so I included them with the rifle and told my dealer about the problem. I guess whoever bought it thinks that is enough mags!
i thank you both, steve and tommo,
after doing some research, knowing you get what you pay for, and that its about 50/50 on getting a good one. i went ahead and bought one.
understand, that i love to try my skills at solving problems.
completly stripped it down, there was so much blasting media in it, it was like sand paper when you cycled the action. after cleaning (read, flushing it in the solvent tank),lubing and greasing where needed it cycled better but still rough due to the finish inside the rcvr, better, but still rough.
the fit of the synthetic stock and handguard was very good and overall cond of the parts was almost new. welds on my rifle where very good and clean, not like some that have globs of weld showing. headspace was in the go range, so off to the range.
the rifle wouldn't eject or extract for 60 rounds. the next 20 was hit or miss. 20 more and she started to run. at 120 rounds she was running and fed perfectly for 80 more. back home and another complete tear down, cleaning and lube. things were starting to smooth out, headspace was the same.
another battle pack of 200 rounds the next day and this baby ate everything without one bobble. i admit to using HK/G3 mags for most of break in, while tring the CETME mags, which worked perfectly, only to try them. the sights were right on at 50yds.
this rifle has no muzzle break and is got to be the loudest .308 i ever shot.
so far i'm one happy camper, although it proved not to be much of a challenge so far. time will tell. the action is gettin smooth as grease.
great rifle for the money, accurate,(at short range), and looks very cool.
i wouldn't bet my life on it yet. an excellent truck gun.
i do belive that century may have improved thier recvrs, or maybe i got one that was put together by someone who knew what they were doing.
while shooting, another club member came over and said he had one with a stainless recvr that worked well but the sights were off by about 8 inches left. he was surprised that mine shot as well as it did.
shotgun
after doing some research, knowing you get what you pay for, and that its about 50/50 on getting a good one. i went ahead and bought one.
understand, that i love to try my skills at solving problems.
completly stripped it down, there was so much blasting media in it, it was like sand paper when you cycled the action. after cleaning (read, flushing it in the solvent tank),lubing and greasing where needed it cycled better but still rough due to the finish inside the rcvr, better, but still rough.
the fit of the synthetic stock and handguard was very good and overall cond of the parts was almost new. welds on my rifle where very good and clean, not like some that have globs of weld showing. headspace was in the go range, so off to the range.
the rifle wouldn't eject or extract for 60 rounds. the next 20 was hit or miss. 20 more and she started to run. at 120 rounds she was running and fed perfectly for 80 more. back home and another complete tear down, cleaning and lube. things were starting to smooth out, headspace was the same.
another battle pack of 200 rounds the next day and this baby ate everything without one bobble. i admit to using HK/G3 mags for most of break in, while tring the CETME mags, which worked perfectly, only to try them. the sights were right on at 50yds.
this rifle has no muzzle break and is got to be the loudest .308 i ever shot.
so far i'm one happy camper, although it proved not to be much of a challenge so far. time will tell. the action is gettin smooth as grease.
great rifle for the money, accurate,(at short range), and looks very cool.
i wouldn't bet my life on it yet. an excellent truck gun.
i do belive that century may have improved thier recvrs, or maybe i got one that was put together by someone who knew what they were doing.
while shooting, another club member came over and said he had one with a stainless recvr that worked well but the sights were off by about 8 inches left. he was surprised that mine shot as well as it did.
shotgun
Shotgun like I said if you have the mentality and the know how they can be a good rifle. Glad to see you took a POS and made her a shooter. right on
Hi guys. I have one of Centurys G3 rifles. After a 100 round break in, it is one of the most reliabe and straightest shooting rifles in my collection (even with the heavy a$$ trigger pull). Mine has the cast SS receiver and has a mix of HK and FMP parts. I have never had a problem with the sights and it has always been dead on.
I have read the Century G3s have fewer problems than the Century Cetmes. The G3s cost more and maybe they are fitted a little more carefully? Also the receivers used for both rifles are based on the G3 receiver.
Though the G3 was developed from the Cetme there are some small dimensional differences between the rifles. The combining of the the G3 type receiver with Cetme and I suspect some G3 parts probably causes the feed problems with the mags. I tried to replace the magazine catch in my Cetme with an original Cetme catch and it would not fit! I suspect the mag catches used in the Cetmes are G3 mag catches modifed to fit in them.
Also the breaking of the welds on operating handle stop on one of my Cetmes seemed to be caused by sloppy welding of the stop itself and the operating handle tube. The weld of the tube to the received body was slightly off center.
Though the G3 was developed from the Cetme there are some small dimensional differences between the rifles. The combining of the the G3 type receiver with Cetme and I suspect some G3 parts probably causes the feed problems with the mags. I tried to replace the magazine catch in my Cetme with an original Cetme catch and it would not fit! I suspect the mag catches used in the Cetmes are G3 mag catches modifed to fit in them.
Also the breaking of the welds on operating handle stop on one of my Cetmes seemed to be caused by sloppy welding of the stop itself and the operating handle tube. The weld of the tube to the received body was slightly off center.
RAN ANOTHER 100 RNDS THROUGH THE CETME TODAY.
NOT A BOBBLE. GROUPS SEEM TO BE TIGHTEN UP. ACTION GETS SMOOTHER AFTER EACH RANGE SESSION.
I MUST SAY THAT THIS CHEAP RIFLE IS IMPRESSING THE HECK OUT OF ME !!
SHOT
ps. sorry 'bout the caps, but i'm to tired to retype.
NOT A BOBBLE. GROUPS SEEM TO BE TIGHTEN UP. ACTION GETS SMOOTHER AFTER EACH RANGE SESSION.
I MUST SAY THAT THIS CHEAP RIFLE IS IMPRESSING THE HECK OUT OF ME !!
SHOT
ps. sorry 'bout the caps, but i'm to tired to retype.
The more you shoot it, the happier you will be with it. At leat thats what happened to me.
just passed the 1000 rnd mark and this rifle runs like a champ.
i bought some +4 rollers, just to increase the bolt gap, not that it had changed, but just for insurance. at .010 now. also picked up a port buffer, this is sweet, dumps all my brass within 3ft, instead of having to search 5 to 10 yds for it.
i gotta tell ya, this is the best $350.00 i ever spent on a weapon of this type.
guess its true, get a good one and peeps love 'em, get a bad one and its your worst nightmare.
shot
i bought some +4 rollers, just to increase the bolt gap, not that it had changed, but just for insurance. at .010 now. also picked up a port buffer, this is sweet, dumps all my brass within 3ft, instead of having to search 5 to 10 yds for it.
i gotta tell ya, this is the best $350.00 i ever spent on a weapon of this type.
guess its true, get a good one and peeps love 'em, get a bad one and its your worst nightmare.
shot
I picked up a CETME, too. Shoots like a champ. Takes a while to get it broke in, but once you do, it sure is a sweet rifle.
FWIW, I have read the Century has a new guy in charge of their QC dept., and they are turning out much better rifles now.
FWIW, I have read the Century has a new guy in charge of their QC dept., and they are turning out much better rifles now.
I got a new Cetme Black Widow on the 10 of NOV from Century. I have put 400 rounds threw it mostly Indian. There was several problems. #1 Missfires I had 8 of them
#2 The rifle gunked up quickly
#3 Rounds did not load properly
All thses problems I blame on the ammo and myself. I did not know that Idian ammo was GARBAGE.
MY DISLIKES of the Cetme
#1 At 50 yards my Cetme shoots 3 inches to the right level. I have yet to figure out how to adjust the windage.
#2 The rifle new in the box did not come with a manual. (just a pamplet)
#3 Cleaning can be a pain compaired to my AK. (again no manual I had to figure this on out on my own once again.
#4 Forward grip gets hot fast. (2 clips) But grip pattern looks like it could get air holes added easly.
MY LIKES
#1 Cost. I am sole provider for my family of 4
#2 Looks. This baby just looks mean. (The Black Widow model comes with Poly Furniture & flash hider.)
#3 Low recoil. This baby bucks less then my AK
#4 Mags (I use mags from the G3's) are cheap $5 not to mention all the rest of the accesories.
#5 WWW.TAPCO.COM carrie many toys for the Cetme's
I read all the info I could get on problems with this rifle. Then I asked the dealer to show me all the concerned ares of the rifle. On a lucky note I got a good 1 first time.
There has been many probles with these rifles such as holes drilled into the barrel to mount the flash hider. Loose triger assys. Recivers not sitting flush.
If you need a good cheap rifle I say go for the Cetme. But do your homework & inspect the rifle before buying.
#2 The rifle gunked up quickly
#3 Rounds did not load properly
All thses problems I blame on the ammo and myself. I did not know that Idian ammo was GARBAGE.
MY DISLIKES of the Cetme
#1 At 50 yards my Cetme shoots 3 inches to the right level. I have yet to figure out how to adjust the windage.
#2 The rifle new in the box did not come with a manual. (just a pamplet)
#3 Cleaning can be a pain compaired to my AK. (again no manual I had to figure this on out on my own once again.
#4 Forward grip gets hot fast. (2 clips) But grip pattern looks like it could get air holes added easly.
MY LIKES
#1 Cost. I am sole provider for my family of 4
#2 Looks. This baby just looks mean. (The Black Widow model comes with Poly Furniture & flash hider.)
#3 Low recoil. This baby bucks less then my AK
#4 Mags (I use mags from the G3's) are cheap $5 not to mention all the rest of the accesories.
#5 WWW.TAPCO.COM carrie many toys for the Cetme's
I read all the info I could get on problems with this rifle. Then I asked the dealer to show me all the concerned ares of the rifle. On a lucky note I got a good 1 first time.
There has been many probles with these rifles such as holes drilled into the barrel to mount the flash hider. Loose triger assys. Recivers not sitting flush.
If you need a good cheap rifle I say go for the Cetme. But do your homework & inspect the rifle before buying.
billfer,
to adjust windage you loosen the front sight screw and canter the post, then retighten the screw.
please do me a favor, throw away that indian crap, before you blow up that new rifle. yes, its that bad!
as for the front end heating up, you have 3 options. first you can swap out the front forearm with a HK G3 set and it has a heatshield liner. they are cheap from all over, 20.00 to 30.00 bucks for a complete set. or 2, take your dremal and open up the blocked holes in your foreend. helps to dissapate heat and cool the barrel better. 3, i think tapco sells a heat protector that slips right on the foreend. i maybe wrong about tapco, but someone does sell it.
good luck, and enjoy your new rifle. mine has turned into the one that goes always.
shot
ps. try interordinace for HK G3 mags. buy ten @ 1.95 ea. the ones i recvd were almost new.
to adjust windage you loosen the front sight screw and canter the post, then retighten the screw.
please do me a favor, throw away that indian crap, before you blow up that new rifle. yes, its that bad!
as for the front end heating up, you have 3 options. first you can swap out the front forearm with a HK G3 set and it has a heatshield liner. they are cheap from all over, 20.00 to 30.00 bucks for a complete set. or 2, take your dremal and open up the blocked holes in your foreend. helps to dissapate heat and cool the barrel better. 3, i think tapco sells a heat protector that slips right on the foreend. i maybe wrong about tapco, but someone does sell it.
good luck, and enjoy your new rifle. mine has turned into the one that goes always.
shot
ps. try interordinace for HK G3 mags. buy ten @ 1.95 ea. the ones i recvd were almost new.
This is the CETME that has yet to fail me
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/Keinog/Cetme1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/Keinog/Cetme2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/Keinog/Cetme1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/Keinog/Cetme2.jpg
I think I am going to sell my Indian ammo on GB. I will put it in a .50 cal can and start the bidding at .01$ with no reserve. Or what makes Indian ammo so bad? Is it the powder? If so It would cost just a few dollars to buy new powder pull the bullets clean them and reload. any thoughts?
Tommo - you are right about the new CAI G3/91 builds. A guy brought a new build CAI G3/91 clone in 2 weeks ago that he just bought at the local gun show. It cost him about $600. It had the rotary sight on it and was better fininshed than the past CAI CETME's. Magazine fit was still a problem as the HK mag would not fit without a bit of work. The problem is for $700 he could have has a PTR 91 so why bother with a CAI unless you can hand pick a CETME for $300 ?
Update on Flash Hider equipped CETMES as of MAY 2005. We brought a CAI's 'last of the CETME's" in to the shop last week as I have a couple of interested customers. This is the rifle with the flash hider and the new US stocks. The finish was much better than CAI's of old but the receiver still has some fitting problems. Sights are lined up OK. I disassembled and after about an hour had most of the crap out. Went to range - shot 80 rounds of SA 308. It ran perfectly. I modified 3 HK mags a bit to fit in and they all functioned fine. So for under $400 it is not a bad buy however still not anywhere near a PTR91.
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
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