CENTURY CETME RIFLE?????

[DECKAPE]

lets try this again....last one got lost somewhere.......looking for some info on these...are they worth the investment???

[torpedoman]

 I have one it is a fun gun and would do a fine job of laying down cover fire, not the most accurate rifle but i don't think it was designed for that you can keep them on a pie plate at 150-200 yds.. Also it eats brass with the fluted chamber. the design must be good h-k copied it.

[Dances with Geoducks]

It is heavy, loud, and can rattle 308 off all day long.

They  hang up my friend has with his is you have to find mags that fit your rifle.
He has several that would not work, several that had to be tweaked to work.

If you want fire suppression, this is the one for you

just snap on some bipods

[1911crazy]

Are you just looking for a 308 semi auto rifle or an older collectable??

Is this an older G3 Cetme??

I have a G3 Cetme from a few years back when century arms was offering them.  Back then it was a crap shoot as to if you got a good one or not, luckily i got a good one.  At 100yds it shoots a tad to the left(1") and it groups decent around 2" to 3" with SA 308 ball ammo.  I've never had a problem with it at all.  But the charging handle isn't to my liking but i can manage with it.  It was my very first rifle in 308 and my very first sheetmetal stamped semi auto.  I believe these were $400 at the time.  Some have had roller engagement problems on the bolt carrier.  I do find the Cetme heavy but the recoil is like my ruger 10/22.  The mags are still affordable.  There is a Cetme sight if you need help in fixing it or more knowledge about it.  I have fitted the mags by filing the stop tabs a little.  Sometimes the angle in which the stop tabs are in is the problem.  But i got all the mags to work ok. I don't use commercial 308win ammo too i only shoot the surplus military 308 ammo because of the fluted chamber(thicker walled brass).

If your looking for a semi auto rifle in 308win I think right now the russian izhmash saiga in 308win is the hottest buy on the planet.  Its an ak/akm style receiver thats battle field proven in any type of weather.  The saiga in 308win with the 16" barrel is an awesome rifle and i believe its still under $500 in most areas.  I can shoot around a 1 1/2" group at 100yds benchrested with surplus south african 308 ball ammo.  This is one fun gun and will fill your need for plinking, target shooting and hunting all in one rifle and i'm sure you won't ever  wear it out too, it will take a beating and still want more.  I like the saiga in there orginal form because there different than the rest.             Bill

[securitysix]

Anything made/assembled by Century should be looked at very closely.  A few things I know to watch out for specifically with the CETME:

1)  Make sure the triple frame is straight.  If it's not, your gun won't shoot straight.  If it's too far out of alignment, the cocking tube will be so far out of whack you may even have trouble cycling the gun.

2)  Make sure the barrel, trunnion and receiver are put together straight.  If not, you may have excessive wear on one side of the bolt, and if it's too far out of alignment, it may cause an issue where the bolt doesn't lock fully into place.

3)  Make sure the muzzle brake is put on straight.  If not, bullets can hit the muzzle brake on the way out of the barrel, causing shots to fly off of target.  If this is an issue, you can have the opening on the brake opened up some.

4)  Make sure the angry monkeys at Century didn't grind the bolt.  Head space on these rifles is measured by the gap between the back of the bolt and the front of the bolt carrier (look up the magazine well with the magazine out and the bolt closed, you'll see the gap I'm talking about).  If head space is not right, the correct way to fix it is to change the rollers to give the correct head space measurement (they make oversized rollers in a couple of sizes).  The way Century "fixed" it in many cases was to grind the back of the bolt head until they got the head space measurement they were looking for.  Not only is this the wrong way to fix this, but it can leave you with excessive headspace.

As torpedoman pointed out, the CETME design was licensed and copied by H&K for the G3 rifle.

As for whether or not they're worth the investment, it's your money, so who are we to say?  They are loud, they have fluted chambers (hard on brass if you reload), magazines can be an issue (some will take all CETME mags, some will take G3 mags, some are finicky about what mags they'll take), and they throw brass a long way.  On the plus side, they don't kick much, they're easy to handle, and they're fun to shoot.

I don't personally care for the ergonomics of them, but I think I might be the only one.

[1911crazy]

If i remember correctly the commercial 308win with the thinner brass, plus its a hotter round can rupture with the fluted chambers.  So i'm kind of stuck with the military surplus 308 ball ammo with it.

[S.S.]

Those guns were built from Spare parts kits and used parts.
I wouldn't throw a whole lot of money into one.

[Mnswede]

I had one.  All the problems stated above are true, and the rifle needs to be closely checked out for problems.  I lucked out and got an excellant rifle that took all the magazines I had (6).  Another possibility would be buying a PTR-91 rifle.  I have three from the Company and have not had any problems with the rifles.  More costly than the Century rifles but better craftsmanship.  Still have the problem of fluting marks on brass cases if you reload.

[coyotejoe]

I had one and didn't think much of it. I'm the kind who would rather fire a one inch group in ten minutes than a 10 inch group in one minute. When a guy offered to swap an S&W 629 for it I didn't hesitate.

[1911crazy]

Overall;

pro's  
its a 308
very low recoil like a ruger 10/22.
decent accuracy
cheap mags
cheap wood stocks

con's
Being century arms manufactured its a crap shoot if you get a good one.
Some have had many problems in the roller / bolt lock up.
Some have had problems in the front sight housings being on angles.
Some have had problems with the rear sight being canted.
Some of the muzzle brakes are hitting the bullets because there off the centerline.
The length of the recoil springs vary, some were cut shorter.
The charging handle design isn't my cup of tea in a military battle rifle.
Over priced claw scopemount.

Now would i buy another one after all that, you bet i would just to have one in my collection to play with.  Its just something different these were only $399 and the only 308 at the time in this price range. The Fal/H&K is more expensive.

You need to file the lock up stops on the mag to fit it to the receivers.  But some of these receivers were like chewed on by the meat cutters at century arms.  I would inspect it closely before purchasing it i did.

[Rex in OTZ]

I was flirting with the idea of purchaseing a Century CETME, a co-worker bought one and I was able to look it over and decided not to get one for the money and what he got I decided to sit on my money for a bit, eventually bought a French MAs 49/56 Century 7.62 conversion with all the MAS goodies off a different guy ($250). for what I spent on it I think the MAS was a better buy because Century dident have to mess with the action like they did with CETME.