Puddinhead
Member
My son and I were shooting his Cetme C that was put together by a shop in Virginia at our range today. He got the parts kit from Apex and sent them to the gunsmith that put it together for $400. While shooting today we experienced 2 rounds in a row that didn't fire. The ejected rounds had no primer mark at all on them. Also the charging handle was getting jammed up at the back of the stroke. Not quite sure what was going on we headed home after firing about 50 rounds.
When we got home we noticed a ring of unpainted metal behind the front sight. It was freshly painted when it was put together and the stripe at the sight was a red flag. We still couldn't get the charging handle to operate smoothly either. We got the lower hand guard off and found the 2 weld spots where the barrel is pressed into the trunnion had broken and the barrel was forward about 1/8". Actually it looks like the trunnion itself broke at the welds, and furthermore the trunnion looks as though it's cast, not machined. I don't know if the trunnion was the one that came in the Apex kit or one that was supplied by the gunsmith. I assume the pin is broken as well. This just seems really bizarre given the few shots through the rifle! I don't know if it's shoddy work by the gunsmith, a shoddy trunnion, or something else.
The first 100 rounds we had shot before were Tulammo and today I used 175gr reloads using light loads using H335 and IMR4895. I was a grain over the low side so the loads were definitely not heavy.
I would appreciate anyone's input on this. Also any thoughts on whether the charging handle jamming up is due to the barrel problem. My son is calling to talk with the guy who built it tomorrow. I will let you know what he says. Thanks in advance.
Jon
When we got home we noticed a ring of unpainted metal behind the front sight. It was freshly painted when it was put together and the stripe at the sight was a red flag. We still couldn't get the charging handle to operate smoothly either. We got the lower hand guard off and found the 2 weld spots where the barrel is pressed into the trunnion had broken and the barrel was forward about 1/8". Actually it looks like the trunnion itself broke at the welds, and furthermore the trunnion looks as though it's cast, not machined. I don't know if the trunnion was the one that came in the Apex kit or one that was supplied by the gunsmith. I assume the pin is broken as well. This just seems really bizarre given the few shots through the rifle! I don't know if it's shoddy work by the gunsmith, a shoddy trunnion, or something else.
The first 100 rounds we had shot before were Tulammo and today I used 175gr reloads using light loads using H335 and IMR4895. I was a grain over the low side so the loads were definitely not heavy.
I would appreciate anyone's input on this. Also any thoughts on whether the charging handle jamming up is due to the barrel problem. My son is calling to talk with the guy who built it tomorrow. I will let you know what he says. Thanks in advance.
Jon