Century CETME

[countertop]

Hey,

I always loved the look of the G3/FAL precursor the CETME. When Century was unloading them everywhere 3-4 years ago, never had the money or an opportunity to try one out. Well, low and behold I walk into the local gun shop today and they had a new Century CETME with wood stocks and all.

Anyone have any experience with this rifle? What should I look for? What questions should I ask? Whats a fair price? I recall they were selling for $450+ back then, but the local guys were only looking for $350 - there doesn't seem to be much interest around here (N. GA) for battle rifles as deer season winds down.

I know lots of people don't like the Century rifles - the snobs call em crap - but the price is good and my SAR worked like a dream

WOuld aprpeciate your thoughts as this may be a post christmas (as in Monday morning) gift to myself.

Thanks!!!

 

[Logan5]

First, the obligatory CETME links:
http://cetmerifles.com/forum/index.php

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=47

Now, those sites should cover it in abundant detail, but in short you want to watch for a ground bolt, check headspace, and make sure the front sight assembly isn't canted to one side. I'd also suggest trying a G3 mag in it to see if it fits, since they're cheap and abundant right now, whereas CETME mags are not really.

 

[itgoesboom]

Hey,

I know lots of people don't like the Century rifles - the snobs call em crap - but the price is good and my SAR worked like a dream

WOuld aprpeciate your thoughts as this may be a post christmas (as in Monday morning) gift to myself.

Thanks!!!

Countertop,

I have a stamped CETME from Century (the one shown above is a cast CETME). I have been pretty happy with it, but Century's quality control is really scetchy.

If you buy it, you might end up having to do a whole lot of work to it, just to get it to run right. Or it might be a really good rifle out of the box. Most of them fall inbetween.

Head over to www.cetmerifles.com to learn as much about them and what to look for as possible.

Here is mine:



I.G.B.

 

[geekWithA.45]

My good friend, the Mighty and Egregious Charles has one, which he got for about the same price.

He hand to dink with it a little bit, mostly with the mags to get it to reliable, but his final analysis is that it's worth having, especially for the price, despite its shortcomings.

 

[silversilvia]

i bought one, checked the head space and everything like i should. went to shoot it and it won't cycle. i just took it back instead of trying to find what was wrong with it. it shot real nice in single shot mode tho.

 

[Pappy John]

I bought one last year around this time for $295. I suspect it was a one owner used model, owned by someone who didn't like to tinker.

It took a little wrenching to get working right. I had to deal with with sight squaring issues, ejector height and mis-alignment causing jams, and some optional work to lighten and smooth out the trigger, but now I've got a sub $300 .308 rifle that works everytime I take it out of the safe. AND it likes those cheap G3 mags without any adjustment needed. Worth the work? You betcha!

The guys over at the cetmerifles site are a great source of info for any de-bugging that needs to be done.

And who knows....sometimes the angry monkeys at Century get them right the first time. You could get lucky.

 

[carolinaman]

Hi countertop,

Read the Cetme Rifle Forums first.

I owned one that I could never get to run right. I sold it finally.

It must have been assembled by a team of monkey's wielding baseball bats, sledgehammers and blow torches at Century Arms. Century Arms offered zero support on fixing the rifle and I tried hard! 30 day warranty and all that stuff.

Sad, it was a really cool looking rifle....

Chris

 

[iamkris]

I always loved the look of the G3/FAL precursor the CETME.

G3 precursor -- yup

FAL precursor -- please...in date only...not even close to being related

Also, FWIW, I had a Century G3...worked fine. Got rid of it though and bought an FAL because the ergonomics (for me) of HK series rifles are TERRIBLE. Century quality is hit or miss...depends on the specific rifle. Spend some time on the CETME forum and find out what to look for. Biggest things are bolt gap and crooked charging tubes.

 

[armoredman]

Mine was a screaming POS. Won't have another. Century's quality of drunken monkeys has gone down...must be getting loaded on Brass Monkey nowadays.

 

[Monkeyleg]

I got a Century G3 earlier this year, and it was a single-shot rifle.

The bolt gap was too slight, and there was another problem I couldn't even identify.

The dealer sent it back to Century, I got it back, and it still had one minor problem that I fixed pretty easily.

It now functions flawlessly.

Check the bolt gap first. Also make sure that the charging handle moves back and forth without binding, and that it goes into battery properly.

Have to agree with iamkris on the ergonomics--you have to take your finger off the trigger to move the safety lever or drop a magazine.

Still, it's a fun rifle to shoot.

 

[Browns Fan]

Quote:
"Mine was a screaming POS. Won't have another. Century's quality of drunken monkeys has gone down...must be getting loaded on Brass Monkey nowadays."

This is great! Here I am on Christmas Eve, with a fewbelts of fine German wine under my belt, and I seem to be having a good time at your expense. Not to minimize your pain, but the drunk monkey bit almost made me waste some of this good wine on my keyboard!

Merry Christmas, one and all!!