Innaccurate Gun or do i just suck?

[Matsumoto]

I must confess i'm rather new at the gun-user path in life, but not so new i smell like placenta....

i own the Century arms version of the G3 type CETME rifle. single fire, 308. winchester. my kinda gun, or so i thought.

i have had problems getting any sort of accuracy out of the thing. i had the friend who started me on this recommend ranging in using a rest for rifle. i tried that and my results didn't get much better.
--at 50 meters i get 17%-22% accuracy over open sights.

does anyone have either :
A: experience on G3 CETME style rifles, or my Model specifically
B: tips on how to get accuracy out of this beast.

help, anyone?
repeatedly buying .308 ammo at 24 USD a pack just to range the sucker is starting to hurt the wallet!...

 

[General Geoff]

You'll have to be more specific with your accuracy results. What size target, and what size groupings are you getting? Also, what kind of rest and in what position are you firing?

 

[R.W.Dale]

Well your rifle is well known to in general to suffer from a spetacular lack of anything resembling accuracy.

Cetme + century = getting outshot by smoothbore shotguns firing buckshot

 

[RonE]

I must confess i'm rather new at the gun-user path in life, but not so new i smell like placenta....

Actually, I think it is a little of several factors combined:

Starting shooting a military type rifle with no previous shooting experience is usually a concentrated week of training in most militarys, so get some training.

Starting with perhaps a single shot or bolt action .22 rifle with iron sights would enable you to learn about "sight picture", trigger control, flinch and a few other things that would allow an easier transition to your chosen arm.

Most military style rifles have fully adjusstable rear sights. Start close and work out to the distance you want to shoot.

The rifle you bought is not particularly noted for accuracy, but pleanty accurate for most military purposes.

Probably time to get down to basics. Find a friend or someone at the range that can help you and don't be afraid to ask.

Good luck and welcome to the joys and frustrations of shooting.

 

[Skillet]

i feel i have the same problem with my CZ 75B 9mm pistol. it is a very accurate gun. i need to sight it in a bit more but right now i am hitting a target at 20 yards that is the size of 11x16 piece of paper in the middle area a tad high and to the left of the bullseye by about 3-6 inches sometimes (sometimes it's not on the paper) but if im hitting a target at 20 yards that is a bit smaller than my chest, that is pretty good in my book. but i hate it when i don't get crazy tight groups and good consistency like what alot of competition shooters can do. why? because i am used to a savage rifle with a scope. dead accurate. with that gun im mad if i can't hit a 50 cent piece at 100 yards and change. it will just take time with you. ammo and wind and alot of that other stuff comes into play as well. you are a machine with you gun. your scope, rifle, ammo, and you are a machine that need to work in harmony. sadly, you are the unreliable rusty unmeshed gear in that machine. if you work to become a more consistent shooter, you can become really good.

 

[otrman]

The first thing you need to do with that rifle is to check the head space and make sure the back of the bolt has not been ground. If the bolt has been ground(by Century) it must be replaced. If bolt is good and head space is off it can be corrected by changing out the rollers. The biggest problem with accuracy,IMO, is the god awful trigger group. About a mile of creep, way too heavy, and about as much over travel as creep. My advice would be to have a trigger job done, run around 80 to 100. Trigger job eliminated about 80% of the issues with mine. The iron sights are good, but they do take some getting adjusted to(read practice). With practice and some minor tweaking they can be a real fun rifle. Mine eats any ammo you fed it and I can hold 2 inch groups at 100 yards.

 

[otrman]

If you PM me with your email I can sent you a bunch of links for parts and info on CETME's or you can just use Goggle.

 

[az_imuth]

The fact that your CETME is firing is a good start. As otrman stated, check the bolt to see if it was ground. If it was, then there are several here who can help you with that issue, but I wouldn't fire it until that was corrected.

Another problem with many Century rifles is canted sights. Check the sights (front especially) to see if it is rotated (canted) one way or the other. Most of the CETME barrels were of good quality as far as I'm aware. If you are in good shape in the areas mentioned, then let someone familiar with firing military surplus weapons give it a spin to eliminate shooter error.

Also, what ammo were you firing?

 

[shaggy430]

--at 50 meters i get 17%-22% accuracy over open sights.

What exactly is 17% to 22% accuracy?

 

[Sunray]

Century Arms has no concept of QC. They assemble rifles out of parts bins.
"...17%-22% accuracy..." What does that mean? How big are the groups?

 

[FlyinBryan]

ya, that is just to vague of a description of your accuracy.

shoot 5-10 shots at a given point on a target, then measure how far apart the widest 2 hits are, then post that here, then we can give you an idea of whether its what should be expected of that rifle.

the cetme, as others have said, is not a pinpoint precise target rifle.

 

[Don357]

I must have gotten lucky. My CAI CETME works and shoots beautifully with better than average accuracy. I've used Indian Mil-surp (OFV-96) as well as commercial ammo, with better accuracy using the commercial ammo. No case seperations as of yet. Being former military, I had no problem getting used to the trigger or sights. In my opinion, mine has an excellent trigger. I just wish mine had not had the barrel cut by the Clintonistas, although Century did do a good job of recrowning it.
But Matsumoto, like it has been said, military rifles with their own style of sights, trigger systems, stocks, and ammo choices, are totally different animals that require a lot of getting used to. Good luck with your's and "Keep Shooting".

 

[gunnie]

i shot a friend's springfield imported 91 clone in alaska that did about 2 1/2" @ 100 with the poor OEM sights. i'd guess your problem might be the rifle.

gunnie

 

[RP88]

I am not exactly the best shot either. I don't pretend to be. But, even though I still have the problem with following through recoil and even though I can't shoot that 1.5-2" group with my AR yet, I'm decent enough to where I can recognize a gun problem and not a technique problem.

CETME's are known for crappiness. Some have bent rods, crimps, spot welds where there shouldn't be any, etc. If you shoot from a bench, and can't hit much compared to other guns you know how to shoot with, then chances are it is the gun.

 

[helz_mcfugly]

I had a CETME for a some time and got pretty accurate with it. I was shooting 1.5 MOA on average at 50 yards. I tried all the scope mounts trying to get the same results at 100+ yards but it shot just as good open sights as it did with a scope, they dont keep zero very well so thats a open sight gun no doubt.

 

[Expertowgunner]

well in this instance it could be you or the rifle but if you are doing your part and its not working its the cetme. im afraid to knock your gun but century is notorious for crappy guns. my old wasr sucked the big one and my dads arsenal made the gun look like a turd. 2" groups with fiocchi ammo at 100 yards from the arsenal versus 6" groups from my century. not to mention the front sight post was canted. they got monkeys building guns at century i swear to the lord. my coworkers century vz58 had multiple fail to feeds and got his money back for it. long story short dont buy century guns in the future it can make you really ticked off.

 

[bobotech]

Experttowgunner, just to let you know, CAI only imported WASRs. They did not build them the way they built the Yugos, Cetmes, the non-Imbel FALs, and other actual Century builds. The WASRs are sporting rifles imported into the US with narrow mag wells that are opened up and Century then adds the US trigger groups. But the main gun and receivers are built in Romania.

 

[hub]

I also have a century cetme. I bought it pretty cheap knowing it had some ftf/fte issues but I think I can get the bugs out myself. With that said it does shoot pretty accurately. The actual spanish cetme was a good battle rifle but like others said century has screwed a bunch of them up with shotty gunsmithing. I would say if your not having any feeding or ejecting problems you may be ok. I do recommed that you check your headspacing with some feeler gauges. Also for the bad accuracy you might want to really clean and check the bore of the rifle for pitting or other problems.

 

[az_imuth]

There was one other problem occasionally reported with the CETMEs that could cause an accuracy problem. It seems that on a few of them the pin holding the brake on was mis-aligned and actually passed through the surface of the bore. If your model has a brake, you should be able to check the bore with a light to see if this is a concern. Even if it just slightly breaks the surface of the bore it could pose a real problem.

 

[jackdanson]

repeatedly buying .308 ammo at 24 USD a pack just to range the sucker is starting to hurt the wallet!...

Yowzers man, buy online. Even midway has stuff cheaper than that. (midwayusa.com, i think they have match 168 gr. prvi partisan for like $14/box.)

 

[Matsumoto]

i left out the critical target size...

piece of target paper 12x12 inches. the kind you can buy anywhere. i only count shots that hit the grid, discounting paper edge and the stand.

thanks for the note on the Centruy CETME...i'll be sure to check the bolt as soon as i get in the shop.

 

[Ignition Override]

Matsumoto. As for ammo prices:

Ammo (and some rifle) prices are exactly why I bought a Mini 30, SKS, MN 44, and after ordering one of the last batches of cheap surplus .303, two nice Lee-Enfields (#5 and #4).

If 30-06, .308 and 8mm were all just as cheap and for semi-autos non-corrosive, instead of some of those listed above I would have bought an M-1 Garand and/or M-14 and maybe a German Mauser, but no regrets with the first group.

It would be frustrating and sort of heart-breaking to have the coolest combat-styled (or authentic) rifle and spend about one dollar with each squeeze, or invest and work hard, to reload and still average about .50 each (?).

 

[Frankl03]

Sell the Century and buy a PTR91. PTR91s are very good quality G3 clones. I would assume you would get much better accuracy as well. Just a thought.