Let's hear those Century G3 and FAL horror stories!

[Sir Galahad]

Ok, I see both of these Century Arms weapons on the gun shop counter and hear varying opinions of them. You can throw in CETME stories, if you like. Anyway, what's some of the worst horror stories you know from either your own or a buddy's experience with a Century G3 or FAL? Chronic jamming? Bad accuracy? Failure to feeds? Failures to extract? Or do you have a success story to share? I'm interested in hearing them all! You know, you se them on the counter and they look so tempting. But then you can imagine how infuriating it would be if it was a Jammin' Jenny that has a pretty low resale value (as I understand Century's do.) That would really be :banghead:

I read one guy's online report on the CETME and he said he had ordered t and wanted to puke when he opened the box. Then you hear all kinds of horror stories about out-of-spec receivers, perhaps less than ideal metallurgy quality on the receivers. Perhaps this should be a poll, but I'd rather hear the stories staright from the folks who have experience. Thanks!

 

[TechBrute]

Thanks, SG. I've been curious about them as well. Next Monday I make the pilgrimage from the PRK to the land of the free and the home of the Cowboys, so I've become very interested in all the "evil assult weapons" that I can't have in CA.

 

[boing]

I'd chime in, but my Century FAL was built on an Imbel receiver, so it's probably not fair to compare to the current crop of US made receivers.

Anyway, I replaced the crummy US gas piston and loose selector switch with DSA parts. Runs like top, and easily groups under 2 MOA.

And yes, you punk, I do feel lucky...

On CETMEs: My dealer just got one in. The welds are ugly as hell, and the bolt doesn't like to unlock when pulling back the charging handle. If I had $350 and a dire need to get into a 7.62 battle rifle, I'd probably risk it.

 

[.45&TKD]

I hand picked a Century G3 at J&G Sales.

I hand picked a Century G3 at J&G Sales.

I love it. I fired 120 rounds first time at the range without any problems.

But out of 7 that I looked at it, mine was one of two that had the boltgap within spec.

Do your research first and handpick to be sure.

Great info on Cetme and G3 clones at http://www.gunboards.com/forums/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Headlines&BID=30&SID=1655538

 

[Maddogkiller]

There is another firearms forum just like this one that is dedicated to the FN FAL rifles. At present it is down for maintainance and will be so for a few days. Once it is up, you will not find a better source of info on buying, shooting, or building an FAL.

www.falfiles.com

 

[telewinz]

I am 100% happy with my Century Arms Imbel FAL. Not the slightest problem with it, that doesn't mean I didn't look it over with a fine tooth comb before I purchased it for $450.

 

[kotengu]

A buddy of mine bought one and had trouble with it at the range the first time he was firing it (how we met - actually). The crappy two-piece gas piston was so crooked it was rediculous! Replaced with a quality part and it has run great ever since.....

 

[EMDII]

The Century FALs are about 50/50 for problems, and I feel this is about the same ration for the CAI CETME kits. Notably, POI is about high/left a LOT for the CETMEs. The biggest offense on the FALs is the 'unibrow' feedramp and grinding the bolt locking step to set headspace!

That said, a properly built kit on any US-made recever (w/ the possible general exception of a REALLY bad Hesse, or the WAC alumi-bomb) will shoot under 2 MOA all day on MilSurp, and shoot well out to 600m.

Yes, I'm one of those who has:
- Entreprise FAL rifles (T1M, Inch)
- Hesse FALO-C (T3- runs like a dream)
- a CETME: as yet unmounted to a receiver. Can you say PTR-91?

I also own an M4. Which of the above I prefer is mission/situation-dependent. The differences in accuracy are moot for the kind of shooting I envision in a mission-critical (as opposed to bench) situation. Ergo, choose according to your Mission and skill. The various rifles have no intrinsically bad features.

And oh yeah, I'm the Evil Moderator of the FAL Files. COming to a v-bulletin server near youy soon!

 

[AnklePocket]

Hope this never happens to anyone else:
Bought a DSA Carbine, shot it and immediately sold all of my other magazine fed rifles.

 

[iamkris]

I have a Century G3 that I handpicked at a gunshow. Good boltgap, welds weren't bad, shoots POA, 1.5" group at 50 meters, no FTF / FTE (other than the 2 from a crappy mag). $420 and 10 alum mags from TAPCO.

I'm happy but wouldn't buy one sight unseen

 

[kidao35]

I second the visit over to Gunboards.com before purchasing the CAI CETME. There was a recent discovery that CAI has been grinding the bolts on their CETMEs in order to make the boltgap appear to be in spec. This is to hide worn rollers and/or a worn trunion. The former is a relatively easy fix, the latter requires major gunsmithing work.

As with all CAI home-brew products, its Caveat Emptor.

 

[jthuang]

Not quite what you wanted but ...

At a PA gunshow a few years back there was a dealer who sold the Century FAL rifles. A sign on his table said that these rifles were "made for the CIA".

Technically he was right in that they were made for [by?] Century International Arms, but IMHO he was misrepresenting the guns as made for the Central Intelligence Agency to unsuspecting buyers.

Justin

 

[gryphon]

1000 Rounds and still going strong. Once I got the gas system dialed in correctly, my FAL has been flawless. Got it from a dealer at a gunshow. I never recommend buying a firearm sight unseen. I inspected the rifle and had a buddy of mine also give it the once over. It looked good, so I picked it up. It was $310 with 2 magazines.

I just mounted a new dust cover and a Leapers scope on it. I just need to get it sighted in and I should be good to go.

 

[Sir Galahad]

WOW! So far, all success stories! I might take a better look at those on the counter at my local shop.

 

[Mr. Purple]

I've got a hesse receivered century built FAL. It is the utmost in reliability and is also accurate. Probably my favorite rifle.

 

[mark mcj]

I have Century Cetme and it runs and runs and runs. It can hit 2" at a 100 yards.
No problems what so ever. I also had a Century Fal STG 58 is was a good shooter also no problems at all. To bad I got rid of it before I knew what I had.

 

[Dave R]

Bought a Century CETME over a year ago. The triple frame was installed a bit crooked by Century. So even with windage maxed out, it was shooting right of POA. Everything else looked real good, though. So I talked it over with the dealer, and he made me a new front sight post with more windage adjustment.

Now its a great shooter. I can get 2MOA out of it with the iron sights and surplus ammo every time I shoot it. Yeah, 4" groups at 200 yards. Someday I'll scope it and see what the rifle can do, as opposed to what I can do.

Reliability has been excellent. A couple of FTF from a bad (surplus) magazine. I tossed it, and can't remember a jam since.

 

[Sir Galahad]

Boy, look at all these success stories! Now I really better take a better look at the ones in my local shop!

 

[Open Carry]

My CETME is a tinker toy. After 500 rounds, it needed a new extractor and spring. I put a new recoil spring in just for good mesure. I purchased a new brake from Tapco because the Century brake pretty much sucks. After grinding out the pin, the Century brake would not unscrew even with a torch so I had to cut it off. The threads on the barrel didn't match the threading on the Tapco brake. I ground them down on the barrel until I could screw it on. I need to get oversize rollers because my bolt gap is marginal.

For a fixer-upper it is a great rifle though.

 

[TIMC]

My G3 sporter (centurian 99) came from Century Intl. I love it, Great shooter. I put a 4x16x50mm Bushnell scope on it. Dropped a nice turkey at 100 yards with it the other day while out pig hunting. I have yet to have a problem with it but still working on my first 1000 rounds through it.

 

[Dave R]

My overall impression of Century guns, based on my experience with two samples, and from hearing dozens of reports in various online forums, is that they are not well assembled. The parts are fine (er, in most cases) but the assembly is not.

IIRC, Century says "all surplus firearms should be checked by a competent gunsmith before being fired". So they recognize that their product may not work out of the box.

So if you buy a Century firearm, you should plan to do some work on it. You may get lucky, but odds are you are going to have to do some work on it. When you iron out whatever bugs you had, you will have a fine rifle.

Also, if you get a lemon you _can_ return it to Century and they will repair or replace. I hear it takes 30 days, and the gun you get back will generally work.

The two I bought--both required some fixing. Now both are fine, and overall I am pleased.

There's a used car dealer here in Idaho whose slogan is "you can find something wrong with every car on the lot, but you won't find nothin' wrong with the price". That's how I feel about Century firearms.

 

[P95Carry]

On another BBS I was the lucky recipient, thru a raffle ........ of a Century L1A1. No complaints there really! But ............

It is in most respects, very acceptable but .... feed is grim!! I found that misfeeds were common and the bullet tips were being deformed ..... which in part helped explain the bad grouping at 100yds.

The feed ramp area is bad ... very badly contoured IMO and soon to be worked on which will I hope improve matters. The pic below was taken after a session of maybe only 20 to 30 rounds ....... note the copper rub marks (circled)!!

 

[AJ Dual]

I have a Century L1A1 I bought two years ago on the "New reciever" that is post-Hesse.

Fit and finish were above what I expected, the CIA reciever seems very well made. Headspace when tested with the firing pin removed, and masking tape circles applied to the head of a Hirtenberger 7.62 round was good. It will close and lock on one tape layer on the case head, and will not close on two layers of tape. Mine has no bolt play when locked on a round. The locking shoulder looks true and crisp. No evidence of ham-handed grinding to get it into headspace.

The major omission in the Century rifle is the US made L1A1 stock lacks a sling swivel. If you're the "glass is half-full" type, it's an opportunity to drill and epoxy in your own top mount sling swivel for a tactical style top sling I suppose...

I am however, having failure to fire/light strikes about 75% of the time, with multiple kinds of 7.62 NATO surplus, from FN, Hirtenberger, and CAVIM. It was allways intended as not much more than a 7.62 plinker, so I just haven't gotten around to taking care of it.

I suspect I'll need to get around to purchasing a FSE brand hammer, sear, and trigger set, and perhaps a new L1A1 firing pin from Tapco. Dissapointing, but I knew I was playing the odds with a Century put together. And with the extra $80 in parts I suppose it will take to get reliable function, I won't complain if my total investment was $480 for this FAL.

 

[Keith]

For $500 and a couple of hours of guerrilla gunsmithing you can buy a parts kit and build your own legal FAL.
DSA sells refinished kits with "like new" barrels for $179 from DSA.
You can buy an Imbel or Coonan reciever around $200 - the Coonan is the more authentic Type 1 style, both are excellent and functional.
Another few bucks for the required US parts and you have a rifle that will look far better than any CIA rifle.

The image below is mine. I think you'll agree that is much better looking than the CIA, and more "Milspec"! I had even had the choice of plastic or original wooden furniture. I chose the more authentic wood.

 

[cwalker3]

I have one of the Century Cetme's with the ground bolt. The only time I shot it, it was very accurate, but I had several FTE's. The problem may have been mag related, as it happened with some mags but not others. Fit and finish on the rifle is excellent.

First the canted front sites on the Century SAR's and now the ground bolts on the Cetme's. I would be hard pressed to buy another Century-made product.