Alrighty, I found some time for picture taking this past frigid afternoon so now it's time to commence to writin'. I'm not going to go into every little detail about this rifle because if you're reading this, you've probably already read at least one of my other articles about MCM's line of CETME rifles. As much as I absolutely love these things, I must say that it's getting a little redundant going over the same details over and over. Essentially, the LVS is a standard CETME LV except that the combination rear iron sight/STANAG compatible scope mount has been omitted and a proprietary rail designed for the British SUSAT optic has been installed in its place. Because of this, we're only going to look at what's different on the LVS. If you have not read one of my earlier 5.56mm CETME articles and you want learn about all the little details not covered here, simply type one of the titles listed below into the search function of this forum and you can read until you fall asleep:
MarColMar CETME LV in Detail
MarColMar CETME LC (Carbine) in Detail
MarColMar and HMG Cetme L a Detailed Comparison
Let's begin. When your MarColMar (MCM) CETME LVS shows up, it'll be packed in a standard heavy cardboard CETME box but you'll also get a second box too that's made of styrofoam and contains a British made SUSAT 4x scope:
While the scope is a surplus item, it's in new condition and not some beat up and worn out optic. We'll look at it in some detail a little later.
Once you unpack everything, you should have at least everything shown below:
The rifle is well packed in high density foam. The red tag hanging from the trigger guard is a "Don't shoot your eye out" warning tag. Below the rifle and starting from the left we have the SUSAT scope and its shipping box, a red warranty registration card, a long yellow slip of paper with break-in instructions, a bag containing a sample lubrication bottle, an action lock, instruction manual and, on the far right, a new 30 round GI magazine made by Okay Industries.
Notice above that I said that "you should have at least everything shown". The two rifles shown here are pre-production examples made for SHOT-SHOW 2020 and advertising. Currently MCM is taking orders and regular production has not started yet. By the time you receive yours, there will also be a scope adjustment tool and either an updated manual or a separate addendum to the manual containing information germane to the LVS. When I called to place my order, MCM was kind enough to offer me the option of either purchasing the two pre-production rifles or waiting for regular production examples. To my mind, the answer to that one was a no brainer.
They even left the SHOT-SHOW tag on the trigger guard for me:
I think that's just THE neatest thing!!!
On the end of the box is the "what's in the box" label:
Notice that the serial number is "LV-00139". I'm told that regular production rifles will start at LV-015XX. This is because original Spanish made LVS's were made in that number range.
Below the serial number line is the model line. Notice that "LV" is circled. There is no option on this line for LVS. That's because there were no plans to produce an LVS model initially. However, when MCM found a small stash of new condition SUSAT scopes, they couldn't pass up the opportunity and so the reproduction LVS was born. It's a special edition and they are only making 140 of this jobber. The "S" in the upper right hand corner of the label denotes this model.
Although all original rifles were green, I think MCM will make it in Black, Grey or Flat Dark Earth too if you would like, just as they do with standard models.
Furniture is also available in the original Green, as well as Black and Flat Dark Earth.
The reason "N" is circled for rail is because this line refers to the picatinny rail available on standard models, NOT the SA-80 rail attached to the LVS. Say WHAT?? What the hecks is an SA-80 rail?? We'll go over that later.
The last line is marked "HB" because you can have your rifle built with either an original style pencil barrel or a MCM designed heavy barrel.
Here is a right side view of the rifle with scope attached:
Now, I know what you are thinking and yes, the scope looks like it's sitting up so high it might as well be in the stratosphere. First, it sits as high as it did on an original rifle. Second, it's not as high as it looks. The straight line stock configuration makes it look like it's higher than it really is. Third, you have to remember that these were originally built in the 1980's. Later, we're going to look at the scope rise on the LVS compared to some of its contemporaries and you'll see that it's on par with what everyone else was making at the time. You have to remember that tacticool didn't exist back then. Fourth, recoil on all of the 5.56mm CETME rifles is pretty much nil. You cannot fully appreciate that statement until you shoot one. The recoil feels more like a Ruger 10/22 than it does a .223. The CETME truly is the softest shooting rifle in this caliber I've ever shot. And lastly, these rifles were intended to be marksman's rifles, NOT sniper rifles so the fact that you won't get a cheek weld was considered perfectly acceptable. Once you get behind one of these rifles, you'll see that the rise is a non-issue. If it was good enough for Spain's Special Operations Unit, it'll be good enough for your average Range Rambo.
Left side view:
As I said earlier, we're not going to go into redundant details with this rifle that I've already covered three times on other MCM CETME's. Still, there is one weld detail that I do want to talk about a little bit with regards to this model and that's the rear trunnion weld on the side of the receiver. Since the beginning, I have waxed poetic about how much care MCM puts into building these rifles and I've made it abundantly clear just how near perfectly they have recreated parts such as the stock, pistol grip and forearm. But I've also been vocal about how disappointed I have been with the weld at the rear of the trunnion.
Let's take a look at the welds I'm talking about on an original rifle:
There are two welds here and both were dressed by hand so well that they look like two little ramps. In between those welds you can see that the receiver is pierced revealing the rear of the trunnion. MCM did not like this detail because they said it allows gas blowback when the action opens. To prevent this, they ran a single weld down the entire length of this piercing. Fair enough...that DOES make sense to me. BUT, as shown below on an early production rifle, this was the result:
If you've never seen an original rifle, the above might look just fine to you. But I'm the worst mix of a purist and a detail oriented geek so I really focus on minutia and this weld just drove me nuts. Again, I understand that MCM wanted to make it a single long weld to eliminate the blowback issue but come on, at least dress that weld. I wrote it in my articles and I made it clear to Dave Bane; smooth it out....flatten it....give it something of a bevel as seen on original rifles. Well, I guess I nagged those poor people to the point that they got tired of hearing it because, to my pleasant surprise, here is what the trunnion weld looks like on LV-00139:
LV-00140 looks almost identical. It's still not perfect but it's good enough that I'm a happy dude.
To drive the point home, here's an above oblique view of the trunnion weld on an early rifle:
It's all blobby and rounded looking.
And here is the latest to come out of MCM:
It now has a nice flat angle to it and it better approximates an original weld. Thanks guys! My honey tells me I'm a nag. I guess it's true!
And with that, I'm signing off for the evening. I'll be back tomorrow with more. Bye for now!