itgoesboom
member
Well, I went and did it last Saturday, I picked up a new Century CETME in .308.
It was just one of many different options that I was considering, ranging from a Savage 12BVSS all the way to an AK clone.
When it came down to it though, and I was holding the CETME, there was something inside me telling me it was the one to pick up.
Now, i have been browsing CETMEs for the last couple years, and doing a fair amount of research. In that time, I have seen some really nice ones, and I have seen some really crappy ones.
Mine, asthetically, falls in there someplace. On one hand, the welds look really good, and the bolt didn't look very worn, unlike many I had seen. But on the other hand, the cocking tube was a little beat up. It looked like it had been rewelded in a couple spots, and there is a small dent about 1/3rd of the way up. But it didn't seem to affect the action at all, and it is a non-pressure bearing part, so I went for it.
Impressions.
I took the rifle home and started to toy around with it. Almost immediatly, I noticed that neither 20rd mag would seat all the way in the mag well. They fit tight, so they weren't popping out, but they weren't seating properly. I gave it a good smack, and it still wouldn't seat. So I immediatly knew the rifle would need to have that repaired.
Other than that, the rifle seemed to be in pretty decent shape. The action was resonably smooth, as smooth as an old battle rifle can be at least. The trigger is pretty heavy, as you can imagine.
I tried to clean up the magazines as best as I could, but I found one of the two to be impossible to break down. Unfortunatly, in the process of breaking it down, the floorplate was damaged, so I will have to purchase a new floorplate, or considering the condition of the mag, probably just use it for parts. Either way, I have 48 20rnd mags en route from Texas as we speak, so I am not all that broken up over it.
After doing some research, I broke down the rifle and started to check for possible issues. Anyone who is considering the CETME rifle should know about the Bolt Head problems that Century has caused. The CETME rifle uses a delayed roller blowback system, identical to what is used in the HK G3 rifles. In fact, the CETME is the predacessor to the G3. Anyways, on this type of rifle, the way to check headspace is to check the bolt gap between the bolt carrier and the back of the bolt head. If the rifle is not up to speds, than the drunken monkeys at Century sometimes will grind the back of the bolt head so that the bolt gap is in spec. Does this work? Yes. Is it good for the rifle? Probably not.
So the first thing I did was check my bolt head, and thankfully, it is unground. Whats more, my rollers are unmarked, which leads me to believe that they are the standard rollers, not the +2 or +4 that are added to properly fix the headspace issue. This means that my rifle has plenty of life left.
Disassembly takes just a few minutes, and like most firearms that aren't Glocks or XDs, is fairly difficult the first time. At least for me. But after doing it a time or two, it is really quick and easy to take apart and put back together.
My bolt gap on the rifle was in spec at .010 (specs are between .005-.020), but I knew that would probably change after I took the rifle and shot it a little.
I also decided to fix the magazine catch myself. I took apart the mechanism, and filed just a hair off of the magazine catch, and not the mags seat in perfectly with a little slap. I might take off more, but I am waiting till my other magazines come in.
At the range.
The range I frequent is not really a range, it is actually just a small clearing in the national forest where many people go to shoot their firearms. As such, there is no real firing line, and no target carriers, so you have to make your own and bring it, or use cans and bottles and whatever else you what to plink at.
I brought one home made target stand, a few targets, plus soda cans and small plastic water bottles filled with tap water. In addition, I brought 200 rounds of Australian Surplus 7.62. I also brought an SKS, a Ruger 22/45 for my wife to shoot, and my XD9c.
Since the range I use is pretty small, I set the target stand up at a paced 25 meters distance. I figured that way I could sight in the rifle on the 200meter setting (same as 25 meters), and all would be good. Not to mention that I am not that good of a rifle shot, so thats the best place for me to shoot.
I loaded up the one working magazine with 5 rounds, just to check function and aimed at a blank cardboard that was acting as the target backing. I fired all 5 rounds off pretty quickly, and was happy to see that all 5 rounds hit the target and formed a nice little pattern. Cool. It works.
Next I set up an actual target, to see where my sights were adjusted, as well as a couple of soda cans on the top of the target stands.
The rifles elevation was spot on, but the windage was a little off. When shooting offhand or kneeling, windage was pretty close, but when shooting prone off of a small ammo can, it was hitting about 1 1/2" to the right. Guess I will need to get a sight adjustment tool. Speaking of the sights, they are much nicer than the sights on my SKS. The sights are of the aperture variety at 200, 300 and 400, and open sights at 100 meters. But, realistically, the 200 meter sights should work for anything from contact to 200 meters easily.
Despite the sights being off a little, I was popping cans very easily, and I could see that this rifle was capable of shooting at least decently.
From the prone position, resting on a very small ammo can (too small, it was very difficult to get low enough to shoot) I shot a couple of groups. The first was a rapid 5 shot group, which measured just under 1", center to center, with 2 of the shots touching. Not too bad, but I was really hoping for a rifle that would shoot under 2" at 100 yards.
Well, not to fear. My next group, a 3 round group measured under .45" at 25 meters. Not bad, considering that I have only been shooting rifles a couple times a year, and that I was lying on a very rough ground with some big rocks sticking in me. I am pretty sure that I could improve that, had I been more patient with my shots, and been more comfortable. Its also worth noting that this was with Australian Surplus ammo.
Since I wasn't shooting just the CETME, and I was teaching my wife to shoot my 22/45, I only got to put 50 rounds of ammo through the rifle, but even with that few rounds, I can see that she is a keeper. No failures to feed, extract or fire.
I can't wait till I get to go out in a couple more weeks, and take it to a real range where I can shoot at 100 yards or more.
So far I am pretty happy. The sights need to be adjusted, and I think the trigger could stand to use a little work, just to be a little cleaner and lighter. The crappy plastic buttstock has to go, I will be replacing that with a good wood one here in the near future, or a collapsible one if the AWB sunsets without renewal. I will probably add a set of +4 rollers as well, just to give it a little more room to wear, and to keep it in spec.
So all in all, nice little rifle. I think I might just have to send the drunken monkey who put it together another bottle of rum and a bundle of bannanas.
I.G.B.
It was just one of many different options that I was considering, ranging from a Savage 12BVSS all the way to an AK clone.
When it came down to it though, and I was holding the CETME, there was something inside me telling me it was the one to pick up.
Now, i have been browsing CETMEs for the last couple years, and doing a fair amount of research. In that time, I have seen some really nice ones, and I have seen some really crappy ones.
Mine, asthetically, falls in there someplace. On one hand, the welds look really good, and the bolt didn't look very worn, unlike many I had seen. But on the other hand, the cocking tube was a little beat up. It looked like it had been rewelded in a couple spots, and there is a small dent about 1/3rd of the way up. But it didn't seem to affect the action at all, and it is a non-pressure bearing part, so I went for it.
Impressions.
I took the rifle home and started to toy around with it. Almost immediatly, I noticed that neither 20rd mag would seat all the way in the mag well. They fit tight, so they weren't popping out, but they weren't seating properly. I gave it a good smack, and it still wouldn't seat. So I immediatly knew the rifle would need to have that repaired.
Other than that, the rifle seemed to be in pretty decent shape. The action was resonably smooth, as smooth as an old battle rifle can be at least. The trigger is pretty heavy, as you can imagine.
I tried to clean up the magazines as best as I could, but I found one of the two to be impossible to break down. Unfortunatly, in the process of breaking it down, the floorplate was damaged, so I will have to purchase a new floorplate, or considering the condition of the mag, probably just use it for parts. Either way, I have 48 20rnd mags en route from Texas as we speak, so I am not all that broken up over it.
After doing some research, I broke down the rifle and started to check for possible issues. Anyone who is considering the CETME rifle should know about the Bolt Head problems that Century has caused. The CETME rifle uses a delayed roller blowback system, identical to what is used in the HK G3 rifles. In fact, the CETME is the predacessor to the G3. Anyways, on this type of rifle, the way to check headspace is to check the bolt gap between the bolt carrier and the back of the bolt head. If the rifle is not up to speds, than the drunken monkeys at Century sometimes will grind the back of the bolt head so that the bolt gap is in spec. Does this work? Yes. Is it good for the rifle? Probably not.
So the first thing I did was check my bolt head, and thankfully, it is unground. Whats more, my rollers are unmarked, which leads me to believe that they are the standard rollers, not the +2 or +4 that are added to properly fix the headspace issue. This means that my rifle has plenty of life left.
Disassembly takes just a few minutes, and like most firearms that aren't Glocks or XDs, is fairly difficult the first time. At least for me. But after doing it a time or two, it is really quick and easy to take apart and put back together.
My bolt gap on the rifle was in spec at .010 (specs are between .005-.020), but I knew that would probably change after I took the rifle and shot it a little.
I also decided to fix the magazine catch myself. I took apart the mechanism, and filed just a hair off of the magazine catch, and not the mags seat in perfectly with a little slap. I might take off more, but I am waiting till my other magazines come in.
At the range.
The range I frequent is not really a range, it is actually just a small clearing in the national forest where many people go to shoot their firearms. As such, there is no real firing line, and no target carriers, so you have to make your own and bring it, or use cans and bottles and whatever else you what to plink at.
I brought one home made target stand, a few targets, plus soda cans and small plastic water bottles filled with tap water. In addition, I brought 200 rounds of Australian Surplus 7.62. I also brought an SKS, a Ruger 22/45 for my wife to shoot, and my XD9c.
Since the range I use is pretty small, I set the target stand up at a paced 25 meters distance. I figured that way I could sight in the rifle on the 200meter setting (same as 25 meters), and all would be good. Not to mention that I am not that good of a rifle shot, so thats the best place for me to shoot.
I loaded up the one working magazine with 5 rounds, just to check function and aimed at a blank cardboard that was acting as the target backing. I fired all 5 rounds off pretty quickly, and was happy to see that all 5 rounds hit the target and formed a nice little pattern. Cool. It works.
Next I set up an actual target, to see where my sights were adjusted, as well as a couple of soda cans on the top of the target stands.
The rifles elevation was spot on, but the windage was a little off. When shooting offhand or kneeling, windage was pretty close, but when shooting prone off of a small ammo can, it was hitting about 1 1/2" to the right. Guess I will need to get a sight adjustment tool. Speaking of the sights, they are much nicer than the sights on my SKS. The sights are of the aperture variety at 200, 300 and 400, and open sights at 100 meters. But, realistically, the 200 meter sights should work for anything from contact to 200 meters easily.
Despite the sights being off a little, I was popping cans very easily, and I could see that this rifle was capable of shooting at least decently.
From the prone position, resting on a very small ammo can (too small, it was very difficult to get low enough to shoot) I shot a couple of groups. The first was a rapid 5 shot group, which measured just under 1", center to center, with 2 of the shots touching. Not too bad, but I was really hoping for a rifle that would shoot under 2" at 100 yards.
Well, not to fear. My next group, a 3 round group measured under .45" at 25 meters. Not bad, considering that I have only been shooting rifles a couple times a year, and that I was lying on a very rough ground with some big rocks sticking in me. I am pretty sure that I could improve that, had I been more patient with my shots, and been more comfortable. Its also worth noting that this was with Australian Surplus ammo.
Since I wasn't shooting just the CETME, and I was teaching my wife to shoot my 22/45, I only got to put 50 rounds of ammo through the rifle, but even with that few rounds, I can see that she is a keeper. No failures to feed, extract or fire.
I can't wait till I get to go out in a couple more weeks, and take it to a real range where I can shoot at 100 yards or more.
So far I am pretty happy. The sights need to be adjusted, and I think the trigger could stand to use a little work, just to be a little cleaner and lighter. The crappy plastic buttstock has to go, I will be replacing that with a good wood one here in the near future, or a collapsible one if the AWB sunsets without renewal. I will probably add a set of +4 rollers as well, just to give it a little more room to wear, and to keep it in spec.
So all in all, nice little rifle. I think I might just have to send the drunken monkey who put it together another bottle of rum and a bundle of bannanas.
I.G.B.