Anybody else here have CETME's?

[97th Signalman]

I have a CETME from Century Arms. Some, like mine, were problematic and took a bit of work to get runing reliably. When they are right they are great to shoot. Lots or power,  acceptable accuracy, and very low recoil for a full caliber battlerifle.

There is a Century CETME up for auction on Gunrunner Auctions as LOT # 29. It is currently at $460 with the auction ending 2/12/08. I am not looking for another one but I thought others might be interested. Gunrunners store is close to my house so I went over to look at it. Here is what I was able to determine:


Furniture: Green synthetic, buttstock is G3 type

Receiver: Stamped steel

Mags: CETME steel, seems to seat properly and tight

Ejector: Rides up high in bolt face as it should

Bolt gap: .011"

Charging piston clearence: There is very little gap if in any. I think filing a few thousandths of the bolt carrier would help without materially reducing bolt gap but I can't be sure. Oversize rollers would probably compensate for any loss of gap. Charging handle does properly cam open the bolt so operation does not require excessive force.

Muzzle brake: Century "loudner" (I see no evidence of the pin intruding into the bore)

Rear sight: CETME type

Triple frame: appears to be straight but it may be very slightly canted to the left

Trigger: US made type (forged or cast, not the CETME stamped type)

Barrel: Bore looks new

I hope this helps anyone who might be interested.

http://www.gunrunnerauctions.com/

Here is mine:

[Kit]

Can you CETME shooters tell me if the chamber is fluted on the .308 versions?

I know the smaller H&Ks have the fluted chambers that throw brass with distinctive, vertical dents in the brass.

I'm wondering if the CETME does this. It makes it really tough to glean re-loads out of that brass of the fluted variety...

Kit.

[97th Signalman]

There are no .308 CETME's. They all should fire only military 7.62 x 51 NATO type brass. All the chambers are fluted. The brass in .308 ammo is much thinner than Mil brass so it tends to flow into the flutes which permantely deforms it and makes it harder to size and reload. The resultant deformation of the civilian brass also makes it harder to extract and that can cause case head separations during extraction.

There are two ammo rules to follow in the world of CETMES:

1. Never shoot Indian ammo. It can be hazardous to your rifle and your health.

2. Fire only 7.62 x 51 Mil spec ammo. The NATO stamp on the head is your best assurance.

[Kit]

97th -

I stand corrected. I should have been more specific - I did indeed mean 7.62 NATO rather than .308 Win.

You answered my question and then some. I can see how the .308 brass would be a harder time re-sizing with thinner walls.

I've got a pile of NATO stamped 7.62 once-fired (?) brass that MUST have come from a machine gun given the neck stretching evident in the overall measurement (I've found LMG and Medium MGs have loooong chambers and tend to stretch the brass).

How much of a hinderence is the chamber fluting to reloading quality 7.62 brass? Does it reduce the number of times one can re-load?

I sure like the idea of a CETME, but am getting a bit long in the tooth to shag brass anyway....maybe I shouldn't worry about it  

[97th Signalman]

With the heavier brass on MIl Spec 7.62 x 51 the flute marks tend to be more of a tattoo rather than an actual impression so they have little or no effect on the reloading process. Full length resizing really eliminates any adverse effect from the flute marks as they are essentially cosmetic.

The dings on the case mouth and ejection dents may be more of an issue. You really have to make sure that you get uniformly round case neck. You should also trim the case to length after resizing. I have not reloaded any ammo that was fired in machine guns but I can see where it might be problematic considering the distortion that would result from oversized chambers in a fully automatic weapon.

 Also, if it is mill spec brass it probably has crimped primers so you will have to remove the crimp from the primer pocket before you can properly seat the new primers.

[Kit]

...it might be problematic considering the distortion that would result from oversized chambers in a fully automatic weapon.

... it probably has crimped primers so you will have to remove the crimp from the primer pocket ...

Yup and yup. Lots of case trimming and crimp reaming...
K.