CETME Receivers

[Jack19]

How do you tell the difference between the old stamped steel receiver from Century (which by all accounts had some problems) and the new stamped steel receiver from Century (which people are saying is a lot better)?

 

[Chipperman]

I've seen a couple of newer ones that certainly have a better finish than the older ones. Not sure if that directly equates to the more reliable ones, though.

 

[David Roberson]

From what I understand, Century's first run of receivers was the stamped variety, followed by the cast stainless ones, then followed by another round of stamped ones. The problems seem to be with the first round of stamped ones. Unfortunately, I don't know a dependable way of telling them apart, although I would think that by now most of the first run would be out of dealers' hands.

Best bet is to examine the guns carefully before you buy one. I looked at CETMEs at a gun show this fall and was not satisfied with their fit and finish. In December I found several decent ones at a show, and purchased one. It's a decent rifle, and well worth the $299 that they're bringing these days.

 

[gun-fucious]

wasn't Special Weapons Todd Bailey making the SS recievers?


http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:oN_xIPLO_CoC:www.specialweaponsllc.com/

The quality of the SW3 receiver was so impressive that Century Arms contacted me about buying it for use on their product, and they did currently the SW3 tooling is used to build both Hk91 clones and cetme clones for century arms and as of Jan 2002 they have built more then 5000 of these guns using this receiver design.

 

[Gewehr98]

Thinking seriously about one...

The latest issue of Shotgun News has a review of the Century CETME rifles. David Fortier got one to shoot into 1" at 100 yards using Winchester 168gr Match ammo. That's pretty good for a $300 battle rifle.

First thing I want to do if I get one is buy the converted G-3/HK91 synthetic furniture from www.nouglyguns.com. That, or find a pistol grip in wood to match the CETME's wooden buttstock and forend.


I'm already segregating brass that's not gonna get reloaded after getting fluted by the CETME.

 

[David Roberson]

Gewehr98, you can certainly segregate that brass if you want to, but brass that's fired in HK and CETME fluted cylinders can in fact be reloaded without problems. Actually, your brass will fare better if you put an ejection port buffer on the gun, since it will eliminate the ding in the case that it gets slamming against the edge of the ejection port, but the flutes don't pose any difficulty for reloading.

 

[telewinz]

One of the biggest myths from non-owners of HK/G3/CETME rifle. I've reloated for them for years with no major proble,. The fluted chamber leaves black lines on the fired cases that wipe right off. Now the case mouth is a different story, ejection tends to heavily dent the case mouth. Sometimes so bad I can't reload the case or I have to use a pair of needle nose pliers to straighten the case mouth so I can insert the case into the decapping/resizing die. No big deal, I bet one of the buffers would eleminate that problem as stated above.

 

[Gewehr98]

Those black lines didn't wipe off for me.

Not without chucking up the brass in a lathe and turning them off. Definitely not a myth, in my experiences. I "loaned" some of my good Lapua 7.61x51 match ammo to a HK91 owner. They looked awful after he fired them off. I even resized and reloaded them, and fired them in my BM-59 to try and iron out the fluted brass. No tally - the flutes remain.

I may just order or find a bunch of brass and set it aside, along with a cheap set of Lee Pacesetter dies, for exclusive CETME use.

The good brass and dies will stay with the 700PSS, BM-59, and M14NM.

Now, does the ejection port buffer from the HK91/G-3 fit the CETME easily?

BTW, ALL my rifle ammo, 24 different chamberings, is handloaded.

 

[David Roberson]

I'm told the HK buffer does fit the CETME, but I can't confirm that from personal experience. I do know that it helps HKs treat the brass much more gently (as far the ejection port dings go -- it of course doesn't affect the flute marks).

Also, I agree that it's not best to use match brass in the CETME -- I reseve mine for my match .308s. But the original issue was whether brass fired in HKs and CETMEs can be reloaded, and it definitely can.

 

[Roadrunner]

Here are some of my Cetme links you might find helpful:

Unofficial Homepage of the CETME fusil de asalto

The CETME Page

CETME Forum

 

[tlhelmer]

Great info. You guys are a great source of gun knowledge.

I am thinking about a CETME and this was helpful.

 

[Fatelvis]

I agree with Gewehr, the fluting on my brass stayed also, when I had a `91. It was the only thing that I didnt like about the rifle, though.