I saw an add in the paper today for a Cetme Cent Sporter.  Going to go look at it in the morning.  Just looking for some info on the gun and expected price to pay.  I talked with the guy and he said he never shot it but it's in excellent shape.  He got it from his brother in law that just passed away.  It's a small town and I knew his brother in law so I know it's not just a myth.  He wants $350 for it.  Add says it's 7.62 but I'm pretty sure they're 7.62x54 (.308) right?  Anything I should look out for in it?  It'd be a nice piece to add to the collection.

Forgot to ask does it use it's own mags too and what's the price per mag and availability?  Thanks guys.

7.62x51mm = .308

I'm sure it uses G3 mags and you can get those for like $1

check to see if the bolt face has been ground century ground some to get the proper bolt gap insted of putting oversized rollers in.
some cetmes dont work well with g3 mags unless you mod the mag  by fileing on the mag a little

ETA check out cetmerifles.com there is alot of info there

The G3 mags...are those the one on SG for 50 for $50?  How do I tell if the bolt face had been ground?  I have a SAR and WASR and they have tool marks already, how would I distinguish the grounding from the normal century tool marks?

Here's my new toy.  Came with three mags and the scope for $350.  It is in excellent condition.  Gotta find a way to sneak it into the collection without the little lady noticing it.  Funny how these things multiply.

Watch out with Cetmes, they're like WASRs...sometimes they're lemons and sometimes they're not. Make sure the mags (even the ones that came with the gun) actually fit in the mag well for starters. They're known to have nasty feeding problems, too. They take a curved steel mag similar but not identical to HK mags and some Cetmes will take HK mags and some won't. Obviously the HK mags are cheap but even the Cetme mags are always less than $10. If it works well, they're great rifles. They're pretty accurate, they have very little recoil, and they're pretty comfortable.

Quoted: The G3 mags...are those the one on SG for 50 for $50?  How do I tell if the bolt face had been ground?  I have a SAR and WASR and they have tool marks already, how would I distinguish the grounding from the normal century tool marks?

an unground bolt will still have a rounded edge around the front and you should be able to see wear marks
a ground one will be sharp and you can tell it got hit with a grinder
the one that I had was ground but was not right so I added larger rollers
look around on cetmerifles.com it helped me out alot

BLM

I checked mine out and no ground marks.  I haven't shot it yet but plan on doing it within the week.  I'll give a range report when I do.  One other question that came to mind when playing with it: is it pretty tough to charge the rifle?  I mean it seems like a heavy pull on the charging handle vs. an AK or AR.

Weasel, BEFORE you shoot that rifle check the bolt gap.

Go to your local parts store and buy a "feeler gauge", if you don't already own one.  Pull back all the way on the charging handle and let the bolt/carrier fly forward into "battery" on an empty chamber.  Look up through the magwell and insert the feeler gauge between the bolt head and the bolt carrier.  The acceptable range is .01-.05mm or .004"-.020", the closer to the larger numbers the better. Remember, the numbers get SMALLER as the bolt gap diminishes.

Do this BEFORE you shoot it.  If the number is too small, it is not difficult at all to replace the rollers with "+" sized rollers to bring the bolt gap back into spec.  All it takes is a small hammer and a small punch (or a skinny nail ground flat if you're a ghetto-smith like me) and new rollers available from good places like RobertRTG parts.

If the bolt gap is out of spec, not only is it really hard on the gun, it can be dangerous to deadly.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check the gap BEFORE you shoot it.  At  worst, you'll own a brand new $10 feeler gauge that you can use the next time you need to adjust the solid lifters on your racecar.

Oh yes, on my Century "Black Widow" CETME Sporter, I had to slightly reshape the front of the mag well with some hammer and punch work to get my G3 mags to seat and feed right.  Yeah, it made a few ugly spots, but it works a ton better now.  

BTW, that's some good looking wood on there! Have fun with it AFTER you check that bolt gap.

I'll definately check the bolt gap BEFORE I head out to shoot.  Thanks for the advice.

Shoot only Military ammo. If you use commercial ammo you run the risk of shearing the base of the cartridge off. Commercial brass is not as thick as Military brass. Any surplus 7.62 x 51mm will suffice. Also, do not shoot any steel cased ammo out of it.