Keep in mind I dont know a damn thing about Cetme rifles or HK's so any help for a Cetme newbie would be very helpful.


Thanks.

Just stay far and away from the Hesse HK clone.

Unless you like to tinker, and like frustration, or have a butt load of money to buy either an early/new condition parts or pay someone to fix up crap, I'd say stay a way!  

Why do I say this....I own one.  I have way too much money invested in this to make it right.  Yes, It's a hoot, but it was pretty frustrating getting to where it is now.  Headspace(known as boltgap in the HK world), worn out trunnions, ground bolts, worn locking pieces, soft recievers, canted front sight posts, tough/stuck cocking handles, poor/broken welds, and a host of other fun things are waiting for the unknowing guy who buys one.  Not every one of the listed problems was on my rifle, but too many were!

You have been warned.

are you going to get that cetme me at outdoor?

Quoted: are you going to get that cetme me at outdoor?

Yeah I think I might buy it tomorrow. If all goes well. If it doesn't work I'll send it back to Century until it does.

I don't mean to be raining on your parade, sorry about that.  When you get it, check out gunboards.com; they have a Cetme board that is a wealth of knowledge.  They will also have a list of things to look for before buying.  It will save you some of the hassle of sending it back to CAI.   The rifle really is fun to shoot.  Mine has never failed to function, but its parts are pretty worn out.  Think of it coming in in "good" C&R condition, and you will not be dissapointed.  The finish will look great, its just the internals that are well worn on the current batch of rifles.  
Good luck!

762,
Man, if that aint a Grand list of shortcomings of the Cetme! It must be a combination of the ATFs' move to ban the new parts assemblies and the exhaustion of parts in Madrid. I guess my price of $700. indicates you get what you pay for!There were no used or shaved parts put in its assembly. Apparently unlike the present Cetmes, the one I have came to me lock,stock and barrel new. Sorry to read about the Cetmes'
present deterioration-Cent would be better off not assembling them!Hk 91 and HkPro are the sites to check out for the Cetme owners, not the boards really,

Iriqoise,
You didn't get taken for your 700.  I've got 550 in mine, 300 plus all of the expenses(new bolt, locking piece, +4 rollers) I have had to do to make it right, and I still just have a very well worn rifle.  I just hope people who are buying them for 300 understand what they are getting.

I didnt see whether the one you are looking to buy is used or new but in the event that its used, look through the barrell for rust build up and for the rifiling being worn out. The headspacing issue is big to look for, but its a easily fixed item if it is out of spec.
I personally believe that this is a fine gun to plink around with. Its by far my favorite rifle.
The parts for this gun are relatively cheap but are getting harder to come by. You wont be dissapointed unless you get a Hesse or a CIA lemon.

Another thing that I highly recommend doing if possible is taking out the bolt carrier and checking for rust pitting. Some dealers will be glad to take it apart for you as long as it doesnt do any damage in doing so. To get the bolt carrier out of one, it takes some pounding on the stock if its never been apart and some dealers may not want to do that to a new gun.

Quoted: The headspacing issue is big to look for, but its a easily fixed item if it is out of spec. You wont be dissapointed unless you get a Hesse or a CIA lemon.

I dissagree with these statements. First, the bolt gap is not an always easy fix, and it shows that the rifle is very worn internally.   If it has a groud bolt, your in even bigger trouble.  True, +4 rollers are easy, but not a cure all, and the locking piece is and probably worn out also.  If you replace both the rollers and locking piece and still have a gap problem, your trunion is worn and will need the barrel repressed.  That final problem is a killer, and might leave you with a large paper weight.  Chances are you will have way more than 600 invested at that point.  These are not cheap fixes.  I know, I've faced them.  

Second, I may be wrong on this.  FAC(I think), Hesse, and CAI are the only ones who built these rifles, correct? FAC's are the only ones I would consider.  They are far fewer than the CAI's.  CAI's are not worth his trouble in my opinion.

Well know I see why you guys say not to buy a cetme........
So you can buy up all the mags and ammo.
I bought a cetme with the plastic stock set yesterday and took it out today.
Out of 150 rounds of S/A, Indian and Radway Green I had only 3 problems.
2 opf the problems were FTF and that was with the third and sixth rounds I fired today.The other was a lite primer strick at about round 75 or so. It seemed to shoot good for Iron sights. Im more of a scope man myself.

Overall for $340 and some change I dont think you can go wrong with a cetme.

Then again maybee I just got lucky.

i shot arks cetme today !!!!!!!

man oh man it was awsome. talk about a muzzel blast. you know when you shoot a cetme.
ark and spark got a great rifle  at a great price. now i want one too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!        =( ark i could kill you!!!
john

hey ark, how hard was it to field strip that bad boy?

GUN762-
Rollers, bolts and carriers are getting harder to find they are reasonably priced. Ive only been into mine for about 4 or 5 months but there is no way thats $600. Maybe with the gun its $600. But not in parts alone. Mine was looked like it had been through a war but did not have any headspacing issues. Its attributable to either the brand of the carrier or the care that had been given to it in the past.

This is a easily repaired item, either by going up a size in rollers or replacing the whole carrier unit.

FWIW mines a FAC and unless you plan on buying  a authentic one, thats is also the one I recommend.

Second, I may be wrong on this. FAC(I think), Hesse, and CAI are the only ones who built these rifles, correct? FAC's are the only ones I would consider. They are far fewer than the CAI's. CAI's are not worth his trouble in my opinion


My opinion exactly so why are you disagreeing? You echoed my statement.

Quoted: hey ark, how hard was it to field strip that bad boy?

It was easy to strip and clean. Hey apolloz66 The cetme I got is a CAI it has none of the problems I have read about on other sites. I guess I just got lucky.

i agree you did get a good one, i hope i far as well.

I got lucky as hell.I bought one of the 1st Cetme's,wood,barrel,all internals looked like new.I've got the S.S. receiver with the original Cetme sights.I did have to send it back to the Century monkeys because of the sights but I've never had any other problem in 1000 rds.

ark did you figure out how to adj round stike left or right?

Yes I checked out Perro's cetme rifle forum and found all kinds of useful info on how to sight it and stuff.

cool when are we going to get it sited in agian

I recently bought a century 91 (only real difference is the 91 has the hk drum sight). I'm a bit unhappy with a few things tho.. I got CETME synthetic funiture, which means the rear butstock is hollow, has no sling loop, and has no holes for the large pushpins. The forearm does not have functional vents, and there is no aluminum heatshield. My trigger pack frame was exetremely rare, and the tabs that needed to be clipped has just been broken off on both sides. And never ground down or at least smoothed out. Bolt carrier has a little bit of rust pitting, and the inside of the reciever is pitted a little as well. BUT, the rifle functions. I went out last weekened and shot about 100rnds of some exetremely dirty Venezuela, before the chamber got soo sapped up from it, that it couldnt cycle. The shell casings were coming out almost completely covered with what looked like black tree sap. I fired a few (with fail to ejects on all of them) of some cleaner ammo (PMC I believe) and the casings came out pretty clean (not covered in the sap stuff). The clean ammo that failed, had gobs of it around the casing tho.

If your looking at a century rifle, be careful and make shure you can work out a deal to examine the rifle before paying its full amount.