Last week I went into my local gun shop, and was looking to buy an AK47, I was looking on the rack and a firearm caught my attention. It was sitting between the AK s and the SKS s
. I looked it over, and liked the general look of it, and bought it.
Turned out to be a Cetme Sporter.
Took it home, broke it down (after about 45 mins of reading, and tinkering), cleaned it up, and lubed it very well, than stuck it back together.
I am planning next week to take it out and shoot it for the first time (brand new firearm). Any surgestions? I heared there are problens with loading, when they are new, and they love to blow bullet casings apart. (I did buy .308 Nato surpluss, and british 7.62mm surpluss).
Any ideas? I have 140 rounds to play with. :)

Wear safety glasses!! Sorry best I can do at 2:45 am.

Wear safety glasses!! Sorry best I can do at 2:45 am.

Try this one...is a "sticky" that has some good information for new CETME owners and links to other CETME boards:

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=47

Are a lot of things to check...but the main ones are the bolt-gap (which is a way of checking headspace). That board has some rabid CETME fans, and any question posted will be answereed quickly and in detail.

I bought one of the early ones, and have been pleased with it. Did all the checks they described, it passed, but did have some issues with iron sight alignment....but in there are some links to sight alingmnent fixes that worked just fine.

I have the HK models 91 and 93. If memory serves me correctly, they are about the same as the CETME. Assuming that to be correct and assuming quality is about the same, you have nothing to worry about. The bolt gap ribbonstone mentions can be viewed through the magazine well and that check should be covered in the owners manual. The HK uses a fluted chamber. Makes for some very ugly cases and they not only throw the empties twenty feet, they put a nice dent in the side of the case. A buffer will cure this problem and about two days in a case tumbler cleans them up. The only "blow ups" or case separations I have had were from using brass that had went through an M60. Now for the beauty of that fluted chamber, as the case head is torn off and spit out, the bypass gas in the flutes clears the case body out as well. Never had a complaint with mine, hope you have good luck as well.

I have the HK models 91 and 93. If memory serves me correctly, they are about the same as the CETME. Assuming that to be correct and assuming quality is about the same, you have nothing to worry about. The bolt gap ribbonstone mentions can be viewed through the magazine well and that check should be covered in the owners manual. The HK uses a fluted chamber. Makes for some very ugly cases and they not only throw the empties twenty feet, they put a nice dent in the side of the case. A buffer will cure this problem and about two days in a case tumbler cleans them up. The only "blow ups" or case separations I have had were from using brass that had went through an M60. Now for the beauty of that fluted chamber, as the case head is torn off and spit out, the bypass gas in the flutes clears the case body out as well. Never had a complaint with mine, hope you have good luck as well.

Same basic roller-locked/fluted chamber design (believe some German "immigrants" right after WWII just continued the development under Franco's blessings).

Problem with some CETME's is that they come over as parts, the Reciever is made in the USA, and the miss-match of parts are assembled into a rifle (not really bad, they were desinged to be parts interchanageable)...the good news is that the current recievers have better quality control than the first ones.

Yep...is loud with military ammo, tosses cases only slightly less far than it throws bullets, beats the devil out of the cases on ejection, may gag on soft point ammo, and usually has a horrible trigger pull. Nearly all .308 "assult" rifles share those traits.

Yep...is loud with military ammo, tosses cases only slightly less far than it throws bullets, beats the devil out of the cases on ejection, may gag on soft point ammo, and usually has a horrible trigger pull. Nearly all .308 "assult" rifles share those traits.[/QUOTE]

I always appreciate your comments Mr. ribbonstone. I think we share a deranged ancestor somewhere. Guess it's been awhile since I shot mine. You reminded me of that petite trigger pull. OK, if I had to complain.....horrible 8 lb trigger pull and the bolt doesn't lock open on the last round. Other than that, the guns are perfect....unless you remind me of something else....

Was digging in the "junk box" at a table at a big gun show...came up with an odd looking mount. Unmarked in anyway, and had the look of a home-made mount. Turning it over and over in my hands, figured out it was probably for a HK. Used more screws than it looked like it had a need for, but ended up clamping a Weaver styled base on top.

Guy got tired of me fumbling with it and said, "Don't know what it fits, but for $15 you can find out.". He settled for $12.

Did fit on the CETME, and does take Weaver rings. Substituted three threaded shafts and Weaver clamp nuts for 6 hex-head screws, and it's more or less quick detachable.

Fumbled arround with that trigger, just being sure all the pins things ride on are smooth, burr free, and moly lubed...got the trigger to a reasonable 5 1/2 pounds, smooth, but with a foot of creep.

With 168gr. HPBTM bullets and a light load of 4895 (just enough to reliably work the action...best guess has it running in the 43K area) and using CCI no.34 primers (those are the tougher cupped mil.spec. type primers) will actually stay at 1.6MOA out to 200yards...haven't a clue what it will do farther, as I've not shot it past that.

The other thing to remind you of: the safety runs bass-ackwards. Downward sweep puts the thing ON safe...the spastic upward sweep puts it on fire. Even with a monkey-thumb, getting it from safe to fire requires you to shift your grip.

Doubt mine have ever seen 1.6 MOA. 3 MOA on a good day maybe....but then, I have never robbed some poor victim out of a claw lock scope mount for 12 bucks. ( I assume it's the claw lock design) My strict morals would dictate that I pay the entire 15 dollars. I have heard B-Square makes a good scope mount but I never got around to buying one. Years back, I planned on getting the original HK claw lock mount and bi-pod but probably waisted the money on something silly like food. Maybe I'll get a renewed interest and tinker with mine a bit. Might follow your lead and see what a little trigger work and a scope will do. Next good deal you find...remember, you have friends in Oklahoma....and Christmas is just around the corner.....

Doubt mine have ever seen 1.6 MOA. 3 MOA on a good day maybe....but then, I have never robbed some poor victim out of a claw lock scope mount for 12 bucks. ( I assume it's the claw lock design) My strict morals would dictate that I pay the entire 15 dollars. I have heard B-Square makes a good scope mount but I never got around to buying one. Years back, I planned on getting the original HK claw lock mount and bi-pod but probably waisted the money on something silly like food. Maybe I'll get a renewed interest and tinker with mine a bit. Might follow your lead and see what a little trigger work and a scope will do. Next good deal you find...remember, you have friends in Oklahoma....and Christmas is just around the corner.....

Trust me...it's not an HK claw mount. Who ever made this, did it in five pieces. Think of a thick Weaver type base, with 4 "feet" arranged to screw into the sides...each foot machined to clamp on the pads of a HK. In place of the two screws that were made to attach each of the 4 foot-pads, I changed them to a threaded stud that runs all the way through the base, with lock nuts on the end (coin slotted Weaver base nuts). That way, it runs on four threaded nuts on 4 non-mobile threaded shafts rather than 8 individual hex-heads.

Without any markings, and not looking like any other mount sold (and I still believe it wasn't sold, but made by some one with a lot of time on his hands)...could have ended up paying $12 for $.02 of scrap steel and 8 hex-head screws (8X32 thread...not a gunsmith size, a hardware size).

This old CETME was assembled with what seems to be all new, never been used, parts. Main headache was wearing in...most parts had a thick coating of parkerizing that needed to wear in a bit.

Certainly don't get that type of accuracy with the normal surplus ball loads it usually gets fed....to get that level, need to pamper it a bit with real match loadings, and to load to a lower level...clocked those 168's are moving about 2400fps. Same ammo will shoot 1/2 that groups size in a Rem. PSS, and do it for 10-round groups. Don't do it that often, is a shame what it does to match-preped cases.

CETME isn't heat freindly...should be, as the reasoning for having a 20round mag. seems to dictate many shots in a short time frame, but that barrel is kind of thin, is well covered by wood and the upper gas tube, is hog-tied at the sight base, so heat tends to build up rather fast. As it gets hot, it strings.
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Change "gas tube" in that last paragrap to "upper tube"..ain't no gas running in that thing, just a long breech block extention and cocking handle system.

i would asume that the Sporter line also has heat problems?
http://www.gunuts.com/view.php?view=details&model_id=203&type=2

Guess that counts as a "sporter". The SL6 and SL7 sporters (the only one's I've shot) didn't have any heating problems i noticed...but they ran on a differnt system and the barrels were about as free cleating as it's possible to make them with a good amount of space between metal and any wood.

For all their weight, not much of it is barrel weight. Peal that fore end off and take a good look at the barrel diameter...and with that hog-tie at the front sight, then tend to walk a bit when they got hot.

They usually shoot quite well...but have seen people run enough rounds through them in rapid fire, that the CETME's wood was blackened...never caught flames, but it was definately toasted.

On the oher hand, hard to think of any rifle whose perfomance isn't changed by excess heat...is just that some have more barrel mass and heat more slowly and are more of an "open system" to allow more rapid cooling. HK's and CETME's are heavy, but the weight is in areas not exposed to a lot of heat.

Which brings me to another point: thin barrels cool off faster than big thick barrels. Once you manage to over heat a bull-barrel rig, it takes longer for it to get badck to ambiant than an over heated slim barrled rifle.

I went out and shot 140 rounds out of it.
Not too bad.
It jamed 6 times, the problem I figured out was too much tention in the magizine. So pritty much do not load the full 20 rounds in it, and i was fine.

The Cetme can punch threw 1/4'' steal plate, and can almost punch threw 1/2'' plate.
Fairly acurate, and not very much kick back. My one complant is muzzle lift after each shot.
Overheating is an issue, I needed to let it cool for 10 minutes or so after 40 rounds.

I went out and shot 140 rounds out of it.
Not too bad.
It jamed 6 times, the problem I figured out was too much tention in the magizine. So pritty much do not load the full 20 rounds in it, and i was fine.

The Cetme can punch threw 1/4'' steal plate, and can almost punch threw 1/2'' plate.
Fairly acurate, and not very much kick back. My one complant is muzzle lift after each shot.
Overheating is an issue, I needed to let it cool for 10 minutes or so after 40 rounds.

The"real" ones had a flash hider that did a pretty good job of hiding the flash, and also did a little climb-control (these, they never have sold.

Others had a muzzle brake...it's better described as a noise enhancer as it does a mrfium-poor job of braking, but a great job at make it loud. These attachments were not standard issue on the military guns.

Others have nothing attached to the barrel...have a bit less noise directed back to the shooter, but do tend to bounch arround on the bags a bit more.

Think more shooting may cure your mag-tension jam...as issued, some magazines are a bit rough at the feed lips...this friction, plus the excess friction of the action until it breaks in, are robbing the bolt of the power needed to strip and chamber a round. Jus

Just detail clean it a second time, note the wear patter, and apply a good lubricant to those spots. At least to 200-250rounds, these rifles seem to want to run "wet" (lots of lube)...after that break in period, can go back to more normal lubrication practices.

Sounds like you have a current "production" CETME rifle from Century Arms, and you need some new production German magazines. I have been a H&K user ever since I bought my first H&K 41 back in the early 1970s (wish I still had that rifle) and have gone on with the H&K 91 and H&K 93. Since the design uses a fluted chamber for increased reliability and a self cleaning action, the cases get treated pretty roughly with the engraving on each case from the ribs in the chamber and all the carbon from the blow by in the chamber. As someone has already noted, just clean them in your tumbler or vibrator for a couple of days and they are clean. I have reloaded one batch of test cases 9 times and have no losses due to the rifle. A nice feature I have noted in these rifles is their tendency to be "garbage guts" shooting well with almost every lot of ammo. Brass recovery is my main gripe, because the discolored brass has a serious tendency to hide in the grass and weeds. That dint in the spent cases is caused by the sharp edge of the ejection port, and is cured by the use of a clip on "ejection port buffer", if you can find one. Else, you will have some battered cases that still reload okay. Oh, historically speaking, the original Spanish CETME predates the HK version by several years and used a different and underloaded .308 cartridge. (See W.H.B. Smith Small Arms of the World)

Larry

I like some of the feadback.
Since my last post i this thred, the firearm has been shooting fairly well. I switched from military amo to Lake City amo (I ran the poor guy out of military .308).
The problem with the Lake City amo is every casing has black streaks runing down the sides after being ejected.
Should I switch amo, or is this normal with non-military amo?

It fires good, but every once in a while it will jam because of one of my magizines (I have been tempted to use the misfeading magizine for a target).
If I can, I'll get a pic of my CETME posted.

That CETME has a fluted chamber...the chamber is kind of "ridged". Idea here is that the bolting sytem doesn't have any rotation to it, and rotation is what breaks a case free from the chamber walls. This fluted shape is transfered to the case; casues not real harm other than making them abundantly ugly/sooty, and mangled looking.

In the CETME (and HK's) case, the bolt is opening pretty early in the cycle...pressure can still be high enough to bind the forward part of the case to the chamber wall at the start of extraction...pressure falls off wy the time extraction has started and the case moved back a fraction of it's length. IF the case resists initial extraction, will tend to tear the head off and leave the rest of the case stuck in the chamber. Fluting reduces the amount of case/chamber contact, allowing an easier straight back extraction.

Strong (thicker) military cases are the prefeed diet of CETME's if for no other reason than they help consistant ejection...soft, thin cases will tend to be more fluted and more likely to resist ejection.

Commercial ammo is not recomended for several reasons, not just the case thickness/fluted chamber. Commercial ammo is often loaded with slower buring powders...but the CETME is going to open that breech early in the cycle. The CETME unlocks by that bolt head being pressed back, which allows the rollers to unlock. IDealy, by the time the rollers have unlocked, the pressure is well into the downward slope of the curve. IF the pressure is still high (from using slower powders), it's still going to unlock at the same time it always does, but the results can be really nasty and dangerous.

IF you get the urge to reload, will advise three things:
1. Use military cases.
2. Stick to the fast to medium buring powders (even though this gives up a bit of vel., the rifle will live happier).
3. Use CCI No. 34 primers. I ordered mine from MidWay, but haven't checked recently. These are military spec primers...all that means is that the primer cup seems a bit harder, but that's not a bad thing in the slam-feed world of military guns.

Get a dog-leg brush and be sure to scrub that chamber when cleaning.
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H&K use the system of flutes in some handgun chambedrings as well...even some of their HK4 .380's ahd fluted chambers. Really didn't seem to be needed, but they used them anyway.

Have an early Seecamp .32acp. For this one, Seecamp used a radial groove in the chamber (think of it as a cross-flute). Idea here is that that radial groove is a designed case buldge...it SLOWS extraction as the case swelles into that radial groove, retarding the extraction of the case. Didn't do much, and later Seecamps don't havet his brass mangling feature.

Detonics used the same idea in theri early Pocket 9's...the later ones abandoned the radial groove for stronger springs to slow extraction.