CETME, should I get one?

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I'm curious about this beast. Any owners care to share their experiences?

Are these one of those rifles that in 10 years, ill be sorry I didn't pick up on the cheap?

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I'm curious about this beast. Any owners care to share their experiences?

Are these one of those rifles that in 10 years, ill be sorry I didn't pick up on the cheap?

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maybe. depending on the quality of the gun, they're awesome weapons. Ive fired a few, liked them....so yeah, it may be a kick yourself in the nuts situation if you pass them up on short money.
 
Be careful when buying them- Century Arms has made a ton of these, and their headspacing methods are dubious at best. Some are made correctly, some were put together by jojo the monkey.

If the bolt face looks ground down- run away as fast as you can. This is a sure sign of trouble- even if it does headspace correctly after such tom foolery, you'll more than likely get to experience the pure joy of broken primers with your brand new store bought gun. Better wear a balaclava.

Magazines are cheap, but .308 isn't anymore. Some people claim sub MOA accuracy on these rifles but in reality they are full of shit. It's a nice battle rifle if it wasn't put together by a retard.
 
You should read up on headspace, ground bolt carriers, and Century monkeys before you buy one. They aren't all bad - but there was a period where Century was grinding bolt carriers as a shortcut to setting headspace correctly. They assemble correctly now, I believe, but that doesn't help the one I bought. [sad]

If you find a good one, it will have most of the positives and negatives of the G3. Not a bad rifle, ammo is expensive, G3 mags are cheap, and so on.

ETA: If you run across a MARS imported CETME, it's the real deal, semiauto, from the factory in Spain. Excellent rifles. It will usually have another digit in the price tag, too.
 
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Had one, CAI with cast steel receiver. Unground bolt, wood furniture. As noted by flintoid, they are not MOA rifles. But it went bang every single time without fail. Very gentle recoil for a .308 with that massive bolt carrier.
 
Dradian,
I bought one a few years back and have had nothing but good luck with mine. I have heard that they are a hit or miss on the Century versions. The one I picked up for 599 at BMG in Newington, CT. is just what it is, a battle rifle. I will only shoot ammo that I have no intention on reloading, it destroys the cases, I mean mangled, but it rocks with irons at 2-300 yards, no problem. I am shooting a 10 inch target at 200 yds. repeatedly. Cleaning is not difficult as I pretty much spray it with brake cleaner, give it a good scrub with a brush, oil it, clean out the barrel and put it back together, have a day. I wish I could afford an HK, but I have to feed the kids on occasion, so this works. Get one and have fun.
 
Dradian,
I bought one a few years back and have had nothing but good luck with mine. I have heard that they are a hit or miss on the Century versions. The one I picked up for 599 at BMG in Newington, CT. is just what it is, a battle rifle. I will only shoot ammo that I have no intention on reloading, it destroys the cases, I mean mangled, but it rocks with irons at 2-300 yards, no problem. I am shooting a 10 inch target at 200 yds. repeatedly. Cleaning is not difficult as I pretty much spray it with brake cleaner, give it a good scrub with a brush, oil it, clean out the barrel and put it back together, have a day. I wish I could afford an HK, but I have to feed the kids on occasion, so this works. Get one and have fun.

My experience also; I jumped onto a group buy with the guys I work with and we bought 10 @ 299.00 each from Century. I'm not aware that anyone had any problems with their weapon....mine was just in need of a major cleaning..the action was full of brass shavings and gunk. Once I hosed it with brake cleaner and lubed it, it worked fine. I got a full auto bolt for it last fall; I want to throw my registered H&K sear in a trigger pack and try it on full auto...sure to be a handfull. One of the guys in the group bailed at the last minute, so I have a spare that still has the tags on it in my safe (but another friend has been 'suggesting' that I sell it to him)
 
My boss has an original and she says it's awesome. I'll be shooting it week after next up in Acton.
 
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