Pleased with Century CETME and ?s

[Leadandlevers]

Hello,

I recently got a Century built CETME, from Classic Arms.

Got it cleaned up earlier this week and took it to the range today.

First, the good:
Rifle fired no problem. I had measured the bolt gap at 0.3 mm, which is within tolerances given by various people here and elsewhere (0.1 to 0.5mm).

Sights were dead on at 50 yards. I didn't really try much more than that.

Fed Federal 180 grain soft nosed .308 just fine. The rest was 80 rounds of British RG .308 NATO surplus.

The bad:
Had a couple of failures to eject. One of the magazine's lips, the right one, was too tall, and it would hang up the bolt head so it didn't feed. That's one bad magazine. I have my doubts that it can be fixed, as it was wobbly in the well also.

The other 20 rounder and the 5 rounder fed fine.

The brass is completely beat up. I don't mean just the fluting lines, that's fine and normal.

I mean around the case mouth, it's usually bent, and there were two failures to eject which seemed to have the same symptoms. The case mouth was getting hung up somehow, leaving the empty case with a bent case mouth in the feeding area, and impeding the next round.

I looked at the bolt head, and while it measures 1.833 inches, and is also not ground, it's pretty beat up. When I was tearing it apart, there was a LOT of cosmoline in there. There are also lots of shiny steel wear marks in spots.

Could this be a worn ejector/ejector spring problem? The ejector had a lot of crud on it, especially in the spring hole also, when I cleaned it up. I'm not sure what a worn ejector looks like...

I'm thinking of ordering the Apex complete carrier assembly just to have it on hand, maybe try it out.

It seems I have a different problem than some people have posted. I have .3 mm of headspace. Is that too much?? Do I need to get UNDERSIZED rollers? I measured the rollers and they were .32 inches, or 8.128 mm. I thought rollers were supposed to be 8 mm... ?

Thanks for a great forum. The tutorial videos especially, thank you for taking the time to make and post those. They were invaluable.

[wwIIBuff]

best of luck with her, I am sure you will get the kinks worked out. As for crushed brass it just goes with the gun, you should see what my HK 93 does to .223 brass

[brewskzilla]

Oh, you'll find yourself inventing problems just so you can tinker with her.. the CETME is a WONDERFUL tinkering rifle... And I'm glad to see CAI finally pulled their head out of their hind-ends about the CETME. It would appear they have, anyway. Took me a whole frustrating year to get mine running right, and I loved every minute of it.

[rustypirate]

First, you have .3mm of BOLT GAP, which is not a direct translation of headspace, and is within spec, leave it alone unless it drops too much.

Second, the mag wells on these things are usually not in spec, and may require straigntening or adjusting to keep the mags from fitting sloppy.

The crimps on the mouth and sides of the brass is normal. Ejection with this firearm is designed to be speedy and violent. The bras should fly upwards of 20 to 30 feet, expect it to get beat to hell.

The failure to eject issue most liekly is a result of the grip frame asembly sitting too low on the receiver. This can be resolved by shimming between where the grip frame shelf engages the semi-auto shelf welded to the rear of the mag well on the receiver.

[drine]

Did the FTE occur with the civilian brass or military? Remember the civy brass is soft and thin and swells more. It will drag out and cause ejection issues and a some point a ruptured case.
Post pics if you can of the grip assembly area. Somone here can spot if it is sagging as Rusty said.
Sounds like she is working pretty well. You just got it from the vendor so it needs, as a normal bit of advice, breaking in. Shooting it, cleaning it, and dry cycling the action will do wonders. You may not have to buy parts to fix it but I always suggest to any one new to get at least the bolt head complete with extractor, +4 rollers FOR YOU OLD BOLT HEAD, a firing pin, and a locking piece for good measure. Also, get a cheap stock G3 complete stock set in case you bend/break your recoil guide rod. My kid bumped mine off the table and bent it once. Save them for a rainy day.

[Leadandlevers]

After firing it today and cleaning it, the bolt gap dropped to .12 mm.

That's a little low. I'll go ahead and order the rollers and other stuff.

Many thanks for the suggestions. You gentlemen are a true storehouse of information.

I'll try to post pictures of the gun and grip frame tomorrow.

[Leadandlevers]

FTE occurred once with civilian brass (out of the 5 round magazine), and once with military brass (out of the 20 round magazine)

Here are the pictures. I'm having a difficult time picturing how one would go about "shimming" the trigger group against the receiver. It seems when I put in the trigger group after disassembly, it is a little difficult put in, but not overly so. Once I bang the buttstock in, everything seems to line up. To me it looks pretty good.

Here you go with the pictures (I hope this works...) See what you guys think. Thanks again.

[vista461]

Is the side of your magwell bowed, is it just the lighting?

[Leadandlevers]

Nope it's just the lighting.

I will check to see if the trigger group is sitting too low. Thanks Rustypirate.

Found the following on another board:


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Sounds like your ejector is riding too low in the bolt groove. Occasionally the spent casing skims right over the ejector and stays in the bolthead for the return trip. The bolt trys to load another round, right?

I found my stainless receiver's triggerpack-well(for lack of a better word) is out of spec. The receiver isn't finished milled, so the rear area where the stock pin holes are located is too big. This makes the rear of the trigger frame droop(reason buttstock needs to be wrestled off too), placing the back of the ejector low. The lower position means the carrier has to travel farther aft before engaging the rear of the ejector to rock the front up into the groove on the bolthead. It also means the ejector won't get as much bite on the case.

If your trigger pack shelf was welded too high, the front of the pack will sit low as well. This will only compound your problem. You want the ejector to fill as much of it's groove as possible. This will give you maximum bite on the spent casing.

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[97th Signalman]

Hello,


It seems I have a different problem than some people have posted. I have .3 mm of headspace. Is that too much?? Do I need to get UNDERSIZED rollers? I measured the rollers and they were .32 inches, or 8.128 mm. I thought rollers were supposed to be 8 mm... ?

Thanks for a great forum. The tutorial videos especially, thank you for taking the time to make and post those. They were invaluable.


A gap of .3mm is about .012" which is nearly perfect. You may already have oversized rollers. Someone here will probably confirm that.