Cetme cocking handle to bolt carrier clearance

[earls]

I am new to the forum but have read much great info here, thanks to all for sharing your knowledge and opinions.
My bolt gap is .025 and I have no free play in the cocking lever support to bolt carrier.
I removed the cocking lever and support. With both removed my bolt gap is .009". I checked it a few times to verify. I reinstalled the cocking lever and support and the gap went back to .025".
So in my way of thinking the bolt carrier is being held slightly open by the cocking lever. The quickest and easiest fix I can think of would be to buff the end of the bolt carrier to obtain clearance, though this may not be the best way.
I posted this on another forum and replacing rollers was suggested. I don't think rollers will solve this problem.
Looking for solutions before I do anything.
Thanks,
Earl

[drine]

Welcome Earl! You are dead right. The carrier is too long. .025 would be too much gap anyway. File the end off squarely until you reach that .009 gap. Negative rollers wouldn't help. That is the only choice here. Well unless you want to cut your cocking tube loose and reweld it long enough. Not a good idea.

[jfowl31]

+1 to Drine's post. File the carrier back until you get clearance. You don't want too much clearance or it will be hard to cock/charge. Just a tiny bit ( a few thousandths) of wiggle room so you know for sure its not resting on the charging handle.

Welcome to the site! Post up some pics of the rifle!

[97th Signalman]

It is really pretty simple (yeah, I know everyone always says that). It sounds like there is no wiggle room between the cocking piece and the tube end of the bolt carrier. The way to correct this is to shorten the bolt carrier. I did mine with a file. I just removed the bolt carrier and clamped it vertically in a padded vise with the end of the carrier tube facing up. I used a medium file to shorten the tube. I filed slowly taking care to keep the end square with the axis of the carrier tube.

I removed a small amount and reassembled to check to see if I had achieved a little wiggle room with the bolt closed all the way forward. I repeated this step as many times as needed to attain about .010" to .020" if wiggle room. It is important to remove small amounts at a time and check the clearence frequently. You don't want to remove too much as it is impossible (or at least very difficult) to put metal back. If you do remove too much you will be able to raise the cocking handle to its verticel position with out camming open the bolt. If you do this the bolt will be almost impossible to open and the carrier will have to be replaced. So proceed slowly and check your progress often. DONT OVER DO IT.

When you get it right, you will have a small increment of free travel as you begin to raise the cocking handle. A bit after you start to raise the handle you will feel some resistance as you are now camming the bolt open to unlock it. That is just how it should work with the proper clearence.

When you are done reassemble the gun and check for bolt gap. This will be your "true" gap as bolt can now go fully into battery since it will no longer be prevented from doing so by cocking piece interference with the end of the bolt carrier.

I am not an expert but this worked for me and it should work for you. Remember...work slowly and check your results often. If you don't feel confident that you can do the job yourself, then take it to a qualified gunsmith who knows CETME's (Sadly, most don't know a thing about them).

[earls]

Thanks drine, jfowl31, & 97th Signalman for confirming what I felt was the proper course of action to repair my problem.
Instead of using a file I used my die grinder with a scotch-brite buffing pad to buff the end. I kept it squared / flat then lightly camfered the edge when finished. This way the leading edge of the carrier also rides smoother in the cocking tube
I have about .004-.005" clearance on the carrier and .009" bolt gap.
It shoots like a dream.
2" 3 shot groups at 100 yards.
1 shot 225 yard on the run coyote head shot.
Some other mods I have made:
HK G3 lower converted to semi with new hammer, sear, trigger, and clipped & pinned. (Safe and fire positions more desirable to me)
Install paddle mag release.
HK wide handguard with bipod.
Tapco 6-position stock. I also have HK collapsible stock but it was still too short for me.
Also have Cetme bayonet which looks awesome.
My next project I hope will be an HK 33 kit build started later this month.
Thanks for the advice.
Earl

[bladeworks123]

:ttiwwop:

[drine]

If you want to tinker some more, get some +4 rollers(unless you already have them) and see if a 12 or 14 gap makes it shoot any better.
Post pics of the 33 build if you can. drine

[jbruney]

They've got you covered well....Good luck and enjoy a fine rifle.