CETME sighting

[drine]

Not really much of a report but an observation. My local DNR range is full nowadays. We paced the WASR10 I just bought and added some personal touches to. Good enough shot groups, kids loved it, and I can't believe I like it as much as or more than my AR15 which was 3X as much money invested.
Anyway, a band of misfits well armed had the first table. Mall ninja AK, a nice Romak sniper, Yugo underfolder, Mosin, and a new CETME!! He said they fetched a 1000.00 but he got it for 600.00. I quickly asked if I could take a look and a few measurements. It had wood and the loudener. Stamped receiver. The wood looked as bad as any I've ever seen. The metal was VERY nice. A quick CTD order will fix her up. Best news, for him, was good cocking arm clearance and a bolt gap of .014". That's straight off the shelf. No grind marks and a new looking bolt carrier. He shot a few boxes of Barnaul as I watched and no issues there. That is the fourth one I've seen now off the shelf that didn't have to be refitted. They are all late issue to boot.

[IL DUCE]

Not really much of a report but an observation. My local DNR range is full nowadays. We paced the WASR10 I just bought and added some personal touches to. Good enough shot groups, kids loved it, and I can't believe I like it as much as or more than my AR15 which was 3X as much money invested.
Anyway, a band of misfits well armed had the first table. Mall ninja AK, a nice Romak sniper, Yugo underfolder, Mosin, and a new CETME!! He said they fetched a 1000.00 but he got it for 600.00. I quickly asked if I could take a look and a few measurements. It had wood and the loudener. Stamped receiver. The wood looked as bad as any I've ever seen. The metal was VERY nice. A quick CTD order will fix her up. Best news, for him, was good cocking arm clearance and a bolt gap of .014". That's straight off the shelf. No grind marks and a new looking bolt carrier. He shot a few boxes of Barnaul as I watched and no issues there. That is the fourth one I've seen now off the shelf that didn't have to be refitted. They are all late issue to boot.

Just wondering if there is any way to tell if I have an early or late build from the serial #. She was purchased used and I have no idea as to the age of the rifle. The rifle is a "Cetme sporter" (Black widow) built in Georgia, VT.

[MID]

The lastest cetmes i have seen come with a us made cetme flash hidder, the bayo lug and cleaning kit, And seem to have extra us parts.

[drine]

I think late models but not the latest is what I've seen. Sounds stupid as I write it. The guy I met on the boards here had a new one with no FH at all. That was last year. I know where the guy bought the one above and it's been sitting there for a few years.

[SteelCore]

"WASR10 ... I can't believe I like it as much as or more than my AR15 which was 3X as much money invested."

Yeah, they're fun. I really dig the AKs, especially the polish UF I have. I could almost bought an AR for the price of it, or definitely assembled an AR for the price...but I just like AKs more.

The CETME numbering system isn't a very good indicator of age. They often (IIRC) made receivers/trunnion/bbl assys then numbered them, then shelved them in no particular order, then got the internal parts and grabbed one and stuck the parts in it. Because CAI did not do much for serial number tracking, you can't really say that two sequentially numbered CETMEs were made in that order.

As for the CAI LOUDENER (MuzzleBrake), they were on all the 'in-ban' CETMEs (when I bought mine) and on some of the post ban, I think when they ran outta US internal parts to have the true FH.

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