New Century Arms CETME First Impressions/Brief Review

[bulkfull]

I live in Hobart just north of you. Great review man. I picked one up this past winter. Cracked the stock already. will the H&K furniture fit? it $19.00 at cheaperthandirt. As far as the welding (that is what I do) the rear sight is just tacked, and if it is out a touch is an easy fix if you need it.

 

[451_Detonics]

If you want a nice trigger added to your rifle I would suggest contacting William Trigger Specialties. They offer various levels of trigger work including set triggers for the H&K, CETME, and clones. Their work is excellent and carries a lifetime warranty, I have had a dozen or more rifles worked over by them for myself and customers.

WTS Home

 

[jdmack79]

Yes, great writeup! Ive been pondering the purchase of a CETME for a while.

Oh, and Wabash Tactical is about 2 or 3 minutes from my house, another plus for me!

I'm from Terre Haute and have never heard of this place. Where is it?

 

[Eddie]

I'm from Terre Haute and have never heard of this place. Where is it?

5585 E. Grant

 

[Greenmonsta79]

I have a CETME and a PTR91 and the HK91 surplus stocks will not fit the CETME. They are both very good rifles but I have to give it to the PTR91 hands downs for fit/finish and overall quality, but man are they hard on Brass
!

 

[thompal]

I have a CETME and a PTR91 and the HK91 surplus stocks will not fit the CETME. They are both very good rifles but I have to give it to the PTR91 hands downs for fit/finish and overall quality, but man are they hard on Brass
!

I've never got to handle a PTR91. Are they an exact CETME clone? Are all parts interchangeable? I know the HK91 is a knock-off, and not all original parts fit on an HK.

 

[Greenmonsta79]

You won't be disappointed, the PTR-91 is a exact copy of a HK91 all the parts are made here in America off exact H&K specs, the CETME came first but after H&K got the rights to build it they changed some stuff most notably the bolt carrier group and buffer spring, the CETME also has a shorter barrel ("16) compared to my PTR-91 which has the "18 barrel which all original HK91's had.
but overall much better finish, when I laid them side by side you could tell the stamping in the reciever was much crisper and defined in the PTR and the welds were much much better, I am not taking anything away from the Century CETME because it cost half of what my PTR91 cost so I was expecting better quality but I am a definite HK fan, I would love to buy a registered trigger pack, that way my C91, C93, and PTR91 could have Fully automatic capabilities!

 

[sig1473]

You won't be disappointed, the PTR-91 is a exact copy of a HK91 all the parts are made here in America off exact H&K specs, the CETME came first but after H&K got the rights to build it they changed some stuff most notably the bolt carrier group and buffer spring, the CETME also has a shorter barrel ("16) compared to my PTR-91 which has the "18 barrel which all original HK91's had.
but overall much better finish, when I laid them side by side you could tell the stamping in the reciever was much crisper and defined in the PTR and the welds were much much better, I am not taking anything away from the Century CETME because it cost half of what my PTR91 cost so I was expecting better quality but I am a definite HK fan, I would love to buy a registered trigger pack, that way my C91, C93, and PTR91 could have Fully automatic capabilities!

PTRs are almost an exact copy of HK91s. The receivers are fine, but the barrels are not up to spec. The flutes are not cut deep enough and don't have as many as the original G3s. I owned 2 PTRs and they were not up to par with my Springfield SAR8 which is an exact clone of the G3. Fit and finish on the PTRs are fantastic though. The problem is with the PTRs are just with the barrel. You can find a bunch of complaining on HKPro.com about the PTRs.

 

[45-70]

I live in Hobart just north of you. Great review man. I picked one up this past winter. Cracked the stock already. will the H&K furniture fit? it $19.00 at cheaperthandirt. As far as the welding (that is what I do) the rear sight is just tacked, and if it is out a touch is an easy fix if you need it.

Get the G3/HK91 stock set with the recoil assembly attached, all you have to do is sand down the nylon washer on the recoil spring slightly. The CETME and HK buffers are completely different. The CETME attaches to the stock with 1 screw where the HK uses 2. Also be aware of 922R requirements when replacing the stock with non U.S. made parts.

 

[thompal]

PTRs are almost an exact copy of HK91s. The receivers are fine, but the barrels are not up to spec. The flutes are not cut deep enough and don't have as many as the original G3s. I owned 2 PTRs and they were not up to par with my Springfield SAR8 which is an exact clone of the G3. Fit and finish on the PTRs are fantastic though. The problem is with the PTRs are just with the barrel. You can find a bunch of complaining on HKPro.com about the PTRs.

Does the flute difference cause any problems, or are people just complaining because they are different? Does the G3/HK91 have the same flutes as a CETME?

 

[thompal]

I have a CETME and a PTR91 and the HK91 surplus stocks will not fit the CETME. They are both very good rifles but I have to give it to the PTR91 hands downs for fit/finish and overall quality, but man are they hard on Brass
!

If you can find it. Mine ejects with some authority, and my brass lands in a nice tidy group about 45 feet to my right.

 

[PurdueGunLover]

Thank for the in depth info. I think it is a beautiful gun. I would give you rep points if I knew how or could. The one I used wworked fantastically even wit hdifferent suplus loads.

 

[Greenmonsta79]

Yeah my PTR does not like surplus ammo as well as the CETME so be aware of that also (having to do with the fluting) but I am not complaining!

 

[thompal]

Yeah my PTR does not like surplus ammo as well as the CETME so be aware of that also (having to do with the fluting) but I am not complaining!

Do you have FTE with it? I've had two FTF with my CETME, and I traced that to a particular magazine that was bad feed lips that were digging into the cartridge.

 

[45-70]

I liken the CETME's and HK clones to the old Harley Davidsons, you'll like 'em a lot better if you know how to work on 'em and don't mind doing it. I love all of mine and I have had to work on every one I have owned to make them run right. That said all of the fixes have been one time fixes with no recurring problems. When the dust settles they are a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[Greenmonsta79]

I have had FTE but with surplus ammo, I was told it was because the ammo has a sealant and it gets sticky when the barrel gets hot and results in the FTE and it seems it happens like that when I shoot surplus.

 

[sig1473]

Does the flute difference cause any problems, or are people just complaining because they are different? Does the G3/HK91 have the same flutes as a CETME?

The flute difference causes a lot of problems. I had an older PTR with serial#A10** that would eat anything. Even CAVIM. My second PTR had a serial#AW44**. Would choke on surplus every now and again. My SAR8 would eat anything because it was as close to the real deal HK91 as you can get! The flutes are not cut deep enough for the tar that is found in surplus. After about 10 rounds it will start to FTE. Big headache and the only solution is to buy an aftermarket barrel with the correct flute depth cut.

 

[matrxx]

You may got lucky or they change the way they set up? I have one and can't make any complain ,just go bang,and hit while friends of mine try to beat it up:

 

[SelfDefenseInstructor]

Great review! Told me what I need to know. I dont really have the patience or mechanical aptitude to risk a Century assembled rifle. Awesome review and helpful comments!

 

[CSK22]

Awesome, can't believe I missed this thread originally. Been looking at CETMEs for a while now.