Cetme .308 Sporter Quality

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A friend of mine asked me to take a look at a Cetme .308 Sporter he picked up for a "good deal". He explained that the factory mags were sloppy plus wouldn't feed the last round.

So I broke it down to see what the issue could be, and this is what I found. The area where the mag release is seated wasn't sufficiently stamped, cut, or deburred. So, I squeezed that section a little to square it out. Then I took some small files and deburred it. Worked nice. However that wasn't the real problem. On the back of the barrel is a ledge where the mag should catch, kinda like the mini-14. Well, there's about an 1/8" gap. apparently the barrel is pinned too far forward on the reciever. Fortunately the firearm is still under warranty. He plans on sending it in. Just thought I would share.

[Funk55]

Was the rifle a Century one? I have heard the QC at century is lacking....
Good luck.

[Delta]

Was the rifle a Century one? I have heard the QC at century is lacking....
Good luck.
+1

[michiganfan]

Had one a few years back from Century. Would not go into battery. Sent it back.

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Had one a few years back from Century. Would not go into battery. Sent it back.
We called century about the problem, they didn't seemed surprised. Lucky my buddies rifle is under warranty until march of 2012. Century said the turnaround for repair/replacement could be more than 6 weeks. He wanted to hunt with it this year and opted to wait till the end of November. I alterd his 5-rounder for him by welding a small bead on the notch side of the mag and grinding a ledge on it. Feeds fine.

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Got an update for the Century Arms .308 Sporter issue(s). So my bud finally got off his dead butt and called Century Arms about the poor quality of his rifle. The first person he spoke to was kind and pleasant. Once she gathered his info, she promptly directed his call to the vermont office for processing the warranty work and/or replacement. So now they say they have to e-mail a waiver form for shipping and processing to verify he's the owner and is over 18 years of age. Okay, no problem there. So after a day or so, still no e-mail. He calls back and now they want him to fax over a proof of purchase. Okay, I guess. So he calls the FFL he purchased the item from and got him to fax the info to them. He calls back to verify they recieved the fax and to proceed with the warranty thing. They now want to know why he waited so long to return it and that it seems "suspicious". What? So they tell him they're gonna review the "case" and get back to him. Now remember the rifle is still under warranty until march. What a load.

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Alright, so century decided to send the form for my bud to verify he's over 18 and the original purchaser of this POS sporter, so he can have it warrantied. The form says to fax it back with a copy of a government issued ID. He asks me to do it from work. He needs his license to drive, so I take his CPL to work with me and send all the info to Jack-hole-central, er I mean century arms. He calls them to verify they recieved it and they tell him yes, and they will e-mail a shipping form for the POS. A few days go by, and instead of a shipper, he gets a request to resend the form because his CPL is insufficient identification. Oh boy, these guys are irritating to say the least. The form doesn't say "drivers license". It says "ID". I'll ask my bud when we send the form again today if he want's to include a urine sample, some DNA and maybe a finger or something. I mean jeesh, enough already. You already know your product is at the bottom of the barrel in average quality. Now you can include customer service satisfaction as well. To be continued...

[Dabears!]

Alright, so century decided to send the form for my bud to verify he's over 18 and the original purchaser of this POS sporter, so he can have it warrantied. The form says to fax it back with a copy of a government issued ID. He asks me to do it from work. He needs his license to drive, so I take his CPL to work with me and send all the info to Jack-hole-central, er I mean century arms. He calls them to verify they recieved it and they tell him yes, and they will e-mail a shipping form for the POS. A few days go by, and instead of a shipper, he gets a request to resend the form because his CPL is insufficient identification. Oh boy, these guys are irritating to say the least. The form doesn't say "drivers license". It says "ID". I'll ask my bud when we send the form again today if he want's to include a urine sample, some DNA and maybe a finger or something. I mean jeesh, enough already. You already know your product is at the bottom of the barrel in average quality. Now you can include customer service satisfaction as well. To be continued...
so your buddy gave you his gun that wasnt working.
you voided his warranty by working on it.
and now are telling him to send it to century?


lucky they will even warranty it

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so your buddy gave you his gun that wasnt working.
you voided his warranty by working on it.
and now are telling him to send it to century?


lucky they will even warranty it

Not sure if you read the first post. If by working on it you mean Adjusting the mag well from being horribly deformed and sharp as a razor, then yes, I worked on it. The welding was on a 5 round hunting mag. The firearm was un-altered. It looked better than the way he recieved it. Just as a side note: I am a journeyman toolmaker.

[Dabears!]

Not sure if you read the first post. If by working on it you mean Adjusting the mag well from being horribly deformed and sharp as a razor, then yes, I worked on it. The welding was on a 5 round hunting mag. The firearm was un-altered. It looked better than the way he recieved it. Just as a side note: I am a journeyman toolmaker.
you said the magwell

which is part of the gun

[TAC]

I always thought the Cetme should be renamed to Gotyou!

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you said the magwell

which is part of the gun

Yeah, so? The horribly stamped magwell has nothing to do with the problems this particular firearm has. Nor does my "adjustment and deburring" of the magwell have anything to do with the warranty. As a matter of fact, I seriously doubt they would even be able to determine anyone ever (as you put it) "worked" on it. If you or anyone you know has ever owned one of these, you would see that more often than not the reciever is poorly"finished" and requires a little extra effort on your part. There are many videos and forums addressing the very same issues, and many of the very same "adjustments" that can be done to make the firearm a bit nicer.

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My buddy recieved his Cetme .308 Sporter from Century Arms yesterday. Apparently his rifle was so bad, they gave him a brand new updated one. Very nice looking rifle. There are some differences in the reciever from the old one, such as some reinforcement of the reciever body, a thicker, nicer looking mag well, and some better furniture. It appears the new rifle was a "blank one". His serial numbers are stamped on a different location on the new one. Some range time should be great. This new one seems smoother in the action.

After a little nosing around, it would seem that the FFL purchased a "lot" from Century and this rifle was not the only one with major issues. Also, these rifles seem to be of an earlier manufacturing time.

The warranty process was still a pain and some of the reps were at times less than friendly, but if it shoots like it looks, i'd say it was kinda worth it.