Oh Crap! Please help...

[sean46953]

I had my CETME hit to floor pretty hard a while back, and after it did the bolt seemed to get a little sticky on its forward return so I stripped it down to inspect it. Found nothing wrong so I put it bck together and found that it was cycling fine after reassembly. I finally took it out just a few days ago to shoot it, the first time it's been shot since it was dropped, and I was using some Venezaulian mil-surp manufactured by a company by the acryonem C.A.V.I.M. The rifle stayed consistent and accurate, but never shot more than four rounds without jamming on it's forward return, with it jamming probably 90% of the time after just two rounds. Each time it jammed, I found the same results. There was the spent shell smashed between the bolt head and the chamber face, with a fresh round laying loose, stripped from the mag. Once got it home, I stripped it down again to examine the action, and found nothing worn, missing, or broken. It couldn't jave been fouling either because I've stripped the rifle down three times and cleaned everything, to the extent of using toothpicks and q-tips, between the time I shot it before a few days ago, and a few days ago. I've only come down with one last thought, and that's practical death of my rifle....A bent reciever caused by it's fall. I haven't came up with anything other than that so what I'm asking is for any thoughts of what elseit could possibly be. Any thoughts, even the dumb ones, please list them. Thanks for your help. If anyone needs anymore information, feel free to message me even....I don't wanna loose my Spanish Beauty! lol

[just_a_car]

I actually have to agree with your assessment of the receiver being bent. Thing is, as you've found, it still generally functions, so it's not fatally bent.

You didn't mention where it hit the ground, but I'd look in that area for any obvious bends. If none are apparent, you may want to go ahead and slowly work the action, feeling for where it feels "stiff", then disassemble the rifle and take a close look at that area. Not knowing where or how it's bent, I can't suggest a method for repair, but it may require gunsmithing skills not normally held by home gunsmiths.

[Mooseman684]

If it just fell over and hit the floor, it sure as heck Wont bend a receiver that has to withstand 50,000 PSI....now if you dropped it from 6 stories off a building, well.....
Sounds like an extraction/ejection failure to me...May need a GUNSMITH to look at it !
Rich

[M14man]

I agree with Mooseman, these are military rifles, They were made to withstand a mere dropping.You must be missing something,check the rails and runways where the bolt slides, work it back and forth. Shoot it till the problem works out.

[Big Dog]

The CETME sold here is NOT the military rifle - the receiver is sheet steel produced by Century. Who knows whether it meets the original spec or not?
Look at the bolt as you cycle it slowly - see if it is warped.
Also, check the recoil rod behind the action - if it got tweaked, it could cause this problem.
Having a good HK/CETME gunny look at it is a good idea.

[wunhunglo]

First things first. So it's short cycling, in most selfloaders you would immediately adjust the gas setting. If you cycle it manually does it feed, extract & eject the rounds OK without binding? If it does I would look hard at the gas system; have you dented the gas tube or the top cover?
Are you using ammo that was ok to fire before?

[just_a_car]

Originally Posted by wunhunglo

First things first. So it's short cycling, in most selfloaders you would immediately adjust the gas setting. If you cycle it manually does it feed, extract & eject the rounds OK without binding? If it does I would look hard at the gas system; have you dented the gas tube or the top cover?
Are you using ammo that was ok to fire before?

You are apparently not familiar with the H&K/CETME roller-delayed blowback action.

This action does not use any gas tube, gas piston or any such thing. It utilizes the recoil of the fired cartridge to cycle the action and the bolt head is kept in-battery during the bullet's time in the barrel by two rollers that are locked in place by a part of the bolt that fits around the firing pin. As the bolt is kicked back by the recoil, the part mentioned moves back, allowing the rollers to move out of the barrel trunnion and into the bolt head, thus allowing the bolt head to then move out of battery.

The only way for this action to "gum up" or not cycle correctly is if the cartridge itself is getting stuck in the chamber (which is both likely and unlikely due to the fluted chamber, which is a talk for another day), the rollers "sticking" or breaking (usually due to too much oil, gathering gunk from the back-blast inherent to fluted chambers), the bolt carrier dragging on something (such as the recoil spring guide rod or the receiver itself {which could be the case here since it was dropped}), the ejection mechanism is screwed up (such as a ejector, ejector spring or roll pin missing or broken), weak magazine springs (which will cause failure to feeds, but not ejection issues), and more rare would be underpowered ammunition that's simply not powerful enough to cycle a "new" or "rough" action.

Now, as for the fact that he dropped it, as I was writing this, it came to me to look at some of the archived/bookmarked stuff I have and I found a FAQ that lists an interesting reason for FTE: The trigger pack (i.e., the "lower receiver", for you AR-15 types) being out of position. Check it out: The Unofficial CETME C Homepage FAQ's

And, while you're at it, check out the main page there (good stuff): The Unofficial CETME C Homepage

[Mooseman684]

Originally Posted by Big Dog

The CETME sold here is NOT the military rifle - the receiver is sheet steel produced by Century. Who knows whether it meets the original spec or not?
Look at the bolt as you cycle it slowly - see if it is warped.
Also, check the recoil rod behind the action - if it got tweaked, it could cause this problem.
Having a good HK/CETME gunny look at it is a good idea.

BD...Those receivers are made Mil-spec, Duplicates of the original without the Hole for the full auto FCG...Other wise, the parts would not fit or work and the liability of a Catastrophic Failure would Not allow Production to proceed...They have rib / Rails reinforcement built in by Design and that makes it tough enough to run over with a pickup truck and still function, they are thick sheet metal stampings...
Rich

[wunhunglo]

Thank you for the information, every day is a school day. I have fired the CETME but never owned one or stripped one, I'm a FAL/Armalite type person.

[Mooseman684]

The Cetme was copied by HK...It is the delayed roller locking Blowback system used on HK rifles and SubGuns....
Rich