Cetme Build Tutorial

pjm204 · 03-13-2007, 04:04 PM

Well I started this over at militaryfirearm.com but I figured I'd post it here since there are not too many members there yet. Its not done yet but it should give people a good start on their cheap CFS cetme kits.

I started out by ordering my Cetme kit from Centerfiresystems for the great price of $100. I had heard that some of the kits were in rough shape but mine turned out to be quite nice. It had a cracked pistol grip but the internals showed very little wear and of course the barrel is new. Below is a picture of my kit.

I started my build by disassembling everything, mainly to familiarize myself with the functions of the parts and try to get a good grasp of how they all fit together. I removed the selector lever, then pulled out the FCG box. The ejector spring was removed next, followed by the ejector pivot pin, and then the ejector. I then drove out the pins holding in the rest of the FCG, and was left with the empty box. I stored these parts with exception to the ones not needed(shown below) in a bag and made sure I wouldn't lose them.

Next I went on to press out the pin which holds in the charging lever, this is done by bringing it back to the charged position and lining it up with the holes on top and bottom, it pressed out very easily, could be done with a punch and hammer too. Be careful not to loose the spring.

I was now ready to remove the trunnion and cocking tube. This was done by grinding away all the spot welds. Most of the spot welds are easily identified by depressions in the metal but there are 3 or so(one on top of the cocking tube, and two on the trunnion) which are only seen by discoloration in the finish, they appear darker. The cocking tube can be separated from the rest of the receiver scrap by following the seam between the upper(smaller) and lower(larger) "tubes" of the receiver. Once they are separated they can be tackled one at a time. Once, you have ground the welds flush, you can peel away the receiver scrap from the cocking tube. Be careful not to deform or removed metal from the cocking tube sleeve. Next peel the receiver away from the trunnion, I found the trunnion to be quite easy since you are less worried about damaging it. Pictures of these parts are found below.

pjm204 · 03-13-2007, 04:07 PM

Modifying the FCG and FCG box to fire semi-only was the next step I took in the process.

Certain tails and trips are ground away on the FCG which was done easily with a bench grinder and took less than 10 minutes. The pictures below should be more helpful than any words I can say about it.

pjm204 · 03-13-2007, 04:12 PM

You will need to completely remove where the third pin would go by cutting the front lower corner out of the box. This is shown "clearly" in a picture below. The measurements are roughly .4" up and .5" back, I just tried to match mine as closely to the pictures I've seen of other modified boxes. Once this is done a small peice of sheet metal needs to be welded in and then ground flush, this is also shown below.

Currently I have received my CIA stamped receiver(its no JLD I know) and some of my compliance parts. Had a few things slow me down, the package with my US forearm was stolen off my porch, and my US pistol grip wasn't in the package in my order from CFS. I think I have resolved both problems now but no parts yet. On a brighter note, I bought a bead blast cabinet at HF for 45 bucks so I blasted my cocking tube, box, and some other parts. I need to grind some parts on the receiver so that the stock fits on and the holes line up, also need to grind a bit so the mag fits better and the trunnion slides in better. Other than that I should be able to turn a heatsink to weld my cocking tube in today, and I should be able to cut the "ears" off of my lower, possibly make my shelf. I hope to have this thing done in the next couple of weeks.

**Winn R** · 03-13-2007, 05:33 PM

Thanks for the post.

Not having done one of these, I'm unclear on the parts count. How does that work? Which parts will you replace?

pjm204 · 03-13-2007, 07:58 PM

My understanding is that it needs 7 US parts. I've got the 3 stock parts(black synthetic from CIA and SW), the receiver, I'm ordering a flash hider and cocking handle, and then I'm not sure on the last part, I don't have the bayonet lug on so I think maybe that drops one part? If not I'll have to locate one more part or silver solder the FH on. I don't have my camera handy but I cut the ears off the lower so it now assembles to a thing that looks like a rifle.

**Winn R** · 03-13-2007, 08:10 PM

I just ordered one of these $100 CF deals.

Furniture, muzzle, receiver -- the fcg aren't like the AK and cheap?

The CIA receiver is in stock?

Rikoshay · 03-13-2007, 08:11 PM

Glad you put this on Gunco. I followed it for a week or so on the other site, but that went away.

Good luck, Looks great so far.

**vz58** · 03-13-2007, 08:43 PM

Been thinking of doing this. Keep posting!

pjm204 · 03-13-2007, 09:30 PM

I got the ears cut off the lower, I'll post pics but its straightforward. I beleive CIA has the recievers in stock or they did 2 weeks ago. The FCG are non-existant at this point. Century used to make them and probably still do but they certainly don't sell them. FAC used to have cheap compliance parts but they don't anymore. I know you can drop the G3 FCG box in and use US G3 FCG parts but its a bit expensive. JLD makes a bunch of US G3 parts and some can be modified to work. I wish I could find a source for mag followers but I can't.

**ptannjr** · 03-13-2007, 09:34 PM

stuck your thread for a while to let other follow.