CETME vs. FAL
I have seen the CETME and FAL both advertised at very reasonable prices. Is one better than the other? Please give reasons for your answer such as accuracy, durability, availability of repair parts, etc.
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How would you compare the CETME to the FAL for overall accuracy and reliability? [^]
If heartaches were commercials, we'd all be on TV - John Prine0 -
I prefer the FAL. I have an Imbel R1A1 and have found it to be very reliable and accuracy is adequate for a battle rifle.
I have heard from two different people who own one that the Cetme is not as desirable as an FAL. Although I have not had any first hand experience with one. Their complaints were about quality, reliability, and accuracy.
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You may want to check out this one:
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=69777
quote:Regarding the Cetme, I looked into buying one at the begining of the summer, put money on one & wound up buying something eles. Century Arms Intl, who assembles these rifles is not know for it's quality control. Before you put money on one go to these sites & read their reviews:
http://www.geocities.com/miketheelectrician1/cetme1.html
http://www.cetmerifles.com/
The reason why I didn't buy that cetme I put money down was because it had a major problem from the get go. Cetury has this habit of pinning on the muzzle break. The problem is that the pin protrudes into the barrel. The one I almost bought had a pin sticking up into the barrel. Had I shot it, it could've turned into a handgrenade...
The other thing that Century likes to do is grind down there bolts so the guns look to be in spec, when actually they are far from it. This is another safety/reliability issue that they hide! There are repair parts available, new bolts etc, but those are costly & last I heard were starting to dry up. If you are going to buy one I'd memorize this page:
http://www.geocities.com/miketheelectrician1/checklist.html?1011134301940
I will say I'm still tempted to try Century's HK knock off rifle, thinking that replacement parts are more widely available.
Let me add one more gun for you to look into. There's a small manufacturer in Ohio called Ohio Rapid Rire. They assemble a wide range of guns but there's actually work. Check out their STG58 FNFAL, their base gun is right in your price range. I have friends that own these rifles that are very happy with them. Check out:
http://www.ohiorapidfire.com/index.htm
Specifically:
http://www.ohiorapidfire.com/fal.htm
Also you may want to read a previous post on the cetme here in these forums:
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59637
Also feel free to do a topic search here
I wrote above back in 03. I have since then bought an Ohio Rapid Fire FAL. I have looked at a few Cetme's recently and it looks like they took care of the pin problem. I'm tempted to buy one but have held off so far.
Now that PTR91 Hk type rifle looks attractive.
Regards,0 -
I would pretty much go along with the above replies. I have some STG58/Imbel FAL's that were built years ago. Great guns! A nice feature is the gas reglator, so you can run almost any kind of ammo through them. Very reliable too.
I have seen some real crap from Century International. I'd stay away from any of their stuff. If you ever hit the lottery, start a collection of DSA's FAL's- probably the best ever made.0 -
I agree also with the above posts. The original HK-91's were excellent rifles but the CETME, while at least competant, tends to suffer from what I refer to as "Importitis"; the situation that occurs when CIA (Century International Arms) tries to apply a stop-gap reciever compliance issue to an otherwise decent design. This has always confused me as their imported mil-surp rifles (Bolt actions, predominantly) that were NOT modified seem to be amongst the best quality available. Most of the decent B-A rifles I own were either imported by Samco or Century, so this causes no small amount of confusion on my part when the guy next to me at the range is busily launching epitaths @ Century and their minions when they are trying to get their CETMES to run more than one round at a time, which also sorta' defeats the purpose of a self-loading rifle!
I live very near DSA, and while I don't OWN one of their guns, I know several who do and have shot as many of them as possible over the last 5 years or so. I can say nothing bad about them and in fact am extremely impressed with the fit/finish and in particular the function and aestetics of their products. They tend to be a little pricey, but the old addage that generally "you get what you pay for" has never seen better application than in the firearms industry! Buy a DSA if you can afford it...I bet you will be MORE than happy with your decision.
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[:D]Thanks everyone for your responses. You have been a great help.[:D] 0
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