I went to the range Friday morning, and sighted in the CETME L that I bought recently. Overall, it's an acceptable rifle, and maybe I'll think more of it after a few more outings. I'm further convinced that the AR-15 platform is superior to any non-AR style HK rifle or variant, such as the CETME L. I've owned an HK 91 since 1986, and while I enjoy shooting it, the FAL is superior, in my opinion. So now that I have that out of the way, here are some specific likes and dislikes about my new Marcolmar CETME L.
Likes:
- Overall sight picture
- Feel of the rifle
- Unique appearance of the rifle
- Potential accuracy - I need to shoot more with the ammo that produced the best result
- I like the case it came with
Dislikes:
- Magazine well is not as easy to acquire as that of an AR
- Magazine release is not as easy to operate or as nicely shaped as that of an AR
- Recoil is typical of HK style roller rifles with heavy bolts - Heavier than almost non-existent AR recoil
- The safety button does not protrude far enough to easily operate - It should be larger
- The bolt release was finicky - I had two failures to release the bolt, and in each case ended up using the bolt handle - This may just be during break-in
- The bolt hold open is in a strange location, and takes getting used to
- Casing marks developed on the finish outside the ejection port, but I should have expected this to happen, like with other HK's
- Although I liked the overall sight picture when pointing it inside, it was bright sunshine outside, and my tired eyes had difficulty seeing the front sight - I don't have the same difficulty with an AR front sight
- The front sight adjustment looks like an AR with detent marks on top, but the detent is on the bottom, and is unrelated to the marks - This is a change Marcolmar mentions in the manual, and is supposed to provide better accuracy of adjustment
- Sight setting from the factory was way off - More on this below
The manual indicates that Marcolmar test fires the rifles, and sights them in, but does not indicate at which range. I have no doubt the rifle was test fired, but I have a feeling with the current cost of ammo, that Marcolmar may be cutting corners on the sight-in. The rifle was off target at 50 and 100 yards to begin with, firing approximately 15 inches above point of aim at 50 yards. I had to adjust the front sight up at least 12 full rotations until it got close to paint of aim. Adjusting the front sight took the use of a cleaning rod tip, and a pen at the same time, although the manual indicates it is easy to adjust with an AR sight adjustment tool, which I did not have. I took some photos of the front sight during the adjustment phase.
Front sight before sighting in: (At first I thought it was caught between detents, but then learned about the detent being on the bottom of the front sight dial plate)
Front sight after sighting in:
Here are the targets I used during sight-in. Shots at the top of the 50-yard target started to appear after I adjusted down 4 turns of the front sight, while aiming in the middle of the entire target. After I turned the front sight somewhere between a dozen and 15 times, I got close to the point of aim, and began aiming at the lower left target. You can disregard the lower right target, which I shot at with my Nylon 66.
After sighting in, I shot with 3 different types of ammo at 100 yards, with the following results:
Independence 5.56 - 9 7/8" CTC (Some of this was probably my front sight acquisition trouble) This is the ammo I used up until this point during sight-in.
Norma .223 Tactical - 3.5" CTC
Creedmoor .223 69gr Sierra TMK - 4.125" CTC (I only had 3 rounds of this left
Case ejection marks on the finish:
Now to the red tag...I enjoyed the joking here about how I had not yet removed the red warning tag from my rifle, and finally did so about a minute before I fired its first shot. Here are some photos of it just before firing, before and after removal.
Before removal:
After removal:
Somehow, I started to miss the red tag, so I have replaced it with another for laughs. If it doesn't make anyone else laugh, at least it will amuse me.
I don't want the overall impression to be that I dislike this rifle. I need to shoot it more. It's a novelty rifle for me, in that I would always pick an AR for match shooting, or other general use. The CETME will be fun to take to shoots, and to let others shoot for fun.
Your thoughts?
Thanks!
David Albert
dalbert@sturmgewehr.co
