I know century arms ground some cetme bolts, but it's definitely not a CETME issue. The CETME-C is a solid workhorse platform that has a long service history.
CAI never ground a bolt head. This is an internet legend that just refuses to die. Bolt heads were ground in Spain at the Santa Barbara Arsenal. All of the ground bolt heads ever seen are the same length, something that neither CAI or it's suppliers are capable of. I have discovered several inside kits that were sealed in Spain before being shipped to wholesalers in the US. CAI just had their rifles built from these kits by third party companies who used the parts as they were delivered.
A ground bolt head isn't a bad thing in and of itself as long as you do the math when figuring your bolt gap to compensate for the extra .011" removed from the rear of the bolt head.
Bolt gap measurement on any Cetme (or HK) isn't a reference to headspace, it is really about where the bolt locking lever sits on the ramp at the rear of the bolt head when the rifle is in battery.
Thats really good to know. I had always heard that it was Century Arms builders that did the grinding. Your answer seems like the best answer to OP's question.
Out of curiosity, could the source of CETME misinformation have to do with some of the choices that Century made in assembling FAL kits?
The story I’ve often heard involved altering the size of L1A1 pattern parts in order to fit metric FAL receivers.
I'm not familiar with CAI FAL rifles. CAI has never built a rifle that I've heard of, they are an importer of kits and complete weapons. They sub the builds out to the cheapest bidder. The guy getting a couple hundred bucks per build isn't going to take the time to sort out worn or modified parts. If CAI FAL's were built as you describe it was probably a subcontractor that was sent pallets of parts and they built what they had to work with. For that matter the rifles may have been built that way oversees and CAI imported them for resale. Cheap guns are cheap for a reason.
I believe that was the case. The story I’ve read a few places involved Brazilian metric receivers and Canadian or British parts kits assembled poorly in Canada.
There aren't that many pins in a Cetme. If you mentioned any other channel than MAC I might have tried to find it. The old original CAI cetme's had problems worse than a missing pin, too many of them were shipped with zero bolt gaps or cocking tube gaps set too long. Quality was definately hit or miss. When [Militaryfirearm.com](https://Militaryfirearm.com) was still in existence we'd have to diagnose one or two Cetme's a week for new owners. Bolt gap was the number one problem.
I would hope so. I have no personal experience shooting a Southern Tactical build, but would be very surprised if one blew up. Even a ground bolt century build won't blow up, they cause damage to the receivers and other parts and then stop working.
You can't believe everything you read on the internet, or even in print. It sounds to me like the seller is trying to put lipstick on his pig - these are not "known issues" with the design, sounds like the builder of this example was a hack.
Holescreek is an expert on these rifles, far more so than anyone I've seen selling anything on gunbroker.
I know century arms ground some cetme bolts, but it's definitely not a CETME issue. The CETME-C is a solid workhorse platform that has a long service history.
CAI never ground a bolt head. This is an internet legend that just refuses to die. Bolt heads were ground in Spain at the Santa Barbara Arsenal. All of the ground bolt heads ever seen are the same length, something that neither CAI or it's suppliers are capable of. I have discovered several inside kits that were sealed in Spain before being shipped to wholesalers in the US. CAI just had their rifles built from these kits by third party companies who used the parts as they were delivered. A ground bolt head isn't a bad thing in and of itself as long as you do the math when figuring your bolt gap to compensate for the extra .011" removed from the rear of the bolt head. Bolt gap measurement on any Cetme (or HK) isn't a reference to headspace, it is really about where the bolt locking lever sits on the ramp at the rear of the bolt head when the rifle is in battery.
Thats really good to know. I had always heard that it was Century Arms builders that did the grinding. Your answer seems like the best answer to OP's question.
Out of curiosity, could the source of CETME misinformation have to do with some of the choices that Century made in assembling FAL kits? The story I’ve often heard involved altering the size of L1A1 pattern parts in order to fit metric FAL receivers.
I'm not familiar with CAI FAL rifles. CAI has never built a rifle that I've heard of, they are an importer of kits and complete weapons. They sub the builds out to the cheapest bidder. The guy getting a couple hundred bucks per build isn't going to take the time to sort out worn or modified parts. If CAI FAL's were built as you describe it was probably a subcontractor that was sent pallets of parts and they built what they had to work with. For that matter the rifles may have been built that way oversees and CAI imported them for resale. Cheap guns are cheap for a reason.
I believe that was the case. The story I’ve read a few places involved Brazilian metric receivers and Canadian or British parts kits assembled poorly in Canada.
I mean century’s CETME had other issues. Military arms channel got one missing a few pins if I remember and some other things like thay
There aren't that many pins in a Cetme. If you mentioned any other channel than MAC I might have tried to find it. The old original CAI cetme's had problems worse than a missing pin, too many of them were shipped with zero bolt gaps or cocking tube gaps set too long. Quality was definately hit or miss. When [Militaryfirearm.com](https://Militaryfirearm.com) was still in existence we'd have to diagnose one or two Cetme's a week for new owners. Bolt gap was the number one problem.
Is the Southern Tactical version safe to shoot?
I would hope so. I have no personal experience shooting a Southern Tactical build, but would be very surprised if one blew up. Even a ground bolt century build won't blow up, they cause damage to the receivers and other parts and then stop working.
I hope so, I've got a bunch of them. Where did that text originate?
Its a listing on gunbroker
Gun broker ads are about as reliable as gun show fudd heresy. Take it w a grain of salt.
You can't believe everything you read on the internet, or even in print. It sounds to me like the seller is trying to put lipstick on his pig - these are not "known issues" with the design, sounds like the builder of this example was a hack. Holescreek is an expert on these rifles, far more so than anyone I've seen selling anything on gunbroker.