These have been in the works but are finally ready. The company bought 10,000 kits and invested in their own stamping and welding equipment. Furniture is made from Nylon 66. Barrels are hammer forged nitride 1x7 twist.
There are two models available. The first is a standard model with iron sights. The other is a model with a short railed section welded to the top of the reciever.
The guns look good and feel solid. I’m anxious to get my hands on one. It will be a nice addition to anyone’s militaria collection.
If you’re looking at it from an “operator” standpoint, then there are certainly better options which is why they’re no longer made. On the other hand, if you’re looking at it from a collector standpoint like me, then this is a piece of history that would be nice to have in a collection.
As an “I only have money for one rifle” kind of deal, the CETME wouldn’t be a good choice at all. The rifle is priced at the higher end of the AR market and will have little or no aftermarket support. Spare parts are also likely to be an issue once the various parts kits dry up.
But as a collector piece or just a rifle to own BECAUSE it isn’t an AR, the CETME is likely to be a good choice. The guns will be fairly limited in production numbers and will no doubt be fun to own just from a novelty/unique design point. That’s why I’m interested.
According to Mr. Bane, he spent quite a bit of time analyzing bolt velocities with a high speed camera in order to get proper springs made and help ensure reliability is good.
I don’t have any MarColMar products but he has a good rep for doing quality stuff. If these guns were being produced by Century I’d not be so optimistic.
I had an HMG that I sold due to some issues. I sent it back because it arrived with a frozen front sight post, a partially seized charging handle, problems with the Cerakote finish and they burned through the receiver welding so there was weld bead on the outside of the receiver where there shouldn’t be. They agreed to grind off the weld where it shouldn’t be(I felt that a new receiver would have been the correct fix) and fix the other issues. When I got it back I could no longer get magazines in and out as it seemed like they clamped it in a vice on the magwell and a new barely visible indention in the magazine well that was below the new finish(so it did not happened in shipping) So back it went. It was better when it returned but not as it was when I first received it and you could still see a slight indention on the side of the mag well.
After all that it went bye bye. I still have an L and LC kit that I kept telling myself I was going to build. For all it’s quirks these guns handled well. I will gladly buy another assuming it is built correctly.
