CETME Rifle

The famous 7.62 mm Centro de Estudios Tecnicos de Materiales Especiales battle rifle.

CETME Rifle Forum G3 Rifle Variants and Diagrams

After World War II, German weapon designers that escaped to Spain produced a new class of assault rifle called the CETME rifle. CETME translates from Spanish to “Center for Technical Studies of Special Materials”. The first model was created in 1949. The rifle was adopted by the post-war West German military in 1957 and called the Gewehr 3 (G3). The G3 has since been replaced in Germany with the HK G36 rifle.

The Heckler and Koch took over production of the rifle with the G3 model. The G3 model has been adopted by at least 48 countries. The G3 is licensed for production in at least 13 other countries.

The G3 model using the West German 7.62 mm round has been found to cause greater incapacitation than the standard NATO 7.62 round due to higher ballistic fractures. The G3 design system has been since used in 5.56 rifles.

There are several variants of the rifle produced. Modelo A and A1, Modelo B, Modelo C, Modelo E, CETME L and LC.

Many years ago,  these Spanish rifles were imported into the United States by the MARS Equipment Corporation in semi automatic in small numbers. They had wood stocks and metal SF lower receivers. These rifles were grandfathered by the BATF due to the swing down lower receiver now considered to be machine guns. Today, the MARS rifle is a highly collectible item and extremely rare.

 

CETME Rifle Variants

Variants include the CETME modelo “LV”, “LC”, modelo “C”, sport, “E”, “C”, “B” “A2”, and modelo “A1”. Plus, the forefather STG-44 Nazi ‘assault rifle’.