Century Arms G3 clone problem

[mike253]

Yeah, I know.. the first 2 words in the title describe the root cause of the issue.. :rofl:

Dad got me a G3 clone 5 or 6 years ago. Right out of the box, it took 2 boys and a mule to work the charging handle, I believe this is due to some overspray of sorts in the area where the charging handle resides, also, the forearm was nearly falling off, no biggie though, figured I'd get a new forearm eventually and the charging handle issue would correct itself with some use.

Took it out, shot it a few times and that think was *incredibly* accurate (1" groups at 100 yards using Federal hunting ammo) and I was mostly happy, then about the 3rd trip to the range, it turned into a single shot rifle.

Here is what happens. A round is fired, it ejects as expected, but it simply will not chamber the next round from the magazine. Figured it was the cheap mag the gun came with so I got a few HK mags, same issue. Does anyone have any clue how I might be able to get it to chamber the next round?

[MagnumMik]

Is this a CETME or a true G3 version. If CETME. I would try it with CETME mags. I have one of the CETME's and it does not like H&K G3 mags.

[mike253]

It's the G3 version.

[Wolf Raider]

What exactly does it do when not feeding the next round? Does the bolt ride over the round, does the round catch its nose on the feed ramp? Some details will help figure out the problem.

[mike253]

What exactly does it do when not feeding the next round? Does the bolt ride over the round, does the round catch its nose on the feed ramp? Some details will help figure out the problem.


It completely skips over the round. Doesn't so much as touch it from what I can tell. It's very odd because if I insert a full mag and pull the charging handle back, it chambers the round as normal, but once I pull the trigger, it eject the case and the bolt closes on an empty chamber. If I don't touch anything, just pull the charging handle back, the next round is fed as expected.

[Jay26]

perhaps the bolt is not traveling far enough back to cycle another round. Manually there seems to be no problem but when a round is fired the action is off. Perhaps a spring issue??

[gb-ak]

Hello.

In addition to checking the condtion of the bolt, verifying your magazines, etc., you may want to check the bolt gap. This is somewhat related to checking headspace in other rifles... The bolt gap is detemined by the condition of the rollers/locking piece and plays a key role in bolt movement. Here is a short description from the old "House of the 51" on how to do this:

To check the bolt gap, remove any magazine and check that the chamber is empty. Pull the trigger so the hammer is down. Turn the weapon upside down so the empty magazine well is pointing up. Open the feeler gauge up to .5mm and try to slide it into the very slight gap between the rear surface of the bolt head and the front surface of the bolt carrier. The .5mm measurement is the maximum the gap should be. Any more and the action is unlocking prematurely. Then, open the feeler gauges to the .25mm leaf and try to fit that between the bolt head and carrier. The feeler gauge should fit without forcing it. If the gap is smaller than .25mm the likelyhood is that the gun will have problems with extraction / ejection and may not run at all. You should buy a feeler gauge set that has several leaf sizes between .25mm and .5mm so as to get a pretty good idea of the exact bolt gap. Checking this measurement regularly (maybe every couple thousand rounds) will let you track accurately the bolt group wear.

If the bolt gap is not between .25mm and .5mm, there are oversize and undersize rollers manufactured that can be swapped out with the stock rollers to either increase or decrease the bolt gap. If the gap is substantially out of spec, changing the barrel or reinstalling the barrel either further in or out may be required.

Best,

GB

[heatingman]

Although this is of no help to you, I will tell you that I experienced a similar problem with a Century Arms G3 clone. It would shoot 2 or 3 rounds and then fail to feed. After racking the the charging handle it did the same thing again and again. No resolution in increasing its reliability was found.

I solved my problem by trading the gun in on a PTR91. AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY GREAT!!!

[graveman]

Have you tried different mags?

[Onmilo]

Have you tried replacing the recoil spring?
Bolt rollers may be sticking due to carbon build-up of lack of lubrication causing a delay in unlock which is enough to slow cycle speed and cause short cycle stroking.

Try detail cleaning the bolt, relubricating the bolt carrier assembly, and replacing the recoil spring for starters.
Quite a few of the Century G3 clones were half assed attempts at assembly and were assembled on new receivers which may or may not be close to specification and the componenet parts used were, in many cases, very well used prior to reasssembly in the Century rifles.

[Oneiros]

The charging handle being hard to pull isn't crap getting stuck inside, they welded the gas tube on and made it too long of a travel. Take it to a gunsmith and get it fixed properly, I had to have the piston lengthened on mine to get it to stop having that problem with my Century CETME.

[Vincep]

Sounds like short stroking to me. Use hotter ammo. Lots of the surplus 308 on the market is took weak for the CETME. If you reload, up the charge some.

[Vincep]

they welded the gas tube on and made it too long of a travel.

Gas tube? Isn't it delayed blowback.

Don't buy anything Century other than Ak's. Even then, you have to look them over closely before buying them.

PTR 91 is well worth the price you pay for it.

[AZ Jeff]

Gas tube? Isn't it delayed blowback.

He means the cocking handle tube that welded to the top front of the receiver body. It's commonly (incorrectly) called the "gas tube) because that's the location of that device on many other (gas operated) autoloading rifles.

[Oneiros]

He means the cocking handle tube that welded to the top front of the receiver body. It's commonly (incorrectly) called the "gas tube) because that's the location of that device on many other (gas operated) autoloading rifles.

Yeah, that's it.

Other century rifles are okay if you know the issues they can have and what to look for/avoid. I do have to admit the CETME's seem to be the worst of the rifles they make, though. Still, after I had mine worked on to fix the 200 pound charging handle pull, I'm glad I bought it. :)