Reloads from a CETME

[rocky_lange]

Do any of you have a CETME?

I recently purchased one and had it at the range today. Well, it has a fluted chamber and now I have fluted brass. Has anyone tried reloading these or should I just scrap them? I really don't want ruptures or head separations.

Rocky

[Stormrider]

I've not used the 308 CETME but have used brass that's been shot in one, or several... I've reloaded the brass and used it in a bolt gun with no ill effects. I've got an MP5 that I've reloaded the 9mm brass from several times with no problems.

[specweldtom]

Rocky, do some comparative measurements on unfired rounds and then on the hulls after firing. Look for swelling and lengthening. It's also good to take a fired hull and try it in the chamber (by hand) rotating it about 90 deg each time. If it will chamber all 4 times, it didn't get blown or pulled (bent) out of shape. If the hulls aren't bent or bulged or stretched badly, they can be resized and loaded again. Some of them will be dented, or the mouths will be flattened, but with some judgement these can be resized and reloaded too. The flattened ones won't go into the die without some hand work first. If they have to be trimmed after just one firing, I probably wouldn't reload them. If you can find some cheap ball, try it and maybe not bother reloading. The fluting from the chamber won't stop you from reloading the hulls, but might cause them to split after very few firings. I reloaded some for a HK 91 without splitting any hulls, but I never reloaded any of them more than twice. Total of 3 firings. They get pretty beat up.

Good shooting, Tom

[adam]

Depends on what you want to reload for as well. Blastin ammo for an FAL or cetme...probably GTG.

Loading for long range shooting....probably a lot more work than it is worth.

These chambers tend to be headspaced to longer NATO specs, and a little sloppy on the chamber..can make the used brass very bannana like.