Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I am Ian McCollum, and, like I said yesterday,
today we are out here at the range with a pair of CETME-Ls.
We have a standard CETME-L and we have a CETME-LC. These are both MarColMar guns.
And they are both in the original configuration of the rifle.
So you can also get these with Picatinny rail welded to the receiver,
I have opted on these two to go with the guns
in the configuration that they were actually used by the Spanish military.
So what I want to do today is shoot these two both side by side,
and get a feel for how they differ in handling as well as just how they are to shoot in general.
So one thing I want to point out before we start is with an LC
(and this is by the way a registered short-barrelled rifle),
you would typically expect a short-barrelled gun like this to be lighter and handier than the standard.
However with the CETME-L that's not quite what you get. The LC is handier in that it's shorter,
the collapsing stock allows it to fit into a much smaller space, but it's almost the same weight.
There's very little weight savings between the two patterns. So they did it for space not for weight.
Anyway, we're going to go ahead and start with the standard L.
One other thing to keep in mind (that's a 20 rounder, we're going to start with a 30 round mag),
these are not compatible with PMAGs, because of this stamped sheet metal magazine well.
The PMAG of course didn't exist when the CETME-L was developed, so they weren't designed around them.
And that leaves you with a requirement to use original style aluminium mags.
So I've got all-American. This one's an OKAY Industries, hopefully it is OK.
Anyway, all aluminium mags in CETME-Ls.
You can lock the bolt open using this button there.
That releases it, let's see what we got.
OK, it's in 5.56, we kind of know it's going to be a very nice, soft shooting rifle which it is.
I'll be honest, I kind of like these better than the HK33s.
It's funny, that the CETME-L had a really relatively poor reputation with the Spanish military,
which was in fact due largely to problems with materials in their manufacture and quality control.
Problems with the receiver stampings, the springs and the magazines.
Which, interestingly, are like the three main components that have been completely replaced
by American manufacturers like MarColMar. The receiver obviously is new,
we're using American-made AR magazines instead of Spanish CETME-L magazines,
which were the same basic pattern but manufactured in Spain.
And MarColMar actually put in a lot of tech development work to rebuild
all of the springs. And every spring in this gun is new.
I kind of like the aperture sights. This one's zeroed,
I have to pull the sight a little bit off to the right to get it properly zeroed.
But.
We got a 200 and a 400, but I don't think...
yeah, the 400 yard aperture is a little bit smaller, a little bit more precise.
I was concerned, especially at first, about the relatively square cross-section of the stock.
It is frankly not the most comfortable style of stock out there,
but it's actually not bad when you're shooting.
Whoopsie.
All right. Like pretty much all the other roller-delayed guns, this does not lock open when it's empty.
Well, we'll go ahead and do that manually.
So, that's the L, now let's try the LC.
I really like the size and handiness of this thing.
And, hey, because it's a smaller, more compact carbine, we'll go with a 20 round.
Release the stock right there. Chunk.
The collapsing stock, again, does not look like it'd be a comfortable sort of thing.
It's actually not particularly hot out today, which is unusual for this time of year in Arizona,
but unless this gets super hot, it is rounded on the corners and that keeps it more comfortable.
Obviously if it's going to melt my face off from the temperature, that's a different matter.
But it ... at least doesn't have sharp corners on it.
The sights are identical. In fact the sight radius is identical,
they cut the barrel down after the front sight block.
The rear sight's the same, so there's no difference in handling there.
The recoil is just a little bit sharper because the gun is slightly lighter.
And I suspect we get a little bit of a different recoil characteristic
because the recoil spring has been substantially changed.
In fact the recoil spring is smaller on the LC than it is on the standard L.
If you didn't watch yesterday's video where we take a close look at the mechanics of this,
you can go back and do that, but basically the original L has a long recoil spring in the buttstock.
You can't do that with a collapsing type stock, so much like the paratrooper version of the FAL,
the LC recoil spring has been moved up above the bolt carrier.
And it is actually smaller in diameter as well. So I suspect we're getting a little bit higher bolt velocity,
which translates into a little more energy transferred into my, the shooter's, shoulder at the end of bolt travel.
And I'm out. Again doesn't lock open.
It does, of course, take 30 round mags
just fine.
These are really fun, handy, little guns to shoot. And I particularly like the LC.
It is really unfortunate that the coolest version of the gun has to be the NFA regulated one, but.
I kind of expected I'd hate the stock, I actually don't really hate the stock so much.
That's not bad control, at least for me, for two shots on target at
about 50 yards on a half-sized silhouette.
So I got two rounds left here.
And we're out.
Confirm, yep, that is empty. So.
I really have to say the LC is my choice.
Now if ... you're not willing to get this SBRed,
... MarColMar does also offer a version that has a 16 inch barrel with the LC internals and collapsing stock.
To my mind, that's ... not really quite as interesting.
I think a lot of the benefit you get from this is the fact that it is a very compact little package.
Once you take the barrel down.
But if you want something that is not subject to NFA and a little more practical, the full length rifle.
Especially if you get one of the ones that has the Picatinny rail, you can drop a red dot on it.
I like these aperture iron sights. I like this style of regular aperture a lot better than the HK drum style.
And I can't really articulate why the HK doesn't work for me,
just I've never really liked that drum aperture style sight, and the CETME-L doesn't have it. So.
I do actually have one last magazine, which I should probably go ahead and use.
This is definitely a little bit softer shooting, a little bit flatter shooting, but a bigger gun to carry around.
And that's it, I'm out of ammo. Hopefully you guys enjoyed the video,
hopefully you got something out of the comparison here.
Thanks for watching.
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