No guru but...
I picked up a CETME at a gunshow about eight or nine years ago. Paid about $400. It is a Century Arms rework. "Post Ban" model sans bayonet lug and with a welded on muzzle brake/comp. Saw an identical rifle at a gun show two weeks ago with a bit of wear and typically overpriced with a $1000 price tag. I doubt it would sell for that even with the gun show mania lately.
Having sent well over 500 rds down range it never has had any issues at all. The CETME can rock just like the H&K 91. Reliable, sturdy and accurate. It is simple and easy to maintain. There may be rifles out there that were not rebuilt well or have issues but I would trust my life to the one I have.
It will regularly digest some serious crap 3rd world surplus ammo and just keep running. It will mangle your brass but the fluted chamber makes for easy extraction.
The iron sights worked fine before I needed glasses. Scoped, as it is now, it will shoot 3 shot groups at 100 yds, between 1.5" and 2" always. Better with Hirtenberger or US made ammo. But why shoot 3 shot groups when you have a mag full of 20? With the muzzle brake/comp keeping the sights in line it can keep rounds on target at a very, very fast rate.
I stocked up on Spanish mags years ago at dirt cheap prices. Some German H&K 91 mags will fit. The cheap and lightweight 20 rd aluminum H&K 91 mags feed and function just fine in my CETME. They feel so thin as to be disposable compared to the orig. Spanish mags or steel German mags.
There were CETME rifles brought in before the Assault Rifle Ban years ago. Look for the Bayo lug and flashhider. Most I believe had Poplar wood stocks. A recoil buffer made by Buffer Technologies is worth the money. Tapco used to have a few accessories in the catalog.
When you look at the history of H&K much of it begins just after WW2 with expat German arms engineers werking in Spain and developing the CETME. It went through some seriously experimental itterations. The ammo originally developed for this concept was out of the box, wild, radical really. A unique and correctly called "assault rifle" cartridge. The original chambering was not 7.62mm x 51mm NATO. It was for a lower power cartridge with a composite bullet that had an aluminum tip and core component, a big exposed alum. tip. Looked more like a miniture artillery round in 30 cal. The CETME has it's roots in the family tree along with the MG42 and FG42 and Stg 44. It is not second rate to the H&K 91. It is it's father.
