The CETME Model L is a Spanish 5.56×45mm NATO

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

developed in the late 1970s at the state-owned small arms research and development establishment

CETME CETME () is a Spanish government design and development establishment. While being involved in many projects CETME was mostly known for its small arms research and development. The Spanish government hired former semiautomatic weapon designers f ...

(''Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales'') located in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. The rifle retains many of the proven design elements the institute had used previously in its

CETME Model 58 The CETME Model 58 is a stamped-steel, select-fire battle rifle produced by the Spanish armaments manufacturer Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales (CETME). The Model 58 used a 20-round box magazine and was chambered for the 7. ...

battle rifle A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to differentiate automatic rifles chambered for fully powered cartridges from automatic rifles cha ...

s.Woźniak, Ryszard. Encyklopedia najnowszej broni palnej - tom 1 A-F. Bellona. 2001. pp140-141. The weapon was successfully trialled between 1981–1982 and approved for serial production in 1984 at the Empresa Nacional Santa Bárbara factory (currently Santa Bárbara Sistemas, integrated into General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems division).Walter, John: ''Rifles of the World (3rd ed.)'', page 83. Krause Publications, 2006. The Model L replaced the 7.62mm CETME Model C in service with the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed ...

and the first rifles were delivered in 1987, by which time orders for approximately 60,000 had been placed. From 1999 onwards the Model L has now been largely replaced in Spanish service with a license-built variant of the

Heckler & Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK or H&K; ) is a German firearms manufacturer that produces handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar, Baden-Württemberg and also has subsidiaries in the United ...

G36E.

Design details

Operating mechanism

The Model L is a

selective fire Selective may refer to: * Selective school, a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria ** Selective school (New South Wales) See also * Selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial select ...

, roller-delayed blowback firearm. The weapon features a semi-rigid two-piece bolt mechanism that consists of a bolt head and a supporting angular locking piece. During the "unlocking" sequence, the two cylindrical rollers contained in the bolt head are cammed inward against inclined flanks of the barrel extension and act upon the locking piece and bolt carrier, propelling it rearward at a velocity greater than that of the bolt, which remains closed until the fired bullet has left the barrel and pressures inside the bore have been reduced to a safe level before withdrawing together with the bolt carrier.

Features

The bolt also has a cartridge casing extractor, while the ejector is located inside the trigger housing (the ejector is lifted by a spring in the front of the trigger housing. The recoiling bolt carrier pushes the rear of the ejector down insuring the ejector is lifted into place to insure ejection is timed properly). The weapon is hammer-fired and has a fire control lever, which is also the manual safety. The safety and fire selector lever is located on the left side of the receiver, directly above the

pistol grip On a firearm or other tools, a pistol grip is a distinctly protruded handle underneath the main mechanism, to be held by the user's hand at a more vertical (and thus more ergonomic) angle, similar to how one would hold a conventional pistol. ...

, and has three settings: "S" (Spanish: Seguro)—weapon safe (trigger is disabled mechanically), "T" (Spanish: Tiro a tiro)— semi-automatic fire and "R" (Spanish: Ráfaga)—fully automatic fire (initial production rifles also had a burst selector option, which was abandoned). The Model L fires from a

closed bolt A semi or full-automatic firearm which is said to fire from a closed bolt or closed breech is one where, when ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the bolt and working parts are forward ''in battery''. When the trigger is pulled, the ...

position and uses the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

-standard 5.56×45mm cartridge loaded with the 62-grain SS109 projectile. INI (Instituto Nacional de Industria, a state factory) made ammunition was dirtier and gave much more chamber pressure than standard NATO ammunition, and was one of the sources of reliability problems (hard primers were in part responsible, too). At NATO joint exercises, foreign units tended to be warned not to use Spanish ammo if their rifles were gas operated. The rifle's barrel features 6 right-hand grooves and a rifling twist rate of 1 in 178 mm (1:7 in); it is fitted with an open-type 3-prong

flash suppressor A flash suppressor, also known as a flash guard, flash eliminator, flash hider, or flash cone, is a device attached to the muzzle (firearms), muzzle of a rifle that reduces its Muzzle flash, visible signature while firing by cooling or dispersin ...

, and later a "birdcage" style one, both designed to launch

rifle grenade A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand. The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used dur ...

s. The weapon will also mount a knife-type

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

. The Model L's fixed stock, pistol grip and handguard are made of a high-strength lightweight plastic. The rifle strips down into the following components for regular maintenance and cleaning: the receiver, stock, pistol grip and trigger group, handguard, bolt, bolt carrier and recoil mechanism. Handguards in the first several series were "square" in section (see LC picture), covering from magazine well to front sight. This gave some problems with heat retention, so it was changed to a round "half length" handguard made of thicker plastic, over the full length stamped steel support piece. Almost all military rifles changed to the new handguard, but Guardia Civil rifles retained the squared version.

Feeding

The rifle feeds from standard NATO magazines that adhere to STANAG-DRAFT 4179 (interchangeable with magazines from the

M16 rifle The M16 (officially Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States Armed Forces, United States military. The original M16 was a 5.56×45mm NATO, 5.56×45mm automatic ...

) and have a 30-round capacity, but it can also use short 12-round box magazines, usually only used for parades (early rifles and carbines were also adapted to use special 20 and 30-round magazines that were of an entirely different design). Issued magazines were steel, but thick walls only gave several problems, like misfeeds, stuck magazines (some could not even be inserted in the rifles), and the like. Although they were supposed to be expendable (a cost of 25 pesetas in 1995), it was forbidden to discard them, and many soldiers were punished for losing a magazine. Spanish soldiers tried to keep magazines known to work well for themselves, or get other STANAG magazines from surplus stores or friends abroad. It was a common sight in NATO joint exercises to see Spanish soldiers searching the zone where US troops discarded their empty mags. Many reliability problems were solved by using these "non-issued" magazines.

Sights

The CETME Model L is equipped with adjustable

iron sight Iron sights are a system of physical alignment markers used as a sighting device to assist the accurate aiming of ranged weapons such as firearms, airguns, crossbows, and bows, or less commonly as a primitive finder sight for optical telescope ...

s consisting of a forward post (corrected mechanically for elevation) in two versions "thick" and "thin" (no official designation). Thin post was better for precision shooting, but it could easily bend if hit. Since it was well protected this wasn't much of a problem, and it was preferred over the thicker version. A flip-up rear sight with two settings for firing at distances of 200 and 400 m (early models had a rotating drum rear sight that provided 100, 200, 300 and 400 m sighting range apertures). The Model LV (''Visor'') is a

marksman A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized telescopic sight, scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle (or a sniper ri ...

variant equipped with a fixed STANAG mount over the rear sight base; the optic generally used in this role is a nationally produced 4 power ENOSA scope. A starlight scope was also available. An alternate version of the LV was produced for the Spanish Marines. It was equipped with a dovetail mount for the British SUSAT scope. There was a removable flip rear sight that could be used on this version as well. Another model with a rotating drum rear sight used by the Infanteria de Marina was also called LV, leading to some confusion, even in training manual and logistics. The standard rear sight base has a horizontal pin forward, and a circular shallow cavity behind were a detachable scope base could be mounted, but almost never used since not many of these bases were made for general use.

Accessories

Standard equipment supplied with the rifle includes a cleaning kit, sling, bayonet, lightweight

bipod A bipod is a V-shaped portable attachment that helps support and steady a device, usually a weapon such as a long gun or a mortar. The term comes from the Latin prefix and Greek root , meaning "two" and "foot" respectively. Bipods are design ...

, blank-firing adaptor, rifle grenade launcher guide and magazine loader tool.

Variants

A variant of the Model L is the Model LC

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and ligh ...

that has a short barrel and a collapsible metal shoulder stock, making it particularly suitable for officers, special forces and riot police. These features also allow a high degree of movement in closed spaces or moving vehicles. This carbine version however cannot be used with a bayonet or rifle grenades. Another variant of the Model L is found in the United States; as a fully automatic firearm, it cannot be imported as a machine gun for civilian sale. However, if the receivers are cut in compliance with BATFE rules, all the parts may be imported, and the rifle reassembled from a new US receiver. Some are professionally built for the US civilian market; some are home-made, with home builders purchasing stamped flats of the receivers and bending and welding the receivers themselves. MarColMar Firearms LLC makes a civilian legal CETME L for sale in the United States. Utilizing a brand new receiver, a new cold-hammer-forged 1 in 7 and nitrided barrel, Cerakote Elite finish, brand new furniture, and a re-engineered spring package, the remaining original parts sets are used to construct the finished product. The rifle has also been designed to utilize the commonly available NATO STANAG M-16/AR-15 magazine. The CETME L, along with the LC, LV, and LV/S variants are all finished in Spanish green, black, FDE, or grey.

Users

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Gallery

Image:CETMEL.lateral.der.png, Right side view CETME L Image:CETMEL.despiecebasico.png, CETME L basic components Image:CETMEL.selectortiro.png, Selector lever positions File:Armamento - Museo de Armas de la Nación 22.JPG, CETME L with bayonet Image:Legionario.JPG,

Spanish Legion For centuries, Spain recruited foreign soldiers to its army, forming the foreign regiments () such as the Regiment of Hibernia (formed in 1709 from Irishmen who fled their own country in the wake of the Flight of the Earls and the Penal la ...

naire with CETME L.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Modern Firearms
{{Sturmgewehr 45 derivatives 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifles Roller-delayed blowback firearms CETME Assault rifles of Spain Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1986