Here's an article with some info on your question about scope mounts and scopes for the Cetme -

Scope Mounts for a PTR-91 HK-91 G3 style or Cetme Rifle.

Finding the best scope mount for your PTR-91 or Cetme sporting rifle with a Picatinny rail. Take advantage of your PTR-91 or Cetme .308 ability to hit targets at longer ranges.

warnescopemounts.com

Basically, if you want to be able to use the iron sights, you will need a high mount like the standard HK-style claw mount.

Most people prefer a lower, usually more secure, mount like a B&T or similar.

A shorter scope is handy in that it gives you easier access for locking the cocking handle into the notch, especially if the scope is mounted low. The Cetme rear sight isn't removable like the HK/PTR91 sight, so you do need some amount of height for the scope to clear it. You also will see the front sight post with a low mounted scope if the magnification is 4x or lower. Above that it goes away. I removed the front sight insert on my PTR, but the ring will still be visible at low magnification.

My PTR91 has a mid-range Athlon 3-12 40mm scope, mounted on the factory welded rail with the rear sight and front sight insert removed, which is about the right length. I also have compact scopes from US Optics and Vector Optics that are mid-range and not real expensive -

I've completely refinished my Cetme, including some recently acquired NOS furniture -

Post a photo of your Cetme if you can.

You will find additional Cetme info at HKPro.com in the HK Clone section.

 

Cetme's are not easy to scope unless they were purpose built with provisions made for adding a scope. Since the cocking handle locks back in the upward position the scope can't be mounted further forward than the handle, and if the rear sight is in place you get into height over bore issues and need a cheek piece. My rule of thumb has been to use scopes 12.5" (or preferably less) in length. At 12.5" you will absolutely get pinched between the cocking handle and edge of the scope if you're not careful. My scoped Cetme's have downward-locking cocking handles, no iron sights, and picitinny rails welded to the top of the receiver.

The HK style clamp on scope mount is high enough to clear the rear sight and give access to the irons but the odds are pretty slim that the scope mounting tabs on your Cetme have been machined to accept the claws of the 4 legs (unless you have an early cast stainless steel receiver) and the Cetme rear sight doesn't have the flat machined in front of it for the mount screw to press against and keep the mount from sliding front to back. Generally what happens is that the claw mount gets over tightened and then the carrier gets stuck from the receiver getting squeezed too tightly.

There are a few clamp on style low profile pic rail mounts on the market that many use successfully but I've also read that there are issues with fore-aft sliding.

A couple purpose built Cetme's:

 

Ty all so much I will post pictures of mine tomorrow and let me know if you see any oddities. I had a century built or farmed out build Ak-74 blow up on me after less then 10 magazines using Russian canned ammo 7n6 but my other rifles never had an issue, plus some crooked sighted wasrs years ago so I’m a little worried but this looked solid

 

Having a home machine shop I have the luxury of being able to make almost anything I need for Cetme builds which helps keep costs down so I can build more. Photo is in order of build from the top down, not shown is my Cetme pistol. The only one that doesn't have a pic rail is my test gun (third down) that I use for locking piece testing and try out new ideas on. All of my Cetme's were built using stamped flats purchased from ORF before they closed 15 years ago and I haven't seen any of the new flats made by others since then. The bulges for the clamp on scope tabs are very radiused so the clamp on mounts have nothing to pull up against, which causes them to squeeze the sheet metal with a death grip. The scope tabs require machining to create flats underneath the tab.

Century is the only reason that Cetme's aren't more popular but the 80/20 rule still applies. Back when Militaryfirearms.com was still a thing I used to troubleshoot CAI Cetme problems regularly for new members, but that was kind of what the site was about since it's name was originally "Cetmerifles". On a site like that you only hear about the problem guns so it makes them all seem bad, which is not the case. Unfortunately that much negativity also makes the other 80% look bad. On the plus side, all that negativity helped keep the prices down so they were affordable.

On the plus side, the design is so solid that even a Cetme built incorrectly will function perfectly fine.

 

I plan to weld a rail on my g3. I ordered a steel rail already and this thread just reminded me that I need to finish that project.

 

Sorry for the late reply,I was in between surgeries. I was finally able to get some pictures snapped. My local FFL was nice enough to sell me. Some ammo and magazines from another sent me that was traded in and sold in shop so I paid 975 for the rifle, and it only came with the sling in one magazine, but for $200 the gun store owner sold me 1000 rounds of 7.62x51 Cavim Venezuelan ammo that is all in 100 round battle packs of 20 round boxes per, one of the battle packs had broken open but all of the rounds look brand new and they are all heads stamped 1990 so I was told they are not corrosive, but he actually was the one that told me he thinks the ammo in general from Venezuela is Garbage and that’s why I got it for $.20 around +5 free magazines. I have read conflicting things on the ammo, mostly being that it has soft brass but more worrying so is that it does not like to operate in fluted chambers like Cetmes. But in total I’m at $1175 for the rifle, 1000 rounds, and a total of six factory magazines, which were all new old stock except for one. The rifle looks pristine, and the only little spots of where I’ve noticed is a few little chips on the inside of the Magwell from people loading magazines, the furniture is beautiful. The barrel is shiny and looks perfect, but here’s a few photos of the rifle I could take photos of the ammo as well if you’d like to see it I just did not feel like going to that safe, thanks again to all of you guys, David

 

Duplicate post.

 

I got excited for you when I saw the photos.
You snagged an early Cetme made with a cast stainless steel receiver. Generally speaking, those were the best factory models produced, using mostly unused parts.
Being cast, the scope tabs are great for clamp on mounts. I did have to machine a flat on the top of the receiver on one of them to take an HK mount so the top screw had a place to rest. I don't know if the cheap clamp on style mounts will fit over the cast receiver though.

 

@holescreek thank you so very much for the education and insight. I did not even know they use different types of receivers whether it be cast or machine so to hear I got one of the earlier models and it being darn near mint condition. I think I got a pretty good deal with the ammo and the magazines. For less than $1200 I got the rifle and the sling is really nice. I don’t know if it’s an original CETME sling or a repurposed sling from another rifle but with the six magazines in total and 1000 rounds of non corrosive brass ammo I think I did pretty well. I guess a blind squirrel does find an acorn occasionally I was a little doubtful, so thank you for putting a smile on my face. it’s the first smile in over a week after getting cut open and pried on by my wonderful orthopedic surgeon. Thanks again for everything, David. This forum and community is incredible and has so many amazing people on it thank you all

 

You did well.

holescreek is the Cetme expert. I've not run across anyone that knows them better.

 

After seeing the rifles, he posted that he builds in his garage. I would say so myself I’ve never seen anything like it, especially on this platform.

 

This is the scope that went with the cast stainless steel receivered Cetme I was talking about. I know it clamped securely on the cast receiver, but as I mentioned above the top of the receiver was a little too tall as cast and had to be machined to fit. On your rifle the area in front of the rear sight where there are two vertical tabs with a flat in between is to hold the scope in place (front to back). The flat surface on the rifle I had was slightly too tall for the mount. Yours may be OK or it might have the same issue. The cheap mounts used on stamped sheet metal Cetme's probably won't be large enough to fit over the cast receiver.

 

Wow how much does that setup go for

 

Check your cocking tube gap. The gap on my cast SS Cetme was too tight and it finally cracked a few years back. It was a quick fix with a TIG welder, but it's a whole lot easier problem to fix before it breaks.

And if you're bored, the whole story involving Todd Bailey and these rifles is a very entertaining read.

 

While I love my CETME, it's also a Century build. I had a CETME years ago (like 20) and the only issue I ever had was I hated the sights compared to a G3, so when I got a new one a few years ago, I went the other direction and removed the rear sight and hada machinist buddy mount a G3 rearsight and picitinny rail. So from the outside it looks like a G3 (except for the front sight).