A test of the old Spanish CETME B assault rifle and its history with the French Navy

The Spanish CETME assault rifle is an excellent weapon created in 1949 and adopted by the Spanish Army in 1957, with a 7.92 x 40 mm Cetme caliber.

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The CETME B version was developed in 1957 by agreement with the German company Heckler & Koch. This version (which was the rifle my father used for his military service) had a folding bipod and a flash hider with which grenades could be launched. This model could use two very similar cartridges: the 7.62 x 51 Cetme and the 7.62 x 51 NATO. Heckler & Koch ended up marketing this model without a bipod, under a name that would become famous throughout the world: G-3.

Two weeks ago, Ian McCollum tested an old modified CETME B (it can only fire semi-automatically) in a video posted on his popular YouTube channel Forgotten Weapons:

In the video, McCollum tells the story of a consignment of 200 CETME B rifles and ammunition that ended up in the hands of French Naval Commandos in 1961 during the Algerian War, when the military force raided a cargo ship carrying the weapons clandestinely in order to deliver them to Algerian rebels. The Spanish weapons ended up in a depot at the French naval base at Mers El Kébir on the Algerian coast.

French Marine Commandos saw the quality of the CETME Bs and ended up using them, as they were better than their MAS 49/56 semi-automatic rifles, which only had a 10-round capacity. In 2016, Forgotten Weapons website published these two photos of French Marine Commandos with these seized CETME Bs, being used by said Commandos.

In the video, McCollum comments that the CETME B is an accurate, efficient, and comfortable rifle, despite being larger and heavier than many modern assault rifles. It should be noted that the CETME C and CETME L that are being sold in some countries, especially the US, have a very good reputation among their buyers, despite the criticism that the CETME L received during its service in the Spanish Army due to manufacturing defects.

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Images: Forgotten Weapons.