Century Arms C308 - Any thoughts?

[Teppodama]

Was wondering if anyone here has any personal experience with this rifle and if they think it's worth it as a viable alternative to the standard AR15 battle rifle for hom/SHFT/Etc?

 

[Fungoose]

To start, it fills a slightly different role than an
AR-15. The AR-10 in 308 would be the more proper counterpart. Honestly, it’s not the most practical choice. Especially with how cheap ARs are right now. But neither is it a poor value at $500, quite the opposite actually! Fair warning though, anything Century assembled is a complete roll of the dice. These were originally built with surplus Cetme parts. Which isn’t a bad thing, except they weren’t particularly stringent in their determination of which parts were acceptable to use. Parts that should have been discarded were put into assembly. I think the later models were built with the assistance (oversight) of PTR and using some of their parts as well. I would double check that last bit to verify, as I’m not 100% certain if I’m remembering correctly. That does bring me to my next point, for a bit more you could have a PTR. They are held in much higher regard, and will hold a better resale value should you ever need to sell it. To get to the meat of it... if you fancy these rifles, you’ll probably end up with one. Then if you truly get the bug, you’ll end up getting a PTR anyway (as well as a FAL and HK91 too!). The best recommendation I could give would be to get some trigger time in on this platform before making a purchase. Same with any entry into a new weapon system. You may find that as charming as they look, you absolutely hate the ergonomics or some other such hang up (scope mounting options, furniture limitations, etc.). It’s never going to be a super-operator precision tack-driver. But it is a $500 battle rifle with dirt cheap magazines, and that’s pretty awesome in its own right.


*Also, I just noticed this bit

viable rifle for hom/SHTF/Etc

If you are asking about using this for your primary home defense weapon, I wouldn’t recommend this at all. This is no CQB rifle.

 

[Teppodama]

To start, it fills a slightly different role than an
AR-15. The AR-10 in 308 would be the more proper counterpart. Honestly, it’s not the most practical choice. Especially with how cheap ARs are right now. But neither is it a poor value at $500, quite the opposite actually! Fair warning though, anything Century assembled is a complete roll of the dice. These were originally built with surplus Cetme parts. Which isn’t a bad thing, except they weren’t particularly stringent in their determination of which parts were acceptable to use. Parts that should have been discarded were put into assembly. I think the later models were built with the assistance (oversight) of PTR and using some of their parts as well. I would double check that last bit to verify, as I’m not 100% certain if I’m remembering correctly. That does bring me to my next point, for a bit more you could have a PTR. They are held in much higher regard, and will hold a better resale value should you ever need to sell it. To get to the meat of it... if you fancy these rifles, you’ll probably end up with one. Then if you truly get the bug, you’ll end up getting a PTR anyway (as well as a FAL and HK91 too!). The best recommendation I could give would be to get some trigger time in on this platform before making a purchase. Same with any entry into a new weapon system. You may find that as charming as they look, you absolutely hate the ergonomics or some other such hang up (scope mounting options, furniture limitations, etc.). It’s never going to be a super-operator precision tack-driver. But it is a $500 battle rifle with dirt cheap magazines, and that’s pretty awesome in its own right.


*Also, I just noticed this bit If you are asking about using this for your primary home defense weapon, I wouldn’t recommend this at all. This is no CQB rifle.

Thank you for the write up. Appreciate the insight.

 

[Gregolian]

Is the C308 the gun that has that rolling block style like an MP5 or FAL or G3?

If so, I have a friend that owns one and I don't know if it's the magazines he has for it that cause this but the thing does not reliably feed AT ALL.

We could load up 6 of his mags and within two rounds it won't load plus the spring in the damn thing in the rolling block is a cunt and a half to manipulate on his.

Save your money, buy an AR-10 if you're dead set on .308 for a Battle Rifle or get a 14.5 inch pinned and welded AR-15 for home defense with a nice like Battle Arms Development or other high end pencil barrel.

EDIT:
Just looked it up, yeah... it's the gun I was thinking of.

Avoid it IMO. It's cheap as fuck but a problem my friend also had is the parts to update it/customize it are not cheap at all.

 

[Teppodama]

Is the C308 the gun that has that rolling block style like an MP5 or FAL or G3?

If so, I have a friend that owns one and I don't know if it's the magazines he has for it that cause this but the thing does not reliably feed AT ALL.

We could load up 6 of his mags and within two rounds it won't load plus the spring in the damn thing in the rolling block is a cunt and a half to manipulate on his.

Save your money, buy an AR-10 if you're dead set on .308 for a Battle Rifle or get a 14.5 inch pinned and welded AR-15 for home defense with a nice like Battle Arms Development or other high end pencil barrel.

EDIT:
Just looked it up, yeah... it's the gun I was thinking of.

Avoid it IMO. It's cheap as fuck but a problem my friend also had is the parts to update it/customize it are not cheap at all.

Thank you as well Gregolian. Just not familiar with the rifle but it seemed interesting. The whole "battle rifle" is just me thinking ahead on fleshing out the kit.

 

[Gregolian]

Thank you as well Gregolian. Just not familiar with the rifle but it seemed interesting. The whole "battle rifle" is just me thinking ahead on fleshing out the kit.

I'd say look to either build an AR10 on some billet receivers or buy like a 6.5 version of an AR-15 for a pure battle rifle.

 

[Roaming East]

I own a PTR91 from back when JLD was making them. Here's the short of it.
-They are recoil heavy. The roller action on this thing causes it to be ass heavy and thus recoil drives back and down significantly more than a FAL or AR-10. its by no means uncomfortable, but follow up shots WILL be slower with this platform vs any other competitor
-Ergo's are kind trash. The charging handle way in the front, the lack of last round hold up for the bolt, the selector switch is far up and they mostly have paddle style mag releases and mags dont drop free.

 

[Roaming East]

I own a PTR91 from back when JLD was making them. Here's the short of it.
-They are recoil heavy. The roller action on this thing causes it to be ass heavy and thus recoil drives back and down significantly more than a FAL or AR-10. its by no means uncomfortable, but follow up shots WILL be slower with this platform vs any other competitor
-Ergo's are kind trash. The charging handle way in the front, the lack of last round hold up for the bolt, the selector switch is far up and they mostly have paddle style mag releases and mags dont drop free.

had to add some more since last post was chopped do to shenanigans.

-accessories are expensive all that is gradually changing now that PTR is making quadrail's and what not for them. back when i got it you had the choice of wood stock and forend or German plastic slim or wide style. that was it. Any optics needed to be mounted with a claw style mount and most cost 90+ bucks for a picitinny or getting a Hernsoldt that was nosebleed expensive.
-it destroys brass. it flings it quite enthusiastically and the 'shell deflector' tends to bend the spent casings at 30 degree angles pretty religiously.

Plus sides are they are cool as fuck, mags are hella cheap, and ladies moisten their panties when you roll up on the range looking like a Teutonic Superman with tricked out G-3 clone.

 

[Fungoose]

Plus sides are they are cool as fuck, mags are hella cheap, and ladies moisten their panties when you roll up on the range looking like a Teutonic Superman with tricked out G-3 clone.