10 Best Rifle For Target Shooting And Hunting

Best Rifle For Target Shooting And Hunting in 2023

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Century Arms CETME G3 .308 Rifle Review

My review of one of the newest members of my growing family of arms.

Mine was purchased last October at a local gun show. I paid $459.00 from the dealer for a new G3 and I finally got around to firing them monster, full sized rifle rounds through that behemoth. When this sucker barks people notice. When a standard assault rifle is fired, with its assault rifle round, it makes a pop. When the G3 is fired it goes boom!

There are three predominate assault rifle calibers - the AK47 and its 7.62 x 39 mm round, which is a full .30 caliber in width, but significantly shorter than a full sized .30 caliber projectile. This is a Soviet Bloc weapon and it grew from the first real assault rifle in the world, the WWII German MP44.

The second standard assault rifle is the ubiquitous 5.56 x 45 mm or .223 caliber M16 and it's variants. This shoots, essentially, a longer and heavier 22 caliber round. It's actual round measurement is .223 caliber or .223 thousandths of an inch in width - the projectile I mean. The American M16 and all that have come after was our answer to the Soviet Bloc AK47.

The third predominate assault rifle caliber is the newer AK74 weapon. It is a near identical appearing weapon as the AK47 - the same basic design and gas operating system. It shoots the smaller and lighter in weight 5.45 x 39 millimeter round. It is basically an AK47 with a round more akin to the one fired by the M16 and it's family of weapons. These are the three standard assault rifle calibers that exist in the military and civilian arms world today.

When it comes to the "full sized" assault rifle there are really only three main choices left - the .308 thousandths of an inch, 7.62 x 51 millimeter round fired by all three weapons - the American M14 and its clone's, the FN FAL Main Battle Rifle (MBR) and it's clones or the G3 and it's clones. I opted for the G3 because I like it better than the M14, but that is a financial and aesthetic choice as much as any other. I actually prefer the FN FAL, but they are harder to come by as well as can be more costly too, and the M14 is cost prohibitive.

My G3 weighs in at about 9.5 lbs, so it is a couple or three pounds heavier than an M16 or AK47, but then again, it shots a round that will drop a grizzly bear, so for a little weight sacrifice I have a weapon that will stop all but a charging elephant or a Mack Truck, and that is no joke.

The round this weapon puts out will stop a passenger car or truck dead in its tracks. Not from kinetic energy but because the bullet will totally disable the vehicles engine and cooling system. This round will penetrate wood walls with a shot, and masonry walls with a couple well placed rounds. It would literally blow a door clean off its hinges if a round was put on each hinge.

The G3 uses 20 round box magazines. Mine came with two refurbished magazines, a web sling and cleaning kit. As the weapon is assembled with foreign made guts and American made barrels, the pieces are mix and match, but the weapon is a sound one that shoots well, puts big bullets way down range and on target.

For the record, this weapon could be used by one to hunt almost any game in North America, although for most big game hunting applications many people prefer the fancier and far more expensive bolt action Remington and the like. Not to slight the Remington group, but those are dedicated hunting rifles, whereas the G3 is an assault rifle or battle rifle that will also serve the purpose of a big, fancy and very expensive bolt action big game weapon.

At 100 yards I can group 5 rounds in a 3 inch grouping - nothing to brag about but way more than enough for the purposes I intend it. As well the G3 is accurate out to about 500 yards in the hand of a trained shooter, but I do not claim to be one of those, and as mine is for defense, at 500 yards one is no danger to me. But get closer and the G3 will splatter one's target into many smaller pieces.

The full sized .30 caliber round is devastating to animal flesh. It delivers tremendous kinetic energy when it impacts its target. If anything other than mere fleshy parts of the extremities is hit by this round bones are broken and the shock wave will deliver near fatal over pressures to the internal organs.

The G3 is expensive to shoot compared to the price of AK47, M16 and AK74 ammo. I only made sure mine worked properly. I will stock up slowly on the ammo for it and have it for whatever I may need. It's a great alternative if one wants a real full sized .30 caliber battle rifle that can do many things competently.

The makers of my rifle, Century Arms International, or CAI are often referred to as "monkey's." This is because one can purchase any CAI made weapon, and some claim it's a crap shoot as to if one gets a good weapon or not. The joke is "what day of the week was your weapon made?"

These weapons are constructed in the US with American made barrels, but the inner workings are usually of European origin. The guts are taken from decommissioned G3's from around the world. The parts are shipped to the US and have the mandated American made parts mated to the European guts. If the guts were refurbished and in sound working order, and the weapon is constructed properly, these are excellent weapons.

My advice to a potential buyer is this: pick the one ya like then take it to a local gunsmith and have them test fire the weapon, check the head spacing and make sure all is in proper working order. If any alterations need be made, unless one is confident in their ability to use micrometers and such, drop the bucks on a pro doing it. It will still be far cheaper than to drop $1200 or more for a Springfield Armory, American made M14. Unless your weapon is busted on the inside, for around $100 you will have an excellent MBR that will do the job every time it is asked to.

Click the link to see the weapon and read more about it if interested. I did not include all the spec info because to the casual buyer this is all just numbers and initials - that stuff is for the wonks.

NOTE: The link is to the original H K; G3. The CETME G3 is an exact clone of the G3, and mine is identical to the G3A3 in the first picture.

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