CETME Model C

CETME Model C assault rifle & magazine (20), bolt assembly and cocking rod removed for display. The CETME Model C was one of series of assault rifles produced at the Centro de Estudios Tecnicos de Materiales Especiales - a Spanish government facility. It first appeared in 1964 and became the standard rifle of the Spanish Army. Unusually among modern rifles, the CETME rifles employed a 'delayed-blowback' action, which used a roller mechanism to retard the opening of the breech. This system had been developed by technicians at the German Mauser works during the Second World War. The design concept returned to Germany when Heckler and Koch obtained a licence to use the CETME roller-locking action - resulting in the production of the G3 rifle and MP5 submachine-gun. This particular weapon was seized from the Palestine Liberation Organization in Jordan during the 1970s.