My wife bought me a CETME 58 for my 50th birthday. It differs from the pre-ban models in that the pinned in place bayonet lug was removed and replaced with a pinned in cap. So yeah, the ban was quite worthless and had zero effect on violent crime.
It's chambered in 7.62mm x 51mm NATO, and Malaysian surplus belted ammo is plentiful, cheap and accurate. Ya just gotta pop the rounds out of the links. I buy it locally in ammo cans of 200 rounds for $20 a can. Just about as cheap as new production Russian made 7.62mm x 39mm ammo for the AK, AKM and SKS. Just buy it in bulk (5 cans at a time). I usually purchase 7.62mm x 39mm ammo in cases of 1,100 rounds, all in boxes of 20 ea. That's a bit easier on my thumbs than stripping NATO ammo off of links.
The CEMTE 58 was developed in Spain from a WWII prototype design smuggled out of Germany after the war. Oddly enough, West Germany had to purchase a license from CETME to develop their own version, the H&K G3.
Great rifle at very reasonable prices. I haven't taken any photos of it, but found a photo of the exact same rifle on the web.
My regards,
Widewing
