CETME Model L

The CETME Model L is a Spanish assault rifle chambered for the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge. It was developed in the late 1970s at CETME, the state-owned small arms research and development establishment in Madrid, and kept many of the proven design elements of the institute's earlier CETME Model 58 battle rifle. After trials in 1981 and 1982 it was approved for serial production in 1984 at the Empresa Nacional Santa Barbara factory, and the first rifles were delivered in 1987, when orders for about 60,000 had been placed. It replaced the 7.62 mm CETME Model C in Spanish Army service. It is a selective-fire, roller-delayed blowback weapon with a plastic stock, and ammunition made by the state factory was a source of reliability problems. From 1999 it was largely replaced in Spanish service by a license-built Heckler and Koch G36E.