The Firearm Blog

Noah has created a website to help Canadians who are interested in getting a "Possession and Acquisition License" (gun license). It is well worth passing onto Canadian friends or relatives who are interested in getting their license.

You're going to have to wade knee deep into Canada's nearly two billion dollar firearms registry boondoggle. But it's not as bad as it sounds; and you're already paying for it with your tax dollars, so why not get something out of it?

After my US readers, Canadians make up the second biggest group of readers on the blog.

Canadian gun dealers are importing the civilian version of the Norinco CQ 5.56mm Type A, a clone of the Colt M4. It pretty much a straight clone of the M4A1, complete with 14.5″ barrel, the biggest difference being that the civilian version that is being imported is semi-automatic only.

Click to expand the photos (photo from LeverArms.com)

The rifle seems to be well received by Canadian shooters, although the finish is said be be poor. Of the Norinco manufactured firearms I have seen, they tend to be poorly finished. The badly scratched finish can be seen in this photo:

This video shows the firearm being used (iron sights and Magpul stock has been installed):

LeverArms.com are selling it for C$899.00, which seems like a good price for a M4 clone, although I am not sure what M4 AR-15s normally sell for in Canada. Canada is likely the only country where it is being sold to civilians.

Thanks to Dennis for information about the rifle.

This recently taken photo shows a blank firing line throwing AR-15 (or the original C7, the C7A1 has an A3 style upper receiver) in use by the Canadian Navy.

I like the color scheme

Canadian pistol manufacturer Para Ordnance are moving their headquarters and manufacturing to Charlotte NC. Charlotte Business Journal reports:

The company leased a Pineville facility and estimates 35 to 40 jobs will be filled, mostly in manufacturing and machining.

Para Chief Executive Thanos Polyzos says the company wanted to establish a U.S. headquarters to be eligible for more military and law-enforcement contracts.

How much of its manufacturing, if any, will remain in Canada is not clear.

UPDATE: JR @ Keyboard and a .45 has just point out that this also allows them to get round any import restrictions, now or in the future.

Hat Tip: I can’t remember where I saw this link! If it was your blog let me know

About two weeks ago the police in Winnipeg, Canada, confiscated a a bunch of saw off shotguns, ammo and a unidentified submachine gun that is reported to be homemade.

Full photo at The Winnipeg Sun

The Winnipeg Sun reports:

Possibly homemade, the submachine-gun and five sawed-off shotguns, along with ammunition, were seized at a house in the 400-block of Manitoba Avenue on Jan. 7, police said.

Three males, aged 17, 27 and 28, are facing almost 120 charges.

If it is homemade whoever made it did a very good job. Either it is homemade or of a pre-1950ish design. Note that it has a non-telescoping bolt resulting in a long receiver.

At first I thought it may be an MP-40, but it is not. Can anyone here identify it? Please provide a link to a photo in the comments if you can.

Regular readers know that I have fascination with homemade guns

Stupidity has no limits. Times Colonist (Victoria, Canada) reports:

YouTube videos of a Victoria man blasting a couch with an assault rifle in the woods near Jordan River were entered as evidence in a trial yesterday in B.C. Supreme Court.

The showing of “AR-15 Makes Swiss Cheese Out of a Couch” is the first time the Crown in B.C. has used YouTube videos to prove a number of allegations, prosecutor Nils Jensen told Justice Robert Metzger in his opening statement. The video has been removed from YouTube.

Darcie Kate McNeill and Brian Lynn Morrison are charged with a number of prohibited and dangerous weapons offences. These include use of a prohibited weapon in a careless manner near Jordan River in 2007 and possession of a loaded Colt AR-15 rifle — the equivalent of an M16 assault rifle — without a licence or registration certificate. The offences are alleged to have taken place between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7, 2007.

A while back an Australian emailed me from his work email address asking me to provide instructions on how to build a suppressor. I replied that I thought they were illegal in Australia. He said he knew they were but really wanted one. Sheesh. I could have forwarded that email to his boss! (I didn’t).

Those lucky Canadians will be able to purchase the Norinco Type 97 later this year.

Type 97A. Click to expand.

The Type 97 is the civilian export version of the QBZ-97 rifle, which in turn is the export version of the 5.8×42mm QBZ-95. It is chambered in 5.56×45mm and takes STANAG magazines. Looking at the photo I think it has a 20″ barrel.

According to CanadaAmmo it will be available in December 2008 and will sell for $849.00.

UPDATE: A couple of photos from Dennis. Thanks Dennis

It seems the Afghans are moving to the AR platform, along with the Georgians.

After a frustratingly long three-year wait, the fledging Afghan National Army finally has a new weapon in its arsenal: the Canadian C7 rifle.

Some 42 boxes of surplus weapons arrived at the ANA base just up the road from Kandahar Airfield last week, Brig.-Gen. Gul Aqa said Wednesday in an interview with The Canadian Press. And training is already underway. Aimed at replacing the Afghan army’s old Soviet-era AK-47s in order to bring the force’s fire power capabilities in line with that of NATO countries, the Canadian rifles are a welcome addition, Aqa said. “They’re very modern and new weapons and the C7 is a real necessity for the ANA,” he said through a translator. He said the AK-47s often jam, leaving soldiers vulnerable to enemy fire. “It’s the difference between old and new.”

It’s a project that’s been in the works for several years.

The C7 rifle

Hat Tip: The Western Star