Help me understand this by-law in Ontario

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markstahler

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I went out coyote hunting (in Ontario) the other week with my .270. After talking to a friend he told me he thought that area was shotgun only. I looked up the by-law and I am still uncertain as to what is legal in the area.

Paste from the firearm discharge by-law:

“prohibited firearm” means a firearm as defined in the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, cC-46, as amended that is not a shotgun and has a calibre greater than .275 inches;


Does this mean shotgun only or does it mean shotguns AND rifles .275 and under? That would make sense as the small game restrictions in Ontario are .275 and under. It is confusing mentioning calibre if the restrictions are for shotgun only as all shotguns are more than .275?

Can someone please help clarify this for me.
 
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It is my understanding that .270 and smaller centerfire is OK here in southern Ont, as long as you are not in a municipal no discharge zone you should be good to go. Shotgun only rule seems to apply to certain hunting applications like deer as per the hunting regs, not actual firearms law.. Am I correct in this assumption? I hope so, or else I am gonna get arrested :)

Any MNR guys here?

That being said, I have been in places where shooting happens, and have seen brass from 7.62x39.. which is fer sure a no no
 
markstahler said:
I went out coyote hunting (in Ontario) the other week with my .270. After talking to a friend he told me he thought that area was shotgun only. I looked up the by-law and I am still uncertain as to what is legal in the area.

Paste from the firearm discharge by-law:

“prohibited firearm” means a firearm as defined in the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, cC-46, as amended that is not a shotgun and has a calibre greater than .275 inches;
Click to expand...

it's simple..

1) Firearm and
2) Not a shotgun and
3) .275 Caliber

A 270 does not meet that criteria (But a .276 Pedersen is prohibited!!)

BUT this only applies to a firearm discharge in the local area, and not HUNTING.. you then need to apply the usual hunting regs as well (Eg caliber size for small game etc).
 
"...AND rifles .285 and under...A 270 does not meet that criteria..." .275 calibre and under by the cartridge name, not the bullet diameter. A .270 Win is fine. So is a .275 Weatherby Magnum. The .276 Pedersen, if you could find one, is not. Some municipalities say nothing greater than .270 calibre too.
Calibre restrictions were invented by idiot civil servants who have no idea what a .270 cartridge looks like.
Shotguns only is most likely for deer hunting only.
Don't try to figure out the why. It'll give you a raging headache.
"...in Southern Ontario..." It's not all of Southern Ontario.
 
Don't forget that some municipalities may have their own by-laws on caliber restriction.

For example Fort Erie's by-law states a shotgun or caliber up to and including .22 may be discharged for the purpose of hunting.

So I would not be surprised if a municipality had shotgun only by-laws.

The problem is that most municipalities don't provide much information on their websites about hunting or the discharge of firearms so you may have to visit their offices. So far, Fort Erie has the most information available on line that I have seen. One Township office I visited could only supply me with a fuzzy No Discharge map that looked like in was from the 1920's, horrible, and no one could supply me with a copy of any hunting regulations. They said I would have to speak to the chief by-law officer who was "out" at the time so I figuared I would just apply what was in the ontatio hunting regs. At least I feel I did my due diligence.

Anyway my two cents for ya,

JD
 
"...don't provide much information on their websites..." You have to rummage through their on-line by-laws. If you can't find any calibre restriction by-law there isn't one and therefore any calibre is ok. Laws don't tell you what you can do. Only what you cannot.
 
Many places prohibit the discharge of a firearm of great caliber than .275 while deer hunting. Many of these places became shotguns only areas and no longer have caliber restrictions.
 
In addition to the below paragraphs, their may be township bylaws in effect.

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@mnr/@fw/documents/document/239852.pdf

Firearms
In an area where there is an open gun season for deer,
moose or black bear, if you are the holder of a small game
licence you may not possess or use a rifle of greater
calibre or projectile power than a .22 calibre rim-fire rifle
chambered to .22 short, .22 long or .22 long rifle cartridges
or shells loaded with ball or with shot larger than No. 2 shot
(or if using non-toxic shot, you may not use steel shot larger
than triple BBB steel shot, or bismuth shot that is larger
than double BB bismuth shot), unless you possess a valid
licence to hunt deer, moose or black bear as the case may be.
NOTE: See proposed changes on page 4 regarding
firearms.
The holder of a small game licence may not use a rifle of
greater calibre than .275, except a flintlock or percussion
cap muzzle-loading gun, for hunting small game in
the counties of Brant, Elgin, Essex, Huron, Lambton,
Middlesex, Northumberland, Oxford, Perth and
Wellington and the regional municipalities of Chatham/
Kent, Durham, the former regional municipalities of
Haldimand-Norfolk and Hamilton-Wentworth, Halton,
Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York and the City of Toronto.
 
You are good to go.

Whomever comes up with these stupid laws should be fired. You can shoot gophers with a .270 Weatherby Magnum, but not a .30-30...
 
blargon said:
You are good to go.

Whomever comes up with these stupid laws should be fired. You can shoot gophers with a .270 Weatherby Magnum, but not a .30-30...
Click to expand...

Yeah it is pretty ridiculous! If it is because of the trajectory like they claim with the shotgun deer season than these laws are ass backwards!

The smaller calibres like the .223, .243, and .270 are some pretty flat shooters! So ####in ridiculous!

My 30-30 should be legal if modern slugs are permitted, and I can shoot my .243 that has like 1 inch drop from 100 to 200 yards!
 
mlehtovaara said:
My 30-30 should be legal if modern slugs are permitted, and I can shoot my .243 that has like 1 inch drop from 100 to 200 yards!
Click to expand...

There are many areas in the U.S that allows rifles chambered for pistol rounds in shotgung zones for deer hunting.
There was talk of it here in Ont a few years back at some fish, and game clubs, but it never went any further than that....Go figure:rolleyes:.
 
blasted_saber said:
In addition to the below paragraphs, their may be township bylaws in effect.

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@mnr/@fw/documents/document/239852.pdf

Firearms
In an area where there is an open gun season for deer,
moose or black bear, if you are the holder of a small game
licence you may not possess or use a rifle of greater
calibre or projectile power than a .22 calibre rim-fire rifle
chambered to .22 short, .22 long or .22 long rifle cartridges
or shells loaded with ball or with shot larger than No. 2 shot
(or if using non-toxic shot, you may not use steel shot larger
than triple BBB steel shot, or bismuth shot that is larger
than double BB bismuth shot), unless you possess a valid
licence to hunt deer, moose or black bear as the case may be.
NOTE: See proposed changes on page 4 regarding
firearms.
The holder of a small game licence may not use a rifle of
greater calibre than .275, except a flintlock or percussion
cap muzzle-loading gun, for hunting small game in
the counties of Brant, Elgin, Essex, Huron, Lambton,
Middlesex, Northumberland, Oxford, Perth and
Wellington and the regional municipalities of Chatham/
Kent, Durham, the former regional municipalities of
Haldimand-Norfolk and Hamilton-Wentworth, Halton,
Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York and the City of Toronto.
Click to expand...

That set of laws used to appear in the hunting regs many many years ago( and I imagine it is still in them today?) when I was a teenager and nobody could ever give me a definite answer back then either and the way I read it then was I was good to go with anything up to .270 but I was always afraid to take the chance as I could never get a definite answer from the MNR. The way I read it today is still the same as back then....should be ok.:confused:
 
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