Origins of the AKs that are in Canada

TRich

TRich

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So I know AK's are prohibited, which in my opinion is stupid, but I was wondering about the AK's that are currently in the country. How did they get here? were they ever legal to own at one point?
 
Absolutely. They were completely legal to own prior to bill C-68. No reason for them or any other firearms to be prohibited.
 
I do believe they are Valmut models, made in Finland. Semiauto only and non restricted due to the government giving some to some natives. Government could not turn around and prohibit something they had handed out, and sending the RCMP into the reservations to confiscate the guns would have been political suicide.

I don't know of anyone having a legit AK47, but maybe I'm wrong. At least that is what I've heard.
 
Yes, Valmets are an exception. They are non-restricted AK variants spared from C68 as the government gave some to Natives. Any other AK variant is prohibited. Anyone who has the appropriate grandfathered license, 12.2, 12.3 or 12.5 (depending on if its full auto, converted auto or semi auto) can own and buy them, but not shoot them.
 
Just like any other gun does today. They were 100% legal to own and shoot at one point so they were imported and sold just like non-restricted guns are today.
 
Bunch of commercial chinese versions imported in 7.62 and .223 when they were not restricted. Pure crap, metal edges were so sharp you had to worry about cutting yourself.:) If you see one for sale, chances are that's what it is. Converted guns originated from Israel, like a whole bunch of others. Was legal at the time and the Israelis must have had warehouses full of assorted weapons to dump on the market.


Grizz
 
CanAm said:
Most are formally non-restricted Type 84 and type 56 imported by lever in the 80s/90s
Click to expand...



They were imported by several big companies, including International Firearms and Century.

Mostly from China. Also RPKs. There were a few Egyptian Maadis previously, but these were few and far between and costly, as they had to come up from the States.

From the early 1980s, China began exporting semi automatic AK clones to the United States. Mostly in 5.56 as there wasn't much 7.62X39 on the market, but as surplus 39 became available - more 7.62 AKs began to be exported.

By the late 1980s, both guns and ammo were cheap like borscht in both the USA and Canada.

In the US, they could be imported in their standard form, 16" Bbl which made them legal and exempt from the SBR rules. Those were "restricted" in Canada, until Alan Lever contracted the Chinese for a 19" Bbl on Canadian import AKs, making them "non restricted".

They were "restricted" by name and variant under Kim Campbell's Bill C-17 in 1992 with a bunch of other military style semi autos, which meant they had to be registered like handguns.

They were prohibited in 1995 under Allan Rock and the Liberals Bill C-68. The government would never register and then ban your gun, right?

There are 4000 semi auto AK variants that were registered in the short period the government allowed for registration when they were restricted in 1992, and there are 4000 grandfathered to their registered owners under 12(5) of the Firearms Act.

4000 semi auto AKs on the Canadian firearms registry.

There were probably six times that imported into Canada from the early 1980's until the gun control legislation of the 1992 - 1995 period.

I wonder where they all went?

The rarest AKs imported into Canada, besides the actual Soviet and East Block select fire models, are the import of converted auto Russian AK 74s in 5.45 from around 1990.
 
I think I saw a TV show once where they showed children making AK's in Pakistan.

Won't someone please think of the children? They'll starve if nobody buys their AK's.


See how happy he is? I would be too if I got to make AK's.

More importantly, good luck banning something a child can make.
 
I remember seeing at Ontario Shooting Supplies, Concord, ON [I think it was called] back in the 80's where you could buy Galil's, Russian AK's, US M-14's all converted auto's none-restricted with just an FAC and walkout that day with as many as you could carry.
Gone are those days and the store.
 
I stood in a sea can full of Ak's in the '80's, right here in Canada and all of them were sold to someone. If there are only 4,000 registered, then someone is being very naughty - actually several thousand someone's. Unless of course, those other AK's have passed their "best before" date and simply evaporated - they do that, you know. I used a T56 under folder as my hiking gun, 30 round mag and all. Not flawless, but cheap and it worked. I sold it before they were restricted.
 
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