Canadian army marked 30-30's and others?

TheIndifferent1

TheIndifferent1

CGN frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
While reading a file at DND Directorate of History and Heritage on the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers, I found a great deal of information regarding the rifles they had. They were apparently issued .30-30s (Winchesters?) and 30-06's. Not sure what make or model. At the end of the war they were able to buy the rifles for $5. Not sure if they were C-broad arrow marked or not.

Anyone ever seen any? I'll post some pictures of documents later
 
The Lake Cowichan Museum here in town has a small amount of info on this on display.
They even have one of the original receipts for the rifles.
I'll have to go back someday and take some pictures and ask some questions.

There was supposed to be a rifle range at hill 60 for them to practice at, but I'm sure it is long gone and overgrown now.

I have seen a few of the rifles come into Pullens Gunsmithing in Victoria the past few years.

I'd like to learn more about this stuff also as I am in the area it all started, and I love the model 94 30/30s. :)
 
Last edited:
scs said:
I had some issue ammo given to me by one of the original svi rangers, full metal jacket roundnose,i think it was remington manufacture?,he still had his issue 94
Click to expand...


Yeah, that was one problem they had. They were debating if it was necessary to find FMJ 30-30 rounds.

Do you know if his is C broad arrow marked?

When I find the pictures of the docs i was looking for, it says how many thousand arms were sold back to ex rangers.
 
PCMR .30-30 Win 1894's...

Seen more than a few PCMR [Pacific Coast Militia Rangers] marked Winchester Model 1894 carbines in .30 WCF [aka .30-30 Win] over the years. Had a nice one myself at one time. They are usually in the 1,33X,### serial number range. They will be marked with the Canadian C broad arrow on the butt stock, forend and the receiver. There will also be what looks like a home made sling attachment.

There were also PCMR marked Marlin's in .30-30.

I don't know much about the other PCMR issue rifles.
 
The guns issued were winchester model 94s in 30-30,Enfield P1917 30-06, lee-enfield -303 and Marlin 30-30 carbines.. There have been several of them here on CGN for everyones viewing. One or two were for sale. I also have material on thier origins. They do indeed have the broad arrow marks on the action, barrel, and woods. About 2500 M94s and some winchester 64s were issued. the Rangers were disbanded in Oct.1945 and indeed guns could be bought for $5.00.
 
CPMR 94's

Yes they will be C-broad arrow marked on butt and receiver. Also they had a unique front band for swivel as they came with an Enfield web-sling. I saw one at Island-Outfitters three years ago when I first moved here. Was a $400 with the certificate issue to the original owner when sold for $5 post-war. Passed on it as had been re-blued. They averge $600-850+ out here, but I'm sure many are sold as normal 94's by un-informed owners. Here on Vancouver Island, they are quite common and usually a few laying on tables at shows, sort of like EAL's. Neat piece of Canadian military history.

Cheers
Geoff
 
I'm still missing a photo where they said exactly how many guns were sold to the rangers, but here are others.

IMG_1703.jpg

This is only for 512 rifles. I think there were about 1500 sold, I'll post up the correct number when I finish sorting files.

IMG_1696.jpg

IMG_1697.jpg

IMG_1698.jpg


Hope these are big enough to read :)
 
I have one of these neat little rifles I bought it from the son of the guy it was issued to. it has the C broadarrow and the funky sling swivels as well
 
Ranger 94s

A little late but here goes /Two years ago I was talking to an old retired cop and the topic of these old Winchester 94s and the Rangers came up.His story is many years ago the city cops recieved a call from someone at the Parliment buildings in Victoria to come down to deal with a little matter in the basement that was bothering the powers that be.You guessed it ,a few crates of Winchester rifles all neatly packed and greased.And of course the next directive is to make gone ,so they had the #### smashed out of them and were thrown in the chuck or who knows where.This cop said he was there and this is what happened and I believe him.More of Canada's history down the pooper.
 
Winnipeg Toymaker said:
The guns issued were winchester model 94s in 30-30,Enfield P1917 30-06, lee-enfield -303 and Marlin 30-30 carbines.. There have been several of them here on CGN for everyones viewing. One or two were for sale. I also have material on thier origins. They do indeed have the broad arrow marks on the action, barrel, and woods. About 2500 M94s and some winchester 64s were issued. the Rangers were disbanded in Oct.1945 and indeed guns could be bought for $5.00.
Click to expand...

Winchester M.94s
Winchester M.64s
Marlin M.36s (basically the same as a Win 64, 2/3rds magazine, 24" barrel, pistol-grip stock)
 
rusty050 said:
You guessed it ,a few crates of Winchester rifles all neatly packed and greased.And of course the next directive is to make gone ,so they had the s**t smashed out of them and were thrown in the chuck or who knows where.This cop said he was there and this is what happened and I believe him.More of Canada's history down the pooper.
Click to expand...

IMHO this should be a criminal act. :mad:
 
I would love to have one of these rifles.
A rifle in good shape has been eluding me for years.

Even more interesting (to me) is the fact that they were issued with FMJ Flat Point ammunition as an accord to the Geneva Convention. I'd like to find a box of that ammo.
 
Riflechair said:
I would love to have one of these rifles.
A rifle in good shape has been eluding me for years.

Even more interesting (to me) is the fact that they were issued with FMJ Flat Point ammunition as an accord to the Geneva Convention. I'd like to find a box of that ammo.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly the ammo was more like a round -nose, I still have a empty box here somewhere
 
scs said:
If I remember correctly the ammo was more like a round -nose, I still have a empty box here somewhere
Click to expand...

It kind of has a dimple in the nose actually.

Some years ago a fellow brought a good sized stash of this ammo in the original boxes (12+ iirc) in to Trail Firearms.

He figured that it was worth a good chunk of cash in that condition.

Unfortunately he had used packing tape to form the boxes into a handy package. The packing tape destroyed ALL of the boxes :slap:

Sadly it wasn't worth as much as he thought :redface:
 
Dimple in the nose sounds like a Dominion "Pneumatic" bullet. This was a FMJ with a very thin nose and a hollow in the front of the core. It was an expanding bt that Dom loaded in 30-30 and other calibres from 1930-60s.
 
rusty050 said:
A little late but here goes /Two years ago I was talking to an old retired cop and the topic of these old Winchester 94s and the Rangers came up.His story is many years ago the city cops recieved a call from someone at the Parliment buildings in Victoria to come down to deal with a little matter in the basement that was bothering the powers that be.You guessed it ,a few crates of Winchester rifles all neatly packed and greased.And of course the next directive is to make gone ,so they had the s**t smashed out of them and were thrown in the chuck or who knows where.This cop said he was there and this is what happened and I believe him.More of Canada's history down the pooper.
Click to expand...


Just thought about this some more, and what I can't figure out is why on earth would Ranger rifles (or any other military rifles) be kept in the basement of the Victoria parliament, and not at the local armouries? :confused:
 
anyone seen the old winchester 94's that were owned by the city of vancouver---GVRD marked. they are as old as or older than the pmcr's. they were used to shoot "wild" dogs and bears. I have pmcr 94's and missed on a mint 64. It is real hard to find them in exc shape.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom