Canadian Forces C3 / M82 / P17 Target / 1200TX? / it has too many names at this point

Probably about 8 or 9 years ago there was a legit Unertl C3 day optic on eBay with a seller location of Victoria and a scratched objective lens, don’t know if it was a leftover or found its way out of Workpoint barracks way back when.....I think the Buy it Now was $3100 Cdn at the time.

The UK rifle has a USO repro scope as the originals did say C3 but had the Unertl Optical Co. logo instead. A few people in the last MST orders from USO requested custom engraving. Plus other photos of that rifle show the elevation turret goes to “10” for 1000 yards, and the C3A1 Unertls were cammed for metres and 800m max. The scope mount looks for real and are pretty rare. It’s a nice looking rig none the less, add an Olive/Grey marble finish McMillan A2 stock and your getting pretty close.

I went to the Historical Arms Society? gun show in Chilliwack in the spring and a guy there had a scope mount for a C3A1 Unertl combo but was asking $1000 for it. I thought to myself, okay after I spend that, plus $4500 for a USO, then I still have to find an M83/M84 donor rifle and DBM etc etc.......

Doesn't matter now they have all been surplus and disposed of.
 
Quick update ; Went to the range up north here in Sask a couple weeks back and got consistent hits at 826m on a 2x2 steel plate. This thing shoots.

Aight. Little clearing up for anyone who seems to know than me and are calling bull#### ;
-I am military
-The collector is also military (good friend of mine)
-He bought it from the Sgt himself after he retired (good friend of his)
-The rifle was indeed given to him as a retirement gift (could've been years ago, this info I do not possess)
-The rifle came from the vault in Val Cartier and was used for Palma matches

This will be the end of the story since most of you seem to be more interested in telling me I'm wrong than helping me pinpoint the actual model of the rifle.
PM away if you have pics/refs that could help. Thanks.
 
I stopped reading at retiring Sgt geyting his pick of sniper vault. You would have to be at least a CWO for that kinda graft. Retiring sgts usually steal an issue watch.
 
-The rifle was indeed given to him as a retirement gift (could've been years ago, this info I do not possess)
-The rifle came from the vault in Val Cartier and was used for Palma matches

This will be the end of the story since most of you seem to be more interested in telling me I'm wrong than helping me pinpoint the actual model of the rifle.
PM away if you have pics/refs that could help. Thanks.


For what it's worth, when I was young and stupid, I did spend time as a 031 and a 421.
- I couldn't care less if you were the unit's CWO or base commander; nobody would be given a service rifle as retirement gif.
- If he was really given a rifle as a retirement gif, it was most likely a rifle that belong to the either the base/unit shooting club and/or from the PQRA/DCRA

As other have said before, it's a nice target rifle, but not a C3 by any stretch of the imagination. It started life as a P14 (or P17)

Your rifle
NAJfzil.jpg


A P14 converted target rifle (see the similarities?)
P-14-7.62x51-237143-5.jpg


Parker Hale M82 (See the differences?)
171127090956065-1.jpg



If we could have the Sgt's name, it ought to be easy enough to clarify/document his story.

To be given a target rifle upon retirement, the guy had to be either an excellent shot or deeply involved with the shooting team.
- In either case, some history could be found with either the R22R or the PQRA
 
Quick update ; Went to the range up north here in Sask a couple weeks back and got consistent hits at 826m on a 2x2 steel plate. This thing shoots.

Aight. Little clearing up for anyone who seems to know than me and are calling bull#### ;
-I am military
-The collector is also military (good friend of mine)
-He bought it from the Sgt himself after he retired (good friend of his)
-The rifle was indeed given to him as a retirement gift (could've been years ago, this info I do not possess)
-The rifle came from the vault in Val Cartier and was used for Palma matches

This will be the end of the story since most of you seem to be more interested in telling me I'm wrong than helping me pinpoint the actual model of the rifle.
PM away if you have pics/refs that could help. Thanks.

Sorry people can be wrong, people can make up stories no matter the rank. Being military doesn't automatically make someone an expert and right.

I had a 308 Target rifle built off a M1917. Also 3 Pattern 14 303 rifles. The bolt handle design, safety and protective rear sight ears is a tell tale sign. Of either a M1917, or a P14 Action. Not a Parker Hale M82. Probably built off a M1917 because it was 3006, wouldn't have to modify the bolt for 308, just would need to change the barrel and put a spacer in the follower.

I also had a Parker Hale clone of a M82 built off a 1200tx.
 
-The rifle came from the vault in Val Cartier and was used for Palma matches

This will be the end of the story since most of you seem to be more interested in telling me I'm wrong than helping me pinpoint the actual model of the rifle.
PM away if you have pics/refs that could help. Thanks.

Okay sorry so as noted above the actual model of the rifle has been verified for you, and hopefully this is fairly conclusive and settles the matter.

Tone is always difficult to read in text but I don’t personally think you are “full of $*#” and people here are just trying to clarify things for you. And anyway, the information put forward is information you received from someone else, so any lack of reliability rests on them and not you.

I will say though that whomever is passing on the information about the rifle seems, in my opinion, to have a bit of a penchant for attaching a somewhat elaborate pedigree or background to it, instead of simply stating what it clearly is which is a typical 1970’s vintage custom target rifle built for DCRA prone matches.

I have to speak to the term ”used in the Palma Matches” though, as again it has the sound of attaching a unjustified mystique to the rifle. If by Palma Matches this person meant used by a national team in any Palma Team match held between 1966 and 1982 then the answer is NO. During this time frame the host country provided both the rifle and ammunition as was the rules for the Palma Matches. When Canada hosted it was the Australian Omark Sportco 44 rifle provided.

In 1985 the host nation provided the ammunition only, and team members provided their own rifle.

A person may have shot in one of the Palma Matches concurrently as an individual, but not as a team member with that rig.

Palma Matches is a specific and recurring International Long Range Championships held at set intervals and rotating the host country with specific rules and conduct.

If by Palma matches someone is using that term generically but incorrectly to refer to club, provincial or national level prone Fullbore matches held in Canada the perhaps yes, but that would be just plain old fullbore matches for which that rifle has already been identified as a likely platform.

I got into fullbore in the early 90’s and can speak for what I saw in terms of equipment on the west coast, including visiting teams from the US and Great Britain and by that time competitors were primarily using dedicated single shot target rifle actions like Musgraves, Swings and the like. So this rifle was likely built before that time frame for those types of matches. Nowadays it’s pretty much RPA Quads in Gemini chassis systems.
 
Also, it did come from Valcartier's armory somehow as I bought it from a trusted collector and the cross referencing checks out, must be me confusing elements of the story after all this time. Pics

It is entirely possible that it came from the Weapons Vault Perhaps that detail was added to the tale by someone not understanding that it could be a members property stored in with the rest of the units weapons. If you lived on base, personal Firearms were to be kept in Company Stores if I'm not mistaken. Just going through the thread quickly it seems like it could very well have been the property of a Rifle Team Member, or purchased by members of the team, but that seems less likely, but plausible.

Yes, it could have come right from the Battalion Weapon Stores, but that doesn't mean that it was CF Property.
 
I stopped reading at retiring Sgt geyting his pick of sniper vault. You would have to be at least a CWO for that kinda graft. Retiring sgts usually steal an issue watch.

LOL! Last retiring Sgt. I knew that was stealing stuff, stole a bunch of test Equipment related to his Trade as Non Destructive Testing. He retired as a Private!

He did a weekend job at a Pulp Mill, and forgot said Test Equipment on site. The folks there kindly called to see who owned serial number ######X, and it was discovered to have been written off as Unservicable and Beyond Economical Repair, which was in contrast to the calibration Tags it bore.

Guess who wrote it off....and was busted...

Like has been said a few times. Buy the rifle, not the story. Esp., when the story is so easy to prove as a mismatch to what the rifle actually is.
 
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