It could be that the buerocrats opinion is not 100 percent legally sound, so enforcement is kind of ignored. Like mentioned it's a subject best to leave be and rounds to be avoided for safety sake. Thanks AK for sharing what you have taken the time and effort to find out.
"Incendiary" Tracers
- Thread starter zZ_denis
- Start date
Whoever Jean-Luc Arpin is, he's full of excrement. Tracers are not illegal to possess under any Act. They're neither explosive nor fireworks. NRCAN just got busy making law by regulation and decided they won't allow them to be imported.
No they have not. Tracers don't work that way. The phosphorous compound is contained in the hollow base of the bullet and is covered by a metallic cap. The tracer is ignited by the burning powder, NOT friction with the barrel or the air or anything else silly like that.
And it isn't phosphorus either. This is a common myth. It is a pyrotechnic composition typically of a metallic peroxide, magnesium, and other components. Few bullets ever used metallic phosphorus and they were intended as incendiaries. One British model intended to be used against aerial balloons was constructed with a plug in the bottom of the bullet which was pushed into the base upon firing. This squeezed the white phosphorus out of four axial holes as the bullet flew. The trace visible in the day from the phosphorus trioxide/pentoxide smoke was a byproduct, not a design feature.
Tracers are not illegal to possess under any Act. They're neither explosive nor fireworks. QUOTE]
If they aren't specifically authorized, then they are NOT legal. Actually if you ship tracer bullets (the projectiles only, ready for insertion into the cartridge case) in bulk, then they have the hazard classification code of 1.4C, therefore they are CLASSIFIED (world wide) as explosives.
By lawrence9 at 2009-08-16
By lawrence9 at 2009-08-16
If they aren't specifically authorized, then they are NOT legal.
Now there's a philosophy Governments have wet dreams for!
I insist that the opposite is true - that anything not specifically deemed illegal IS legal.
If I'm wrong, I'm definitely living in the wrong country.
Now there's a philosophy Governments have wet dreams for!
I insist that the opposite is true - that anything not specifically deemed illegal IS legal.
If I'm wrong, I'm definitely living in the wrong country.
Explosives Regulatory Division
June 2008
3.1 Products Not Authorized in Canada
Certain cartridges and accessories will not be authorized. For example, if a cartridge (or ammunition) is included in the Criminal Code regulations under SOR/98-462 “Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and Other Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited or Restricted,” the request will be addressed accordingly.
The following types of cartridges and accessories will not be authorized for commercial purposes:
•cartridges and projectiles that are prohibited under the Criminal Code (R.S., c. C-34, s.1.); this includes any cartridge that is manufactured or assembled with a projectile that is designed, manufactured or altered so as to be capable of penetrating body armour, for example, any ammunition described as armour piercing (AP) or with a projectile that is made of a pointed thick jacket with a heavy core, or that is coated with teflon;
•frangible ammunition;
•ammunition that includes a tracer, an incendiary composition, a high explosive or other similar military-type ammunition;
•cartridges that contain tear gas, mace or other gas, or any liquid, spray, powder or other substance that is capable of injuring, immobilizing or otherwise incapacitating any person, when it is to be used for the purpose of injuring, immobilizing or otherwise incapacitating any person by the discharge of the gas or liquid (note that if the proven intended use is against animals, the cartridge may be considered for authorization and will be subject to a product registration from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada);
•cartridges judged excessively violent by the Chief Inspector of Explosives;
•cartridges not properly labeled;
•cartridges that have a history of injuries due to poor design or manufacture;
•cartridges containing corrosive primers using potassium chlorate as the oxidizer in the priming compound, and mercury fulminate primers.
June 2008
3.1 Products Not Authorized in Canada
Certain cartridges and accessories will not be authorized. For example, if a cartridge (or ammunition) is included in the Criminal Code regulations under SOR/98-462 “Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and Other Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited or Restricted,” the request will be addressed accordingly.
The following types of cartridges and accessories will not be authorized for commercial purposes:
•cartridges and projectiles that are prohibited under the Criminal Code (R.S., c. C-34, s.1.); this includes any cartridge that is manufactured or assembled with a projectile that is designed, manufactured or altered so as to be capable of penetrating body armour, for example, any ammunition described as armour piercing (AP) or with a projectile that is made of a pointed thick jacket with a heavy core, or that is coated with teflon;
•frangible ammunition;
•ammunition that includes a tracer, an incendiary composition, a high explosive or other similar military-type ammunition;
•cartridges that contain tear gas, mace or other gas, or any liquid, spray, powder or other substance that is capable of injuring, immobilizing or otherwise incapacitating any person, when it is to be used for the purpose of injuring, immobilizing or otherwise incapacitating any person by the discharge of the gas or liquid (note that if the proven intended use is against animals, the cartridge may be considered for authorization and will be subject to a product registration from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada);
•cartridges judged excessively violent by the Chief Inspector of Explosives;
•cartridges not properly labeled;
•cartridges that have a history of injuries due to poor design or manufacture;
•cartridges containing corrosive primers using potassium chlorate as the oxidizer in the priming compound, and mercury fulminate primers.
(a) Define "for commercial purposes:"
and
(b) •cartridges judged excessively violent by the Chief Inspector of Explosives; which could be, if he was shot in the ass with one, a CB cap.
I do believe we're living on Orwells 'Animal Farm'.
and
(b) •cartridges judged excessively violent by the Chief Inspector of Explosives; which could be, if he was shot in the ass with one, a CB cap.
I do believe we're living on Orwells 'Animal Farm'.
Odd that several major EE dealers over the last year (I won't name names) have been selling Tracer ammo "Illegally". I would have thought that they were better versed in what is and is not legal then most other people.
Also odd how this is the first time I have ever even seen this topic mentioned.
Maybe I am thick, but until dealers stop selling it, I won't believe the one or two of the internet experts who say it is illegal.
Also odd how this is the first time I have ever even seen this topic mentioned.
Maybe I am thick, but until dealers stop selling it, I won't believe the one or two of the internet experts who say it is illegal.
Indeed. I've been a professional explosives technician for 15 years, probably fired more pyro than any of these clowns have even dreamed of, been through every kind of red tape and government regulation you could imagine. Shot pyro for rock tours, Disney, CFL, IHL, been an advisor to CNN and an expert witness in federal court. Yet here I'm just an "armchair lawyer" who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, and apparently neither does a senior inspector of explosives with the agency that actually wrote the law. Go figure.
That would be defined as anything that does not include the military or Law Enforcement, really it is not rocket science. And this is not the first time it has come up, try back about 5-6 months ago.
Just goes to show how out to lunch and out of date this "law" is.
Since when was metal core AP ammo illegal? Lots and lots of that stuff is sold in Canada every year.
The concept of bullets "coated in teflon" is laughable and was discredited way back in the 80's.
There are probably millions of rounds of frangible ammo sold in Canada annually. The government issues import permits for these all the time so they are hardly prohibited.
Same goes for ammo with corrosive primers. And why on earth would corrosive primed ammo be classed as prohibited?
The fact you were able to post some bit of law doesn't mean it is in force or even being enforced. The fact that the government regulatory bodies themselves totally ignor the law pretty much proves this law is invalid.
Classic "slide of hands", while we are all focused on the Firearm Act and it's OIC stuff ends up getting prohibited thru an obscure, little known law that the vast majority of gun owners don't even know exists and it's own OIC's.
1) Metal Core ammunition is not "described" as armour piercing,
2) I'm sure somewhere, someone has a stockpile, if so this keeps it from being imported or so the government thinks, remember the CF issued 1944 manufactured .303 ammunition to the Canadian Rangers until 1990 when the stock was finally exhausted.
3) Frangible ammunition, while the police and military may use it, where do you see it for sale?,
4) Corrosive primed ammunition when fired leave corrosive salts on the ground contaminating it, enviornmental hazard (its a tree hugger thing),
5) If the government was ignoring it, don't you think you would find dealers selling vast more quantities of surplus ammunition here from what once was the Warsaw Pact countries? Then they currently stock now?
One of the things I was discussing with ERD last Monday was the rules regarding surplus. The corrosive primer ban has been eliminated, as has the need for manufacturer's authorization to act on their behalf, as has the mandatory CERL testing (a diagram may now suffice).
