Is this .22 legal in Canada?

Technician

Technician

Member
Rating - 100%
13   0   0
Location
Sunny, BC
This thing is pretty neat, manufactured as a semi-auto

SAM-180.jpg


This is an ad up for this Voere:


Mfg mainly as a full auto version known as the "American 180" for use by prison guards where there were some issued to the Utah State Penitentiary System. They were based on Richard Casull's "Casull 290". Very few were ever actually made in semi auto. There is little information availabe on this rare variant. E&J Mfg still makes new examples on a very limited basis, using a walnut stock and forearm. This rifle has its original "simlulated wood grain" plastic furniture. The stock is removable and can be fired as a long barreled pistol. The (1) pan mag I believe is a 270 round, however it could be a 220, 177 or a 165 round capacity as I haven't loaded it to see the capacity. Either way, it's gonna hold a lot of damn rounds. I've been doing this a long time, and have never encountered one of these rifles, and am quite certain it will be a very long time until another one comes available on the market. S/N = A005508.

Now that's pretty cool
 
Pretty sure this is legally viewed as a variant of the American 180.
Which is sadly, even in the semi-auto format, still prohibited in Canada.
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am on this.
Technician, this one you show appears to be an original one, most likely with the 177 round magazine.

Edit: When this neat rimfire carbine came out, even as a semi-auto you could get the laser sight underslung the forearm. This laser sight was bulky technology then, (1977-78ish) about 15 inches long by about 3 inches high and around an inch wide.
 
Last edited:
From the CFC website:

Quote:
Firearms Prescribed as Prohibited

As with restricted firearms, a Criminal Code regulation listing all the firearms previously prohibited by Order in Council came into effect December 1, 1998. Those firearms are:

Former Prohibited Weapons Order No. 11:

•The firearm of the design commonly known as the American 180 Auto Carbine, and any variant or modified version of it, including the AM-180 Auto Carbine and the Illinois Arms Company Model 180 Auto Carbine.

Unquote
 
Too bad, it is a really unique and cool firearm so it figures it is banned in Canada. :mad: I have read a bit about this gun and found it interesting.

The man who invented it intended it to be used in law enforcement as .22 ammo is lightweight and has less potenial for deadly riccochet and unwanted penitration of walls. Also, because the ammo is lightweight, an officer could carry a large magazine and not have to worry about reloading while being able to deliver a large barrage of fire.

I think the main reasons it was not adopted widely had to do with better auto fire assault weapons being availible to law enforcement in the 1970s and 80s, magazine feed issues, and the lack of armour penitration of the round. Still, I for one would love to be able to own a piece of history like this, especially one that has a 177 round mag.
 
It's rate of fire made up for lack of special bullets. One of the southern state highway patrols was chasing a fleeing bank robber who was armed with an ar-15 and a 357 revolver IIRC.
He was driving a new yorker of something like that. The short burst of 47 bullets punched through the trunk, a steel reinforce beam, back seat, front seat and chewed a hole the size of a fist through the felon's chest. DRT. The correction system grownups feared this weapon could be seized by inmates and turned against the prison guards. Too bad, this was one of the first portable firearms with the extremely useful laser red dot that could defuze violent situations without firing a shot into dangerous inmates.
The full auto rate of fire was about 1200 rpm or so.
But that same laser was soon seen in LE circles on Ruger Mini-14s and AR rifles in the USA.
 
Last edited:
siriusnorth said:
Too bad, it is a really unique and cool firearm so it figures it is banned in Canada. :mad: I have read a bit about this gun and found it interesting.

The man who invented it intended it to be used in law enforcement as .22 ammo is lightweight and has less potenial for deadly riccochet and unwanted penitration of walls. Also, because the ammo is lightweight, an officer could carry a large magazine and not have to worry about reloading while being able to deliver a large barrage of fire.

I think the main reasons it was not adopted widely had to do with better auto fire assault weapons being availible to law enforcement in the 1970s and 80s, magazine feed issues, and the lack of armour penitration of the round. Still, I for one would love to be able to own a piece of history like this, especially one that has a 177 round mag.
Click to expand...


Interesting. The first time I ever heard of this gun was back in the late 70's. A friend of my dad's was a police officer and had a few brochures for this gun. If memory serves, the force he worked with was considering getting them! I was just a kid, but I kept one of the brochures...thought it looked like a "gangster" gun. I've lusted after them ever since!
 
I recall seeing pictures of a variant of the AM180 in the hands of a combatant in the Balkans, at the time that whole mess was in the worlds eye. Published in Macleans or Time magazine, IIRC.

Ayup. Too much fun to be in the hands of us peasants!

Couple good vids on youtube, of guys in the US shooting them full-auto.

Cheers
Trev
 
Yeah...barrel-burning ammo-dumps..I've drooled over those vids myself. Almost enough to make one consider moving south. Almost. :)
 
Awwwww da*nit

This is why I like hanging out here, if I have a question I know that I can find the answer here, the wealth of knowledge the gentlemen have here is huge. And it's really too bad it's a prohib in Canada but I guess it's way too fun for us to have as a semi auto....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom