Semi-auto magazine capacity

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Brendon292

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I understand that semi-auto shotgun magazines have a capacity of five rounds of the largest round the gun was designed to shoot. Sometimes, target shooters can fit six 2.75" shells in the tube. It's a pretty straight forward concept and you don't need a law degree to understand it.

Firearm legislation, however, is not something that is widely understood by police because they encounter guns so infrequently. Is there any case law where the interpretation has tested? How about an opinion from the CFP or a provincial CFO that has been published? I recall seeing somebody say the Ontario CFO published their opinion prior to 2019 IPSC shotgun finals, but I could not find it anywhere.

I just want a printout to keep with my shotgun because I am paranoid.
 
KotKotofeich said:
It's pretty clear. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/sor-98-462/fulltext.html

See 3 (1)

"capable of containing more than five cartridges of the type for which the magazine was originally designed"

So if the magazine is demonstrably designed for 5 3 1/2 shells the rest doesn't matter.
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I agree. It is crystal clear. Some small town cop who has never encountered civilian owned guns (legally or illegally) may disagree, though. The bulk of general duty policing work is traffic, domestic disputes, trespassing, and dealing with vagrants. The firearms act is out of their wheelhouse.
 
So . . . Just print out that law, maybe with the pertinent bit Hi-lited. I keep ' Transport regs ' printed in my range bag to 'edumacate' the ill-prepared, RE Locks, cases and covering, ammo. I might add the SG regs since my local range now allows SGs.
 
OkayShooter said:
I know the local CFO office used to have pamphlets for taking. That has the regs for transporting and storage.

I carry a business card holder that has my reg certificates, firearms insurance, any regs/rules/laws printed out.
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I already keep the RCMP transport regulation pamphlet, my pistol registration certificates, and range membership with me when traveling with firearms.
 
Brendon292 said:
I understand that semi-auto shotgun magazines have a capacity of five rounds of the largest round the gun was designed to shoot. Sometimes, target shooters can fit six 2.75" shells in the tube. It's a pretty straight forward concept and you don't need a law degree to understand it.

Firearm legislation, however, is not something that is widely understood by police because they encounter guns so infrequently. Is there any case law where the interpretation has tested? How about an opinion from the CFP or a provincial CFO that has been published? I recall seeing somebody say the Ontario CFO published their opinion prior to 2019 IPSC shotgun finals, but I could not find it anywhere.

I just want a printout to keep with my shotgun because I am paranoid.
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I suspect you are referring to this thread:

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...01-comp-gen-2-upgrades.2297414/#post-20487981

Specifically this part:

Screenshot 2025-11-02 at 07.12.50.png
 
Brendon292 said:
I agree. It is crystal clear. Some small town cop who has never encountered civilian owned guns (legally or illegally) may disagree, though. The bulk of general duty policing work is traffic, domestic disputes, trespassing, and dealing with vagrants. The firearms act is out of their wheelhouse.
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Unfortunately I know you are correct but it seems illogical to disagree with the actual rules of the laws of the land when they are literally printed out right in front of you?

It would even be hard to interpret it in a different way. To summarize, using a gun with a 3.5" chamber as the example, so long as it doesn't hold 6 x 3.5 rounds (ie 5.9 rounds isn't 6) then you are legal.

From there anyone with half a brain can see that the same magazine will be able to hold more rounds of shorter ammunition (ie 3" or 2 3/4").

But no doubt there are some that wont be able to join the dots but hopefully they are extreme examples / outliers.

It is for this reason that I shy away from the grey area of whether 7 rounds in a 3" gun magazine is legal (as per the Ontario CFOs measurements / interpretation in the previous post) but all it would take is one of those "Small town cops" looking to save the world and then it is a sh1tstorm.

The 3" scenario with measurements to the mm would be a much tougher sell to explain to said small town cop than the 3.5".
 
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I can't find any "Real Regs" defining the Shotgun Mag Capacities per se, so I'd suggest printing out the 'Hunting gear guy's article (minus the pics :D ) and throw that in your range bag too ^O^
 
If you have a 3” chamber you can fit 7,
2 3/4 shells plus a quarter inch of spare movement and 8 shells of 2 3/4 with a quarter inch of movement with a 3.5” gun. But I personally bought a second tube cap that limits it to 5 shells that I take in and out during transport because I don’t feel like spending 30k on a lawyer to beat a stupid cop.
 
QUATTROISKING said:
If you have a 3” chamber you can fit 7,
2 3/4 shells plus a quarter inch of spare movement and 8 shells of 2 3/4 with a quarter inch of movement with a 3.5” gun. But I personally bought a second tube cap that limits it to 5 shells that I take in and out during transport because I don’t feel like spending 30k on a lawyer to beat a stupid cop.
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What gun(s) are we talking about?

I have a 3" gun with mag extension for 5 x 3" rounds but it wont hold 7 (6 max).

I also have a 3.5" gun with mag extension for 5 x 3.5" rounds and it wont hold 8 (7 max).
 
Sniffer - Are your shells 'rolled rim' or 'folded', and are you using 2 3/4" or 3" or 3-1/2". All factors in count, and maybe 'Hi-brass' or 'Low' ?
 
Buck1950 said:
Sniffer - Are your shells 'rolled rim' or 'folded', and are you using 2 3/4" or 3" or 3-1/2". All factors in count, and maybe 'Hi-brass' or 'Low' ?
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I have no idea. The finer points of shotgun ammo are a mystery to me but I will take some pictures in a bit.

As to the size, I only shoot 2 3/4" and the numbers quoted are for that in each respective gun.
 
call2arms said:
In addition people also discuss total with one in the chamber and possibly a ghost load
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To be clear the number I quoted previously are magazine capacity only (so as to not muddy the waters with ghost loading and rounds in chamber - both of which are immaterial to magazine capacity).

But if including those my 3" will max out at 8 rounds of 2 3/4" (6 in magazine + ghost load on gate + one in chamber) and 3.5" gun will max out at 9 rounds of 2 3/4" (7 in magazine + ghost load on gate + one in chamber).
 
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