The New Canadian Ranger Rifle

Mosin Nagant M 38. Millions on the market in factory condition. Cheap, easy to maintain and operate. Hundreds of millions of spare parts. The 7.62x54R ammo is hugely cheap and as powerful as the .303 British.

And it was designed for the cold and snow of Siberia.

This, except for the corporate bidders and the gullible government, is a no brainer. For a portion of the development costs of a new rifle, we could have thousands of rifles, ammo and spare parts in stock, and on issue.

Besides, it's been mandated that only Colt Canada will build the new rifle. So if the winning bidder is, say, Remington, they have to turn over their plans, prints and privileged info over to a competitor, so the Feds will give them the contract.

Does that sound like sound business sense to you?

Public Works is trying to do the same thing with the CAF Pistol Program. Colt doesn't have a design to fit the requirements but will still be the manufacturer under 'technology transfer'.
 
the Ruger failed initial trials. The "Colt design" will not be something from scratch

Interesting. I had heard that it failed on account that Ruger would not license the design to Colt, that they wanted to manufacture in the US and then export.

Which is a shame. I served up in Yellowknife for a couple of years and while I wasn't a Ranger instructor myself, I went on six Ranger patrols, and from my perspective the Ruger Scout would have been an awesome choice (assuming that .308 is absolutely mandatory, I would have suggested something more powerful that's already in service like .300 Win Mag).

But if .308 is absolutely going to be the cartridge, then the Ruger Scout would be my choice, but with a metal trigger guard. Big clunky Mauser actions just love the cold.
 
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Interesting. I had heard that it failed on account that Ruger would not license the design to Colt, that they wanted to manufacture in the US and then export.

Which is a shame. I served up in Yellowknife for a couple of years and while I wasn't a Ranger instructor myself, I went on six Ranger patrols, and from my perspective the Ruger Scout would have been an awesome choice (assuming that .308 is absolutely mandatory, I would have suggested something more powerful that's already in service like .300 Win Mag).

But if .308 is absolutely going to be the cartridge, then the Ruger Scout would be my choice, but with a metal trigger guard. Big clunky Mauser actions just love the cold.

As much as I like Ruger . I think what there getting is much better. And the fact that Colt Canada sells ar15’s now ,will probably open the door ,for other products in the future . I have my fingers and toes crossed.
 
This subject always seems to get lots of passionate attention. :)

I assume that Colt is going to clone some existing action like a Remington or Mauser derivative (Like winchester/Ruger etc) and add a detach magazine and a laminated stock. Much like the Ruger Scout rifle.

Since there are detach magazine systems for many bolt actions, this really can't be so complicated. Well, except government is involved ;)
 
A lot of the Rangers use their service rifles for providing food for their families by hunting. For that reason alone, I hope they stick with something chambered in .308 or similar rather than a .223 which I don't think would work well against a bull-caribou

No kidding. An ar would not survive a week! Plastic wil break quite easy in -40 bouncing around in the back of a toboggan. Biggest appliction is hunting and predator control so .223 is a horrible choice.
 
Always an interesting read whenever the Ranger rifle is mentioned. Everyone has THEIR favourite rifle and thinks it is the solution. After all they argue, the government will only screw up the contract. Then there are the nostalgists who pine for container loads of nicely wrapped parts, and perfectly specified new in the grease Lee Enfield No.4s to somehow magically appear, like cargo cults of the South Pacific. They reason that because the No.4 is good enough for their once or twice a year trip to the covered firing point, that men in extrordinary conditions can't possibly have a better knowledge than themselves. Finally, there are a scant few realists who have actually read the call for tender. They know the government is insistent on the final choice being currently commercially available, easy to maintain and capable of being supported by, yes, a government designated strategic technical entreprise that happens to be named Colt Canada. This last group know full well that the specification is for a 7.62x51 bolt action with other features and a bunch of useful accessories. Who knows what will happen to the stocks of .303BR and the condemned No.4s? Frankly, I don't really care, because the Rangers are getting a new rifle for a reason.
Quoted for truth
 
The Colt rifle is nearly 3x as much as the Ruger, and Ruger would make any changes necessary to the gun to satisfy their requirement . In fact they released a plastic stocked version at Shot this year.

I actually am the one who alerted Ruger to the impending contract 4 years ago.

My contact at Ruger told me at SHOT this year that the contract was completely mired in Political BS with the "Made in Canada" point being the biggest deal breaker.

It seems that politicians would rather pay Colt 3 times more for the guns and have them only assembled in Canada than pay Ruger to import them and have a solid source of spares for life.

The gun is already proven in every scenario from CQB to Long Range shooting. All they have to do is get over the politics of it.

I have been watching this for 4 years and nothing other than a bunch of talk has happened yet,,, and by now the entire contract could have been fulfilled and everybody would be happy with their new guns.

But NOoooo!

Politics is the Science of Self Perpetuating BS! How people feel that this is useful to a society is beyond me.

Randy
 
I got to see the Ruger rifle at the recent gun-show here in UK and it was just SOOOOOOO handy, even in the out-of-the-box version we had to look at, although I'd guess there would need to be some changes made for compliance with Ranger SOUs.

For many years I used a Swedish m/38 in Normark and Swedish and Finnish Lappland that had never had anything done to it at all, and it never failed to fire for me, or its owner, who had taken over 3000 elk with it over the years, nor HIS dad, who had been using it since 1946 in game conservancy. Bolts are great in the cold with the correct lubes. And yes, it gets cold up there, too.

tac
 
Have a look at the Ruger when it's in a snow bank and -50C, that may be the deal breaker. Since Colt Canada is USA owned they must get permission from the USA Gov to sell AR's to an outfit like the Toronto police. Probably the reason that they are only now selling to Canadian citizens is because it's taken that long to get permission from their masters in the USA. When all is said and done the Rangers will get a good rifle and it really is a drop in the bucket for the DND budget. Remember that this rifle is about the only form of compensation that the Rangers get and it is intended to be used as a meal provider. It does not need ten round mags and pic rails that will never be used, same for scopes. It will be 7.62/308 so it can shoot both service ammo and hunting ammo. Biggest issue I see is finding a suitable set of irons for it that will work as per the #4. About four years ago I put together a sample rifle for this purpose and I actually used sights from the #4.
 
Given the nature of the organization and the likely uses of the rifle, why the need for a common model? Give each Ranger a one-time gun allowance and an annual ammo allowance and let them shoot whatever the heck they want. What they would select would probably be surprising. All this talk about the harsh climate- you don't think these guys are capable of keeping pretty much anything functioning if their survival depends on it? This is a true token military presence in the Arctic and should be funded accordingly.

milsurpo
 
Biggest issue I see is finding a suitable set of irons for it that will work as per the #4. About four years ago I put together a sample rifle for this purpose and I actually used sights from the #4.

Surely an outfit like Colt would be able to manufacture some kind of rail mounted rear aperture sight that would work as well or better than the Mark 1 aperture. Heck, there would even be an aftermarket for them from those of us dealing with aging eyes.
 
Since Colt Canada is USA owned they must get permission from the USA Gov to sell AR's to an outfit like the Toronto police. Probably the reason that they are only now selling to Canadian citizens is because it's taken that long to get permission from their masters in the USA.

No, it has nothing to do with being US-owned. It has everything to do with the fact that it is made under license from Colt.
It was like that from day one, when Diemaco was a Canadian owned company.
 
I can't believe that some are suggesting issuing 70+ years old rifle to members of the Canadian Armed Forces...

Well, this is the MILSURP forum. I'm surprised that no one is plumping for the MK III Ross or Martini-Henry yet. Lots of Mosin-Nagant and No4 boosters to this point though. I'd repeat my earlier question; what do most Innuit hunters prefer to use, other than a DND supplied No4 with gratis ammo?

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