Trying to Acquire items in Canada is FRUSTRATING

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MrSame

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I will post this in the reloading forum as most items I am looking for are for reloading.

This is mostly just a rant so if you are tight for time you may want to skip this thread.

I just moved from Texas to Calgary Alberta. Wow is it frustrating here to try and buy anything related to guns. I am almost thinking the Canadian government has something to do with this because I can tell you all there is not a shortage anywhere else on gun parts. Powders yes but nothing else. I have long list of things to acquire and I have been 100% unsuccessful finding anything on my list. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places and you fine gentleman can point me in the right place. I have checked most of the site sponsors but after searching half of them and not having 1 hit I abandoned my search.

Things I am looking for:
Hornady Lock N Load Case Prep Center
Redding micor Adjust Taper crimp die 223 rem
Forster Ultra Micrometer seater die 223 rem
Redding Type S Buhing Full Length sizer die 223 rem
An annealer like the giraud.
Pistol powders. (I know these are difficult to find but I am beginning to think difficult is an understatement) I was loading and shooting over 500 rounds a week in Texas through the shortage. Not 1 pound of powder to be found here. (Pistol Power, Tightgroup, Win 231, Bullseye, VV320, Wsf, WST)

I was looking for an extended 30mm mount for my Trijicon Accupoint 1-4. BoBro, Larue or ADM. Cant find any of them. I even went to my local gun shops and they have NO mounts. WTHeck?
Troy BUIS. Can't find them.
The list goes on but those are the main items.

My questions.
Is the lack of parts available a product of low demand or are others looking for these parts and cannot find them either?
Is there a reason some of these parts cannot be brought to Canada? I know ITAR regulates exports in the US. Does that affect items like dies and case prep centers?
Why are the prices so high in Canada? I realize currency difference and import tax but my god it can't be that much of a difference. For example you can buy Hornady hot tubs in the US for $399. Everywhere I find them here they are $600

Rant over. Sorry for wasting 5 minutes of your life. I am just tired of trying to support my hobby here with no luck. I am seriously ready to go back to Texas. (BTW I am Canadian and lived here my entire life minus the last 1.5 years)

Cheers
 
ITAR does not affect the dies or case prep centers so they could be ordered out of the states if you cant find stock here. The Giraud annealer cannot be had here as it is controlled product due to its automation. If someone in Canada made a similar setup it would be fine but it cant be exported out of the US.

As for the pricing everything is that way. You can buy a snowmobile that is made in Canada cheaper by a fair bit in the US. :(
 
Any of the reloading stuff (except the annealer) should be readily available from Brownells. This seems to be the easiest way of sourcing random reloading widgets, as stores often don't have a huge selection of these things.

I believe that ADM mounts are carried by both Calgary Shooting Centre and The Shooting Edge, or you can mail order from Arms East.

No pistol powder can be found anywhere.
 
Brownell's is your place for reloading equipment (except brass, projectiles, and primers/powder) and Gunsmithing tools - they check shipments for ITAR / DOC compliance and will request additional documentation as required (usually none for tools, etc.). There's an excellent tutorial thread here on CGN.

I've seen lots of ADM stuff for sale at One Shot Tactical (a CGN sponsor so link at the top of the screen). The Vortex QD mounts are also manufactured by ADM.

Good luck! Pistol powder is like gold around these parts!
 
I think part of it is the exclusive distribution agreements for many brands. Only retailers who go through that distributor can sell whatever brand it is, which means that even among niche market stores there are some products that will just never get ordered.

Other stuff like LaRue don't have their paperwork done on the American side so their stuff can't be exported. There are a few greymarket parts floating around, but that's usually a sketchy proposition.
 
I typically order all of my reloading equipment (dies, case prep station, RCBS chargemaster, etc) from the US. Brass and powder can ususally be found if you spend enough time looking.

Have you tried Higginsons in Ontario? I was part of a powder group buy in Calgary a few years ago. Seemed like a good time to stock up on stuff I needed.

I've had good luck finding brass from Doug at Rayner Shine in Sask. If you dont mind listening to a 2 hour comentary on life, he might have what you need.

As for case annealers, check out the Grizzly one. Supposed to be the cats-pyjamas.


As a side note - what cartridges are you looking to anneal? I'm still trying to find time to get my case annealer setup. I'll be moving to your neck of the
woods soon. Shoot me a PM if you're interested in meeting up in the spring or something and we can do some annealing together.
 
The reason prices are so high in Canada is due to taxes.

High taxes means you need a higher wage to live which in turn brings up the cost of doing business, therefore higher prices.
 
In reply to your first question about the in availabillity of items and powder here:
US manufactures (even those that have Canadian factories) look after. Domestic sales before bothering to fill international orders. So if all your buddies in Texas and the other 47 lower states would stob hording andbeing so GD trigger happy then we may start to see some more stuff here.

In regards to your comment about /un stuff being so expensive;
The product starts as $399, then it has shipping and handling added, then an export and an import fee added to it, plus duty and then the currancy exchange....then the seller wants to make a bit of profit (who can blame him after all the hoops he has had to jump through to get said product). And then our Gvt wants a cut in the form of taxes...there's your $600
 
Mostly it is caused by the 1/10th size of the Canadian market vs the U.S. market. And the U.S. Commerce Dept.'s exporter's licence. U.S. manufacturers can sell everything they make without exporting anything. Plus government interference on both sides of the border.
Little or no demand for automated annealers in Canada. That'd be a commercial reloader thing and very few of those exist here. $15 in Crappy Tire buys a propane torch kit.
 
If you are looking for a Canadian Source for an Annealer, try Grizzley Gunworks in Hamilton ON. They may be able to help out.

http ://www.grizzlygunworks.com/Rotary_Case_Annealer.php
 
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