download - the National Firearms Association

June/July 2010 $4.50 

C A N A D I A N 

Firearms Journal 

Inside: Meet your new Executive! 

Police, Policy Making & C-391 

NFA Launches New Legal Defense Fund! 

Fully Committed On All Fronts: 

Canada’s National Firearms Association

Hello! 

Greeting from Head Office 

Things have really been picking up here in the office since the 

nice weather finally hit and we’ve been kept hopping answering 

member’s questions, attending gun shows on behalf of the 

organization and dealing with the tons of mail we receive every 

week. We love it! 

We’re happy to report that our recent “End the Long Gun 

Registry” postcard campaign was a great success with a very 

good return rate. Thanks to all who took the time to send their 

cards and let Ottawa know where you stand as responsible 

firearms owners. 

Gun show season is still upon us and there is nothing we like 

more than having an opportunity to interact with fellow gun 

owners and members. Please don’t hesitate to drop by any table 

where you see our banner and say “hi” or fill out a postcard. 

We’re also happy to renew your membership on the spot or sell 

you one if you haven’t already joined “Team NFA.” ☺ 

Our new on-line store is now up and running and the new 

website is really starting to see heavy traffic from our members. 

We’re pleased to announce that you can now buy or renew your 

membership instantly on-line with our secure shopping cart or 

pick up a new NFA T-shirt, travel mug or gym bag, etc…from 

our selection of NFA merchandise. 

Finally, by the time this issue goes to print our Annual General 

Meeting for 2010 will have come and gone. It was a lot of 

work, but we’re sure it will have proven to be a great success. 

Congratulations to all the new NFA directors and new executive 

and thank you to all members who took the time to exercise their 

franchise and vote. 

Have a great summer everybody! ☺ 

- Diane, Bev, Megan & Ted 

On The Cover 

One of the most satisfying things fellow firearms owners 

can do is pass along their knowledge and experience 

to new shooters. Help preserve our cultural heritage and 

become a mentor. New shooter recruitment is rapidly becoming 

an issue of critical importance to our community 

as the shift from the nuclear family to two-income families 

continues to cause declines in hunter and gun-owner 

populations. 

Mission Statement 

Canada’s National Firearms Association exists to promote, 

support and protect all safe firearms activities, 

including the right of self defence; firearms education 

for all Canadians; freedom and justice for Canada’s firearms 

community, and to advocate for legislative change 

to ensure the right of all Canadians to own and use firearms 

is protected. 

The contents of the Canadian Firearms Journal are 

copyrighted and may be reproduced only when written 

permission is obtained from the publisher. 

Inside 

This Issue 

Regulars 

From the Editor’s Desk ...................................................... 4 

Sean G. Penney 

From The NFA Bookshelf – 

Old Guns & Whispering Ghosts ........................................ 5 

Wm. Rantz 

President’s Message – Passing the Torch....................6-7 

Blair Hagen 

Vice President’s Column – Taming the Hobgoblin.....8-9 


Letters to the Editor......................................................10-11 

Preserving Our Firearms Heritage – 

Firearms & Fashion............................................... 12-13 

Gary K. Kangas & Sybil Kangas. 

Politics & Guns – 

Police, Policy Making & Gun Control.......................20-23 

Tyler Vance 

Old Western Armoury – Elfego Baca & the 

Frisco War: Standing Alone for Justice.....................24-26 

Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin 

Legal Corner.......................................................................... 27 

Grayson Penney 

The International Front – 

Facts, Science & Strategy in Australia ......................28-29 

Gary Mauser 

Team NFA Update...........................................................30-31 


Gunsmith “Q & A”........................................................42-43 


The Last Word.................................................................46-47 


Features 

2010 Election Results & 

Annual General Meeting...............................................14-17 


Kids & Guns – Is Hunting Good for Bad Kids?...20-23 

Cast Bullets For Beginners, Part II........................32-35 


Made Right Here – Alberta Tactical Rifle 

Supply AT-15: Homegrown Black Rifle....................36-40 


2 June/July www.nfa.ca www.nfa.ca June/July 3

NFA Book Shelf 

By Wm. Rantz 

From The Desk 

of the Editor 

OLD GUNS AND 

WHISPERING GHOSTS 

Author - Jesse L. Hardin 

Publisher – Shoot Magazine Corporation 

267 Pages, Colour & Black/White photos 

Hard Cover with Dust Jacket 

ISBN: 0-9726383-2-6 

This is a special issue for me, as it marks my final column 

as your vice-president, communications. Our 2010 AGM has 

come and gone and we have a great new executive in place. 

For now, my focus is going to lean more towards marketing 

& promotion. In that role, I’ll be exploring new ways to 

grow & improve our magazine as Editor-in-chief, keep our 

web site content fresh and make sure our members are kept 

informed. 

In this issue our ever-popular regulars are back. Bill Rantz reviews 

a book by fellow contributor Jesse Hardin. Our friend 

Gary Kangas checks in with another glimpse into our past 

with his firearms heritage article looking at the fashion of 

the Cowboy Action Shooting world. I’m sure some of those 

same fashions would look quite familiar to the subject of our 

Old Western Armoury feature, one Elfego Baca, as related by 

Jesse Hardin. Professor Mauser returns with another look at 

Australia and what lessons we should take from this failure 

on the part of the Australian firearms orgs. Definitely some 

food for thought! 

My co-editor, Grayson, weighs in with his “Last Word,” taking 

a look back at how he got his start in the shooting sports 

with his first Red Ryder BB gun and also shares his method 

of adjusting original Remington 700 factory triggers in our 

“Gunsmith Q&A.” With the end of the 2010 race season he 

also gives us the final update on Team NFA for the year. 

I contribute with my report on the 2010 election results and 

Edmonton AGM. Attendees were very positive over the 

whole experience and we hope to make next year’s even bigger 

and better. Special thanks have to go out to our hardworking 

staff at headquarters and the generous support of 

our corporate donors who helped make the AGM a rousing 

success. I’m also back with a review of one of the few Canadian 

made AR-15s, in our “Made Right Here” regular feature 

and finish up with part two of my “Cast Bullets for Beginner’s” 

primer. 

We’ve also launched a new Legal Defense & Compensation 

Fund that will enable us to continue fighting for the rights of 

Canadian gun owners and provide aid to those in need when 

they go up the proverbial 600lb gorilla that is our national 

police force. Check out this issue’s “Legal Corner” for more 

information on the fund and court challenges related to recent 

unilateral reclassification of semi-autos. 

We’re also welcoming a new contributor to Canadian Firearms 

Journal this issue; Tyler Vance joins us for his take on 

Politics & Guns, with his in-depth treatise on the role the various 

police and law-enforcement associations play in public 

policy making on firearms issues. 

Finally, the “Kids & Guns” feature is back with an interesting 

look at the whole issue of kids, guns and hunting and what 

exactly young hunters and shooters can take from a positive 

and safety conscious introduction to the sport. As we’ve said 

time and again, kids who grow up hunting and shooting don’t 

grow up to knock-over liquor stores or rob little old ladies. I 

think the author drives home this point quite succinctly. 

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy this issue just as much as we 

all did putting it together. As always, we love to hear from 

our readers and we’re always on the look-out for new talent, 

or a member with something to say via our “Member’s Soapbox.” 

Don’t be shy! 

Correction: Please be advised that the caption for the photo found on page 

19 of the April/May 2010 Canadian Firearms Journal is incorrect. The individual 

pictured with new NFA President Sheldon Clare is Mr. David Anderson, 

Parliamentary Secretary to Natural Resources Canada Minister Christian 

Paradis and not Mr. Shawn Fried. We apologize for any inconvenience 

One purpose of a dust jacket is to protect the book 

that it contains. Even more importantly, from a retail 

perspective, the role of the front cover is to attract 

the prospective buyer’s attention. OLD GUNS AND 

WHISPERING GHOSTS’ dust jacket features an 1881 

Marlin rifle, an old style cartridge belt, pocket watch 

and a photo of William F. Cody holding his 1873 Winchester 

rifle. How could any gun enthusiast or history 

buff resist ordering a copy to add to their library? 

OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS arrived 

shortly after ordering and I began by scanning through 

the pages. It was soon apparent that this book was like 

no other that I owned in my extensive book collection. 

There are many books that concentrate on the firearms 

of the early days and just as many that focus on historical 

figures from the same time period. OLD GUNS 

AND WHISPERING GHOSTS allows the reader to 

explore the relationship between the firearms and the 

lives of the men and women who carried those guns 

years ago. 

History of the Old West, as told today, is a blend of 

well documented facts, folklore and distortion by our 

modern motion picture industry. Jesse Hardin is well 

aware that his potential audience will have their own 

perspective of western life. He shares his own visions 

of gunslingers, native warriors, buffalo hunters, soldiers 

and other western characters while stimulating 

the imagination of the reader. 

Jesse Hardin has also included a wide variety of visual 

material to stimulate the reader’s imagination. Included 

are many historical black and white photographs as 

well as numerous modern colour images which Jesse 

has taken with his hand held camera. The book also 

contains numerous sketches that Mr. Hardin has drawn 

enabling him to share his vision of life on the early 

frontier. Slowly turning the pages can turn into a very 

enjoyable hour long experience. 

OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS is divided 

into 17 chapters with titles such as “Buffalo Guns: 

Ritual Waste & Return” and “Indian Arms: Homelands, 

Lances & Trains”. Each title listed in the Table 

of Contents specifies the focus of that chapter but does 

so in a way that arouses the curiosity of the reader. The 

extensive thought that went into selecting each title reflects 

Hardin’s overall effort to produce a high quality 

publication. 

Reading through the text of any given chapter provides 

you with a combination of historical facts blended with 

descriptions sufficiently detailed to make you feel that 

you are actually witnessing the events firsthand. Hardin 

is obviously a very talented writer capable of sharing 

his thoughts skilfully. 

OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS is definitely 

a unique publication. It has eye catching photos 

but is not simply a coffee table book. There is no index 

which confirms that this is not a reference book. Chapters 

can be read and reread in any order which means 

it is not a novel. 

Each reader will soon discover that they have a favourite 

chapter or more that relates to their specific interest 

in the lore of the early frontier. OLD GUNS AND 

WHISPERING GHOSTS is not meant to be read once 

and then hidden on a dusty bookshelf. It is intended to 

be a friend that you can rely on when you need to escape 

the torrid pace of modern life. Sit back, relax and 

enjoy the hours spent exploring Jesse’s vision of the 

guns and characters of the frontier days. 

Jesse Hardin has tremendous respect and perhaps is 

even envious of the people who settled the early west 

over one hundred and fifty years ago. The writing 

that he shares in OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING 

GHOSTS will convince readers that in order to truly 

understand life on the early frontier both people and 

firearms must be studied together. 

OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS may be 

ordered directly from Old Guns Book c/o Botanie Valley 

Productions, PO Box 507, Lytton, BC V0K 1Z0. 

The price is $43 Canadian including both shipping and 

handling. 

4 June/July www.nfa.ca 

www.nfa.ca June/July 5

President’s 

Message 

Passing The Torch 

by Blair Hagen 

When I first assumed the position of NFA president after 

National President David A Tomlinson passed away in 

September 2007, I faced a daunting task. David Tomlinson, 

our association’s patriarch had made a very deep stamp 

on both National Firearms Association and the firearms 

community of Canada. I knew it would take the work of ten 

people to do the job that he had done, and so I immediately 

set about recruiting those ten people. 

Sean Penney of Newfoundland and Henry Atkinson of 

Ontario volunteered to take interim vice president positions 

as National Firearms Association wrote and adopted new 

bylaws, undertook the transition towards a new organization, 

and finally held nominations and an election to complete that 

process. Without the efforts of these men, National Firearms 

Association would still be stuck at the starting line of this 

herculean task/ quagmire. 

Credit also goes to Sheldon Clare of Prince George, British 

Columbia for conceiving the process and leading the renewal 

of those by-laws. 

This process is now complete, and Sheldon Clare was 

elected this past weekend, during our AGM, as president 

of Canada’s National Firearms Association. He enjoys the 

complete support and confidence of our newly elected board 

of directors. 

In many ways, Sheldon Clare is a fortuitous and logical 

choice as president. His commitment to the fight to 

reform Canada’s broken firearms laws goes back over two 

decades, beginning even before David Tomlinson drafted 

him to work and represent National Firearms Association 

in British Columbia. As BC NFA President, Sheldon led 

the fight against the Liberal C-68 Firearms Act; taking on 

the provincial governments of the day with such efforts 

culminating in 2001 with the election of a government 

that had campaigned on and were elected because of their 

promise to oppose the C-68 Firearms Act - and end British 

Columbia’s participation and administration of the Canadian 

Firearms Program. Sheldon’s leadership and intimate 

knowledge of firearm law has well served National Firearms 

Association and its membership through his over 20+ year’s 

involvement with this association. 

The long service and devotion of our provincial executives 

and volunteers, some still with us and others not, also 

deserves recognition. I hope the renewal and evolution of 

National Firearms Association is some small payment for 

their years of service to the firearms community. 

One thing I have learned through my tenure as NFA president 

is that we are winning the fight to reform Canada’s firearms 

laws, and assert the Canadian right and cultural tradition 

of firearms ownership. Where once we could only stare 

down a one way street of ever increasing gun control and 

civil disarmament we now, for the first time ever, have 

legislation before parliament that would begin the reform of 

Canada’s failed firearms control system. This is something 

all Canadians can celebrate. 

The goals of the 1995 C-68 Firearms Act and “universal” 

firearms registry were clear. It was to be the “final solution” 

to the firearms “problem” in Canada. It was going to socially 

re-engineer Canada into a liberal, leftist, and ultimately 

disarmed society - as those who conceived, wrote and 

supported the legislation were dead set on ending the 

Canadian right and cultural tradition of firearms ownership. 

Luckily, their arrogance and incompetence resulted in a 

very poorly written piece of legislation, especially for such 

an immense goal. This failure greatly aided freedom loving 

Canadians in working towards its demise these past 15 years. 

The Auditor General of Canada’s report of 2002 merely 

confirmed its failure and finally convinced the Canadian 

public of it. The election of the new Conservative Party of 

Canada in 2006 stopped the progress of the Liberal’s firearms 

agenda dead. 

Today, even that party is going through some soul searching 

on the firearms issue, proposing “decriminalization” for lack 

of compliance with its failed firearms law - unthinkable in 

1995 or even 2000! 

There are, however, many more challenges to come. The 

civil disarmament lobby in Canada is stubbornly resisting 

efforts to reform Canada’s failed firearms control system and 

preserve their hallmark legislation and Firearms Act of 1995. 

Its failure and rejection by Canadians means nothing to them. 

Like other failed ideologies such as fascism, communism 

and statism, its adherents put the blame for those failures 

on “not being implemented the right way” or “not being 

communicated correctly to people”. 

And they’ve got important and powerful friends 

internationally and at the United Nations. 

Canada is supposed to be on the same schedule of civil 

disarmament as other Commonwealth countries such as 

Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The 

firearms communities of those nations have suffered greatly 

at the hands of the international civil disarmament lobby. Gun 

bans, confiscations, punitive and overbearing regulation are 

the new norm. Their “privilege” of firearms ownership has 

greatly diminished and is disappearing into the background 

of their national histories. The deliberate excise of those 

recreational firearms communities from the national fabric of 

those nations is part and parcel of the social re-engineering 

process of those societies and cultures. It is a process that we 

must stop. 

In Canada, we have been presented with a unique opportunity 

not only to stop that agenda, but reverse it as well. That 

is something Canada’s National Firearms Association is 

going to exploit to its fullest potential. The preservation of 

our historic firearms freedoms must be paramount. In that 

regard, the positive and important role firearms played 

in carving this great nation out of the northern wasteland, 

and the symbiotic role firearms continue play today in our 

ever evolving Canadian cultural experience cannot be long 

ignored. 

Canadians will write this nation’s firearms laws, not some 

utopian disarmament activist, not some international gun 

control non-governmental organization, and not some 

UN bureaucrat seeking international harmonization of 

disarmament initiatives. Canadians, including firearms 

owning Canadians. You and me. This nation’s national 

sovereignty is not up for sale to the international gun control 

lobby. 

Canada will not follow those other unfortunate nations down 

the dark road of civil disarmament, cultural subservience 

and degradation. The international disarmament movement’s 

agenda stops here. 

It’s been a great honor and privilege to serve the membership 

of the National Firearms Association for the last three 

years. Your enthusiasm and support have made it possible 

for us to endure the often frustrating job of challenging 

government, the federal bureaucracy and the justice system. 

I encourage you to continue to support Canada’s National 

Firearms Association and the lifetime goal of building and 

maintaining our proud Canadian firearms culture for every 

generation that follows. 

National Firearms Associations 2010 Executive & Board of Directors 

(L-R, Phil Simard, Ed Lucas, Bill Rantz, Ted Simmermon, Diane Laitila, 

Sheldon Clare, Henry Atkinson & Blair Hagen. Missing - Steve Buddo, 

Sean Penney) 

The diversity of Canada’s recreational firearms community 

is what makes us so passionate and vibrant. The energy and 

drive contained therein is something which we must harness 

in order to protect and preserve our rights as responsible 

firearms owners. 

Firearms are part of Canada’s cultural fabric. We enjoy a long 

and proud history of firearms use that ranges from traditional 

sporting uses such as hunting to organized shooting sports 

like high power rifle and Olympic Biathlon. Additionally, 

we have a rich and vibrant tradition of firearms preservation 

and collecting, with many collections across the nation that 

are the envy of military historians, competitive shooters 

and collectors around the world. Contrary to popular liberal 

opinion, thousands of Canadians every year also continue 

to demonstrate their unwillingness to be victimized by 

criminals. Self-defense is a basic human right and countless 

Canadians have legitimately used their firearms for the 

defense of themselves and their families when they have 

been forced to do so. The Canadian firearms community is 

a reflection of the diverse, cultural mosaic that is Canada. 

Our modern handgun and sporting rifle competitors come 

from all walks of life and position. Doctors share the firing 

line with the factory worker and the school teacher with 

the engineer. Just as importantly, Canada enjoys a proud 

martial heritage and Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen 

have served in an exemplary manner under both the British 

flag and our own Maple Leaf banner. All of these different 

shooters and divergent interests have helped play an integral 

part in forming the Canadian cultural identity. Take pride in 

that. 

Working together, growing, building and always looking to 

present the best possible message, we will win. 

Remember these words. They are what will win the fight to 

preserve firearms freedom in Canada. 



Remember that slippery slope I 

mentioned last issue in reference to 

the RCMP’s unilateral reclassification 

of legally registered semi-auto rifles 

& shotguns? Well, the gun grabbers 

are upping the ante and it isn’t just 

those “evil black rifles” that need to be 

controlled; scoped bolt action “sniper” 

rifles are now on the chopping block 

as well! For you fence-sitters on 

registration; times up. Whether you 

like it or not, we’re in a no-holdsbarred 

fight with the gun grabbers 

and it is critical for all Canadian gun 

owners to finally recognize this fact. 

I speak in reference to recent reports 

coming out of Afghanistan that have 

a British Army sniper breaking the 

current long-distance kill record 

held by former Newfoundland-born 

PPCLI sniper Rob Furlong; set back 

in 2002 during Operation Anaconda. 

According to reports, one Corporal of 

Horse Craig Harrison of Her Majesty’s 

Household Cavalry was the shooter of 

record. During the engagement, CoH 

Harrison scored three confirmed hits 

at 2,475 m, besting Furlong’s record 

by 45 m, during a patrol south of 

Musa Qala, in the Helmand Province 

badlands. 

CoH Harrison engaged the two 

Taliban machine-gunners, then in 

the process of bringing both his 

Vice President’s 

Column 

Taming the Hobgoblin 

Sean Penney, National VP Communications 

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace 

alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing 

it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. 

- H. L. Mencken 

own commander and allied Afghan 

soldiers under direct fire with their 

Russian-built PKM machinegun, with 

his issued L115A1 Long Range Rifle 

chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum. 

The bolt-action, magazine fed rifle 

is built by Accuracy International, 

and in addition to the British Army, 

is currently used by many Canadian 

shooters competing in tactical long 

range shooting competitions across 

the country. 

The feat of arms displayed by CoH 

Harrison cannot be diminished, as 

he scored three hits with nine rounds 

expended - killing the machinegunner 

and his assistant, as well 

as a third, deliberate shot, on the 

Russian machinegun itself to render 

it unserviceable at ranges that were 

actually well beyond the normal 

combat effective ranges of the .338 

Lapua Magnum round. Score “three” 

for the “good guys” right? 

Wrong! The ink wasn’t even dry on 

the newspapers announcing CoH 

Harrison’s outstanding martial display 

when the Coalition for Gun Control 

usurped CoH Harrison and his rifle 

for their own nefarious purposes. In 

E-mails, interviews and posts to their 

website, the Coalition warned their 

followers and the public that the very 

same L115A3 sniper rifle used by 

CoH Harrison, “…which can shoot 

more than 2 km away,” would be one 

of the firearms that would be removed 

from the firearms registry if Bill C-391 

passes. The Coalition for Gun Control 

continued, warning supporters that 

because the current Firearms Act 

(which they had a direct hand in 

helping draft) replaced all previous 

gun laws, including a requirement by 

businesses to keep sales records that 

was in place since 1977, there would 

be no way for law enforcement to 

track these firearms once the registry 

was dismantled, since the L115A3 is 

currently classified as non-restricted. 

The horror! 

It isn’t hard to read between the 

lines of the Coalition’s “warnings.” 

Obviously Ms. Cukier is a student 

of H.L. Mencken, as this is yet 

another blatant attempt by her socalled 

coalition to create yet another 

“hobgoblin” with which to terrorize 

the non-gun owning populace. 

The public has no more to fear from an 

L115A3 in the hands of law-abiding 

gun owners than they do from any 

other bolt-action hunting rifle or target 

rifle. There are literally thousands of 

such rifles in the hands of hunters and 

target shooters today and they provide 

good service afield in pursuit of big 

and/or dangerous game or on the 

known distance range at Connaught. 

When this warning didn’t quite get 

the media coverage she had hoped 

for, Cukier doubled-down and raised 

the specter of civilian ownership 

of .50BMG caliber target rifles that 

could, “Shoot airliners out of the sky,” 

to engender even more fear. 

Other than costing about $10.00 

per round to shoot, most registered 

.50BMG rifles in Canada are nothing 

more than heavier, more unwieldy, 

bolt-action target rifles that are 

outrageously expensive. They pose 

no more danger to the public than 

the scoped .30-06 in the hands of any 

Canadian sportsman. Yet, God help 

us all if C-391 passes and the police 

no longer know where to find these 

“instruments of death,” if you buy into 

what Ms. Cukier is selling! 

Interestingly enough, both types of 

rifles have been in Canada for decades, 

yet we haven’t seen a single airliner 

drop from the sky or any assassinations 

from 2+ Km. Obviously, this is just 

another cheap ploy by the Coalition 

for Gun Control to further obfuscate 

the issue in order to make the public 

“clamorous to be led to safety” because 

current poll numbers, in support of 

C-391, aren’t going her way. It is 

disingenuous and the lowest form of 

politics. 

To counter these initiatives National 

Firearms Association has adopted 

more aggressive short-term tactics, 

including direct marketing and on-line 

postcard campaigns in support of Bill 

C-391; a new media outreach policy 

and direct lobbying of federal party 

leaders. While support for these recent 

initiatives has been very positive, we 

have not escaped criticism from a 

certain segment of the recreational 

firearms community. I’ve dubbed them 

the “not us” collective. 

These are the guys who have taken 

umbrage because we’ve actually 

had the audacity to take our fight to 

the public airwaves and declare that 

we are responsible, law-abiding gun 

owners and we’re not willing to accept 

the unilateral suppression of our 

rights any longer; nor are we willing 

to remain quiet and not rock the 

boat while agents of the government 

usurp the privilege of parliament and 

institute further firearms bans without 

due process. 

The “not us” crowd would prefer that 

we kept quiet and to express thanks 

for what few rights we have remaining 

instead of choosing to fight for the 

rights of fellow gun owners. They 

constantly argue that it is “not us” who 

are the problem…it is those “machine 

guns” or “hand gun guys” who are 

ruining it for us, or those “tacticool 

young bucks” making trouble stirring 

up the gun grabbers. 

They are of the opinion we should avoid 

talking to the public or the media, at all 

costs, in order to avoid drawing more 

attention to us; ignoring the fact that 

the gun grabbers have already placed 

us firmly in the public spotlight. Yet, 

when asked for alternative strategies, 

the “not us” gang offer no solutions 

other than appeasement. Any student 

of history can tell you just how 

successful that strategy would prove if 

adopted. 

Looking at the big picture, if we, as 

gun owners aren’t willing to stand-up 

and fight for our rights than who will? 

For too long this fight has been carried 

by far too few hands and far too many 

gun owners have opted for apathy 

instead of action. Recent initiatives by 

the RCMP to begin the reclassification 

of legally registered semi-auto 

sporting rifles and shotguns is but the 

first volley in a new campaign that can 

very well lead to the confiscation of 

every semi-auto in Canada. Now the 

Coalition for Gun Control is directly 

targeting scoped bolt-action rifles as 

well! 

Gun bans? Don’t think it will happen 

here? Think again, the process has 

already started just as it did in Britain & 

Australia. Remember too that Liberal 

promise that registration would never 

lead to confiscation? Tell that to the 

owners of Norinco Type 97A carbines 

and High Standard Model 10B 

shotguns! The stakes have never been 

higher folks, now is the time to act, not 

tomorrow or next week – TODAY! 

In closing, I’d like to let you all know 

that this will be my last column as 

your vice-president. Our inaugural 

AGM as Canada’s National Firearms 

Association is history and our old 

organizational structure has been 

replaced by a completely new one that 

is far more democratic and open. 

My title no longer exists and a new 

executive has been elected under the 

new by-laws. With a newly elected 

board of directors and a revitalized 

national executive, I felt it was the 

correct time to step aside and focus 

more on my duties as CFJ editor and 

contributor. 

It has been the greatest honour and 

privilege of my life to have been 

entrusted with the responsibility to 

serve as your vice-president for the 

past three years. I’d like to thank 

both Blair and Henry, along with all 

of our outgoing provincial executives 

and our faithful office staff for their 

years of self-less service and work 

on the part of Canadian gun owners. 

To you all, I leave you with this final 

thought that has been a personal motto 

of mine these past three years: “Tu ne 

cede malis sed contra audentior ito.” 

(Yield not to misfortunes, but advance 

all the more boldly against them.) 


Letters to the Editor 

Dear NFA, 

I am a fan of military history and have just started participating 

in local historical re-enactments, mainly WWII and Korea era. 

I’ve always leaned toward the artillery branch and would love to 

own my own field piece. 

Not only would such an acquisition work out great for my new 

hobby, but it would also allow me to preserve a piece of history 

while providing the public with an opportunity to interact 

directly with a piece of our martial history through parades and 

similar events. 

I’m already in the process of rebuilding an old Willys Jeep. I’m 

wondering if it is still legal to own such artillery pieces in Canada. 

Someone told me that only museums were now allowed to 

own them and any in private hands had to be permanently altered 

to fire only blanks. Is this true? 

Kevin B. 

Hi Kevin, 

Thanks for your question. In short, private citizens are still 

permitted to own things such as “modern” artillery pieces and 

mortars. However they now fall under the Controlled Goods Directorate 

set up under the Department of Public Works and Government 

Services. From the PWGSC website: Registration with 

the Controlled Goods Directorate (CGD) is mandatory for anyone 

that deals with controlled goods and/or controlled technology 

in Canada. Furthermore, to transfer a controlled good and/ 

or controlled technology outside of Canada, registration with the 

CGD is a prerequisite for the issuance of an export permit by the 

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. 

Registration with the Controlled Goods Program is legally required 

prior to examining, possessing or transferring controlled 

goods and technology. 

Individuals are eligible to register with the CGD provided they 

consent to a security assessment and are ordinarily resident in 

Canada as either a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident. 

Incidentally, much the same goes for tanks. You can own as 

many as you like but if they having working main guns you have 

to register them. They do qualify as “non-restricted” firearms 

however. 

For more information on a particular piece to see whether or not 

it falls under the purview of the CGD or to learn more information 

on the processes now required I would suggest that you 

contact the CGD directly by calling Toll Free 1-866-368-4646. 

You can also submit your questions and/or comments directly 

to: dmc-cgd@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca or check out their web page at 

http://ssi-iss.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/dmc-cgd/ 

- Editors 

Dear NFA, 

I’m new to reloading and am really enjoying my new hobby. 

Unfortunately my local gun shops have only a limited selection 

of bullets to choose from. I found a private supplier with really 

great prices but he is mail-order only. 

Somebody at my local club told me to forget about it as you 

couldn’t ship bullets through the mail. I asked my local postmaster 

about Canada Post’s regulations on shipping bullets and was 

told that they fall under the Explosive’s Act and were therefore 

not eligible for shipment as they were dangerous goods. Is this 

correct? 

Bill G. 

Hi Bill, 

I’m guessing there was some kind of a communications breakdown 

between you and your postmaster. Component bullets used 

to reload metallic cartridges are perfectly legal and safe to ship 

via Canada Post. 

Live ammunition or what many individuals unfamiliar with the 

shooting sports mistakenly call “bullets” are not eligible. They 

would fall under the Explosives Act and must be shipped by an 

approved courier such as Canpar. Unfortunately, unless you are 

buying in bulk, the extra hazardous materials fees, along with the 

normal courier shipping fees often make the purchase of small 

lots of loaded cartridges prohibitively expensive. 

However, you are buying component bullets that essentially are 

nothing more than small pieces of lead and/or gilding metal and 

are therefore totally uncontrolled and under no shipping restrictions 

for Canada Post’s purposes. 

- Editors 

Dear NFA, 

An elderly gentleman whom I’ve been helping out the past few 

months recently discovered three firearms in his attic that he had 

forgotten about. Knowing that I am a shooter he’d like to give 

them to me as a gift. 

The problem is that this gentleman is quite elderly, he no longer 

has a firearms license, had disposed of his entire collection 

years ago (or so he thought) and the guns in question were consequently 

unregistered. He doesn’t want to “get in trouble” 

with the police and would prefer to remain anonymous 

if he could. Otherwise he plans on turning them in to the 

police for destruction. 

I did some reading and noticed in your last issue that the 

CPC has extended the amnesty for registering firearms. 

Is this process really “no questions asked” and would the 

gentleman in question have to possess a valid firearms 

license in order to give the firearms to me? 

Len N. 

Hi Len, 

You shouldn’t have any problems legally registering the 

firearms in question just as long as your firearms license 

is in good standing and you have the required endorsements 

for the firearms you are seeking to acquire. If you 

call the Canadian Firearms Center toll free line one of 

their service reps can walk you through the process. 

There is no need to transfer or register the firearms to 

the elderly gentleman first. You can initiate the registration 

process yourself. 

I would suggest that you have the firearms in front of 

you when you make the call as they CFC will most 

likely wish to do an over-the-telephone “verification” 

of the firearms. A cleaning rod and tape measure will 

also come in handy for confirming barrel length and a 

magnifying glass might also prove useful in identifying 

proof marks, etc… 

Enjoy the new acquisitions and don’t forget to put your 

benefactor on your Christmas card list! ☺ 

- Editors 

Questions? 

Do you have a question? Something you want clarified? 

Please send us a letter or an e-mail. We would love to 

hear from you. 

Letters should be directed to the Editor. Legal and political 

questions should be directed to the NFA Legal Department. 

Letters must include the Name, Address, and 

Phone Number of the sender. 

P.O. Box 52183, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2T5 

e-mail: info@nfa.ca 

Canadian 

Firearms Journal 

The Official Magazine of the National Firearms Association 

Editor ................................................... CFJEditor@gmail.com 

Sean Penney & Grayson Penney 

Advertising ............................................................info@nfa.ca 

Diane Laitila ......................................................(780) 439-1394 

Accounts / Membership / General Info .... membership@nfa.ca 

Legal Inquiries .................................................... legal@nfa.ca 

National Executive 

National President ................(780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 

Blair Hagen........................................................ natpres@nfa.ca 

National VP, Communications..(780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 

Sean Penney.............................................sgpenney@gmail.com 

National VP, Finance............ (780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 

Henry Atkinson....................................................natvpf@nfa.ca 

Regional Directors 

British Columbia - Yukon.....................................info@nfa.ca 

Sheldon Clare ....................................................(250) 563-2804 

Blair Hagen ........................................................(778) 241-0683 

Alberta – NWT – Out-of-Canada.........................info@nfa.ca 

Ed Lucas .................................(780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 

Ted Simmermon .....................(780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 

Saskatchewan ........................................................info@nfa.ca 

Diane Laitila .....................................................1-877-818-0393 

Manitoba – Nunavut..............................................info@nfa.ca 

Diane Laitila .....................................................1-877-818-0393 

Ontario ...................................................................info@nfa.ca 

Bill Rantz ...........................................................(705) 385-2636 

Henry Atkinson .................................................1-877-818-0393 

Quebec ...................................................................info@nfa.ca 

Phil Simard ........................................................(514) 365-0685 

Stephen Buddo ..................................................(450) 430-0786 

Maritimes – Newfoundland & Labrador.............info@nfa.ca 

Sean Penney....................................................... (709) 598-2040 

Creative Design by The AD Guys .................... (780) 488-5776 

Canadian National Firearms Association 

Box 52183 Tel: (780) 439-1394 

Edmonton, Alberta Toll Free 1-877-818-0393 

Canada T6G 2T5 Fax: (780) 439-4091 

info@nfa.ca 

www.nfa.ca 


Preserving Our 

Firearms Heritage 

Firearms and Fashion 

The Frontier Shootist Way 

By Gary and Sybil Kangas 

Photo by 

Mr. Quiggley 

The Victoria Frontier Shootists of the Victoria Fish 

Game Protective Association in Victoria, B.C. host 

a public shooting event each spring. Many outdoor 

clubs replicate this type of public relations event. 

The strategy is effective in attracting and introducing 

new shooters to our sport. 

In the spring of 2009 the VF&GPA Frontier Shootists 

division hosted their annual event called “Nimrod” 

and we have a documented positive result of just 

how well this strategy has worked for the club. In this 

case, a newly retired professional couple with their 

just recently minted PAL’s attended the 2009 event. 

Nancy and Roy had a serious interest in Cowboy 

Action Shooting and the frontier history of Canada. 

They participated with a great deal of enthusiasm and 

demonstrated the potential to become quite skilled. 

As a result of the wholly positive “experience” the 

couple enjoyed during the “Nimrod” event, they 

almost immediately opted to purchase their own 

dedicated CAS firearms and equipment, joined the 

VF&GPA and expended a great deal of effort in 

costuming - which is a major part of Cowboy Action 

Shooting. Nancy and Roy have subsequently 

enrolled in a number of firearms technique courses 

including the Evil Roy Shooting instruction seminar 

held in Las Vegas. They have also completed 

the Single Action Shooting Society Range Officer I 

course. 

Today, they are not only excellent competitors, but 

have become fashion mavens in Cowboy Action 

Shooting circles. Nancy is a very creative seamstress 

designing and sewing exquisite frontier fashions. 

The duo attended “Winter Range,” the second largest 

annual SASS event held in Arizona, winning “Best 

Dressed Couple.” 

Effort in verifies the result. If we invite and share 

techniques and information we create a legacy of preserving 

our firearms heritage. 


2010 Election Results 

& Annual General Meeting 

By Sean G. Penney 

Thus far 2010 has been a truly 

momentous year for Canada’s National 

Firearms Association. Our new by-laws 

have been successfully adopted and we 

have successfully concluded our first 

election of NFA Directors under these 

new rules. 

Voting concluded the last day of April 

and official results were published May 

3rd on our website www.nfa.ca . Below 

are the results, as provided by Chief 

Electoral Officer, Diane Laitila: 

2010 Election of Directors: 

Results 

May 3, 2010 

Dear NFA Members: 

On behalf of Canada’s National 

Firearms Association I would like to 

thank all of you who voted or took 

the time to get informed throughout 

this electoral process. I am pleased to 

announce that all ballots are in and have 

been counted. I would like to extend 

my congratulations to all candidates 

who graciously gave of themselves by 

standing for election. 

Well done all! 

The elected directors are: 

Alberta-Northwest Territories & 

Out-of-Canada 

Ed Lucas 

Ted Simmermon 

British Columbia-Yukon 

Sheldon Clare 

Blair Hagen 

Manitoba-Nunavut: Vacant 

Newfoundland & Labrador – 

Maritimes 

Sean Penney 

Ontario 

Henry Atkinson 

Bill Rantz 

Quebec 

Stephen Buddo 

Phil Simard 

Saskatchewan: Vacant 

Respectfully, 

Diane Laitila 

Elections Officer 

Canada’s National Firearms 

Association 

Ph: 1-877-818-0393 

E-mail: diane@nfa.ca 

2010 Annual General Meeting 

Edmonton, AB 

The first inaugural Annual General 

Meeting under our new official 

corporate name of Canada’s National 

Firearms Association took place the 

weekend of May 14th-16th at the 

Fantasyland Hotel & Conference 

Center in Edmonton, AB. 

Day 1 – 

Day 1 was occupied primarily with 

executive meetings and the election of 

officers. Under the new by-laws, the old 

organizational model, as established 

under former National President David 

A. Tomlinson, has been replaced 

by a completely new structure. 

Gone are the positions of “National 

President,” “National Vice-President, 

Communications,” & “National Vice- 

President, Finance.” In their place are 

five new executive positions including: 

President, Executive Vice-President 

Communications, Executive Vice- 

President Operations, Treasurer, and 

Secretary. 

Following discussion of the new 

offices and their respective roles 

and responsibilities nominations 

were opened and votes cast. The 

new executive of Canada’s National 

Firearms Association includes: 

President: Sheldon Clare 

Executive Vice-President, 

Communications: Blair Hagen 

Executive Vice-President, Operations: 

Diane Laitila 

Treasurer: Henry Atkinson 

Secretary: Ted Simmermon 

President & Director BC-Yukon: 

Sheldon Clare 

Day 2 –Day 2 was quite busy and 

began with a member’s buffet breakfast 

in the hotel’s dining room that was well 

attended and provided a very pleasant 

to the start of the day’s activities. 

Insurance Presentation – 

Breakfast was followed by a 

presentation by Mr. Murray Morrison, 

of All Sport Insurance Marketing Ltd. 

regarding the current National Firearms 

Association Liability Insurance policy. 

We’re pleased to announce that NFALI 

remains the benchmark liability 

insurance for the recreational firearms 

community we will be able to continue 

offering full liability coverage of $5 

million for just $9.95 per year. 

Keynote Address – 

The keynote address was made 

by Professor Gary Mauser who 

has represented National Firearms 

Association exceptionally well these 

past years internationally as our official 

representative to the World Forum on 

the Future of Sport Shooting Activities, 

the United Nations, and International 

Association for the Protection of 

Civilian Arms Rights, as well as 

in Ottawa on the federal Firearms 

Advisory Council. In recognition of his 

years of dedicated service to National 

Firearms Association, Professor 

Mauser was presented with a Life 

Membership earlier this year. 

Financial Statement – 

After lunch the new Board of Directors 


Communications & Director 

BC-Yukon: Blair Hagen 

Treasurer & Ontario 

Director: Henry Atkinson 

and National Executive were officially 

introduced and the outgoing executive 

thanked for their service. Outgoing 

National Vice-President, Finance 

Mr. Henry Atkinson presented the 

financial statement and report for 

the organization and gave a detailed 

explanation as to the past and current 

state of the organization’s finances. 

NFA bookkeeper Beverly Havens was 

also on hand to help answer specific 

questions from members. The motion 

was made to accept the financial 

statement and was carried unanimously. 

Budget 2010-2011 – 

Next the new 2010-2011 Budget was 

presented by Mr. Atkinson followed 

by discussion from the floor. It is 

anticipated that the expertise the NFA’s 

new marketing firm now brings to 

the table, along with the aggressive 

new lobbying efforts initiated by the 

outgoing executive, will see National 

Firearms Association experience 

significant additional growth in the 

upcoming year. Consequently, National 

Firearms Association will be working 

with a budget in excess of $1 million 

this year. Following further discussion, 

the motion was made to accept the new 

budget as presented and it was adopted 

unanimously. 

By-law Amendment – 

A motion was made to amend the new 

by-laws to change the date of future 

AGMs from a period no later than 30 

days following end of the fiscal year to 


Operations: Diane Laitila 

no later than June 1st. The current year 

end for NFA is officially December 31st 

which necessitates a January AGM. 

Concerns over bad weather and winter 

travel made a spring AGM date much 

more preferable. A motion was made 

and passed unanimously to change the 

date of the AGM to a date not later than 

June 1st of each year. 

Report on Legal Affairs – 

Outgoing National President Blair 

Hagen provided a comprehensive 

overview of current and past legal cases 

that National Firearms Association has 

been involved, including Coombes v. 

NFA, Henderson case, Montague case 

and Cankaid case involving various 

facets of firearms law. 

Provincial Reports – 

Provincial executives delivered “stateof-the-province” 

reports for their home 

province. 

NFA Legacy Fund – 

Motion was made from the floor to 

explore the idea of creating an NFA 

Legacy Fund similar to those created 

by other not-for-profit organizations. 

The proposed fund would operate in a 

similar fashion as other such funds and 

would provide members/supporters 

with the option of having donations 

made in their name to the fund in lieu 

of flowers following their passing. 

Several different variations of the fund 

were discussed with the motion being 

adopted to form a committee to study 

the concept. 

14 16 June/July April/May www.nfa.ca www.nfa.ca June/July April/May 1517

Secretary & Alberta-Northwest 

Territories & Out-of-Canada: 

Ted Simmermon 

Director Ontario: 

Bill Rantz 

New Marketing and Promotion - 

NFA had opted to not renew the 

contract with their previous marketing 

company due to failures to meet 

organizational goals. A new firm has 

been retained locally that has a better 

grasp of current markets and what 

prospective members are looking for. 

Since signing on last November, the 

new firm has been working around the 

clock to increase membership and to 

promote the organization throughout 

the recreational firearms community. 

New marketing partnerships are 

being considered, including valueadded 

membership exclusives such as 

preferential treatment on trips or flights 

offered via strategic partners. 

As part of the new marketing strategy 

NFA is looking at undertaking a serious 

“re-branding” of the organization 

to better reflect the “new” Canada’s 

National Firearms Association. Current 

logo and crest are to be updated and 

a new official Coat of Arms is to be 

registered as part of this process that 

will appeal to both English and French 

speaking members across Canada. The 

motion to create and register a new 

Coat of Arms was made and passed. 

Director Quebec: 

Phil Simard 

Membership Fee Structure – 

Current membership fees have 

remained unchanged for the better part 

of a decade while the costs associated 

with servicing those memberships 

have risen substantially. The new 

Board of Directors plans on striking a 

membership fee review committee to 

study the issue. 

External Audits – 

In order to ensure a proper accounting 

of NFA finances the new executive 

proposed that they be permitted to 

request external reviews and/or audits 

of the financial records as appropriate. 

A motion was made to this effect and 

was adopted. 

Closing – 

With all outstanding business 

concluded, the executive thanked all 

the hard work NFA staffers Diane 

Laitila, Bev Havens, Meg Hewitt and 

volunteer Ted Simmermon put into 

making the 2010 AGM such a rousing 

success. Motion to adjourn was made, 

seconded and adopted. 

AGM after Hours – 

The AGM was followed by an informal 

mixer in the hotel’s bar. The main NFA 

Banquet & Dinner started immediately 

thereafter. Guest speakers included 

Mrs. Judith Tomlinson and Professor 

Gary Mauser with official activities 

concluding at 10:00 PM. 

Director Quebec: Steve Buddo 

Day 3 – 

The final day of activities included 

an NFA Breakfast Buffet, followed 

by a short Q&A session for attendees 

taking later flights or having later 

travel plans. This concluded official 

activities related to the AGM. Overall, 

the weekend was very well organized 

thanks to the hard work of NFA staffers 

and was very productive. 

The National Firearms Association 

would like to acknowledge the 

contributions made by our generous 

business supporters who helped 

make the 2010 AGM such a rousing 

success. Many thanks to: Sports Scene 

Publications, Barton’s Big Country 

Outdoors, White Eagle Sporting 

Goods, Select Pro Shop, Warehouse 

Sports, Bull’s Eye Bill’s Trading Post 

Inc., The Bullet Barn, Milarm Co./Pol- 

Arm Corp., P & D Enterprises, Fergie’s 

Follies. 

NFA would also like to acknowledge 

the generous contributions of Mr. John 

Claydon, Mr. Ray Laitila & Mr. Ted 

Simmermon. Thanks to all! 

Director Newfoundland 

& Labrador – Maritimes 

and Editor of CFJ: 

Sean Penney 

Day 1 - Executive Officer Meeting at HQ 

Day 1 - Exec’s reviewing AGM agenda. 

Pictured Phil, Gary, Sheldon & Blair 

Director Alberta-Northwest 

Territories & Out-of-Canada: 

Ed Lucas 

Head Office Ladies and AGM Organizers: Diane, Bev and Megan 

At The Annual General Meeting 

Day 2 - AGM Head Table, 

Pictured: Blair, Sheldon & Mrs. Judith Tomlinson 

NFA’s Bev Havens with NFA Member 

Ray Laitila 

NFA Member John 

Claydon 

NFA Ontario Director Bill Rantz 

NFA Member Roger Stevens 

Professor Gary Mauser with Alberta Director 

Ed Lucas 

16 June/July www.nfa.ca www.nfa.ca 

www.nfa.ca 

June/July 

April/May 

17 

19

small animal before the age of 10, compared 

to less than 20% of the female hunters. 

“These are the same men who claimed that 

hunting had done more to open their hearts 

than any other life experience. Typically the 

boy cries as 8-year old Jimmy Carter did 

when he threw a rock and killed a robin. I 

consider it no mere coincidence that Jimmy 

Carter and Nelson Mandela both won the 

Nobel Peace Prize and both are avid hunters,” 

Eaton said. 

The book interviews Dr. Wade Brackenbury, 

who for 13 years led groups of delinquent 

boys into the wilderness for two weeks where 

they had to survive off what they could forage. 

Brackenbury is convinced that it was 

hunting small animals for food that had the 

greatest transformative influence. Surveys 

conducted a year later indicated that 85% of the boys had not 

got into trouble after their survival experience. 

A best-selling authority on how to raise boys, Michael Gurian, 

also is interviewed in Eaton’s book. He agrees that hunting 

does teach males compassion, and that it would be a 

more peaceful world if more boys hunted. 

The book presents compelling evidence from several disciplines 

that adolescent males need rites of passage to become 

responsible adults. Eaton says that the original rite of passage 

was hunting because it proved a young adult male could 

provide and qualify for manhood and marriage. 

“Without transformative rites of passage that open their 

hearts and connect them to nature and society males may become 

destructive and dangerous. Untempered masculinity 

is a major factor behind juvenile crime and gangs,” he said. 

Inspired by Eaton’s book, Dr. Karl Milner launched 

H.E.F.T.Y, Hunter Education for Troubled Youth, in Wyoming 

where the courts are sending juveniles to his program. 

The kids are engaged in conservation work on private lands 

where eventually they will be able to hunt. 

The Wyoming School for Boys also has adopted H.E.F.T.Y. 

The Commissioners of the Wyoming Fish and Game Department 

endorse H.E.F.T.Y., and have donated big game tags 

worth several thousand dollars each. 

Eaton and Milner expect H.E.F.T.Y. to grow across the continent. 

“Dr. Eaton and I see the program helping thousands of 

wayward youth while also encouraging more parents to get 

their kids outdoors,” Milner said. 

“Hunting and fishing are good for bad kids because they are 

good for all kids,” Eaton added. 

Kids 

& Guns: 

Is Hunting 

Good for 

Bad Kids? 

Is hunting good for bad kids? Does it 

teach violence or does it teach empathy 

and compassion? Would it be a more 

peaceful world if more kids grew up 

hunting? 

These are some of the questions addressed 

in a recent book entitled From 

Boys to Men of Heart: Hunting as Rite 

of Passage. 

The book’s award-winning author is 

Randall L. Eaton, Ph.D., a behavioral 

scientist with an international reputation 

in wildlife conservation who has 

been studying hunting for 35 years. 

While producing “The Sacred Hunt” 

in the mid-1990s, a documentary that 

received 11 awards, Eaton interviewed 

scores of recreational and Native 

American hunters all of whom used the 

word “respect” to describe how they 

feel about animals they hunt. 

That prompted Eaton to conduct questionnaire 

surveys on 2,500 mature 

hunters who described their attitude 

toward animals they hunt as, “respect, 

admiration and reverence.” Over 80% 

of these recreational hunters claimed 

they prayed for the animals they killed 

or gave thanks to God. 

Eaton’s survey also asked hunters what 

life event most opened their hearts 

and engendered compassion in them. 

Choices included death of a loved one, 

death of a beloved pet, becoming a parent, 

teaching young people and taking 

the life of an animal. Women hunters 

overwhelmingly chose “becoming 

a parent,” but most of the men chose 

“taking the life of an animal.” Eaton 

said, “These results indicate the basic 

polarity of human life: woman are 

adapted to bring life into the world, but 

men are adapted to take life to support 

life.” 

The same survey asked respondents 

to choose those universal virtues they 

learned from from hunting. The top 

three choices were, “inner peace, patience 

and humility.” Eaton believes 

that inner peace and humility are the 

foundation of religious and spiritual 

traditions across time and space. 

Eaton insists that hunting is instinctive 

at least in boys who around the world 

start throwing rocks between the age of 

4 and 5. His survey indicated over 90% 

of the men spontaneously had killed a 

To get Eaton’s book and newest production, “Why Hunting 

Is Good for Bad Kids,” visit his website at www.randalleaton.com. 

To learn more about H.E.F.T.Y. visit: www. 

hefty4kids.org. 

For more information contact Dr. Randall Eaton at 513-244- 

2826 or email reaton@eoni.com. Contact Dr. Karl Milner at 

307-299-2084 or email karl@hefty4kids.org. 



Politics 

& Guns 

by Tyler Vance 

Police, Policy 

Making & Gun 

Control: 

“When you disarm your subjects, however, 

you offend them by showing that either 

from cowardliness or lack of faith, you 

distrust them; and either conclusion will 

induce them to hate you.” 

- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince 

Photo: Sean Penney 

It’s not about Guns; 

it’s about Control 

Bill C-391, the private member’s bill aimed at dismantling 

the Liberal’s fatally flawed long-gun registry has come under 

fire recently from several law-enforcement associations, as 

gun control proponents pull out all the stops in a last-ditch 

effort to defeat the bill. Obviously gun control advocates have 

brought to bear all the power their extreme left-wing coalition 

can muster. While the final verdict is still out on which way 

NDP leader Jack Layton is leaning, Liberal leader Michael 

Ignatieff has once again flip-flopped on an issue of major national 

consequence and has publicly stated that he will whip 

the next vote on C-391. This decision will force his rural MPs, 

who voted with the government previously, to cast their vote 

against the very same bill that their constituents favour. 

In defence of yet another flip-flop, Ignatieff cited the opinions 

offered by his newly minted allies from amongst the top three 

Canadian police groups as reason for his sudden change of 

heart. The three stooges...err, groups consisted of the Canadian 

Association of Chiefs of Police, headed by Toronto Police 

Chief Bill Blair, the Canadian Police Association, led by President 

Charles Momy, allegedly representing front-line officers, 

and the Canadian Association of Police Boards who employ 

them. Together they released joint statements in support of the 

firearms registry as committee hearings were being conducted 

as part of the parliamentary review process for C-391. 

What is especially disturbing about this joint release is the 

seemingly deliberate intent of the parties involved to mislead 

the Canadian public. Appearing before the cameras in full uniform, 

Chief Blair and his cronies never differentiate between 

their law enforcement role, as serving police officers, and their 

wholly political roles, as heads of political advocacy groups. 

Further, while they have assured reporters that their views and 

statements are a true reflection of the prevailing opinions held 

by rank-and-file police officers across Canada, the truth is 

something far different. 

It is unseemly for serving heads of major Canadian police 

forces to take such an active role in the policy making process. 

Their public position gives them great power as well as the 

ability to sway public opinion as respected figures of authority. 

In recent times, this has allowed them to exert undue political 

influence on the law-making process. Just as there is a 

separation between church and state, there must be a separation 

between the law-makers and the law-enforcers if we are 

to remain a just and free society; and, just as importantly, to 

preserve respect for our agents of law-enforcement. 

Especially disturbing is the deliberate obfuscations employed 

by Chief Blair and his cohorts to sway public opinion in their 

quest to kill C-391. Time and again they have presented personal 

opinion as fact and cited junk science and discredited 

academic “studies,” typically provided by gun-control advocates, 

as support for their positions. Given their positions of 

authority this type of behaviour is unacceptable; since to the 

unknowing, unwitting or simply naive in our society such 

claims are accepted as gospel. Their primary role should be 

the enforcement of the law and not public policy making. 

As costs have skyrocketed and the political stakes involved 

grown increasingly exorbitant, some cracks have surfaced 

in the formerly impenetrable blue wall of silence Blair and 

company have worked so hard to shore up. Incidents such as 

Dawson College clearly showed the limitations of the registry 

in “preventing” high-profile shootings. In the latter case 

the shooter in question was a licensed gun owner and the firearms 

he used were all duly registered. Obviously the registry 

failed to prevent this pointless tragedy. So why keep pouring 

good money after bad into a failed policy experiment when 

the money would be much better spent putting more police 

officers on the street? 

From both a public policy making standpoint and that of a 

voter, the decision by the top three police groups to wade 

into such a contentious issue, backed up by artificially inflated 

statistics and questionable science, does little to engender 

trust or respect for their leadership on a personal basis, 

and their respective associations, at an organizational level. 

Somewhere along the line, over the past three decades, this 

erosion of trust has led to a serious “disconnect” between 

police and the public. The primary fault for this must be laid 

at the feet of the chiefs, since it was their decision to begin 

playing the political game in the manner they have. 

Peel’s Principles of Policing, upon which all modern lawenforcement 

has been based since the late 19th century, was 

abandoned at a core institutional level. In its place has arisen 

a more strident and overtly political institutional focus that is 

more interested in expanding budgets and protecting bureaucratic 

turf than protecting the public. 

“Gun control” as a concept or belief system has been officially 

adopted by law-enforcement in Canada and it has evolved 

into some sort of officially sanctioned “dogma.” This is partly 

due to political expediency, but the argument has to be 

made that its implementation, and extra powers it granted 

police, also made it extremely attractive to senior law-enforcement 

interested in expanding the authority and role of 

law-enforcement in our ever-changing modern society. 

After all, gun control was popular with large segments of the 

population at the time (since changed), the ‘natural ruling 

party of Canada,’ the Liberals, were in favour of it and the 

change from “beat cop” to car-bound cruiser policing had 

sufficiently divorced police from personal contact with the 

public such that an “Us vs. Them” institutional mindset developed. 

Average Canadians, especially gun owners, suddenly became 

“Them” and “Them” were potential enemies. You can 

see this new anti-gun ethos today admirably demonstrated by 

the RCMP in their recent attempts to unilaterally reclassify 

several semi-automatic sporting firearms. Their actions have 

been based largely on this institutional bias against firearms 

in general, and a general distrust of civilian ownership of 

firearms. Eliminate the long-gun registry, and suddenly their 

illusion of “control” of such “weapons” is also eliminated. 

This assault upon Canada’s recreational firearms community 

and thus Canada’s millions of law-abiding gun owners 

certainly has not endeared forces such as the RCMP and 

Toronto Police Service to gun owners. In theory, universal 

registration may have seemed like a good idea, but time and 

again it has proved ineffective, outrageously expensive and 

incredibly divisive. 

The latter is especially true of the relationship between licensed 

gun owners, who have traditionally proven the most 

responsible and law-abiding segment of society, as well as 

the most respectful of the role of law-enforcement, and the 



police themselves. The irony does not 

escape me. Gun control and the registration 

issue have effectively placed 

law-abiding gun owners and the police 

on opposing sides and turned “natural 

allies” into enemies - to the detriment 

of both. 

The actual facts of the registration issue 

are simple really. Registered gun 

owners, by definition, must also be 

firearms license holders. In order to obtain 

a license, they must first complete 

an in-depth firearms safety course and 

pass both a written and practical examination, 

as well as a police background 

check and supply at least two references 

of qualified individuals willing to 

vouch for them. This application process 

must be followed in order to obtain 

the most basic of firearms license. 

This is the context in which the registration 

issue must be assessed, along 

with its efficacy and ultimate justification. 

The government, and thus the police 

already know who the law-abiding 

gun owners are since they are firearms 

license holders. Through the intrusive 

questions found on the firearms license 

application, to personal interviews with 

applicant’s references, police have the 

resources to form a clear picture of 

each licensed gun owner in Canada and 

they have the power to revoke the permits 

of those whom they believe to be 

potential threats to public safety. 

Therefore, it can be argued that licensed 

gun owners have been judged to pose 

no threat to public safety. Otherwise, 

they would not hold a firearms license 

issued by the RCMP’s firearms bureaucracy. 

Thus, registering the firearms of 

law-abiding gun owners is an entirely 

superfluous and unnecessary waste taxpayer’s 

money. 

Yet registry proponents continue to 

argue in favour of maintaining it, at 

the cost of millions more annually, 

and despite there being little hope of 

a positive return on the investment. 

Chief Blair, while appearing before the 

Standing Committee on Public Safety, 

was questioned by the bill’s sponsor, 

Candice Hoeppner on this issue. Given 

the option of continuing to spend the 

estimated $106 million dollars it will 

cost taxpayers to maintain the long-gun 

registry this year or spend the money 

on hiring additional front-line officers, 

Chief Blair said that he would, “Keep 

the registry.” Chief Blair’s response 

immediately reminded me of a quote 

by Albert Einstein, who wrote that the 

definition of insanity was: “Doing the 

same thing over and over again and expecting 

different results.” 

It is insane for government and lawenforcement 

to continue to waste millions 

maintaining a registry that doesn’t 

“Trusting contemporary 

governments means dividing 

humanity into two 

classes: those who can be 

trusted with power to run 

other people’s lives, and 

those who cannot even be 

trusted to run their own 

lives. Modern Leviathans 

seek progress by giving 

some people the power to 

play God with other people’s 

lives, property, and 

domestic tranquility.” 

- James Bovard 

work and never will; especially while 

citizens die waiting for critical procedures 

because of a lack of hospital beds 

and front-line police officers are killed 

in the line of duty because of manpower 

shortages and lack of training 

slots. Such a decision flies in the face 

of common sense and is diametrically 

opposed to the testimony presented 

by true front-line offices such as Sgt. 

Duane Rutledge of the New Glasgow, 

NS Police or Sgt. Murray Grismer of 

the Saskatoon Police. While appearing 

before the same committee and 

answering the same question posed to 

Chief Blair, both said they favoured the 

immediate end of the registry because 

of the cost and the danger it posed to 

officers. 

Chief Blair’s answer to Ms. Hoeppner’s 

query then is quite telling. The longgun 

registry was never about enhancing 

public safety but rather political 

correctness and the exercise of control. 

Its very existence serves as a symbol of 

liberal disapproval of firearms ownership 

and their single-minded hatred of 

the Canadian “gun culture.” Firearms 

owners and their love of liberty and independence 

is anathema to the modern 

social-liberal ideology and their pursuit 

of the idealized “nanny state.” The 

same argument can be used to explain 

why the political heads of our nation’s 

police forces, not only continue to support 

the registry, but are active political 

participants in the formation of public 

policy on the issue. 

Law-abiding, responsible firearms 

owners are to be feared and distrusted 

because they have access to guns. This 

brings us back to a now infamous quote 

of former Liberal Justice Minister Allan 

Rock who said, “I came to Ottawa 

with the firm belief that the only people 

in this country who should have guns 

are police officers and soldiers.” The 

actions of Chief Blair and Mr. Momy 

would certainly indicate that they were 

of a similar opinion. Obviously, the 

concept of a law-abiding, responsible 

gun owner utilizing a firearm for recreation 

or self-defense, unfettered by 

bureaucratic red-tape, does not fit into 

their vision of “civilized” society. 

While the Coalition for Gun Control 

and now the Liberals may be driving 

this agenda, it is the authority that Chief 

Blair brings to the table that forms the 

cornerstone of the new political campaign 

to defeat C-391. The public see 

only Canada’s “top cop” when Blair 

speaks publicly on the issue, however, 

most remain unaware of the CACP’s 

true nature. While its membership may 

include serving officers, the CACP is 

first and foremost a registered lobby 

group in Ottawa; meaning their raison 

d’être has far more to do with politics 

than policing. 

In recent years we’ve seen an overt attempt 

by them to exercise command 

“There are no good guns. 

There are no bad guns. A 

gun in the hands of a bad 

man is a bad thing. Any 

gun in the hands of a good 

man is no threat to anyone, 

except the bad man.” 

- Charlton Heston 

and control functions, not only over 

how gun policy is developed and administered, 

but how the entire debate itself 

is shaped publicly. The CACP now 

have in their employ three paid, professional 

lobbyists who are solely charged 

with a “liaison function” on Parliament 

Hill. Such ventures are far afield from 

their basic reason for existing; that is to 

say, law enforcement. 

Who is paying the bills? Interestingly 

enough, last year alone, the Chiefs of 

Police Association, under the leadership 

of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair 

accepted well over $100,000.00 from 

CGI Group. CGI is an information 

technology company that does millions 

in annual business with the RCMP and 

the Canadian Firearms Program via 

contracts to maintain registry computer 

systems. 

The CACP’s chair of its ethics committee 

recently resigned in protest over 

the organization’s willingness to accept 

questionable corporate donations such 

as those from CGI. Any reasonable person 

would view this as a clear conflictof-interest; 

however, the CACP still 

does not. Obviously the ends justify the 

means from their perspective. As long 

as the firearms registry exists, police 

will continue to be in a position to exercise 

control over gun owners and their 

firearms. It would seem that maintaining 

this control is sufficient reason for 

the CACP to resort to the tactics that 

most members of the public would take 

issue with. 

As criticism of the registry has mounted 

RCMP Deputy Commissioner T. 

G. Killam, Policing Support Services 

(PSS), felt the need to reiterate the RC- 

MP’s “official” position on the firearms 

registry through an internal memo sent 

to all detachment commanders. According 

to the memo: 

“The RCMP position is, and always 

has been, that the services provided 

by the CFP, including the registration 

and licensing of all firearms, are 

valuable resources for all law enforcement, 

nationally and internationally. 

The registration of all firearms enables 

individual accountability, promotes 

safety and life-saving measures, 

and is a pro-active investigative tool in 

assisting law enforcement.” 

Detachment commanders were instructed 

by Commissioner Killam to 

pass the official position paper and related 

public releases issued jointly by 

CACP/CPA/CAPB to all RCMP employees. 

However, if questioned publicly 

on the documents or any issues relating 

to the registry, RCMP members 

and employees are to: “Refrain from 

providing any personal opinions.” 

In other words, keep your mouths shut 

on the usefulness or uselessness of the 

registry...senior management is watching. 

This would certainly explain why 

almost all previous criticism of their 

actions and of the Liberal’s gun control 

program from veteran police officers 

had “ex” before their rank, or “retired” 

following it. 

However, a growing number of highprofile 

police chiefs and ranking officers 

are now opting to break ranks with 

their leadership and speak out against 

the registry. Dissent has grown to such 

a degree that even left-of-center media 

outlets are openly acknowledging that 

all is not well and that the political fight 

“The registry does little or 

nothing to help police link 

actual crimes to actual 

guns... because criminals 

who use guns do not 

register their guns first.” 

- Norm Inkster, former 

RCMP Commissioner 

over C-391 is pitting cop against cop. 

Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson, 

along with former Toronto Police Chief 

(and current Commissioner of the Ontario 

Provincial Police), Julian Fantino 

are two of the first chiefs in the country 

to say publicly that the gun registry 

isn’t working. In a recent newspaper 

interview Chief Hanson is on record 

saying that it’s time to review the federal 

gun registry and take a hard look 

at the efficacy of the entire gun control 

program. In his words, 

“The gun registry has done little to 

make the streets safer...For the years 

it’s been in effect, there are more guns 

on the street today - handguns and 

prohibited weapons - than I can ever 

recall, and that’s since the gun registry 

has been implemented.” 

Instead of continuing to flog a dead 

horse, Chief Hanson suggested it is 

time to start handing out tougher sentences 

when someone is convicted of 

using a weapon to commit a crime. 

Former Toronto Police Chief Julian 

Fantino shares Chief Hanson’s opinions 

and is just as uncomplimentary of 

the firearms registry. While still chief of 

Canada’s largest police force, Fantino 

publicly criticized the registry stating: 

“We have an ongoing gun crisis including 

firearms-related homicides 

lately in Toronto, and a law registering 

firearms has neither deterred 

these crimes nor helped us solve any 

of them...None of the guns we know 

to have been used were registered, although 

we believe that more than half 

of them were smuggled into Canada 

from the United States. The firearms 

registry is long on philosophy and 

short on practical results considering 

the money could be more effectively 

used for security against terrorism as 

well as a host of other public safety 

initiatives.” 

Similarly, while the Canadian Police 

Association’s Charles Momy has stated 

that support for keeping the registry is 

widespread among his associations Police 

- Continued on Page 42 


Elfego Baca had a signature every bit as bold as 

the man himself. Period photo courtesy of the 

Museum of New Mexico. 

“Badge? Badge?? We don’t need no steenking badge!” 

-B. Traven, “Treasure of Sierra Madre” 

North America’s Old West was perhaps the last bastion of 

liberty where the gun rights of law-abiding citizens remained 

unfettered. Today it continues to serve as a potent symbol 

of individual liberty, authority and initiative for those who 

still cherish those same ideals. Interestingly enough, the 

same week that I am working on this piece for you, the U.S. 

state of Arizona has opted to legalize concealed carry without 

a permit to much ballyhoo and controversy. This latest 

development is of great interest to me personally, as the issue 

of gun rights and self-defense have always been extremely 

important to citizens in my region, especially my own rural 

Catron County. The latter was once severely criticized by 

agencies of the federal government for enacting an ordinance 

that required all able citizens to own a firearm for the protection 

of their community. To more urban mindsets, this ordinance 

was very controversial and frowned upon. However, 

as westerners, we were/are of the belief that the power of any 

nation derives from that of the individual states, provinces or 

regions, and the power of regional government stems from 

and is predicated on the authority of the individual – able 

and free to make any choice or execute any act that doesn’t 

harm others. Not the other way around. Perhaps no other 

single event from the Old West era exemplifies this “bootstrap” 

attitude better than what came to be called the “Frisco 

War;” but which in actuality involved but a single armed and 

determined person facing down a gathering crowd that had 

arrived with blood on their minds. 

Elfego Baca 

& the Frisco War: 

Standing Alone For Justice 

By Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin 

Behold, from out of the spectral dust and obfuscating gun 

smoke of the past steps the indomitable Elfego Baca, survivor 

of one of the most uneven gunfights in Western history! 

While nearly everyone knows something about Wyatt Earp 

and the world-famous O.K. Corral, few have heard of New 

Mexico’s Gila country (pronounced hee-la) or the improbable 

hero of the Frisco siege. Mighty odd, considering that 

the famous Tombstone shootout rather fairly matched 4 men 

against 5, consumed about 30 rounds total, and lasted only 

1/2 to 3/4 of a minute.... whereas the “Frisco War” pitted a 

single man against a force of 80 to 150 attackers, and led to 

a confrontation which lasted over 33 hours! The walls of the 

flimsy structure where Baca had taken refuge were splintered 

from the constant firing, with one report claiming there were 

367 perforations of the door alone. Even forks and knives 

were hit, with the courtroom audience appropriately aghast 

at the broom brought in as evidence with 8 bullet holes in its 

slender handle! 

1884 had been a time of increasing hostilities not only between 

the Apaches and settlers, but also between resident 

Hispanics and the many newcomers: Celtic-blooded ranchers 

seeking their own grassy grail. The cowboys packed an 

assortment of arms including the ‘73 Winchester lever action 

repeater in .44-40, and matching .44 caliber single action revolvers 

courtesy of Samuel Colt. While some of the local 

Hispanic farmers were as well “heeled,” most had nothing 

but converted surplus muzzleloaders, Damascus barrelled 

smoothbores and percussion revolvers from Mexico. 

It was in October of that year that a 19 year-old Elfego first 

heard the alarming stories of how the largely Hispanic community 

of Frisco was suffering at the hands of a band of often 

drunken cowpokes, the possible castration of man nicknamed 

“The Burro”, and the roping and beating of one Espitacio 

Martinez all served to inflame passions. Supposedly upon 

hearing that the local Sheriff was doing nothing to help, Baca 

either helped himself to a Deputy badge out of the reticent 

lawman’s desk drawer, or more likely, purchased a child’s 

toy badge and slapped it on, before strapping on a Colt .45 

with its characteristic black resin grips, and riding headlong 

towards the site of a situation he knew little about. 

Within a day of his arrival on the 29th, Baca had disarmed 

and arrested a cowboy named Charlie McCarty, who had decided 

to celebrate the good life with a shooting spree inside 

of Milligan’s Bar. His prisoner hailed from a notoriously 

rowdy outfit at the John B. Slaughter ranch, who were none 

too happy to hear their boy had been snagged by this selfappointed 

hero. When the local magistrate proved either too 

hostile or too intimidated to try the case, Baca decided to 

move McCarty to an adobe house in Middle Plaza for security. 

By this time a dozen or so cowboys had gathered with their 

Winchester rifles at ready, led by Slaughter foreman Young 

Parham. They immediately demanded their buddy’s release, 

testing the door and windows with their shoulders. Baca 

responded from the other side, threatening to shoot if they 

weren’t “out of there by the count of 3.” They are said to 

have been in the process of making jokes about “his type being 

unable to count” when they heard Baca call out in a single 

quick breath: “1-2-3!” while he began shooting through the 

door. In their haste to get some distance between themselves 

and this unpleasant instruction in rapid arithmetic, Parham’s 

horse reared back and on top of its rider and inflicted damage 

that would later kill him. 

Word of a “Frisco War” promptly spread to the outlying 

ranches, including those of the well-known James H. Cook 

and the Englishman, William French. After receiving a 

signed agreement that he wouldn’t be bothered, Baca agreed 

to allow his prisoner to be “tried” on the following morning 

at Milligan’s Bar. McCarty was fined $5 and released to 

friends, who almost immediately began to make threatening 

Here is a photo of a Colt .45 known to have been owned by Elfego Baca, 

passed down to his nephew Abe, along with a jeweled badge given to Elfego 

by the New Mexico Cattleman’s Association... from the Ron Peterson collection. 

Photo by Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin 

The vast majority of the cowboys arrayed against Baca carried Winchester 

Model 1873 rifles and carbines in .44-40, and like Baca himself, Colt Frontier 

single action revolvers in either .44-40 or .45 Colt caliber. Photo by 

Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin. 

moves towards Baca. Seeing that he was vulnerable, this 

would-be Deputy backed out the side door and took over a 

nearby jacal. Made of thin cedar poles stuck into the ground 

and coated on both sides with an adobe (mud) slip, its walls 

would offer little resistance to the concerted attack we know 

followed. 

A roper known as Hearne was the first to chance the door, 

kicking at it and screaming that he’d “get” Baca. He was 

answered most poignantly by twin 250 grain slugs, one 

of which caught him solidly in the gut and sent him to the 

ground. The cowboys responded with what became a steady 

volley of rifle fire, lobbing rounds from nearly every angle. 

What the quickly gathering mob failed to realize was that 

the floor of Baca’s insubstantial-looking refuge had been dug 

down a full foot and a half below ground level. He was thus 

enabled to coolly return fire with his single-action handguns 

even as lead rained through the space above. 

While most of the town climbed up on the overlooking hills 

to watch, a group of the attackers stretched blankets between 

the nearby houses to conceal their movements, and others 

fired from behind the buttress of the adobe church. One brave 

attacker fell back with his scalp neatly creased by a bullet, after 

attempting to approach the jacal with an iron stove-door 

for a shield. Finally, as day turned into night, they were able 

to toss flaming kerosene-soaked rags onto the dirt and latilla 

(branch) roof. One wall gave way under the combined assault 

of lead and fire, causing a portion of the roof to collapse 

on the hapless defender. 

They were pretty sure they’d “fixed his wagon” by this time 

but opted to err on the side of caution, deciding to wait until 

the following day to try and dig him out. Come the first gray 

light of dawn they were surprised, mortified even, by the thin 

wisps of smoke rising from the perforated woodstove. To 

one end stood a plaster statue of the Nuestra Señora Doña 

Ana, while at the other end the unruffled Baca nonchalantly 

flipped his breakfast tortillas! The battle immediately regained 

its former intensity, with both Elfego and the stoic 

Señora remaining miraculously unscathed. 


controversial attorney’s suit before 

Baca dropped him with his own .32-20 

S&W “Hand-Ejector” model pistol. 

The dapper young Elfego Baca, shown here as he 

would have looked around the time of the Frisco 

War, with his preferred sidearm the Colt Single 

Action .45. Art by Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin. 

Finally, James Cook and the newly 

arrived Deputy Ross of Socorro convinced 

Baca to come out, personally 

guaranteeing his safety. With both 

guns in hand and every cowboy’s rifle 

trained on his chest, Elfego slowly approached 

to make his truce. Yes, he 

would surrender, but only if he could 

keep his weapons, travel in the back of 

a buckboard with his and McCarty’s 

Colts, and with all accompanying cowhands 

keeping at least 30 feet behind 

them for the entire trip to the Socorro 

courthouse! The ever-blessed Baca 

even missed an ambush planned for him 

on route, when two different groups of 

avengers each mistakenly thought the 

other had carried out the mercenary 

deed. In jail only 4 months, Elfego was 

tried on 2 separate occasions, and was 

surprisingly acquitted each time. 

It was this episode that earned Elfego 

his lifelong reputation as a tough 

hombre, a reputation that followed him 

throughout his years as a flamboyant 

criminal lawyer, school superintendent, 

district attorney, chief bouncer of a Prohibition 

Era gambling house in Juarez, 

and a bout as the American agent for 

General Huerta during the convoluted 

Mexican revolution. In 1915, Baca 

turned himself in for shooting down 

another revolutionary figure, Celestino 

Otero. While never proven, evidence 

supported his contention that Otero had 

fired first, the bullet from a newfangled 

Savage self-loading pistol piercing the 

Elfego owned and used all kinds of 

firearms in his lifetime. His favorites 

were the various Colt Model 1873 

single-action revolvers, usually in .45 

caliber, and he liked to show visitors a 

custom bolt-action Mauser he says he 

arranged to have “appropriated” from a 

disgruntled Pancho Villa. Never one to 

obey gun laws or any other laws that he 

didn’t believe in, Baca is said to have 

never gone anywhere – even into a 

courtroom – without a revolver hidden 

somewhere on his person. But as much 

as anything else it was big-bore attitude 

that Elfego came armed with. 

For slightly over 80 years Elfego Baca 

remained a lively part of New Mexico’s 

cultural landscape, telling spirited stories 

to anyone with the time to listen. 

In the year of his birth, horses were 

the primary means of transportation 

even in the more civil East, and Winchester’s 

engineers were hard at work 

on an improvement of their Henry 

lever-action repeater: the Model 1866 

“Yellowboy.” He died as 8-cylinder 

roadsters zoomed by outside his Albuquerque 

office, on August 27, 1945, 

exactly 3 weeks following the first wartime 

deployment of an atomic bomb, 

and within months of the appearance of 

the first ball-point pen, the aerosol can 

and the frozen “T.V. Dinner.” By then 

the M-1 Garand was in standard use by 

U.S. troops and precision scoped rifles 

were fast becoming the norm for stateside 

hunting. 

While a lot has been written about 

Baca’s remarkably good fortune, the 

trait that best defined him was nerve – 

or as we call it here in the Southwest, 

huevos. Like other notable Westerners, 

Elfego set an example for us, not 

of propriety and submission but an enthusiastic 

willingness to put excitement 

and adventure ahead of comfort, and 

principal ahead of physical safety... accomplishing 

the seemingly impossible 

with nothing more than clear intent, a 

dependable wheel-gun and unshakable 

will. 

The author tracked down and was the first to publish 

this photo of the rascally Charlie McCarty, 

who in his younger years was a catalyst for the 

Frisco shootout in 1884. Photo from the author’s 

collection. 

Baca poses here with a customized German 

Mauser rifle that he claims to have had stolen 

from his nemesis Pancho Villa in response to 

Villa’s $30,000 bounty on his head. Period photo 

courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico. 

Even in old age, Baca liked to frighten visiting 

reporters by suddenly pulling out and leveling 

a pair of Colt’s famous sixguns... gun laws be 

damned! Period photo courtesy of the Museum 

of New Mexico. 

Legal 

Corner 

by Grayson Penney 

NFA Launches 

New Legal 

Defense & 

Compensation 

Fund! 

As a result of recent decisions by the RCMP to begin the 

unilateral reclassification and seizure of legally owned and 

properly registered semi-automatic sporting rifles and shotguns 

– namely the Norinco Type 97A and High Standard 

Model 10B; National Firearms Association has created a 

new NFA Legal Defense & Compensation Fund. 

Given the stakes involved and the dangerous precedent that 

will be established if the RCMP is permitted to unilaterally 

reclassify and seize any registered model of firearms they 

deem unnecessary, or allegedly dangerous to the public 

good, the current executive felt it was necessary to take direct 

action. 

This new defense fund is intended to aid owners of targeted 

firearms in mounting a competent legal defense and thus protect 

the future right of all law-abiding gun owners to continue 

to own their legally acquired firearms. We are in the 

process of launching the first legal challenge “test case” as 

this issue of Canadian Firearms Journal goes to print. 

While representatives of the Public Safety Minister have announced 

that they will be offering compensation to affected 

owners involved in this most recent reclassification, a number 

of owners have expressed fear that should they opt to 

fight this unnecessary seizure, they may find such compensation 

denied them. 

In order to remove this fear, and thus any hesitation affected 

owners may have over proceeding with a court challenge, 

we are hopeful sufficient funds will be raised in order to provide 

adequate compensation to these brave owners should 

the worst happen and the prohibition order stand. We are 

confident, however, of a positive outcome to these challenges 

with your help. 

Therefore, a new separate bank account has been set-up solely 

for the purpose of the new legal defense fund. The national 

executive felt it necessary to do so in order to provide necessary 

separation from general National Firearms Association 

accounts. 

Donations can now be made on-line by visiting our website 

www.nfa.ca and following the instructions there or simply 

entering the direct URL found below. At the request of members, 

we can also now accept Email Money Transfers or 

EMT via Interac. Donations will also be accepted via mail 

at the address below or by calling our toll free line at 1-877- 

818-0393. If you are sending your donation in, please be sure 

to indicate on your cheque or money order that the donation 

is intended for the Legal Defense & Compensation Fund. 

Thank you for your support. 

Donate on-line:http://www.nfa.ca/donate-legal-fund 

Email Money Transfer: nfa.diane@gmail.com 

Send cheque or money order to: 

NFA Legal Defense & Compensation Fund 

c/o Canada’s National Firearms Association 

P.O. Box 52183, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2T5 

Donate via Telephone: 

Ph. Toll free @ 1-877-818-0393 


Facts, Science and 

Strategy in Australia 

By Gary Mauser 

“ If you don’t know where you’re going, 

you might end up somewhere else.” 

Yogi Berra 

“The facts are on our side” is an oft-heard claim when gunrights 

advocates gather together. If this is so, then why do so 

many politicians and civil servants appear to be abysmally 

ignorant of these facts while citing the claims of anti-gun 

groups? Perhaps gun-rights groups need to analyze why 

their opponents’ claims seem to command so much respect, 

and to learn how to communicate more effectively with 

government. 

Consider this radical suggestion: Gun-rights advocates could 

benefit from studying the methods used by Wendy Cukier’s 

Coalition for Gun Control and Rebecca Peters’ IANSA (the 

International Action Network on Small Arms). These quite 

tiny groups have been impressively effective in reaching 

the ears of politicians. What do they know that gun-rights 

activists do not? 

The success of the anti-gun groups stems in part from their 

ability to talk to politicians in their own language. Rather 

than approaching politicians and civil servants with grass 

roots campaigns reacting to governmental decisions, the 

anti-gun organizations confidently offer solutions to complex 

problems that face government. This strategy need not be 

limited to anti-gun groups. 

An essential element of the anti-gunners’ strategy is to 

wrap themselves in the authority of science. People in 

government need the facts, and relying upon experts, 

especially academics, is as attractive as it is authoritative. In 

contrast, gun rights groups have tended to rely upon grassroots 

strategies, mainly complaints. This is particularly true 

in Canada. Unfortunately, politicians do not respect the 

information they find in letters (either written to them or 

to newspaper editors). They may count them to gauge the 

political wind, but by then the die may have already been 

cast. To be sure, the solutions offered by gun-control activists 

are simplistic and based on junk science, and that’s their 

Achilles Heel. But to point this out is merely reactive. Gunrights 

groups can do better. 

To put this in context, consider that anti-gun organizations 

have advanced many legislative suggestions to the civil 

service with the pro-gun side being completely unaware 

until it is too late. Yet everything the pro-gun side does and 

says is in the public eye (e.g., the on-line firearm forum 

CanadianGunNutz.com) and is open to attack by the media. 

This is applauded as being transparent, but it has not been 

effective. So often, the pro-gun associations have put their 

efforts into the wrong arena. 

Since this is an international column, I will illustrate my 

argument with an example from Australia. Having the facts 

on one’s side is not enough - even academic studies. To be 

successful, one needs a comprehensive communications 

strategy. 

It is widely accepted in Australia that the Australian gun laws 

of 1996 were effective in reducing homicide and suicide 

rates. Gun deaths declined after 1996 so such claims are at 

least superficially plausible. Public health groups - the groups 

who really do have the lines into government - trumpeted the 

effectiveness of their campaign to ban guns, and politicians 

basked in the praise. 

Since suicide and homicide rates had already been declining, 

some suspected that the claims of success were based on junk 

science. This was conclusively shown a few years ago, when 

two Australian researchers produced a scientific study that 

found no link between suicide and homicide rates and the 

1996 gun laws. Unfortunately, even though this study was 

published in a top-quality academic journal, their findings 

were publicly belittled and virtually ignored by other 

advocacy groups. Government, of course, took no notice of 

their findings. Here is the story. 

In 2007, Jeanine Baker and Samara McPhedran published 

an article in a prestigious British criminology journal, “Gun 

laws and sudden death: did the Australian firearms legislation 

of 1996 make a difference?” They found that homicide rates 

fell about as fast before 1996 as they did afterwards. No 

change in rate of decline was found for either firearms-related 

homicides or non-firearms-related homicides. If the gun laws 

had been driving the changes, gun-related homicides should 

have led the decline; this was not observed. 

With respect to suicide rates, their study found that suicides 

involving firearms declined faster after 1996 than before. 

However, suicides involving other suicide methods fell even 

faster, and thus it is hard to argue that such a broad-spectrum 

drop could be caused by the new gun laws. It is more likely 

that a drop in a wide range of suicide methods, not just those 

related to firearms, was due to a generalized anti-suicide 

campaign that was conducted during the same time period, 

and not the 1996 gun ban. 

Subsequent studies have corroborated these findings. As I 

have pointed out before (in my January 2010 column, for 

example) no methodologically sound study has managed to 

find a statistically significant impact of the 1996 Australian 

firearms laws on homicide or suicide. 

It is impressive that these independent researchers managed 

to get their work published. Australian public health 

academics attempted to suppress further publication of any 

research by Baker or McPhedran or of any that contradicted 

their inflated claims. Fortunately, some private emails have 

recently been made public, uncovering an old-boys network 

among public health activists who conspired to keep research 

conducted by independent scholars from being published in 

accepted scientific journals. If academic research is just a 

game for those on the inside, then the line between science 

and advocacy disappears. 

That is not how science is supposed to work. Science differs 

from advocacy in that scientists put claims to rigorous tests 

and then report the results, come what may, while advocates 

(or propagandists) cherry-pick their facts in an effort to 

support their claims. To ensure that only respectable methods 

NFA Representative Professor Gary Mauser in action at 2009 World 

Forum. Also pictured, presidents of the National Rifle Association, 

World Forum &, U.S. Executive Director of the World Forum. 

are used, scientists must submit all studies to the process of 

peer review before being published. Peer review means that 

other qualified researchers have an opportunity to criticize 

the methods that are used to test the findings if indeed there is 

any weakness in them. Science only can be trusted to provide 

solid findings when the process of peer review works as it 

should. 

In a submission made to the Australian Senatorial Committee 

investigating suicide prevention strategies, these two 

independent Australian researchers provided proof of this 

conspiracy not only to suppress their research but also to 

attack their character. So far at least, nothing is known about 

what response the Australian Senate will make. 

Conclusion 

Having the facts on one’s side is not enough - even academic 

studies. To be successful in getting the facts to government, 

one needs a comprehensive communications strategy. The 

goal of such a strategy should be to gain the attention of the 

lawmakers, develop working relationships with them, and 

to offer solutions for problems which concern them. Such a 

strategy needs to be well planned and well executed, but it 

need not be expensive. If a gun-rights group could develop 

a professional communications strategy it would be a gamechanger 

in Canadian politics. 

References 

Baker, Jeanine, and Samara McPhedran (2006). Gun Laws and 

Sudden Death: Did the Australian Firearms Legislation of 1996 

Make a Difference? British Journal of Criminology. DOI: . 

Canadian Coalition for Gun Control. http://www.guncontrol.ca/ 

IANSA. http://www.iansa.org/ 

WiSH Submission (#30) to the Senate Community Affairs 

References Committee (Australian Parliament), Inquiry into 

Suicide in Australia. 

http://www.ic-wish.org/McPhedran%20Baker%20Suicide%20 

in%20Australia%20Senate%20Submission_Nov%2009.pdf 

Gary Mauser with Gaston Glock of Glock GmbH during a World 

Forum meeting representing NFA 


Team NFA 

Update 

By Grayson Penney 

Matt Neumann - Achievements/Results: 

BC Premiers Athletic Award 2007 and 2008 

1st Canadian National Championships 

Junior Men 12.5km (pursuit) March 4/2010 


Junior 3X6km (mixed relay) March 5/2010 


Junior Men 15km (individual) March 26/2009 


Junior Men 10km (sprint) March 28/2009 


Junior Relay (3x 6km) March 29/2009 


Youth 10km (individual) March 27/2008 

1st NorAm Cup #1 

Junior Men 10km (sprint) December 5/2010 

Matt Neumann 

Megan Tandy 

Matt Neuman Update 

Matt had a very busy and very successful 

2009-2010 race season as one of Canada’s 

top male biathletes. For the upcoming 

race season Matt has his sights set on 

medaling at the 2011 Canadian National 

Biathlon Championships. 2011 will be his 

first year as a Senior. Placing in the top 

30 at the 2010/2011 IBU (International 

Biathlon Union) Cup is his next priority 

and he hopes to build upon that experience 

for the future. At present he is hard at 

work training for the start of the new season 

this fall in Squamish, BC. He recently 

was the recipient of the Prince George 

Youth Excellence Award. 

Here at NFA we are extremely proud of 

all that Matt has accomplished and the 

part we’ve played in helping to develop 

one of the premier young biathletes in 

Canada today. We expect big things from 

Matt next season and we’re happy to announce 

that we have extended our sponsorship 

agreement with him so that he can 

continue to compete, as well as represent 

National Firearms Association, at premier 

world competition events. According to 

Matt he gets asked many questions about 

his National Firearms Sticker affixed to 

the stock of his rifle at competitions and 

is happy to chat with fans about the NFA, 

our goals and the good work we do for 

Canadian shooting sports. Here are a few 

of Matt’s completive highlights as part of 

Team NFA for the past several seasons. 

Megan Tandy Update – 

The 2009-2010 race season was a ground breaking season 

competitively and personally for Megan. This was her first 

full World Cup season as well as her first Winter Olympics. 

Back in September we saw her kick off the season with the 

Summer Jr. World Championships, which were to mark the 

beginning of one of her most successful 

race seasons yet. It also 

marked the closing of her time as a 

junior athlete. Finishing as Junior 

World Champion and a double gold 

medalist was certainly a fine cap to 

any Jr. career! 

Competitively speaking, the most 

exciting events Megan participated 

in this past season were the Winter 

Olympics in Vancouver. She took a 

risk this past year and opted to train 

in Squamish with the BC High Performance 

Team and coach iLmar 

Heinicke. This allowed her to utilize 

the actual Olympic site as her primary 

training ground. Unfortunately, 

choosing to train apart from the 

national team caused her to lose all 

official support from the government 

and from the National Team. 

“The Olympics were an experience I will never 

forget: I was both proud and relieved to end such 

an amazing life experience knowing that I truly 

did give everything I had during my competitions 

and with the satisfaction of being the top Canadian 

woman in biathlon.” 

- Megan Tandy 

The Big Show – The Vancouver 2010 Winter 

Olympic Games! 

Megan’s gamble to go it alone and train in Squamish and the 

Olympic facility paid off this past February when she proved 

to be the top performing Canadian woman in all three of her 

Olympic events. 

Megan competed in four Olympic events, the 7.5 km Sprint, 

the 10 km Pursuit (Only the top 60 Olympic competitors in 

the Sprint event are eligible to participate in the Pursuit and 

Megan was the only Canadian woman to qualify!), the 15 km 

Individual and 4X6km Relay. 

7.5 Sprint: Megan has said that she always starts each race 

with the goal of perfect shooting. In the Sprint she achieved 

perfection and for the first time in a major race Megan shot a 

perfect 10\10 race! Unfortunately, skiing conditions 

Team NFA Continued on Page 41 



Cast Bullets 

For Beginners 

Part II 


The key to casting good bullets has everything to do with 

temperature. Both your mould and your melt need to be at 

the optimal temperature for proper fill-out of the mould and 

to ensure that the dropped bullets remain consistent, are free 

of voids and without undue “frosting.” To speed up the process 

I prefer to pre-heat my moulds. Some casters opt to rest 

their mould blocks on the side of the pot or furnace, while 

others dip a corner of their mould in the melt itself. Both 

methods are not without their drawbacks, as scorched or split 

mould handles or even a warped mould can result if due care 

is not taken. These days, I generally prefer to preheat my 

moulds on top of a piece of 1/2 “ Aluminum plate placed on a 

burner of my camp stove. It is fast, heat is distributed equally 

and no scorched handles. 

Even more important to a good result is ensuring that your 

melt is at the proper temperature. Too cold and you won’t get 

proper fill-out of your mould cavities, resulting in deformed 

and unusable bullets. Too hot, and the bullets you drop will 

have a white frosted look. While often useable, such bullets 

are not optimal and with a little more attention much better 

results can be obtained. Once your melt is at the perfect temperature, 

there is no guarantee that it is going to stay there. 

As metal levels fall, temperatures may increase; adding new 

ingots to the mix can cause temperatures to fall dramatically 

and can even change the composition of the alloy if not careful. 

You’ll have to work out what system works best for your 

casting style. I generally prefer not to let the level of my pot 

drop too much, so I’m adding small ingots or scrap from the 

same alloy on a regular basis in order to maintain a constant 

temperature range and to prevent too much cooling of the 

melt. 

I generally like to take a weekend and spend the entire time 

in a marathon casting session that results in thousands of bullets 

for my various needs. Rate of production is everything in 

this process, so I usually use multiple moulds and often opt 

for my “gang” moulds rather than the smaller one and two 

cavity models. You can drop four or five bullets at one time, 

while virtually expending the same amount of effort it would 

take using a double cavity mould. As an added bonus, using 

multiple moulds also prevents any one mould from getting 

too hot. Once you find your rhythm, it becomes quite easy 

to keep several moulds almost continuously in use and at the 

optimal temperature. 

Metal Preparation: 

The Art of Fluxing 

Before attempting to cast your first bullet, the melt must undergo 

a process called fluxing. Fluxing is a simple process 

that is designed to counter the oxidization that occurs as a 

function of heating the metal to the point of phase change 

from solid to liquid. When the highly heated metal comes in 

contact with air, oxidization takes place. The higher the heat, 

the faster the oxidization of the alloy’s component metals. 

The convection currents within the pot results in a constant 

turn-over at the surface of the melt and the bullet caster is 

then forced to deal with the different rates at which the various 

metals in his alloy oxidize. The resulting oxides created 

during the melting process separate from the parent alloy. 

Tin, one of the key components of most bullet alloys, oxidizes 

far more rapidly than pure lead; as a result, we often first 

see tin oxide forming a skim across the surface of the pot. 

Flux acts as a reductant and aids the caster in returning the tin 

to the alloy. Usually there are a number of other impurities 

or unwanted metals and debris that will float to the surface 

which also affect surface tension of the melt and the consistency 

of the alloy itself. As the caster, you want to remove 

those impurities from the melt. Most often encountered are 

calcium, aluminum, zinc, and copper, especially when using 

recovered range lead or scrap. Because lead is denser than 

other unwanted impurities such as dirt and the steel clips 

from wheel weights, these too will float to the surface of the 

melt and must be skimmed off. The key here is to remove all 

the junk, without removing too much of the good metals such 

as tin. Flux is the ingredient that permits us to do this. 

Many different compounds or materials can serve as a flux. 

Most often used are beeswax, bacon grease or tallow, paraffin, 

bullet lubricant, oiled sawdust, kitty litter, motor oil 

and rosin. Commercial fluxing compounds with some sort of 

boric acid base like Marvelux are also now available. Each 

has their advantages and disadvantages; however, I generally 

prefer to stick with the more traditional waxes and paraffin. 

Drop the flux into the melt and stir vigorously to return the 

tin oxide to the alloy and raise all the other impurities to the 

surface for skimming. I may go through this process several 

times in order to start with the absolutely “cleanest” alloy I 

can. Foul smelling smoke often results and it is recommended 

to ignite these vapors using a BBQ lighter to prevent a 

mini-conflagration over the surface of the melt. This is a big 

reason why it is a good idea to cast in a well-ventilated area 

and not indoors if you can help it. 

When casting using a bottom-pour furnace, extra fluxing 

compounds such as wax, kitty litter, sawdust, etc... can be 

added to the pot in large enough quantities to form a barrier 

against further oxidation and as long as that barrier isn’t disturbed 

you can proceed to cast with little concern for alloy 

separation. There is some extra clean-up of the pot in the end, 

but may be worth it depending on your needs. 

Mould Preparation 

In order to start casting good bullets almost immediately, 

your mould or moulds need to be properly prepped. New 

moulds and those freshly removed from storage should be 

degreased and scrubbed of all factory oils or protective compounds. 

Rubbing alcohol and an old toothbrush work fine, 

but I prefer to use aerosol carburetor or brake cleaner and 

allow excess fluids to evaporate. Once clean, the mould cavities 

may be prepped for casting by “smoking.” Using a lit 

beeswax candle, match or preferably a butane micro torch, 

a thin layer of carbon is deposited into the cavities by playing 

the flame over the open mould halves and cavities. This 

process almost always serves to produce better bullets that 

seem to drop more easily from the cavities. Smoking of the 

moulds needs to be repeated at periodic intervals and at the 

start of every casting session. 

Casting the First Bullet 

First, always suit up with the proper protective gear. A moment’s 

inattention can result in a painful burn or worse unless 

you are wearing the required protection. I built my own casting 

bench using scrap 2”X4”and 4”X4”with a 1” plywood 

top, clad in 3/8” cold-rolled steel. It also serves as welding 

bench and fabrication table. The metal cladding reduces any 

worries about burning the table top with molten lead and any 

spatters or accidents can simply be allowed to cool and then 

reclaimed later using an old putty knife. In order to maximize 

your bullet production, you need to develop a rhythm and the 

only way you can do that is if you are organized. I lay out all 

my tools, pots or furnaces, mould blocks, heat sources, drop 

pads or water buckets the same way every time. Always, 

when you use a tool or item, put it back immediately after 

use. That way you don’t constantly have to search around for 


a particular item. It does require a certain level of commitment, 

but the time savings alone are worth it. 

Ladle casting is the method I first learned to do, and it still 

has a favored place in my heart. Even if you purchase an 

electric furnace, with or without bottom-pour spout, you can 

still use it for ladle casting. I started out using an old soup 

ladle that I shaped to my needs with a pair of needle nosed 

pliers to make a more user-friendly pour spout to better fit 

mould cavity holes. Assuming the melt has been properly 

fluxed and your mould pre-heated, you first carefully plunge 

the ladle into the pot. I prefer to go all the way to the bottom 

of the pot and draw my lead from the center of the pot. 

Holding the mould in the other hand in a 90 degree position 

relative to the floor and bottom of the mould, I quickly place 

the pour spout against sprue plate hole. Keeping the nose of 

the ladle’s pour spout firmly against the sprue, both ladle and 

mould are rotated back 90 degrees to the level position and 

held there for several moments - sufficient to fill the mould 

cavity and leave a proper sprue puddle. The process is repeated 

as necessary until all cavities are filled in the mould 

block. 

The mould is rotated in this manner in order to get proper 

fill out and to prevent any trapped air from creating voids in 

the bullet as cast. Another option when ladle casting is what 

I call a “forced pour.” The latter is messy, more time consuming 

and works best with single or double cavity moulds, 

however, you get total fill-out and almost no air voids as the 

sheer volume of lead you pour (far in excess of the actual 

cavity volume) displaces any trapped air. I tend to use this 

method more so when casting slugs or larger caliber bullets 

using single cavity moulds. It is too slow for gang mould use. 

A common mistake most new casters commit is to attempt 

to cut the sprue too soon. The sprue is the small puddle of 

hardened lead alloy that is left on top of the mould directly 

over each cavity. The alloy contracts as it cools. In order to 

ensure that you get proper fill-out of your cavities, the caster 

must leave a small puddle of extra alloy on top of the sprue 

plate. The holes in the plate permitting alloy to flow into the 

cavity are deliberately countersunk to hold a sufficient sprue 

puddle. As the metal cools, extra metal will be drawn down, 

into the cavity, thus yielding a perfectly filled-out bullet. As 

a bonus, the shape of the holes machined into the sprue plate 

also fit the pour spouts of bottom-pour furnaces and commercial 

lead ladles. You need to wait a few moments for the 

molten alloy to solidify. After a few hundred bullets you’ll 

quickly learn to judge when it is safe to cut the sprue. When 

ready, I take my mould mallet, lead hammer or hardwood 

dowel and strike a quick, sharp blow to the sprue plate. This 

blow shears off the excess sprue metal and permits the mould 

blocks to be opened and the freshly cast bullets to drop free. 

Any smearing of lead on the underside of the sprue plate 

or ripping, rather than cutting of the sprue, observed at the 

base of the bullet is clear indication that you cut the sprue 

too soon. 

When it comes to actually dropping the new bullets from the 

mould, every mould is different and some will consistently 

drop their bullets as soon as the mould handles are pulled 

apart, while others consistently require the use of the mallet 

or dowel in order to free up the bullet from the mould cavity. 

It is never a good practice to strike the actual mould half, 

even when using a softer, non-marring tool such as a mould 

mallet. Instead, only strike the joint of the mould handles. 

The transfer of kinetic energy from the handles to the mould 

is usually sufficient to dislodge the temporarily stuck bullet. 

Rarely are more than one or two blows required if the mould 

has been properly smoked. 

Even if you’ve taken the time to pre-heat your mould, you 

need to be prepared for almost certain disappointment with 

your first few attempts to cast bullets. Generally, with a preheated 

mould, you will still have to drop a half dozen or 

more instant rejects to get the mould up to proper temperature. 

Moulds that are too cool, will drop malformed bullets 

that lack sharp edges, complete fill-out and they often are 

wrinkled or have wavy or rounded grease grooves. No worries, 

these rejects can be saved and returned to the pot, along 

with the left over sprues. I generally keep a Coffee can on 

hand to collect these rejects and lead scraps. In short order, 

you’ll start to see perfectly formed, well filled-out bullets 

with nice, sharp grease grooves being produced. In order to 

prevent possible damage to these new, still soft bullets, it is 

recommended that you use an old towel or cotton T-shirt as a 

drop pad for the bullets. Another option is to drop the bullets 

directly into a bucket of cold water. Water quenching works 

great and can actually yield harder bullets, at least for a time. 

You’ll find that even hard-cast bullets will soften somewhat 

with the passage of time. 

The process for bottom-pour furnaces is much the same; the 

only difference is that you don’t rotate the mould block. Instead, 

you leave a slight gap between the spout and the cavity 

to allow air to escape. The mould blocks, themselves, are 

allowed to slide on the mould rest attached to the furnace 

and as each cavity is filled, the mould is quickly advanced so 

that the next cavity can be filled. Again, getting into a rhythm 

that works for you is a key ingredient to upping your bullet 

production. With a little practice, even a new caster will 

very quickly begin leaving perfect sprue puddles and dropping 

excellent cast bullets. The process for dropping bullets 

cast with the bottom-pour furnace is the same for the ladle 

poured. Use the mallet, cut the sprue, open the mould blocks 

and give the handle joint a tap if the bullets don’t immediately 

drop free. Repeat until you have the quantity of bullets 

you need. 

Common Problems or Issues 

• Bullets wrinkled or malformed – Mould is too cold or 

melt isn’t hot enough. 

• Bullets are frosted – Mould is too hot. Using a folded 

rag soaked in water as a heat sink can help, but generally 

I prefer to use multiple moulds which allow time for 

moulds to cool slightly between casts. 

• Base of bullet spruce nib is torn or ripped. – Sprue cut too 

soon. Need to allow a few more moments before 

attempting to cut sprue. 

• Base of bullet is concave or has a hollow – Sprue puddle 

of insufficient size. As result, not enough metal available 

to be drawn down into cavity during solidification. 

• Fin or whisker of lead on base, sides or nose of 

bullet. – Usually occurs when mould blocks fail to 

achieve ideal closure. Typically, small lead spatters or 

debris is just slightly preventing mould halves from 

closing properly. Inspect both halves for foreign debris 

and clean as necessary. Whiskers may also be the result 

of a combination of a super-hot melt and mould. Need to 

reduce temperature of metal and allow mould to cool 

sufficiently between casts. 

After the Cast 

Depending on personal preference, after you’ve finished 

casting, you have the choice of leaving your pot full of lead 

and allowing it to solidify or emptying it, usually by breaking 

out your ingot mould and casting the remainder of the melt 

into ingots. If I know I’ll be using the pot again reasonably 

soon, I just leave it full. It is safer and a lot faster. For safety, 

always unplug your pot or furnace and ensure your heat 

source or camp stove is properly turned off or disconnected. 

Moulds get a quick clean-up, are lubed and then returned to 

the ammo cans for climate controlled storage. 

Cast bullets are then examined and sorted. Those with obvious 

faults are thrown into the old coffee can used to catch 

sprues for reuse. Depending on their intended use, slight imperfections 

may be acceptable if you’re going plinking, but 

for competition, I only accept perfect bullets. Some casters 

will go beyond a visual inspection and will actually weigh 

each individual bullet. Those that deviate more than a grain 

or two over or below the specified drop weight are rejected. 

Differences in weight can most often be attributed to air 

voids, impurities or changes in alloy composition. Consistency 

is the ultimate aim here, so you want the most consistent 

bullets you can produce. That then translates into better 

accuracy. Once sorted and/or weighed, I store my new bullets 

in plastic storage containers, carefully labeled with bullet 

mould number, alloy, weight and date cast for future reference. 

You are now ready to size and lubricate the bullets in 

preparation for reloading. 

Bullet casting may seem complex and even a bit scary, but 

in reality it is rather easy to do and is far more difficult to 

explain than it is to demonstrate. A good manual is a great 

starting point to learn the basic mechanics. Joining any of a 

multitude of on-line Internet forums devoted to the art of bullet 

casting can also be very helpful just as long as you don’t 

accept anonymous advice without first verifying for yourself 

that it is safe to take. With the dawn of the electronic age, 

video hosting sites like YouTube are now offering new or 

potential casters a multitude of opportunities to watch other 

bullet casters demonstrate their techniques and equipment. If 

you are a reloader, bullet casting should be a natural progression 

of your hobby. You won’t get paid for your time, but 

bullet casting gives you an opportunity to develop a truly 

custom load for a specific firearm and you have control of 

every aspect of the bullet manufacturing process. In addition 

to being far cheaper than jacketed, cast bullets offer equal or 

better accuracy potential and can actually be driven to higher 

velocities than their gilded counterparts while operating at 

lower pressures. It is also supremely satisfying to win that 

big match or to take that book-class deer, moose or caribou 

using bullets that you cast yourself. Experience is the best 

teacher and you learn by doing. It isn’t that expensive or hard 

to assemble a basic casting outfit and to get into the casting 

game. Every fellow handloader whom I have introduced to 

the hobby have instantly fallen in love with it and are all 

now just as hard core about bullet casting as am I. At the end 

of the day, casting our own allows us to do more of the one 

thing we all love and that is shooting. Who can argue against 

that? 


By Jesse L. Hardin 

A couple of generations ago, Canada was a power-house 

firearms producer with manufacturers such as Inglis, Canadian 

Arsenals Ltd, Cooey/Winchester, and the government 

run Long Branch Arsenal helping to arm both the sportsman 

in the field and the soldier on the battlefields of Europe, the 

Pacific and Korea. These are but a few of the major Canadian 

manufacturers that then existed. Sadly, most of these have 

been closed down, sold off, or moved to the United States 

over the past five or six decades. Since then it has been up to 

the smaller domestic manufacturers to attempt to fill the void 

left by the loss of these legends. It has been a struggle and for 

the most part we’ve had to rely mainly on foreign imports to 

meet the needs of our recreational firearms community. 

Despite the state of constant flux the community and indeed 

the firearms industry seems to be in these days because of 

our current political circumstances, there have been a number 

of homegrown manufacturers and builders who have 

stepped up to help fill this void and to offer Canadian shooters 

quality products at reasonable prices; especially products 

that have become increasingly difficult to source overseas. 

One of these new companies has been Alberta Tactical Rifle 

Supply of Calgary, Alberta. Owner/operator Rick Timmins 

is well known in high-power rifle circles in Canada and his 

custom-built bolt action rifles have an outstanding reputation 

for quality and accuracy, and command prices comparable to 

many of the top ‘smiths in the United States. Anyone who 

has ever owned or shot an ATRS built rifle knows first-hand 

that Rick really knows his stuff. “Black” rifles, however, was 

something new for him, but when I learned that ATRS was 

gearing up to start producing their own “made right here” 

AR-15 rifles I knew I had to own one and immediately 

picked up the phone and placed my order with Rick. I was 

one of the lucky few who managed to get on the list for the 

Made Right Here: 

Alberta Tactical Rifle 

Supply AT-15: 

Homegrown Black Rifle 


very first production run of the ATRS AT-15 lower. There 

were just as many more severely disappointed customers 

who missed the cut and were forced to wait months longer 

for the second production run. 

Today, new stripped lowers range wildly in both price and 

quality on the current retail market. They can be cast aluminum 

or milled from solid billet. Specifications, fit and finish 

all vary to one degree or another, even for manufacturers 

who claim their product is “mil-spec.” Lower end receiver’s 

can be found for under $150.00 from a variety of Canadian 

importers while at the upper end the price can run more than 

triple that for an ATRS built example. 

As with most things, you get what you pay for and if the 

sub-$150.00 lower is the Yugo of the gun world, the ATRS 

lower is the Rolls Royce or Ferrari. As a special bonus as a 

hands-on builder and manufacturer, Rick was able to offer 

his customers the option of choosing their own custom serial 

number and for a nominal extra fee could engrave almost 

any logo, image or text on to the offside receiver flat. 

I opted to go with my old hockey jersey number for the serial 

number and I had Rick engrave the famous Greek phrase 

“Molōn Labe” on the offside magwell flat. The phrase Molōn 

Labe, is from the ancient Greek, and was the only reply offered 

by Leonidas, the General-King of Sparta in response 

to the demands of Xerxes at the Battle of Thermopylae. The 

latter was the much feared Emperor of the Persian Empire 

and he came with 600,000 of the fiercest fighting troops in 

the world to conquer tiny, disunited Greece. In response to 

Xerxes’ demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons in 

exchange for his life and that of his vastly outnumbered band 

of some 300 personal bodyguards and a handful of Theban 

and Athenian citizen-soldiers King Leonidas shouted these 

two words back. 

Molon Labe! (mo-lone lah-veh) 

They mean, “Come and get them!” 

They live on today as the most notable 

quote in military history and have become 

the rallying cry of pro-firearm 

rights defenders the world over. 

I thought the choice apt, as at the time 

fears abounded that we were likely facing 

the introduction of even more restrictive 

gun laws here in Canada, including 

outright bans of many “black” 

rifles and other semi-autos if the Liberals 

succeeded in winning the then anticipated 

federal election. At the same 

time the supply of available AR-15 

lowers in Canada had completely dried 

up due to delays caused at the border 

and the simply voracious appetite 

American shooters had developed in 

the wake of Barack Obama’s election 

as U.S. President. 

I counted myself lucky when my nicely 

packaged, brand spanking new ATRS 

AT-15 lower arrived that spring morning. 

I currently own a number of different 

AR-15s, including several from 

top-tier manufacturers such as Colt and 

Lewis Machine & Tool. Yet, as much 

as I love my Colt’s and LMT’s, the new 

ATRS AT-15 lower put them to shame 

in terms of quality of machine work, fit 

and finish. It truly was a Rolls Royce. 

There were no stray machine or tool 

marks. Everything looked as if it had 

been highly polished before it had been 

sent out for what looked like Type III 

hard coat anodizing, just like the “milspec” 

calls for and the entire lower just 

oozed “quality.” The final finish was 

a deep, rich black that more closely 

matched my LMT and STAG ARMS 

uppers as opposed to the dark gray finish 

of the Colt’s. 

Rather than purchase the lower already 

assembled, I had opted for a completely 

stripped lower without any control 

parts that I could assemble and finish 

myself. I’ve built a number of AR-15 

lowers over the past few years and I 

find it a fun and relatively easy way to 

add even more enjoyment to my hobby. 

Besides, I wanted to install a two-stage 

trigger for the new build and had already 

sourced a complete Rock River 

Arms Lower Parts Kit or LPK that included 

the RRA two-stage trigger. 

Completing or building the lower is actually 

quite a simple process. Persons 

with the barest modicum of hand-eye 

coordination and the ability to use 

simple hand tools should be able to 

complete the build in under an hour 

with proper preparation. I’ll be covering 

my build of this custom Canadian 

AR-15 from stripped lower to madein-Canada 

upper barrel assembly, and 

the processes involved, in upcoming issues 

of Canadian Firearms Journal for a 

new serial feature I’ve dubbed “Project 

Sparta.” 

Following the start of work on “Project 

Sparta” I had an opportunity to discuss 

the project and the ATRS AT-15 with 

owner Rick Timmins himself. I wanted 

to learn a little more about how my 

lower had been made and frankly was 

curious to learn what could have possibly 

motivated a semi-retired, homebased 

Alberta gunsmith to open a new 

state-of-the art manufacturing facility 

that is now turning out everything from 

his top quality billet AT-15 lowers, and 

beautifully machined picatinny scope 

bases for most major types of rifles, to 

oversize bolt knobs and custom detachable 

magazine systems for bolt action 

tactical rifles along with a host of other 

innovative and extremely well made 

firearm parts and accessories. 

NFA: Hello Rick, thanks for taking the 

time for us today. To start I just have to 

say I absolutely love my AT-15 lower! 

ATRS: Thanks for having me and 

we’re pleased you like our product. 

That was our aim when we started this 

whole thing. 

NFA: Speaking of getting started in the 

AR manufacturing game, how exactly 

did a semi-retired gunsmith from rural 

Alberta suddenly become one of the 

biggest black rifle makers in Canada? 

ATRS: Good question! I sometimes 


ask myself that. I guess to understand 

it; you have to know a little about my 

background. I’ve always joked that I 

was born addicted to gun powder and 

have been shooting for over 50 years 

now. I got involved in the business side 

of the firearms community a little later, 

but I’ve been in the firearms business 

since the late 60s. I guess the desire is 

in the blood. 

NFA: I know you have a fantastic reputation 

for building precision long-range 

rifles, how exactly did you develop that 

particular skill set? 

ATRS: Experience is certainly a great 

teacher, but I also had the honor and 

privilege of being taught by some of 

the very best and working with some of 

the best in the industry back in the day. 

At the time, like many others who have 

travelled a similar path, I was either not 

happy with what was offered in terms 

of available firearms or simply could 

not afford to pay those who offered the 

best quality; so rather than bitch about 

it, I opted to take matters into my own 

hands and do something about it. 

You have to bear in mind, however, that 

I am first and foremost a long range 

rifle shooter. The AR thing was relatively 

new to me, but most of my staff 

are “black” rifle addicts so a lot of the 

credit for the AT-15 success is theirs. 

Ironically, the current AR craze actually 

forced me to delay the introduction 

of my own custom machined bolt action 

rifle actions. Something which has 

been a lifelong dream of mine. However, 

I’m pleased to announce that just 

last month ATRS formally released 

our new our rifle action which we’ve 

dubbed “Infidel.” 

NFA: Congratulations! I think my wallet 

is going to be in for another tough 

go of it in the very near future if the 

new production action is as nice as the 

prototypes I’ve seen. 

ATRS: It is! (laughing) 

NFA: Getting back to our original topic, 

I guess there must have been a pretty 

important reason for you to delay introduction 

of the new ATRS rifle action. 

What caused the change in direction? 

ATRS: Well, we started this AT-15 

project back in 2008 when all the pundits 

were warning that we were possibly 

looking at another federal election. 

If you remember, the Liberals 

and NDP were threatening to bring 

down the government and one of their 

election planks was going to be more 

gun control legislation. Coincidentally 

there were also no ARs available on the 

Canadian market; so wanting my kids 

to be in the pool so to speak, and not 

having any luck finding ARs to register 

to them, I started making some lowers 

with the expectation that all ARs would 

be prohibited by whichever opposition 

party or coalition won - assuming the 

Conservatives lost the election. 

The hope was that the new government 

would opt to “grandfather” current 

owners rather than seize the tens of 

thousands of black rifles now in sportsmen’s 

hands and thus help preserve a 

part of cultural firearms heritage. We 

were basically hoping that with restricted 

firearms already registered to them, 

the kids would see history again repeat 

itself as it did when the whole 12(x) 

classification system was introduced 

years ago. A faint hope I know, but we 

thought it worth a try. 

NFA: Okay, producing a couple of 

custom lowers is one thing, how exactly 

did that lead to a new facility, new 

CNC mills and creation of a dedicated 

production line and introduction of the 

AT-15 to the civilian market? 

ATRS: I honestly did not realize that 

the AR market was so strong in Canada. 

However, interest was so intense from 

customers and on-line from a variety of 

shooting related forums that I had to do 

a complete reassessment of where we 

wanted to go with this product and how 

much potential there was for growth. 

NFA: Obviously you decided to take 

the gamble. 

ATRS: We did. We’re now on the 3rd 

generation of the AT-15 lower and we 

now have AT-15s in Australia, Cayman 

Islands, RSA, Switzerland, Germany 

and the UK. Here at home, you can find 

them from coast to coast, from Newfoundland 

to British Columbia. 

NFA: Obviously if you’re already on 

the third generation, you haven’t abandoned 

your quest for precision and 

perfection that has been the hallmark 

of your long-range rifle builds even 

though you’re now building “black” 

rifles. 

ATRS: Absolutely. We strive for perfection 

in everything we do, even if 

we’re talking about “black” rifles. 

NFA: I can appreciate that and I have 

to say the quality of my own lower has 

really impressed me; even knowing 

beforehand the quality of work you’re 

capable of turning out. 

ATRS: Thanks. I’ve always been of the 

opinion that one of the keys to turning 

out a superior product has been starting 

with quality materials right from the 

start. That is why for the AT-15 project 

we opted to use a specialty aluminum 

made by Fortal - basically a very 

high grade 7075, with a higher tensile 

strength than conventional 7075 aluminum 

instead of a cheaper alloy. We 

could’ve used a less expensive grade 

of aluminum alloy and been able to 

drop our final retail price accordingly, 

but instead we wanted to offer shooters 

something a little different. 

NFA: Well, it looks like that gamble has 

paid off and I haven’t heard too many 

AT-15 owners complaining! What can 

you tell me about the “nuts & bolts” of 

actually producing the AT-15 from the 

raw block of aluminum I’ve seen in 

pictures? Is everything done in-house 

or is any of the work sub-contracted? 

ATRS: Good question. The actual 

blocks of raw aluminum are completely 

CNC machined 100% in-house with 

the exception of the magwells. Looking 

at the machining time it would take and 

the various options available out there 

we decided to opt for the EDM process 

via a local company. 

EDM or Electrical Discharge Machining 

is a machining method primarily 

used for hard metals or those that 

would be very difficult to machine with 

traditional techniques. For our use, one 

of the bonuses of EDM is that it can 

cut intricate contours or cavities in prehardened 

metals without the need for 

heat treatment to soften and re-harden 

them. The structure of the surrounding 

metal, as a consequence, remains relatively 

unaffected and you don’t run into 

complications such as differentially 

hardened alloy. 

Although we were working with our 

select grade of Fortal 7075 aluminum 

alloy, this process can be used with 

almost any other metal or metal alloy 

such as steel, titanium, hastelloy, kovar, 

inconel and other specialty alloys. 

Once the magwells were cut, a final 

inspection was done to ensure QC 


was maintained and the lowers were 

then sent out to be hard anodized to 

“mil-spec,” specifications. We wanted 

a tough, robust finish that would hold 

up well to lots of wear, and frankly, our 

customers seemed to prefer this type of 

finish, with black being the most popular. 

Our contractor doing the anodizing 

for us, however, was able to offer customers 

a choice of colours for a pretty 

modest extra fee and we actually have 

had customers request such non-typical 

AR colours as red, blue and even pink! 

NFA: Red? Pink? So much for the 

myth of the “black” rifle I guess. 

ATRS: Well the customer is always 

right and if we can accommodate them, 

we will, if they’re prepared to cover the 

extra prep, set-up and materials costs 

associated with their custom requests. 

NFA: Custom. I guess that is the reason 

why the AT-15 can command the price 

it does? 

ATRS: Exactly. We’re building the 

luxury sports car of the gun world, not 

the economy sub-compact. In all honesty, 

the only “mil-spec” thing about 

our lowers is the hard anodized finish. 

Everything else…all the tolerances are 

far tighter than what the official military 

specifications call for. 

We made a conscious decision to not 

just make typical AR lowers, but instead 

opted to make a number of improvements 

and changes to both the dimensions 

and features to the traditional 

AR model. Our lowers are quite a bit 

thicker in many places and the magwell 

is significantly larger than most 

AR lowers. We felt if we were going 

to build a product we wanted it to be 

distinct and the best available. That is 

also one of the reasons why we opted to 

machine our lowers with an enhanced 

“winter” trigger guard, rather than not 

bother at all and have the end user install 

the traditional straight guard and 

pin arrangement common to traditional 

ARs. 

NFA: I notice on your website that 

you’ve expanded your line into essentially 

“made-to-order” stainless 

AR barrels, aluminum picatinny hand 

guards, ATRS muzzle breaks and even 

complete ATRS rifles. What prompted 

the expansion? 

ATRS: Well, once we had established 

a market for AR lowers we started getting 

requests for custom barrels and 

complete rifles. AR barrels were hard 

to source at the time, especially shorter 

ones due to US export restrictions. As 

a result, it wasn’t long before we got 

dragged into making AR barrels as 

well. Like our lowers, we decided that 

rather than making run-of-the mill barrels 

we wanted to offer our customers 

the best product we could at as reasonable 

a price as we could. 

We felt if we started with blanks from 

well known high-quality, match barrel 

makers, the overall barrel would be a 

better product, and so brought in a large 

number of blanks from Rock Creek and 

Lilja. We were asked for all sorts of different 

lengths and configurations and 

now have an almost fulltime job making 

AR barrels. 

With barrels also came the need for 

either flash hiders or brakes and we 

eventually opted to manufacture brakes 

that eliminate muzzle rise. Interestingly 

enough, we were almost too successful 

in eliminating muzzle rise with our 

early prototypes and found that they actually 

created “negative muzzle rise.” 

With the help of local law enforcement 

testers, we put the first prototypes 

through whatever torture tests we could 

think of. We found that the original design 

was a little too much of a good 

thing and when in full auto the muzzle 

actually dove down too much, so we 

had to alter the port size and angle. 

The current brakes work well and they 

seem to have been well received by the 

shooting community by and large. 

NFA: Wow. I have to say it is really 

great to see a Canadian owned company, 

especially an independent gun maker 

willing to step up and offer Canadian 

shooters such high quality firearms and 

accessories, especially when we’re 

talking about “black” rifles. You’ve certainly 

come a long way from the semiretired 

gun builder and paper-puncher 

you had hoped to be by now. With an 

ever expanding product line and now 

you’re offering complete ATRS rifles 

for sale, what does the future hold for 

Alberta Tactical Rifle Supply, 

ATRS: Yep, you called that right! Alberta 

Tactical Rifle is tragic case of a 

retirement project gone desperately 

awry. I started ATRS in 1997 as a retirement 

project that I hoped would 

generate enough income to cover my 

powder and bullet addiction. The business 

has now gone from occupying part 

of a two-car garage and one room in the 

house to a full-time job in a 4000 sq ft 

shop employing 5 full time and 3 part 

time employees; as for the future…further 

expansion is imminent. 

NFA: Great to hear Rick! Thanks for 

taking the time for us and all the best 

for the future plans. 

ATRS: You’re very welcome. I hope 

this helps give your readers some insight 

into our little operation. Cheers. 

NFA: Thank-you. For more information 

on the AT-15 or other ATRS products 

you can reach Rick and the gang 

via mail at: 

Alberta Tactical Rifle Supply 

#6, 2016 25th Ave N.E. 

Calgary, AB, T2E 6Z4 

Phone: (403)-277-7786 

or (403)-277-7266 

Fax: (403)-277-7181 

E-mail: atrs@telus.net or via their web 

site at: http://albertatacticalrifle.com/ 

index.html 

Team NFA Continued From Page 31 

were not great and she struggled somewhat. Despite this Megan 

still placed 46th in an exceptionally competitive field. 

This made her the top Canadian woman as well as the first 

Canadian woman to qualify for and race an Olympic Pursuit 

event! 

10km Pursuit: According to Megan the Pursuit is her favourite 

race format because of the intensity of the competition. 

Megan started in the 46th place with the goal of finishing in 

at least the top 40. Megan turned in another stellar shooting 

performance, scoring 19/20, and finished the race in 36th 

place, moving up 10 full places and earned additional World 

Cup points to boot. Megan gave this race her all, held nothing 

back and did her country proud. 

15km Individual: In the 15K Individual, a missed target 

translates into a full 1 minute penalty instead of the standard 

25 second penalty loop. Given her personal best shooting 

performances in the previous races Megan had high expectations 

and she did well, shooting 17\20. Unfortunately, the 3 

minutes in penalties resulted in her finishing in 50th place. 

Even though she was personally disappointed with her performance, 

Megan was still the top Canadian woman competing 

in the race. 

4 x 6km Relay: The Relay was the final Olympic event for 

Megan. She was the anchor for the Canadian team, skiing 

the fourth and final leg. Unfortunately, the team did not run 

a particularly great race and shooting accuracy was an issue. 

Penalties accrued due to missed targets and extra shots 

forced the Canadians to do one penalty loop. By the time 

Megan started the fourth leg of the relay as anchor, the Canadians 

were sitting in 17th place. The pressure was certainly 

on Megan and she rose to the occasion. She skied and shot 

well and was able to move Team Canada up into 15th place. 

As we were putting this update together, news arrived that 

Megan had gotten married this April over the Easter weekend 

in Squamish, BC to her beau and coach iLmar Heinicke. 

iLmar is the head coach for Biathlon BC and has worked 

with Megan for several years. The happy couple got engaged 

in Oberhof, Germany this past 

September, but kept their relationship 

closely guarded until 

after the Olympics. As iLmar 

is German, the couple held a 

second ceremony over the Victoria 

Day long weekend in his 

hometown, Klingenthal. On 

behalf of the National Firearms 

Association I would like to take 

this opportunity to extend our 

congratulations to the happy 

couple. Many happy returns! 


Gunsmith 

Q&A 


Q. I have an older heavy varmint barrel Remington 700 

chambered in .22-250. The rifle is in like new condition even 

though it must be close to 30 years old. I inherited it from my 

dad who never used it. I’m just getting into varmint/coyote 

hunting and would finally like to put this rifle to good use. I 

took it to my local range to get my new Leupold VX-III scope 

mounted properly and dialed-in, but I ran into two problems. 

The trigger pull is excessively heavy and my accuracy was terrible, 

with 2”-3” groups at 100 yards the norm. A couple of very 

helpful benchrest shooters checked to ensure that the scope was 

properly mounted and the screws, etc…were tight. They were. 

After testing the trigger pull, they agreed that the factory trigger 

was excessively heavy and needed to be adjusted for a lighter 

pull or replaced with a replacement Jewel or Timney trigger. 

I’m relatively handy with tools and am on a tight budget. At 

present I can’t afford to purchase a new trigger or pay a gunsmith 

to complete a trigger job on my rifle. Same goes for having 

the rifle bedded. Is it possible for me to do this work myself? 

John T. 

A. John, before the advent of all the new user-adjustable 

“wonder” triggers we’ve seen rifle makers bring to market over 

the past decade, such as the new Savage Accutrigger, Remington 

X-Mark Pro and most recently the M.O.A. Trigger 

System from Winchester, the Remington 700 trigger was considered 

the best factory trigger on the market because of its ease 

of adjustment and robustness. 

Figure 1 – Original Remington 700 Trigger 

“Middle 

lever” 

Sear engagement. 

Screwing 

in reduces 

the bearing 

surface 

between the 

trigger and 

the middle 

lever, thus 

bearing creep 

Trigger 

Firing Pin 

Bearing 

surface 

Backlash or overtravel screw 

- cock the rifle, then screw 

all the way in. Depress the 

trigger and back screw out 

until firing pin falls. 

Weight of pull 

screw - move out 

to lighten the 

trigger pull 

A proper trigger job should certainly help shrink those groups 

for you. I generally prefer a nice “crisp” trigger with no “creep” 

that breaks around 2.5 lbs and has next to no overtravel for a 

hunting rifle. Before any shooter attempts to adjust a firearm’s 

trigger, they really need a basic understanding of the nomenclature 

involved. 

You’ll often hear good triggers described as “breaking like 

glass.” Just like a glass rod, a properly adjusted trigger should 

not move until the moment the “rod” breaks. Triggers that require 

too much movement before the trigger breaks are called 

“mushy” or described as having too much “creep” and consequently 

make a consistent trigger pull near impossible for the 

shooter to achieve. The “trigger pull” is simply the amount of 

pressure necessary for the trigger to break and is measured in 

lbs. of force. It essentially is purely a function of the weight of 

pull in combination with the engagement of the trigger sear. 

The distance the trigger moves after it breaks is called the 

“backlash” or “overtravel.” 

If you aren’t “handy” or completely unfamiliar with firearms 

maintenance I would strongly advise you to wait and have a 

qualified gunsmith complete the trigger adjustment for you. If 

you are, you are in luck as the 700’s trigger is easily adjusted. 

• We need to think safety first, so ensure the rifle is unloaded by 

opening the action and making sure that there are no live rounds 

in the chamber, magazine or anywhere near the rifle. 

• Turn the rifle over and using the proper screwdriver remove 

the action screws that will permit you to remove the barreled 

action from the stock. (It helps to have a proper gun cradle or 

vise to hold the barreled action securely, however, your basic 

wood or mechanics vise can do in a pinch if you wrap the jaws 

properly and take care not to apply too much pressure.) 

• Next remove all surface oil, carbon deposits, dust and other 

dirt and debris that the trigger group may have collected over 

the past 30 years using a fast drying solvent or alcohol based 

cleaner that won’t leave any sort of sticky residue. 

• Thoroughly wipe trigger group dry using a lint-free cloth or 

chamois. 

• Next identify the three trigger adjustment screws found on the 

front and rear of the trigger group assembly. There should be 

some sort of epoxy or shellac type coating covering the adjustment 

screws and essentially locking them in place. 

• Using a sharp edged tool such as an X-acto knife, small flathead 

screwdriver or dental pick carefully remove the epoxy 

from the screws. (I generally take some 2” masking tape and 

cover the exposed metal of the rifle’s action before proceeding 

with this step in case I slip. The tape will save you from 

damaging the rifle’s finish.) Make sure the slot heads are free of 

any remaining epoxy residue as well as both adjustment screws. 

Dental picks work well here. 

• Lift the bolt to cock the trigger. Now we can begin to adjust 

the weight of pull screw. It is the bottom, front screw on the 

trigger group when the rifle is right side up. I generally prefer to 

lighten the trigger pull by backing out the adjustment screw in 

approximately an eighth of a turn increments. This lightens the 

pull by allowing the return spring to elongate. For field/hunting 

rifles I never adjust my triggers any lighter than 2.5-3 lbs for 

safety. Continue to make small adjustments until you reach the 

desired pull weight. 

• Hint: If you find you cannot cock the rifle after adjusting the 

screw you have backed the screw out too far and need to screw 

it back in until the rifle may be cocked once again. 

• Trigger pull is also dependent upon the amount of adjustment 

applied to the sear adjustment screw located at the rear of the 

trigger housing. This screw controls the amount of creep or 

take-up that is necessary before the trigger breaks, releasing the 

sear and permitting the subsequent release of the firing pin. The 

screw also contributes to the weight of pull because it controls 

the bearing surface between the middle lever and the trigger or 

more precisely the actual metal to metal engagement between 

the two bearing surfaces. 

• Screwing the sear adjustment in reduces the amount of creep. 

Care should be taken not to adjust the screw in too far as this 

will result in an inability to cock the rifle. If you take your time 

and remember that both screws work in concert to adjust trigger 

pull you should get a good result. 

• Once you have your trigger pull adjusted we now MUST 

ensure that we have a SAFE trigger. This step is critically important 

and cannot be overlooked. There are a series of safety 

checks that need to be completed. 

Important Safety Checks: 

o First attempt to cock the action by lifting and closing the 

bolt. If the action does not stay cocked after working the action 

quickly the trigger pull is too light and must be adjusted. 

o If the rifle passes the first test you must next do a slam test 

by grasping the unloaded rifle by the barrel and slamming the 

rear of the action against the floor (avoid hard surfaces that will 

damage the metal). If the sear breaks and the rifle “fires” the 

trigger pull is too light and must be adjusted again for safety. 

o If the rifle passes the first two tests you are now ready for 

the safety test. Once again cock the rifle but now move the 

safety lever to the “safe” position. Lightly touch the trigger 

with your trigger finger and push the safety to the fire or forward 

position. If the sear releases even once, the trigger is too 

light and must be readjusted. I generally perform this test 

multiple times in rapid succession to ensure a safe trigger. 

• With the safety of the trigger now established we can now 

turn to the issue of overtravel or backlash which is simply the 

distance the trigger moves after the sear is released. This step is 

probably the most simple – cock the rifle, then screw the adjustment 

screw all the way in. This is the other adjustment screw 

found at the front of the trigger group closes to the barrel. 

• Keeping the blade of the screwdriver engaged in the screw 

head you must now pull the trigger with your other hand. 

The trigger should not break. 

• Keep pressure on the trigger while you slowly back off the 

overtravel adjustment screw until the sear falls. 

• Cock the rifle and press the trigger a few times to ensure 

the firing pin falls and that the rifle is capable of actually 

firing a round. You are now finished adjusting the trigger. 

• The final step is to lock your adjustments in place with some 

sort of cement or similar compound. I would advise not using 

Loctite or similar products as they are hard to remove in 

the event further adjustments prove necessary. My preferred 

locking agent is simply a quality lady’s fingernail polish in a 

bright colour. After applying one coat, I usually let that dry well 

and then apply a second coat of the polish to ensure the screws 

won’t move. If I need to made additional adjustments down the 

road, the polish is easily removed and cleaned up unlike thread 

locking compounds. 

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in the above article is provided for informational 

purposes only and are used by readers strictly at their own risk. Neither 

the author, the Canadian Firearms Journal nor Canada’s National Firearms Association 

assumes any legal liability or responsibility for any property damage, injury, nor death 

that may occur as a consequence of using the information contained within the above 

article. We recommend consulting with a qualified gunsmith to ensure that any firearms 

so adjusted are safe to use thereafter. Please be sure to exercise caution when effecting 

any type of firearm repair or adjustment. 


Police - Continued From Page 23 

members, that isn’t actually the case 

and a number of police associations 

have also openly condemned the firearms 

registry. Sergeant Peter Ratcliff, 

past president of the Edmonton Police 

Association, described the gun registry 

as being, “... fraught with problems.” 

Adding that, “... it’s cost too much 

money, [and] it’s full of errors.” Peter 

Kawalilak, past president of the Alberta 

Federation of Police Officers, was even 

more laconic, simply stating that, “It’s a 

bad law.” Another past president of the 

Calgary Police Association, Al Koenig, 

is on the record saying that, “The 

program has had no effect on crime.” 

Despite the billions already spent, Koenig 

believes that, “the registry should 

be scrapped.” Winnipeg Police Association 

president Loren Schinkel shares 

his opinion and is on the record stating 

that, “The registry has done little to 

curb crime.” 

During the recent committee hearings 

on C-391, several front-line officers 

noted that despite statements made by 

“No statement should 

be believed because it is 

made by an authority.” 

- Robert A. Heinlein 

the president of the Canadian Police 

Association, Charles Momy; not only 

do front-line police officers not support 

the gun registry, but that neither 

Mr. Momy or any representatives of the 

CPA ever contacted their police force 

to survey them on their approval of the 

registry! Perhaps most damaging to 

Momy’s contention is the research provided 

by Detective Randy Kuntz of the 

Edmonton Police Service. 

Det. Kuntz began his survey in order to 

prove that neither the CACP nor CPA 

represented the true beliefs of front-line 

officers on the gun registry issue. According 

to his data almost 900 serving 

front-line officers responded to his survey. 

Of these only 39 indicated wholehearted 

support for the gun registry. 

The remaining 850+ officers were of 

the opinion that the registry was useless 

and should be immediately scrapped. 

Kuntz noted that, 

“It is common belief and historical 

practice that shows registration is a 

precursor to confiscation. This long 

gun registry drives a wedge between 

law abiding firearms owners and local 

law enforcement and has created a 

society of distrust toward law enforcement. 

If only the private firearms owners 

were made more aware as to how 

many police officers share their passion 

for the shooting sports and their 

dislike of the long gun registry.” 

Kuntz adds in his report that despite the 

fact that the public and police officers 

are, “...being told by politicians and the 

CACP that this program is of benefit, 

...the overwhelming majority of police 

officers working the streets are telling 

me that it is a complete waste and of no 

benefit to them or the public.” 

If such opinions are so widely held then 

why aren’t more police officers speaking 

out? Jack Tinsley, a retired inspector 

and former S.W.A.T. team member 

with the Winnipeg Police Service appeared 

before the Public Safety Committee 

reviewing Bill C-391 last week 

and offered the most believable explanation 

to these phenomena. He argues 

that, “Registry opponents within police 

ranks have been muzzled,” and he believes 

they continue to hold their peace, 

“For fear of retribution by their police 

chiefs.” If the recent memo circulated 

by RCMP Deputy Commissioner T. G. 

Killam is any indication; it would seem 

Inspector Tinsley is correct in his assertions. 

My intent here isn’t to slam law-enforcement. 

I have all the respect in the 

world for front-line officers. They are 

the people who put everything on the 

line for us every day in order to keep 

us safe and our society functioning. 

However, a growing proportion of gun 

owners have developed enough political 

savvy to recognize the difference 

between street cops and their political 

masters, as well as their often divergent 

political agendas; both from each other 

and Canada’s gun owners. 

“The [registry is] the 

greatest waste of law 

enforcement funds that has 

ever been inflicted on the 

Canadian taxpayer.” 

- Robert Head, Assistant 

RCMP Commissioner 

(Ret’d.) 

Gun registry politics makes for bad 

public policy making. A position 

shared by John McNair, who summarized 

things quite succinctly when he 

argued that while: 

“The issue of firearms registration 

is hardly the first to see public policy 

analysis made subordinate to political 

calculations. Nevertheless, it’s a 

cautionary tale, not merely for hunters 

and shooters, but also for all those 

who contend that government regulation 

of the lives of Canadians should 

be rationally justified, necessary, and 

effective in achieving coherent policy 

objectives...The gun registry fails on 

each count.” (The Mark News, April 

28, 2010) 

Out of necessity, gun owners have been 

forced to become more politically sophisticated. 

In this new, dysfunctional 

“Us” vs. “Them” relationship, gun 

owners do not automatically assume 

that what is good for police brass and 

the unions is necessarily good for gun 

owners, Canada or indeed democracy. 

As Calgary Sun reporter Ian Robinson 

pointed out, “The two are not synonymous.” 

In fact it can be argued that the 

registry, “Brings justice into disrepute,” 

by pitting law-enforcement against the 

law-abiding while ignoring the criminal; 

or at least in the opinion of one 

RCMP constable who communicated 

his thoughts to Conservative MP Garry 

Breitkreuz via E-mail. The same officer 

requested anonymity in order to protect 

his career. That, in itself, speaks volumes. 

Clearly it is time for our police 

to go back to doing what they do best 

and leave the politics to the politicians. 

Each One 

Of Us Is... 

An ambassador, a teacher, and 

a member. One of the most important 

functions of the National 

Firearms Association is making 

firearms ownership and use 

relevant to growing numbers of 

Canadians. 

To prosper, we must have a 

steady flow of new shootersa and 

enthusiasts entering our proud 

firearms heritage. 

Your membership 

and your donations 

to the National 

Firearms Association 

are helping 

us develop the 

programs Canada 

needs to make 

sure our firearms 

heritage continues 

to grow. 

I want to help Make It Happen! 

Here is my contribution to the 

National Firearms Association 

to help protect my rights to own and use firearms. 

$100 $50 

$25 $________ 

My Cheque or Money Order enclosed 

Charge my Visa/MasterCard/AMEX 

Card #:______________________________ Expiry: ______________ 

Signature: ________________________________________________ 

Name: ___________________________________________________ 

Address: __________________________________________________ 

City/Town: ________________ Prov:_________ Postal Code: _______ 

Ph.:__________________________ Fx.: ________________________ 

E-mail: ___________________________________________________ 

Mail this form to: National Firearms Association, Box 52183, Edm., AB T6G 2T5 

or Call our Toll Free Number at 1-877-818-0393 

THANK YOU FOR BEING A GREAT FRIEND 

As a friend and supporter of the National Firearms Association you have helped us 

to become a voice for firearms supporters across Canada. 

You my friend are the reason that we 

have become a leader for firearms rights 

in Ottawa. Your generosity and membership 

support has allowed us to provide legal support, 

education and a forum for the Canadian firearms 

community. Working together we can 

become even stronger! With just under 2 million 

licensed firearms owners in Canada there are still voices 

that are not being heard. Help us become stronger 

by inviting your friends and families to join our growing 

firearms community. Now it is even easier for them to 

become members by applying on line or calling 

Toll Free 1-877-818-0393 Visit us Today at www.nfa.ca 

Help a friend to join the NFA 1-877-818-0393 



As I watched the evening news the other day I saw Liberal 

leader Michael Ignatieff get before the cameras and announce 

that he was once again flip-flopping on an issue of 

national significance. Rather than allowing Liberal MPs to 

vote as their constituents wanted, he planned on whipping 

the vote - forcing many rural MPs to vote against the bill 

and against the clear wishes of their constituents in what I 

see as some vainglorious attempt at finding political relevancy. 

Around the same time Frank Graves, Liberal Party 

of Canada pollster of choice, was recommending to “Iggy” 

that he should look into igniting a “culture war” between 

urban and rural Canada in order to ensure success. Words 

still escape me at this most crass example of political avarice 

and irresponsibility that I’ve encountered in years. 

Somewhere along the line, it seems, Liberals decided to 

not only abandon rural Canada in favour of their urban 

redoubts of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, but began 

to view gun-owning rural Canadians as “the enemy.” One 

of my oldest friends, upon hearing the comments made 

by Graves and the lack of comment coming from Liberal 

spokespeople, tore up his Liberal Party membership in disgust. 

He’d been a Liberal supporter since 1949. As a lifelong 

hunter and gun owner, albeit semi-retired now, “Joe” 

had had a crisis of faith back in 1995 when the Liberals 

introduced Bill C-68. While he opposed the gun control bill 

on principle and refused to grant Chretien’s Liberals his 

favour in the following election, he still kept his card and 

paid his dues; believing that if he hung in there long enough 

“his” party would rally and show some of the “greatness” it 

had back in its glory days. 

I guess the hypocrisy of Michael Ignatieff was the proverbial 

straw that broke the camel’s back. Showing him video 

of the Liberal Leader shooting an AK-47 from a number of 

years ago during a trip to the Middle East probably didn’t 

help. “Joe” is one of those types that always tried to see 

the best in people, even when they are clearly undeserving 

of his faith. I guess the cynicism and self-interest of 

the Chretien/Martin legacy, combined with the ineptitude 

of the Dion experiment and now Iggy finally took their toll. 

While we were chatting about the subject my young grandson 

Ryan, who was visiting for the day, ran into the room 

“moose hunting” with his toy Nerf gun that shot soft foam 

“bullets.” I knew that Ryan had been spending a lot of time 

with his Uncle Sean and his Dad looking at videos of their 

past hunting trips, and he seemed to never miss an opportunity 

to ask his uncle to show him his gun collection; but I 

hadn’t realized just how much he had picked up from both 

role models. Both “Joe” and I noticed immediately that he 

kept his finger off the trigger until he was ready to fire and 

his muzzle control would’ve beat the pants off many socalled 

“experienced” hunters I’ve shared a duck blind with 

over the years. 

“Joe” looked over at me and in a firm voice said that a boy 

who could display such maturity and safe gun handling 

deserved a “real” gun and not a plastic ray-gun straight 

out of Flash Gordon. “I’m gonna’ reward that young fella’ 

and piss off a Liberal all at the same time,” he mumbled 

to himself as he headed out the door toward his battered 

old Lincoln. He returned the next day with a butcher-paper 

wrapped parcel under one arm. “Uncle Joe” had a gift for 

Ryan...a like new Red Ryder lever-action BB gun! 

I’d planned on picking one up, maybe for his birthday next 

year, but at five Ryan was mature enough to handle it with 

proper supervision in my own estimation. Still, raising an 

eye at the gift, “Joe” told me not to worry as he’d already 

cleared it with Ryan’s dad. I’ll admit that I was initially a 

little jealous that I wouldn’t get to buy my oldest grandson 

his first BB gun, but seeing the wonder and awe on his 

young face those thoughts quickly disappeared. 

Watching Ryan unpack his new rifle I thought back to my 

own childhood during the 1940s and 50s - running in the 

woods playing “Cowboys and Indians,” “hunting lion” on 

the savannahs of Africa or pretending we were “going to 

the ice” hunting harp seals with my three brothers. Like 

Ryan, we were to grow up using and enjoying firearms from 

the time we could keep both ends out of the dirt and were 

viewed as being responsible enough to handle this trust by 

our father, known to all as “The Skipper.” I know times are 

different now and the thought of children being trusted to 

use even a simple BB gun unsupervised is anathema; still, 

nobody ever lost an eye and we never ever shot at anything 

we didn’t intend to hit. 

Looking back, my brothers and I, along with our best 

friends essentially formed our own band of merry men that 

would’ve rivalled any that Robin of Locksley could’ve 

ever put together. Instead of being armed with stout longbows 

of English yew, we were the band of the “Daisy BB 

gun.” Those of us lucky enough sported genuine Red Ryder’s. 

Even though they were not 

the most expensive BB gun available 

through the Eaton’s catalogue, 

the Red Ryder was the rifle 

that held the most cachet amongst 

our gang. It had been introduced 

in 1938 by Daisy Outdoor Products. 

It resembled the lever-action 

Winchester rifles popularized by 

so many Western movies and pulp 

magazines of the era. Named for 

the comic strip cowboy character 

Red Ryder, the little Daisy BB gun 

was a lever-action operated, spring 

piston air gun with a smoothbore 

barrel, adjustable iron sights, and a 

gravity feed magazine with a 650 

BB capacity. Unlike other Daisy 

air rifles of the day, it sported a 

special engraved wood stock, and 

a saddle ring with leather thong on 

the receiver. At the height of its 

ballistic prowess, the Red Ryder 

produced velocities of about 280 

feet per second and had an effective 

range of about 10 yards. 

We all purchased our ammo from 

the local general store. The BBs 

came in paper tubes or crinkly cellophane 

packages and we happily 

exchanged our week’s allowance 

in exchange for an almost unlimited ammo supply – at 

least for that day. And oh how we shot! It would not stretch 

credulity to say that we literally shot tens of thousands of 

BBs in the run of year. After school, once the chores were 

done, we all made it a point to disappear until supper-time 

came; otherwise additional work would be found for our 

“idle hands.” 

We spent those days afield in the woods behind our house 

or along the rocky beaches of our Conception Bay home 

shooting and then shooting some more. Imagining ourselves 

as pint-sized Warren Pages or Robert Ruarks, we 

hunted vermin along the beaches and woods just as devoutly 

as our childhood heroes hunted bighorn sheep or African 

elephant. Rats, field mice, sparrows, starlings, cowbirds, 

grasshoppers, star fish, sea urchins, periwinkles all fell to 

our deadly fire. Reading stories of daring-do we started 

practicing our own trick shots as the challenge of hitting 

birds on the wing started to pale. We eventually got to a 

point where any of us could easily shoot a pebble or bottle 

top tossed in the air 4 times out of 5 at ten paces. 

The sights on our BB guns were primitive at best, but we 

didn’t care. Like so many of the best competitive shooters 

in the adult world, we reached a point where we could simply 

visualize the shot. The actual ballistic trajectory of the 

fired BB was as familiar to us as our own reflection and we 

were able to make hits that even Daisy probably would’ve 

said were impossible. In essence, our BB rifles had become 

extensions of our psyches and thus ourselves. Interested 

only in the purity of the shot, we were able to find “the 

void,” that place of pure concentration that allows the most 

successful competitive shooters to excel. I wouldn’t be exaggerating 

to say that those days probably saw me fully 

realize my potential as a “rifleman.” I don’t think I ever 

again equalled the same level of skill and accuracy of arms 

as I did as a youth afield with my Red Ryder. Alas... 

As we got older the Red Ryder’s were put away in favour 

of Cooey and Winchester rimfire rifles; and while our skills 

as marksmen didn’t have that much of a chance to atrophy, 

that special spark and sense of wonder simply wasn’t there 

any longer. Rimfire ammo, even .22 shorts were substantially 

more expensive than a tube of BBs, so we couldn’t 

afford to shoot as much. Slowly, the outside world began 

creeping into our thought processes and the pressure of 

“not missing” became more important than actually exalting 

in the purity of the moment as we squeezed the trigger. 

All of this ran though my mind in the moments it took 

Ryan to unwrap his new Red Ryder and I smiled. Without a 

doubt, that other Red Ryder from a half-century ago played 

a major role in shaping the man I became. Most certainly 

the acquisition of the Daisy BB gun was a rite of passage 

for my chums and I, just as it was for my own boys. Now 

we had come full circle once again. I was excited to know 

that I would once again be afforded the opportunity to observe 

yet another young man grow and develop into a responsible 

member of our recreational firearms community 

and to assume the role of hunter, shooter and provider. 

I know I’ve said it before, but looking into the glowing eyes 

of my grandson I thought of all the missed opportunities so 

many parents could’ve taken advantage of to spend a day 

afield with their kids teaching them to hunt and shoot. I 

would argue that this is a part of our shared cultural identity 

and it is something to be celebrated, not something to 

ashamed of, as ideologues such as Frank Graves would 

have the larger populace believe. With the start of a new 

shooting season, not to mention all the political turmoil we 

currently face as shooters, why not make time today to take 

your kid or grandkid shooting? They truly are our future 

and it is we who serve as the stewards and protectors of 

their birthright; we must guard it well! ...And that is the 

last word! 


Belt Buckle 

Pen 

Embroidered Patch 

Kelly Green 

Knife w/ 

carry pouch 

Travel Mug 

Crest Lapel Pin 

Canvas Hat ..................................Qty. _____ x $15.00 = $__________ 

Black Hunter Orange Camouage Clay 

Oilskin Hat - Brown ....................Qty. _____ x $20.00 = $__________ 

Leather Hat ..................................Qty. _____ x $40.00 = $__________ 

Black Green 

T-Shirts ........................................Qty. _____ x $20.00 = $__________ 

Black Sand Kelly Green Forest Green 

Small Medium Large XL 2XL 3XL 

Tote Bag ......................................Qty. _____ x $20.00 = $__________ 

Red Dark Grey Blue 

Stainless Steel Travel Mug..........Qty. _____ x $15.00 = $__________ 

Silver Belt Buckle .......................Qty. _____ x $20.00 = $__________ 

Knife with Carry Pouch ..............Qty. _____ x $15.00 = $__________ 

Pen.................................................Qty. _____ x $3.00 = $__________ 

Large Crest Lapel Pin ...................Qty. _____ x $5.00 = $__________ 

Embroidered Patch ........................Qty. _____ x $5.00 = $__________ 

Shipping & Handling: Up to $20.00 - $5.00 

Over $20.00 - $10.00 

Total $__________ 

Name: __________________________________________________ 

Address: ________________________________________________ 

City:____________________________________________________ 

Prov:______________________________________P.C.: _________ 

Ph: ( _____ ) ____________________ Fax: ( _____ ) ____________ 

Cheque or Money Order enclosed Visa/Mastercard/AMEX 

Card #:_________________________________ Expiry: __________ 

Signature: _______________________________________________ 

Mail to: National Firearms Association 

Box 52183, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2T5 

Fax to: (780) 439-4091 *Prices subject to change 

Canvas - 

Hunter Orange 

Canvas - Clay 

Leather - Green 

Canvas - Black 

Canvas - 

Camouage 

Oilskin - Brown 

Sand 

Tote Bag - Blue 

Tote Bag - Dark Gray 

Leather - Black 

Forest Green 

Tote Bag - Red

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