Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada What's the perferred deer cartridge for guys in Canada?

I'd say you found it, Steve. Dad used to wear them. They were heavy but had great support and had an oil resistan sole, as I recall. Thanks.

There you go Steve I was remembering 40 years ago and obviously didn't know then either. They were amazingly supportive robust boots.

I wondered if they were an imported or domestic boot. It seems like a million years ago now, but most of the stuff we bought back then was made here or in the States.

Yes the Made in Canada tag was seen on most merchandise. Our manufacturing industry has been eroded by trade agreements that make foreign goods at advantage in our country. Those tax dollars earned from business and workers are lost with the jobs, and yet people race to buy foreign made goods. Our unemployment figures directly reflect these trends. Jobs lost are replaced with lower paying jobs, if at all, and we wonder where our standard of living has gone. Taxes are raised and health care is cut. Pay more get less coverage, unless of course you are on welfare and don't work.

My rant for the morning.

There was Pierre Paris bootmakers in Vancouver who made the best light cruiser caulk boots other than full out custom made. I had lasts made for my feet by them about 1955 and ordered a pair evry couple of years until they shut the shop down. Perhaps they had an Ontario shop I've never heard about????

I doubt we'll ever know unless someone in Ontario can confirm that they had a shop there. They were probably for sale at a local shoe store or they might have been mail ordered in.

I'm going to pick up some low cut leather hiking boots very soon. My old ones are nine or ten years old and they've pretty much had it.

I think Dad bought them through the paper company stores or at the very least a localshoe store. But that was 50 years ago.

Thanks for the link Steve.

You had me going there as I couldn't think of a factory in town that I didn't know the history of.

Glenn

No problem.

Has anyone bought Wind River Hikers from Mark's Work Warehouse? I've been snooping around, checking out their boots. Unless I know the product, I don't like to mail order. There aren't many stores that sell decent footwear.

Same reason the '06 is in the United States. It was the Canadian and British Cartridge of WW II, and in military use was very effective.

It's understandable why the 303 was/is a popular caliber all service cartridges are popular for the same reasons. What I found interesting were the comments about all the American calibers that were "sold" to Canadians. In the same thread people a waxing nostalgic about the 30-30, 300 Sav.,250-3000 etc. all are American designed cartridges usually chambered in American rifles. Even the Mounties carried Winchesters and Colt New Service revolvers.
By the way I have 2 sporterized Mk4 SMLE rifles. I bought one 6 months ago for $30 at an auction it was missing the magazine, and the cheapest magazine I've found cost $40 something wrong there. Does anyone know of a good side mount for a scope, both have had their issue sights removed.

No different down here really. Most people my age (40) their dads and grandads hunted with sporterized '03 Springfields in .30-06 or sporterized Mausers in the same. A lot used a lever action .30-30 and killed deer by the rail car load.

Then about the same time you speak of in the 60/70's media in all forms changed and people got magnumitis.

It's kinda like the old saying about being poor. "We didn't know we were poor till someone told us".

Skip23;
You make an interesting point regarding American made firearms being used by the NWMP/RNWMP/RCMP. Actually if one looks into our historic military procurement, we often seem to have ended up with American made firearms there as well. Not always of course, but often enough that it surprised me when I first noticed it.

One of the better thought out mounts for the Mk 4 - in my estimation anyway - was made by Parker Hale and was an aluminum side mount.

Now the sticky wicket with a side mount on a Mk 4 is that they weren't all milled exactly the same and if you only mount on the side, then at times your scope might well be pointing quite a bit to the right.

One that I recall modifying was doing exactly that, so much so that the internal adjustments on a 4X scope couldn't correct it.

If memory serves, and I will warn you that I type pre-coffee here, I ended up moving the rail that the rings attached to forward enough to drill and tap the action and get it mounted straight there. I then shimmed the space between the side of the action and the side mount in with bedding epoxy and called it good.

At last contact with the owner, it was still out killing BC moose and deer, so if that counts as testimony to the modification then it was a success.

The downside of trying to find Parker Hale mounts is that when I did a quick search of Parker Hale mounts, I was only able to find some for sale in New Zealand.

We do see them for sale from time to time up here at our gun shows, but then as you have likely guessed the various SMLE's are as common as grass up here.

Hopefully that was some use to you Skip23, good luck with your rifles and on your upcoming hunts as well.

As to the question posed by the OP, a quick check on the ammo shelf at the local Canadian Tire or these days Walmart will tell one what the locals shoot.

Since we shoot a mixture of wildcat and obsolete cartridges along side the more usual stuff, we'd be a poor sample in a poll.

Good luck on your hunts this fall.

Regards,
Dwayne

DB,

I think to a degree it depends where you hunt in Canada. I was in Alberta a couple of weeks a go and it was different than here in BC.

I killed my first deer with a borrowed 303. I don't see the 303 Brit much anymore, it is more like a nostalgia thing I think currently as Ruger is chambering one in their single shot. As others have mentioned 30 to 40 years ago the 303 was very common, nowadays I just don't see them.

Here in Central BC I see a lot of 3006's, quite a few 270's, and quite a few 308's. I would estimate that around here it is probably the 3006 by a nose over the other two. After that and in no particular order 300wm and the 7mmrem.

Yes, 303s haven't been produced in many years and people tend to replace things that they consider "past their prime". Except for the Ruger, the last production rifles chambered in 303 were made in India in the 1970s.

People want new, powerful and shiny. That's fine, but many hunters and shooters will end up trading away magnums that are too much for their shoulders. Good for them! If you cannot shoot it comfortably, it's not worth the bother.

Much of the reason that we used to outsource rifles for the military, NWMP/RCMP and other government agencies was because we had trouble building factories or getting existing rifles sent to us from the UK. We were dependent on Britain for many things back then, including rifle production.

Some of you may know the story of the No1 Mk III Lee Enfield that we adopted in 1916. Prior to WWI, Britain would not sell us any LEs, so we ended up producing the Ross: a wonderful hunting rifle for its time, but dismal as a military arm. The Chambers were too tight and would jam when feeding British made ammunition. The cartridge specs were different between CDN and British made stuff. The Ross was officially taken out of first line service and replaced with the No 1 LE.

You could tell that the govt was outsourcing from many different suppliers because of the number of different cartridges used by official agencies. It must have been a nightmare at times getting ammunition.

Because Canada is officially bilingual, the cartridge must be of either British or French origin.

I'm Canadian born, pressing 76 years ago. But the Brit 303 has never been a favorite of mine. Though my first big game rifle was such.

Since then, I've owned and used most popular American cartridges from .25-06 to .458 Win Mag. I'm a user not bothered by "magnumitis" or nostalgia. Yet, my long-time favorite cartridge is the practical, hard-hitting .45-70 in late model Marlins or Ruger No.1's. I use modern loads with smokeless powder and tough bullets that will take down any big game I hunt. Contrary to some thinking, the modern Marlin, when loaded properly, can reach WAAAAY out there to take a moose, black bear, elk, grizzly, brown bear or white tail. AND, anything in Africa, with the "right" load. It's been done, not a few times!

But my favorite "toy" today is another "antique"... the fabulous 9.3 X 62 Mauser! Again, when handloaded properly it can "handle" any game in the world... and has!

Currently, my favorite big-game rifles are a Ruger #1 in .45-70 IMP and a TIKKA in 9.3 X 62. I'm very international!

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Yuck!

That must explain why we never became a world power. Had we used French made and designed arms, we'd be part of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany or been turned into a big, black hole in the ground! I shudder to think.

Given the choice, give me English shootin' irons every time over the Frenchies. Tommy has brought out some real classics.

Don't tell anyone, but I prefer bolt action Euro-arms to most of the stuff made in North America. If I did not have any mechanical skills at all, most of my bolt rifles would be Tikkas and/or Sakos.

I have a couple of SA made Puma Model 92s and a hodge-podge of other action types.

Since I like to tinker, I rebuild many of my rifles using new triggers, bolt handles and stocks. I like Savage or Stevens rifles because I can twist on a new barrel too.

Jerry Teo actually did my last barrel though. It's a HB Shilen 6x45mm with a Choate Ultra Varmint stock. I replaced the trigger and bolt handle a couple of years ago. It's heavier than all get out, but it's mostly for the range. I was prepping some cases for it today and am hopeful that my homemade 76 gr. bullets will group well.

WRT cartridges, the older ones work so I never bothered replacing my 30-06s, 308s, 303s, etc. with any magnums. I just don't need a 260, 7-08, etc.

What we need in Canada is a decent source of aftermarket stocks. Affordable hunting or varmint stocks that is. I've got two rifles that need replacements.