A mix of old and new at Connaught
This month is the annual Canadian Armed Forces Small Arms Concentration, in which some 300 shooters from Canada’s military as well as teams from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States are competing. First organized back in 1868, the modern event is held at the Connaught Ranges and Primary Training Centre in Ottawa and has lots of hardware on display, both old and new.
Nothing quite tells the story like this shot, showing a Canadian Forces member in CADPAT with their Colt-Canada C7A2 and Elcan sight, followed by a Britsh Army competitor in their newly-adopted Multi-Terrain Pattern (MTP) camouflage armed their likewise-new SA80A3 (L85A3) Enfield and holstered Glock 17. At the end, a Canadian Ranger with a No. 4 Lee-Enfield.
The Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, part-time soldiers who range across the country’s wildest expanses, are still outfitted with .303 Enfield rifles, although the C-19 Sako in .308 is replacing them:
(Photos: Canadian Forces)
Another classic, the Browning-Inglis Hi-Power, produced in Toronto during WWII, are also still in service with the Canadians. Note the Glock 17s used by the Brits and Dutch on the range.
British soldiers with the new and improved SA80A3, the latest version of the Enfield L85 bullpup rifle which, for better or worse, replaced the classic FAL in the 1980s.
