I figured maybe it was time to add a section to help folks perfect their toys. Seems a friend had me do some rigging of his SKS and so I thought to take a few quick pics to share with you here.
SKS
I did a conversion to the ATI stock for him and had to do some fitting. When done, his rifle also now had the removable mags instead of the drop latch system which has you pick up the rounds each time you empty your mag (as in when you climb back into the vehicle after a walkabout). I noted that the original mag had a tab preventing the whole unit from coming out the same way.
Since the friend wasn't using this system anymore anyways, I carefully ground it off with just a hand grinder and now it was removable too. I loaded up 5 rounds with the door latched in the rifle, scribed a line along as a reference and later placed a tack weld to hold the door shut. You can see the scribe line if you look carefully in the 2nd photo. When you have done such as this to your own, just take it to a friend who welds and ask him to just place a small tack when they are lined up.
My friend now had a spare 5 round mag for his rifle too. It is longer than a purchased 5 round mag as this drop original system is really a ten round mag with a pin inside to limit it to 5 rounds for Canadian certification...(and that's all I'm gonna say about that pin cause Denob is watching me 😆 ).
Genuine question with law abiding intent here : say a "friend of yours" bought an AR15 while living in the USA and that your friend moves to Canada. He completes all the required import documents for the AR (including an ATT from the border to his new residence).
What could your friend do with all the 30-round mags he bought for $10/each in the USA? Is there a Canada-legal, permanent mod that can turn them into 5-round mags that won't lead to full cavity searches at the border?
What could your friend do with all the 30-round mags he bought for $10/each in the USA? Is there a Canada-legal, permanent mod that can turn them into 5-round mags that won't lead to full cavity searches at the border?
There are high capacity mags on the web(Marstar and Wolverine) that have obvious visual external rivets pinning them at 5 rounds. These are sold as 5 round mags in Canada with no issue so therefore "I assume" this procedure must meet the standards of Canada. But if one admitted that he installed these rivets himself, that admission gives the authorities reason to confiscate these items as this admission is now the proof needed showing the rivets were not installed by a certified technician. If one had simply proclaimed they were purchased with this way, it is up to the officer to verify that the mags are not up to the standards set by their government. If the government specifies they require proof of purchase from an approved manufacture on said item, then they will still deny their import.
Canadian laws on the average, leave alot to the discretion of the officer. If you annoy the officer, he can write you a bunch of crappy tickets to ruin your day. Canadian law stipulates that there must be at least proof of intent to commit a crime to be convicted of that crime. If you are in possession of a mag that obviously can only hold 5 rounds though it could be easily modified to 30, they have to prove that you have intent to use it to larger capacity. If say, the rivet was loose enough to be removed easily, that would show intent far more easily... An officer can still write you a ticket for being in possession of what he deems an illegal item and seize said item, but the courts would later throw the charges out for lack of intent as a mag pinned at 5 rounds obviously can't shoot 30 in it's present state. The officer is also quite aware that this ticket won't hold up in court, but knows it will force you to go to court to fight them just them same. It will also be obvious to all others in the courtroom that the officer doesn't like you by his actions of issuing such weak charges, as lack of intent will likely have these charges dismissed. (Seems this is why many Canadian laws appear to be vague on alot of issues.) Yet the chance that you can win with a harassment charge against this same officer is slim as you'd have to have a variety of bogus tickets given on different occasions to even have a chance at winning that one.
So I'd suggest that one had best do a nice "professional" job to pinning a mag properly before they consider trying to pass such off as purchased that way. Next I'd check to see if proof of purchase is required for import. Last is I'd be extra nice to any questions asked and wear clothing that has such things as the Star of Life on it when boarding 😆