Ontario source for accuracy stuff

[londonhunter]

Hi

Going to Toronto in 08 days for a week from London England

I have been searching and there is no where I can find any accuracy shop for reloading or rifle components

Can anybody help

Please don't point me towards BassPro shop ........

 

[1000yardstare]

I have been shooting rifle (Palma, benchrest, hunting, F Class) for 50 of my 66 years in Ontario, Canada. Finding sources for bullets, powder, primers, barrels, actions, triggers, scopes has always been a struggle. It is almost a cottage industry.

The main factor is the very small market in Canada compared to the U.S, compounded by 9/11 and the U.S Patriot Act which pretty well shut down mail ordering components from the U.S.

The Ontario Palma Team mail orders Berger bullets who have an export permit to Canada.

My main source of bullets now is mail order from Alberta. My latest target barrel is a Shilen bought through a chap who has an import licence for said barrels which adds $100 to the cost of the barrel.

Barrels and triggers for such a short stay, forget it. It would be faster and cheaper for you to order Tru Flite barrels from New Zealand.

But there are a few sources for components in the Toronto area that are usually reliable. They are slowly recovering from the panic buying in the U.S. in the Spring of 2009. If you are after Lapua brass and bullets, try North Sylva in Toronto, 416 242 8540. Hunting bullets try LeBaron, 905 944 0682.

If you are willing to do an hour or two driving from Toronto, I can suggest Shooters Choice in Waterloo, 519 746 8139. About as far as you would probably be willing to drive but lets you see cottage country north of Toronto try Elwood Epps just north of Orillia, 705 689 5333.

Don`t know the regulations for getting powder and primers back to Britain. If legal try Hummason Mfg. in Ancaster (Hamilton) 905 648 3430 for best prices. The other stores mentioned above also have powder and primers as well as brass.

Hope this helps.

Bill

 

[Taildrag15X]

Well here's a list of Shops by Province:

http://www.firearmscanada.com/gun_dealers.html

Maybe the ones listed in Toronto can help point you in the right direction......also there's:

Ammomart (recently renamed to Higginson Powers) in Hawkesbury, Ontario link is here:

http://www.higginsonpowders.com/contactus.html

Not sure if these folks have a store front, but here you go:

http://targetshootingproducts.com/about.html

 

[1000yardstare]

Target Shooting Products and North Sylva (mentioned in my first response) are one and the same. No store front and door locked. You have to press a buzzer and be let in.

Higginson Powders is on the Quebec border, a 3 hour drive from Toronto if you wish to go on an all day excursion. I have mail ordered Hornady bullets from them. They used to sell out of a house basement but they have changed names so many times over the past 20 years that I don`t know where they stand now.

 

[Taildrag15X]

Just some I came up with to try to give him a hand......didn't think Higginson was that far, but after thinking it.....we would stop there after SCR weekends in Shannonville on the way back to NY if we needed to stop in Montreal.

 

[RonAKA]

My main source of bullets now is mail order from Alberta. My latest target barrel is a Shilen bought through a chap who has an import licence for said barrels which adds $100 to the cost of the barrel.

Who is your mail order source in Alberta? If you do the paperwork, can an individual not import a barrel direct from the US?

 

[jonbearman]

Doesnt midway usa ship to europe? I know one of the 3 big ones probably does such as natchez shooters supply and midsouth or grafs etc.

 

[1000yardstare]

RonAKA......mail order house in Alberta is Wholesale Sports. I would imagine they could send bullets to Europe.

I used to mail order McGowen barrels from the U.S. back in the 1980`s. Can`t do that anymore. My understanding is a Canadian has to have a dealer`s import permit now for the U.S. State Dept to grant an export permit to the U.S. barrel maker.

Brownells bought out Sinclair. Brownells has an export permit to Canada only for restricted items such as sights. Now Sinclair is in the process of getting the U.S. State Dept. to approve the use of Brownells` export permit for the shipment of brass and bullets to Canada only. Sinclair sells Bartlein and Kreiger barrels. Don`t know if they will be allowed on Brownells` export permit. A very slow process that has been dragging on since last Winter.

Once Sinclair has the export permit for Canada I would imagine they would try for Western Europe next.

MidWay won`t ship to Canada so I find it hard to believe they would ship to Europe.

Check out Wholesale Sports at http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/index.ep

 

[K0na_stinky]

If your in any rush what so ever, don't buy at Wholesale Sports. It takes them 2 weeks to look at your order. By then 1/2 the things you ordered are on back order.

Just my opinion. I do order from them. Now I just expect it to take a long time and I am a happier customer.

 

[1000yardstare]

stinky_lakehead.......delays and back orders are a fact of life with mail order houses. I order reloading tools from Sinclair in the U.S. and have experienced the "look in the mailbox" blues when I am impatient for an item. When the shipment finally arrives you see "back ordered" beside the main item you wanted in the first place. Guess it just means that a lot of other shooters wanted the same item.

WholeSale Sports is slow from September to January during hunting season and then Christmas. In the Spring I have received an order in 4 days.

Other factors beyond the control of mail order houses can rear their ugly heads. The Nosler bullet plant exploded last Spring and now Nosler competition bullets are on long back order. Marlin rimfire rifles are non-existent because of some relocation process going on in the U.S.

So like you said good buddy, just chill and hope for the best.

 

[K0na_stinky]

Yeah wholesale is ok all in all. Cabelas Canada is also good. Very fast. Not very large selection and most reloading supplys are out of stock tho. You can never win.

Looks like I should make a good online store for reloaders and precision shooters. ;D

Wouldn't be a bad thing to do in life. (I'm 20 and have no idea what I want to do)

 

[RonAKA]

1000yardstare,

Thanks for the info. I have a Wholesale Sports just a few blocks from where I live in Alberta. But, as you probably know they are awful for stock. I think I have now bought nearly all their 6mm Berger bullets, and am now looking further afield. Last order for Berger was from Jerry Teo (Mystic Precision). I've also found a source of Barts with a guy that is on the Canadian National shooting team. As you said earlier it is a bit of a cottage industry in Canada. Peter Dobson of Hirsch Precision has given good service, as has Peter Krause of Target Shooting Products. We have a Cabelas being built here, so hoping they will be better.

On barrels I've been trying to get to the bottom of what it takes. It is starting to sink in, that it is the US that is currently the problem. It seems they are charging the US Exporter $250 for every foreign customer they have, no matter if the customer buys one barrel or hundreds. So I think that is the issue that makes it very costly for an individual to buy one barrel. Lilja for example passes that cost on and adds another $100 for paperwork to get it set up. Some more detail can be found here:

http://www.riflebarrels.com/exporting.htm#canada

The Canadian part is here, but it does not seem to be the problem, or cost anything.

http://www.international.gc.ca/controls-controles/about-a_propos/impor/IIC.aspx

So I think we are stuck dealing with the registered importers who have paid their $350 to the barrel making company to get set up. I believe they add $100 to the barrel cost, so need to be the importer on at least 4 barrels to make a buck.

To the original poster, you may want to check airline regulations and your UK import rules. I don't think you can bring primers or powder onto the plane. Some loaded ammo may be possible.

 

[1000yardstare]

LondonHunter......didn`t mean to hijack your original post but the response from other Canadians serves to highlight why you may have had a problem in finding Toronto area target specialists. Short answer is they don`t exist. Long answer is the stuff is there but you have to work like hell all year long to find it.

RonAKA.......a source we have had success with here in Ontario is Reloading International, a small U.S. company that specializes in getting export permits for bullets into Canada. Check them out at http://www.reloadinginternational.com/catalog/index.php

 

[RonAKA]

I think you got the wrong link. I would be interested in the one you were talking about.

 

[1000yardstare]

Whoops. Hey, what can you expect from a retired Computer Science teacher. It was the keyboard`s fault and I threw it out the window.

Corrected the post above and here it is again:
http://www.reloadinginternational.com/catalog/index.php