Breaking Out Some Cold War Classics, Just in Case

Training in the Great North Republic of Canukistan took a retro turn recently, and some collectible heirlooms made it out of the armory for a bit of range time.

The Canadian Army recently posted on social media that, "Earlier this month, soldiers from 2 CMBG took part in a special range day to familiarize themselves with out-of-service and foreign weapons. This training allowed weapon and ammo techs learn about and work with weapons that, while not in service in Canada, they may come across on foreign deployments."

For those not versed in Canadian Forces, the 2 CMBG is the Ontario-based 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group of the regular army, which has three infantry battalions of the Royal Canadian Regiment and an armored squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons.

Anyway, you came for the guns, so see how many of these you get right off the bat without reading the captions.

Canadian Army with FN FNC Carbine — The well-traveled FN FNC Carbine, a 5.56 NATO platform in service everywhere from Ukraine to El Salvador. (Photos: Canadian Forces)

You might say this is a Browning M1919A4, but it is a Canadian C5 GPMG, which is chambered in 7.62 NATO, as given away by its disintegrating links rather than the cloth belt used by the old Browning. It was replaced by the C6, a variant of the FN MAG 58 GPMG, in the 1980s.

Canadian BREN — The classic BREN gun, which was in Canadian service for generations and is still often encountered overseas.

Canadian STEN gun — The open-bolt STEN 9mm sub gun, a World War II classic made in the millions, is still often encountered in the third world, especially in Commonwealth countries and former British colonies.

Canadian Lee Enfield — A Lee-Enfield that looks like it got either the No. 4 Mark I (T) or later L42 treatment to become a sniper rifle. The Canadian forces only recently retired the Enfield from its Ranger units that now roam the Arctic equipped with Canadian-made Sako bolt-action rifles.

Canadian Army PPSh-41 — The PPSh-41, a WWII-era 7.62.25mm burp gun that, until the AK came along, was the most-exported Soviet autoloader.

Canadian Army Thompson M1 — The mass-produced Thompson M1 .45 didn't have the panache of the old "Chicago Typewriter" of the 1920s, but it still gets the job done and is often encountered in Africa and Asia.

Canadian Army CZ-made Vz. 58 — Nope, not an AK of any kind, but the CZ-made Vz. 58.

Canadian Army German MP-40 — The German MP-40, a gun captured in such high quantities by the Russians in WWII that they were given away by the crate load to pro-Soviet friends and neighbors.

Canadian Army German Walther P-38 and the Luger P-08. — The Walther P-38 and the Luger P-08.

So why are the Canadians burning up lead equity on the range with these WWII and Cold War-era antiques? Going beyond the official social media account narrative, 2 CMBG personnel have been extensively involved in Operation Unifier, the Canadian training mission to the Ukrainian military, which has received shipments of about every flavor of arms in NATO's attic in the last couple of years.

One gun not seen on the range is the 1940s vintage Canadian-made Browning-Inglis Hi-Power, which has just recently been replaced by new American-made SIG P320 variants. Sadly, the bulk of those 11,000 now surplus vintage Hi-Powers are slated to be destroyed, because, well, Canada.

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