Hatsan Optima Shotgun

Here is some background information. I bought a Remington 870 Turkey 12 gauge shotgun as my first shotgun. I planed on using it for 3 gun competitions at the local level. I liked that I could add a tube extender for extra rounds. In Canada, you are restricted to the number of shells if the shotgun is a semi auto. This is why I went the pump shotgun route.

Long story short, I had a heck of a time with this shotgun. After a few trips to the local gun shop, it was found that there was an issue with the chamber, as this shotgun would lock up so badly that I had to slam the butt on a hard surface to unjam it. It did this with all ammunition. I am happy to say the issue is now fixed and it works like it should. I was also able to find a heat-shield/ghost ring combination add on as i damaged 2 new red dot sights that came with the shotgun from the factory. Those things just simply broke due to the recoil. I thought the first was just bad luck as I was having with the firearm..but the second told me something was wrong with the TruGlow red dot sights provided by Remington. Either that or I was an unfortunate outlier.

I was without a shotgun for a while and a 3 gun competition was around the corner. I found this relatively inexpensive little Turkish 14" shotgun. I thought I would buy one as at the time, I was without a 12 gauge. Well, was I ever surprised at how well this little guy worked right out the door. I have as yet had a single issue with this shotgun. it only holds 4 rounds...but at least it allowed me to participate and have a wonderful day. Not to mention this is a fun little range shotgun. It is now my backup to the 870.

Mind my asking what the barrel length is on that shotgun?
thanks,

It has a 14" long barrel.

Sorry I missed the 14" in the description.
thanks. Is that the legal limit for short shotgun barrels in Canada? We are restricted to 18" barrels.
thanks,

And here is a link to the silliness of Canadian Gun control laws. That Hatsan is perfectly legal as it came from the factory as it is. In Canada, you are allowed to have little Grizzly shotguns with 8" barrels on them so long as you do not modify the barrel length and are not semi automatic. If you wish to cut a long shotgun down, you need to be over 18". Does it make sense...no it doesn't.

I am told those little Grizzly shotguns are popular in the countryside as bear protection guns out West. Very few folks are allowed to carry a handgun in our wilderness...but no such restrictions on shotguns.

https://nfa.ca/resource-items/barrel-and-firearms-lengths

Now that I"ve read that, I see what you mean. Phew????

Do you have to have a special permit for the 14" barrel shotgun in Canada? In the U.S. modern shotguns with less than a 18" barrel length would require a special license and extra fees.

Here is how it works as best as I can describe it.

There are 3 levels of firearms.
1. Non Restricted
2. Restricted
3. Prohibited.

In Canada, you need to take a firearms safety course to get your PAL (Possession and Acquisition Licence). That PAL is good for purchasing and using non restricted firearms such as most hunting long arms and shotguns. If you want to get into the more interesting firearms, you need to take a second safety course to get your Restricted. This is an added condition to your PAL. This allows you to also purchase restricted firearms such as most handguns and AR type rifles, or any firearm the RCMP/Canadian Government deems to be restricted. Prohibited guns are those that are fully automatic, or have barrels that are too short, silencers, etc. These are firearms that nobody can have unless you were grandfathered into that class by previously owning such items prior to the law. When you pass away, Prohibited firearms must be turned into the Government for destruction, or given to another person with a prohibited ownership status. Chances are, they get handed in simply because folks with this status are far and few in between. The gun shop as a ton of prohibited weapons for sale (quite often for very cheap), but very few folks buying. Handguns that Americans usually buy for conceal carry etc are all on the prohibited list due to barrels shorter than 4.2 inches.

Magazine restrictions are something else. If you have a semi automatic anything, you are restricted to 5 rounds. Thus, my SKS which normally holds 10 rounds, must be modified to only have 5 rounds. This is one of the main reasons why I haven't bought an AR type rifle. We have to rivet those nice 20 round mags to only hold 5 rounds. Shotguns must follow the same rules. However, there are no round restrictions for pump shotguns and 22LR rifles. I have a rotary magazine that holds 110 rounds of 22LR for my Ruger 10/22...and that is legal. Likewise, handguns that are center fire are restricted to only 10 rounds. My M&P 9mm uses magazines with large plastic butt plates that restrict the full capacity of them. Another weird loophole just to show you how little sense some of this makes. You can buy an AR type rifle and you are restricted to only 5 rounds. However, you can buy a Boewolf .50 magazine that will fit your rifle that will only hold 5-.50 Boewolf cartridges...but you can stuff that with a whole lot more .223 Remington cartridges that easily exceeds the 5 round maximum...and you would be legal because that magazine was designed to hold only 5 rounds. Consequently, these magazines are prized and expensive for that.

So for non restricted firearms, you can go hunt with those. You cannot for those designated restricted. In Canada, you can only shoot restricted firearms at a gun range. Usually, you have to belong to a gun club to shoot handguns for example. You cannot go in the wilderness and plink with one either. There is a document you need called an ATT (Authorization to Transport) that restricts your travelling with restricted firearms. So this is how it basically works. You go to the gun shop and buy a handgun. You have to provide them with your PAL with restriction classification. They record this into a book. It takes on average a few days to a week to get permission from the RCMP and to change the firearms's registration. This means you can take it home. Now if you wish to fire said weapon, you also need to belong to a gun club as this is the only place you can fire them. Belonging to a gun club means you notify the government, and they will automatically issue you a standing ATT that allows you to travel from your home to the range and back. Usually, once you belong to a club, any future restricted firearms automatically fall under your ATT document. Recently, the ATT restrictions have been lessened with the previous Harper Government. Prior to that, you needed to call the CFO (Chief Firearms officer) to get a temporary ATT if you needed to bring it to the gunsmith for repair. The um...common sense gun law removed having to call the CFO for this. You still can't have a restricted firearm in your vehicle while doing shopping or banking, or anything that you aren't supposed to be doing as per the ATT restrictions. You can but it isn't worth getting caught by the police. Not sure what the current Liberal Government will do in regards to this. For non-restricted firearms, you basically just store it as per the law and you do not have to worry about such things.

Either way, when transporting firearms in your vehicle, you usually need a trigger guard and a locked case. It is best to store the ammunition separate from the firearm at that.

There are more rules but those are the big overriding ones. For instance, the only time I can wear a holster on a belt is on the range...and at my club, you need to take a safety course and join IPSC to be allowed to do that...and even at that, the handgun must not have a loaded magazine unless told to do so by a range officer prior to competing on the course of fire.