Legal rifle most similar to C7/AR15?

[u/EI_CEO_CFT]

I know legal is in the title and I'm begging you guys not to let this devolve into a conversation about legislation; I just want something I can take up north to fuck around with in peace. Onto the post.

I'm in the CAF and my unit doesn't get as much time as I'd like with the rifles. Before that gets sensationalized, I'm not in a trade where thats as relevant anyway - however when we go on tactical exercises I don't like having to take a minute to remember my stoppage drills, field stripping, etc. I'm looking for any rifle, any calibre, that functions the same way as the C7. I know I could get an airsoft clone but I'd prefer to have something that fires. Of course, anything closer to 5.56/.223 Remy ammo would be nice, but Im looking for the cheapest thing that works and fires real ammunition and is legal. Any recommendations are appreciated!

[u/canvanman69]

Honestly, ignore chasing functionality similar to the C7. You do want a 5.56x45 rifle, so adjusting for bullet drop becomes second nature but not a semi-auto as those'll all be banned by the time the gun-grabbing liberals are through.

The CZ 600 Trail is a good choice, as is the Ruger American Ranch. Since they are both bolties, they should be immune to any more gun bans given that they're both magazine fed bolt-action centre-fire rifles. That should allow you to get used to shooting the PWT 3. The barrel length is 16" and the same 1:7 twist rate as service rifles so they'll shoot identically. All while being legal and not having anyone weirded out you taking out a scary black rifle at the range.

For getting used to rifle handling and CQB, some of the guys that I knew were into airsoft. Personally, I cared more about consistently hitting targets in normal field conditions. Bullet drop at various ranges and practical differences in MOA accuracy with 55 grain M193, 62gr FMJ, 62gr M855, 69gr OTM, and 77gr SMK. Those differences all add up when shooting prone at 200-400m snap targets.

[u/EI_CEO_CFT → u/canvanman69]

Really appreciate your writeup and the detail you put into it, especially your mentioning of CAF courses and your minding what might become outlawed soon; thats all exactly what I was thinking about. Specifically, PLQ/PLP where I need to be so adept at my drills that I can teach them without error. This is why Im looking for something as similar as possible as I know certain arms may lack the same features/order of operations the C7 has, if that makes sense. So to be frank I care less about accuracy and more about similar function so i can really dial in that training. Ill check out the CZ 600 Trail, thankyou for all your considerations!

[u/canvanman69 → u/EI_CEO_CFT]

Bare in mind the CZ 600 Trail had a recall awhile back. This was an error on the part of the CZ armourer/technician failing to properly tighten the barrel as you can swap the barrel and caliber on the CZ 600 Trail but it did seriously injure them.

So keep that in mind. CZ 600 Trail is very cool as you can change from a compact 16" barrel to a longer range 20-24" barrel, but you do need to check head spacing and that the barrel nuts are actually tightened properly, or you could suffer catastrophic results. See Kentucky Ballistics on Youtube for why you do not want that to happen. It's also a $1500+ rifle vs the Ruger which'll only set you back about $1000. Leaving $500 to pickup a suitable 4x optic or LPVO set to 4x.

As I said, go with airsoft if you want all the functional switches, safeties, order of operations, stoppage clearing drills, etc to become second nature. But short of joining law enforcement and maybe getting some range time if you're lucky, you are not getting a magazine fed semi-auto in Canada similar to the C7, or any military style rifle for that matter. Rimfire caliber's with 10 round magazines and 9mm/pistol caliber carbines will likely be next on the chopping block.