The Arnprior & District Rifle and Revolver Association hosts an ISSF standard and sport pistol competition every month.theybare taking May off and resuming in June. It's usually a weekend so Saturday and Sunday.
If you email the club (Ed Stevens) you can ask to borrow a handgun. There's only enough space for 6 shooters at a time so space fills up quick.
I competed there once and asked SFC for an exemption letter. Provided them my score and was able to get it and I started the transfer for a couple pistols already and just waiting for it to go through.
The CFP and CFO office did call me to follow up and said it's being scrutinized more and it used to take a week to get approved but now it's 2-3 weeks.
There's no recognized shooting club in Ottawa unfortunately. There's a few on the Quebec side but that probably complicates things especially if you don't speak french. You're probably pounding the 401 quite a bit to follow this process.
Now here's the important part - our members figured out that youdon't need to compete in handgun matchesto get enough bullseye experience to get a handgun exemption letter - competing/practicing rifle bullseye is fine and accepted by the SFC. So we are holding monthly rifle bullseye matches because they are more accessible (anyone with a PAL can buy a .22LR rifle if they don't already own one or have one in the family) and our members use these for the required experience to get a handgun exemption letter and purchase a .22LR handgun. [Edit: Sadly the SFC contacted us and said it must be pistol only. Stay tuned for more edits and the next CHC PISTOL event.]
Hey man I’m pretty close to Cornwall but I’m still confused by the process. I’m dedicated to getting a handgun 100% could I dm you for more details about the exemption?
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u/Busy_Meringue_9247 May 01 '26
anyone around Ottawa tried this?