Image credit
- Title
- File:Canadian C7A2 Firing Line.jpg
- Author
- Lance Cpl. Christopher J. Gallagher, U.S. Marine Corps
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canadian_C7A2_Firing_Line.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Inputs
- m4.018 g62.01 grverifiedsource62 gr as published, converted to grams.
- v944.9 m/s3,100 fpsverified
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
measured at this barrel length
Inputs
- v944.9 m/s3,100 fpsverifiedsourceTable 2-1, muzzle velocity for the M16A2: 3,100 fps. The M855 is the manual's service round for that rifle.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_magazine has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
3 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Inputs
- m_firearm3.3 kg7.275 lbestimatedsourceunloaded, from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia
- v_recoil1.150 m/s3.775 fpsestimated
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights (SPEC.md §14). This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity30estimatedsourcestandard STANAG magazine capacity, uncited on Wikipedia, which names only the magazine pattern rather than a round count
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Inputs
- m4.018 g62.01 grverifiedsource62 gr as published, converted to grams.
- v944.9 m/s3,100 fpsverified
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Inputs
- mass4.018 g62.01 grverifiedsource62 gr as published, converted to grams.
- diameter5.7 mm0.2244 inestimatedsourceNo free NATO dimensional standard is published. The C.I.P. datasheet for the .223 Remington, which shares this bullet, gives a cartridge-maximum bullet diameter of 5.70 mm.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Inputs
- mass4.018 g62.01 grverifiedsource62 gr as published, converted to grams.
- velocity944.9 m/s3,100 fpsverified
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Magazine dump is calculated
t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)
Inputs
- n30estimatedsourcestandard STANAG magazine capacity, uncited on Wikipedia, which names only the magazine pattern rather than a round count
- rpm825 rpmestimatedsourcemidpoint of the published, uncited range of 700-950 rounds a minute
Assumptions
- Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table — and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- Rifle
- Action
- Self-loading
- Fire modes
- Semi-automatic
- Fully automatic
- Operating system
- Gas, direct impingement
- Roles
- Designed in
- Canada
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 1984
- Production
- 1982–present
Dimensions and mass
- Mass, empty
unloaded, from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia
- Magazine, empty
- not recorded
- Length
stock extended, from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia
- Length, folded
- not recorded
- Width
- not recorded
- Height
- not recorded
- Barrel length
from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Operation
- Cyclic rate
midpoint of the published, uncited range of 700-950 rounds a minute
- Trigger pull
- not recorded
- Effective range
with iron sights; a magnifying optical sight raises this to a published, uncited 550 m
- Units produced
published as '250,000+' across the C7/C8 family, so this is a floor rather than a count; uncited on Wikipedia
- Launch price
- not recorded
Chamberings
- 5.56x45mm NATOprimary30 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
- Colt Canada C71,006 mm39.61 inheight not recorded
Representative outline — the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. Colt Canada C7 records no height, so its outline is drawn at the type's proportion — that height is part of the shape, not a measurement.
Gallery
Image credit
- Title
- Winston P. Wilson / AFSAM Small Arms Championship
- Author
- Spc. Patrik Orcutt
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4368440/winston-p-wilson-afsam-small-arms-championship
- Note
- Work of the United States Government, uncopyrighted under 17 U.S.C. §105: photographed for the Joint (National Guard Marksmanship Training Center), VIRIN 180503-Z-JY390-921. DVIDS states no separate licence per asset.
Detail
The C7 is a Canadian-built derivative of the Colt AR-15/M16 rifle, produced under licence from 1982 by Diemaco of Kitchener, Ontario, and adopted by the Canadian Armed Forces in 1984 to replace the FN C1, Canada’s licence-built FN FAL. Rather than simply assembling the American design, Diemaco reworked its manufacturing and made a series of its own changes over the rifle’s production life — a heavier barrel profile than contemporary US M16s, revised sights, and other detail improvements — that were distinctive enough for the Canadian-built rifle to be treated as its own pattern rather than a licensed copy in name only.
Like the M16 it descends from, the C7 is gas-operated using Eugene Stoner’s direct-impingement system, in which propellant gas is tapped from the barrel and routed directly back into the bolt carrier rather than driving a separate piston, and it fires the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge from STANAG-pattern magazines shared across the wider AR-15 family. Diemaco also built a shorter-barrelled carbine version of the same action, the C8, sold and issued alongside the C7 rather than replacing it; this entry describes the full-length C7 rather than the C8, which this site records separately because carbine-length AR-pattern derivatives are treated as their own entries here.
Production and support of the C7 passed from Diemaco to Colt Canada when Colt bought and renamed the company in 2005, and Colt Canada continues to build and support the rifle family for the Canadian Armed Forces and export customers including the Netherlands and Denmark. The C7 has seen Canadian service in peacekeeping and combat deployments from the 1990s onward, including in Somalia, the Balkans and Afghanistan.
Every figure in this entry comes from Wikipedia’s infobox rather than a primary Colt Canada source, none of it individually cited on Wikipedia itself, so all figures here are recorded as estimated. No muzzle velocity is recorded because no source found ties a published velocity figure to a stated barrel length, and total production is published only as a floor (“250,000+”) covering the C7 and C8 together rather than the C7 alone.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- Colt Canada C7 · Wikipedia · 1368709507 · read 2026-09-04 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-09-04 · review status: draft