FN CAL (Carabine Automatique Légère)
FN's 1966 first 5.56 design — discontinued 1975, named SOR/2024-248. Collector-market platform with a fifty-year gap between production and prohibition.
Is the FN CAL (Carabine Automatique Légère) banned in Canada? Yes. The FN CAL (Carabine Automatique Légère) is prohibited in Canada. It was named in SOR/2024-248 (December 2024). If you owned one before the deadline, confirm whether it appears on the federal Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program list. The current amnesty for prohibited firearms expires 90 days after the latest Supreme Court appeal termination under SOR/2026-114.
Classification: Prohibited · OIC/SOR: SOR/2024-248 · Ban-Risk: Already Gone · Compensation: Confirm federal list · Amnesty: SCC appeals + 90 days
Verdict
The FN CAL is FN Herstal's first 5.56×45mm NATO rifle — designed 1966 as a downsized FN FAL chambered for the smaller cartridge that the United States had adopted with the AR-15 / M16 in the same year. Only about 6,000 units were produced before FN discontinued the platform in 1975 in favour of the FN FNC (the FNC was the company's actual long-term 5.56 design). The FN CAL exists today in Canadian collector hands — small quantities, sold for $4,000–$12,000 CAD in the specialty European service-rifle collector market. SOR/2024-248 named the FN CAL on December 5, 2024, fifty years after production ended. The entry sits with the Sterling MARK 4/5 Police Carbine (Batch 9), the Daewoo K2 (Batch 8), and the SVT-40 (pilots) as the cluster of historical-platform Already Gone entries — designs from earlier eras that the contemporary regulation reached anyway.
Tracking a rifle on this list?
The Ban-Risk Index updates as classifications and the federal compensation list change. Get those changes, and the SCC + 90-day amnesty deadline reminders, in The Dispatch.
Lineage
Parents: FN FAL (1953 .308 service rifle, prohibited under SOR/2020-96 by family) → FN CAL (1966 5.56 downscaled adaptation) → FN FNC (1975 long-term successor)
Primary sources for this entry
- Canada Gazette SOR/2024-248 (Primary) — Canada Gazette. accessed 2026-05-27
- FN CAL Wikipedia reference (Public domain, Tertiary) — Other. accessed 2026-05-27
Safety note: the Ban-Risk Index is editorial estimation, not legal advice or a substitute for current official guidance. The classification field reflects current RCMP FRT status as of the last-scored date. For any transfer, surrender, deactivation, or transport question, consult primary RCMP / Public Safety Canada sources and, where appropriate, a Canadian firearms lawyer.
