I wish
@Petard was still active because he knows this stuff cold.
Canada made barrels - Sorrel Industries built many of ours but that was back in the 1950s. After that we turned it over to buying other folks' kit.
After many decades being satisfied of the range pumped out by L39 barrels but with the advent of the L52 and more barrels the chamber pressures have increased dramatically. There are limited research and production facilities for these. Interestingly Canada had one of those. Gerald Bull's High Altitude Research Project (HARP) and
Space Research Corporation (SRC) designed, tested and sold both guns - notably the
GC-45 - and ammunition which offered significant range advantages over standard ammunition at the time. Bull dealt with both Austria and South Africa and several other countries including China. His work with Denel in South Africa got him in trouble and work for Arab nations got him assassinated (many blame Israel).
Denel in South Africa put into production many of Bull's ideas and is a good example of what a small country with only limited run of weapon systems can do if the support is put behind a vital national industry. Their systems, especially the
Assegai family of artillery munitions (now linked with Rheinmetall) were and remain amongst the most impressive. Canada looked at them in the late 2000s but for various reasons decided to stay with the same old crap.
