Please Help Identify This Rifle.

[Uncle R.]

Greetings and Happy New Year.
I have a friend who inherited a rifle from her father. She asked me for help in identifying it. I examined the dang thing several months ago and I was stumped. It's a straight pull apparently "sporterized" military rifle and I assumed it was a chopped up Steyr until I went home and checked whatever reference books I could find.
My friend's father was a very interesting fellow. Improvised machining, welding and shade tree fabrication were not only within his abilities but pretty much normal daily activities. With that in mind I've begun to suspect that his rifle is a frankenstein creation - perhaps a conglomeration of parts from more than one gun.
Last night my friend gave me some digital pictures of the rifle and I'm hoping that posting them on this board will get me answers. Opinions, guesses, information? Any help would be appreciated. I have better quality pictures for e-mail if needed.
Thanks!
Uncle R.

[Cbenc1]

That is a Canadian Ross Rifle. Looks like a 1905 model with the bolt handle modified, and of course some other sporterization modifications to the stock, etc. It is most likely chambered in .303 British, but that could have been modified as well. Hope this helps.

Craig

[wills]

You might try posting these pictures on the Straight- pull Rifle Forum. Folks there might know.

http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums.yuku.com/forums/73

[MtGun44]

Make sure that she is aware that it is possible to reassemble the bolt on a Ross so
that it can fire totally unlocked. I have never owned one, and have no idea how
much of a "knucklehead" you have to be to do this, but I have read that it is possible,
so I would assume that awareness is half of the battle.

Bill

[Uncle R.]

Thanks Guys!
I knew this board would come through. I don't know why I didn't think of the Ross - except they're pretty rare. I forwarded the information to my friend with some links for web sites having more information.

[gnoahhh]

Not all that rare. Too bad that one was Bubba'ed though. 1905's can be assembled incorrectly but that's pretty hard to do if one has an ounce of common sense. The 1910's were foolproof in that regard. Go to rossrifles.com for a tutorial.

[justashooter]

agreed that this is a 1905 ross. the problem with unsafe bolt re-assembly is limited to 1910 type rifles, though taking apart and re-assembling the 1905 bolt is a bit tricky. this gun is chambered for the standard 303 british round.

while the ross was not suitable as a battle rifle, they had a fine reputation as a sporting rifle. ross rifles were considered secondary standard by the end of the first war, and most were surped into the USA by the late 20's. the biggest problem the ross had in military application had to do with loading. there is no provision for controlled loading, so it is possible to load cartridges into the magazine (while the mag lever in front of the receiver is depressed) with the rim of a round behind that of one below it. in such case you would have a jam.

some comercial rifles were made in 280 ross, but this is obviously a mil-surp in 303. i have a few similar guns.