AbitNutz
12-01-2016, 11:25 AM
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn94/AbitNutz/303_1.jpg (http://s302.photobucket.com/user/AbitNutz/media/303_1.jpg.html)
So I picked up a beutiful Ross MKIII. It looked fantastic for a 100 year old battle rifle. I'm a real fan of the 303 British round so this was a natural buy for me.
After I got the rifle I noticed a the dreaded "E" stamped on the receiver. That stands for "expanded". You see the Ross rifles were chambered too tightly for crappy ammo, so they reamed the chambers oversize to accommodate them. I have heard of them reaming the chambers so oversize that the ammo becomes un-reloadable. The cases are bloated and bellied at the bottom and almost neck-less at the top. Some were rechambered by Ross and others were done where ever...
I hesitantly loaded up a fire forming round of unique and a lead bullet...here's what I found. I do in fact have an expanded chamber but they seem to have done it to my liking. The base did not change or belly more than my custom 303, so they left that really tight. My other 303's are larger. The shoulder area however was reamed. The shoulder of a sized 303 in about .401...the Ross after firing is .411. The body is also blown out and the neck is sharper. Essentially they made a mild improved 303 out of it. Sort of a 303 Gibbs.
These should prove no problem to neck size. If you look close in the picture, you can see that the brass on the right has a straighter taper and a sharper shoulder. Hey, it works for me..
Also, this barrel was military filthy, no pitting or rust just bad filthy. I tried everything to clean it. I almost gave up when a gunsmith buddy of mine gave me a can of Gunslick foaming glop. I had to use it three times, with a wait time of 30 minute after each application but by god it worked! This stuff cleaned where KG-12 did not. KG-12 seems to do great on copper but not on carbon. Gunslick really saved the day.
So I picked up a beutiful Ross MKIII. It looked fantastic for a 100 year old battle rifle. I'm a real fan of the 303 British round so this was a natural buy for me.
After I got the rifle I noticed a the dreaded "E" stamped on the receiver. That stands for "expanded". You see the Ross rifles were chambered too tightly for crappy ammo, so they reamed the chambers oversize to accommodate them. I have heard of them reaming the chambers so oversize that the ammo becomes un-reloadable. The cases are bloated and bellied at the bottom and almost neck-less at the top. Some were rechambered by Ross and others were done where ever...
I hesitantly loaded up a fire forming round of unique and a lead bullet...here's what I found. I do in fact have an expanded chamber but they seem to have done it to my liking. The base did not change or belly more than my custom 303, so they left that really tight. My other 303's are larger. The shoulder area however was reamed. The shoulder of a sized 303 in about .401...the Ross after firing is .411. The body is also blown out and the neck is sharper. Essentially they made a mild improved 303 out of it. Sort of a 303 Gibbs.
These should prove no problem to neck size. If you look close in the picture, you can see that the brass on the right has a straighter taper and a sharper shoulder. Hey, it works for me..
Also, this barrel was military filthy, no pitting or rust just bad filthy. I tried everything to clean it. I almost gave up when a gunsmith buddy of mine gave me a can of Gunslick foaming glop. I had to use it three times, with a wait time of 30 minute after each application but by god it worked! This stuff cleaned where KG-12 did not. KG-12 seems to do great on copper but not on carbon. Gunslick really saved the day.