Got my hopes up- A ROSS!!!!!

[Bret4207]

Ran into a sporterized Ross I'd seen 8-10 years ago. I'm holding my breath! Sporterized with a Maple Mannlicher stock and a correct recv'r sight. If I get it pics will be sure to follow!:drinks:

[looseprojectile]

I gave my #1 son a sporterized 1910 in .303. He always shoots one and a half to two inch groups at two hundred yards. My reloads. It has a cheap scope.
Disgusting, I could never shoot it that well.
Also this rifle has the original chamber, nice and tight.
Tell us more of your rifle.
Life is good

[Bret4207]

It appears to be a #5 MKII, I think. It's so sporterized I can't tell without having it here in my hands to be honest. I'm not finding many good pics to ID it, but will keep looking,

[dromia]

So its in .303" not .280" Ross.

I love my Ross's, have had a couple of .280" sporters through my hands, lovely rifles but the bores were shot.

I have a MK2 thats my favourite at present, its marked with the flaming bomb and has an enlarged chamber. Shoots good.

[Doug Bowser]

I had a Ross 1905 US Marked rifle a few months back. I sold it for a friend of mine. Before I sold it, I checked the headspace and test fired it with CB loads. The chamber was not normal. The shoulder was a lot further forward than a regular .303 rifle. Is this common in Ross chambers. The head of the case was not expanded unduly. The headspace was AOK. I then fired jacketed reloads with no problem. The accuracy level was 2" at 100 yards off double sandbags. I had to work on the ejector to make it work. Then I sold the rifle with no reservations. I will not sell a rifle without testing it first.

Doug Bowser

[dromia]

Yes this is quiet common, the story goes that the chambers were enlarged to help chambering in the mud of the trenches.

The Military Ross had a reputation for jamming, in WWI. It was said that the action was to complicated and it was repleaced by the SMLE No1 Mk111*.

It is thought now that the actual jamming was due to the peening of the bolt release due to the aggressive way in which the bolt was worked in combat situations.

The fix would have been easy, a differently tempered bolt release,but by then it was to late and confidence in the Ross was gone.

[Doug Bowser]

The 1905 Ross was not the problem. It has a single opposite set of locking lugs. The 1910 model has an interrupted set of locking lugs. The rear lugs would be upset by the bolt stop. I have never examined a 1910 Ross but my friend in Canada says the bolt stop was made of harder steel than the bolt lugs.

The Canadian soldiers had a sick joke about teh Ross 1910; "We can sell them to Twizzers and make jam". Twizzers was a company that made preserves and jellies.

[dominicfortune00]

There's a pretty good article on the Ross rifle in October's or November's American Rifleman.

[NoDakJak]

I have a 1905 rifle that has been crudely sporterized that I purchased about twenty five years ago. It is certainly the best shooting 303 that I have ever owned. It definetly has the extended chamber. It almost looks like a 303 Improved. I have planned to have a custom sizing die made but never had the money. Several years ago I purchased another 1905 parts gun just to get the beautiful Redfield Peep sight that was made especially for that model rifle. The parts rifle has been sitting on the rack for several years and I just went and checked it. It actually has a better looking barrel than the shooter so maybe I will have two Ross shooters. Hmmm! I need a mainspring and a few other small parts. They make great sporters but lousy combat rifles. They are too precisely machined with too tight tolerances to get down into the mud and blood. As a bit of trivia, Clint Eastwood used a scoped version along with a 1896 Mauser in one of his western movies (Joe Kid) a few years ago. It appeared to have a Fraser scope mounted. That is a two piece construction with very short eye relief. The rear ocular has a padded leather eyepiece and the scope actually telescopes when normal recoil smacks it into your eye. Gauranteed to cause severe flinch, especially when mounted on a Daniel Fraser, Side Lever single shot chambered to 450-400 as mine was. I never worked up the courage to fire it with the scope installed. Neil