Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Help With Ross Rifle

Hello all. This one is on the cleanup/rehab list next. I looked at the Ross Rifle Forum, but registration is disabled and the admin has not returned an email. I know I need an upper hand guard.

There is no caliber designation, but there are a TON of markings. US, a flaming bomb, and tons on the buttstock.

Source of an upper guard? Meaning of the markings? Any and all help would be appreciated.

I can't tell you much, but this is what I see from looking at the pix.

It's a Mark II (Model 1905) Ross. It appears to have been manufactured in 1908. Ross rifles had their serial nos. stamped into the wood. Yours looks to be 748BB.

The stampings are difficult to read, but some appear to be ownership (regimental) marks. The white paint is what was called a rack mark. Whoever was storing the rifles sequentially numbered the stocks for easy inventory.

If yours has US markings, then it would have been one of the Rosses sent to the US from Canada in 1917, when the US entered WWI.

That's about all I can see there.

If you need picture clarification, let me know. Thanks for the info.

No problem. There's not much else to be gleaned from it unless you can get a book on the markings used, or when you get a membership to the Ross forum.

The history of your Ross cannot be traced as the Canadians and the Brits didn't keep track of where the rifles were sent, only the regiments. They may or may not have seen service in the war. There's no way of telling unless a mark is found that places the rifle at a specific location.

It looks like a mosaic on the side of the buttstock. Hopefully I can get in to the Ross forum and get it decided. The Quebec crest on the stock, the flaming bomb, there's 3 sets of struck out initials.

Drill rifle maybe?

I know the ones that went to the US ended up there because America didn't have enough rifles to go around, and needed them for the war. It's too bad that records weren't kept.

I can't say if it was a drill rifle. With Commonwealth Lee Enfield rifles, drill rifles were made so that they could not fire. They were welded, cut or holes blocked. They were also marked 'DP' for Drill Purpose. With a couple of white bands on the rifle. You'd know if it was rendered inoperable by the Commonwealth. Not sure what they did in the US though.

Ross rifles were made in Quebec. The factory is long gone, but it was built on the Plains of Abraham, where the British fought the French for control of what would become Canada.

The U.S. bought around 20,000 1905 Ross rifles (if memory serves). We must have been pretty desperate, as the Ross was not a particularly successful design. They were used for training purposes (along with Krags and Trapdoor Springfields); unlike some of the the Krags, I doubt that any 1905 Ross rifles went overseas. AFAIK, they were all in .303.

The Ross was a good design. It was very strong and shot small groups, but it didn't belong with the army.

Specifically, it was the chambers that weren't suitable for military use. Had they only been used as sporting rifles, I doubt that you would have heard any complaints at all.

The chambers were tight and the Canadian ammunition was built dimensionally to tighter tolerances. British ammunition was a few thou larger and had a tendency to jam up when the rifle got warm. Cdns were issued with British ammunition overseas, and this was the cause of the jamming. Sticking bolts were not good for a battle rifle. As a result, some Ross chambers got reamed out for a better fit, but not all could be done.

Many Canadian troops tossed their Ross rifles and picked up Lee Enfields from dead Brits. By 1916, the Cdn Ministry of Militia and Defence finally got the message and dumped the Ross as a front line battle rifle in favour of the No 1 Mk III Lee Enfield.

The Mark II was the best Ross pattern, IMO. The Mark III is the one that gave all the trouble in WWI. I hadn't heard about tight chambers, but that would make sense. The Mark III bolt had the interrupted threads, which was the source of several problems. Tight chambers certainly didn't help matters.

The Ross sporting rifles were very nice, and I'd imagine the Ross match rifles were, too. I had a M10 in 280 Ross at one time, as well as a left hand conversion M10 in 30-06.

The tight chambers were the cause of the Ross rifle being replaced with the Lee Enfield. It was impractical to expect that Cdn troops would be supplied with Cdn made ammunition. The M10 rifles that were reamed to a larger chamber were stamped 'LC'.

It's doubtful that any of the rifles sent to the US would have had the chambers reamed. It was done overseas. As far as I know, the sporting Rosses in 303 British had the larger chambers from the get go. Not sure why. I can only surmise that they were made for sale primarily to the Brits.

I have an M10 with an original chamber, but cannot find a stock for it.

This is all very interesting info.

I wonder about finding the missing piece of wood and how much "fun" it will be.

Savage2005-

While not quite the equivalent of the burning of the libraries at Alexandria or Louvain, a lot of good info did go permanently into the dumpster when rossrifle.com went kerflooey a few months ago.

You might get some further help by starting a thread with your questions and photos on this forum: [color:#0000FF]The Ross Rifle Knowledge Library Collectors Forum[/color]

Some of the folks posting there seem pretty knowledgeable.

--Bob

Thanks for the info. I cannot find a register button on that forum anywhere. I only have my phone so it might be a mobile thing.