Ross rifle

[beastybaconman]

I got this sporterized 1905 mkII Ross rifle from my grandpa a while ago and I have some questions about it. In all the pictures that I have seen of them there are a bunch of numbers and stuff on the stock and they have a flip up back sight and hooded front sight but mine doesn't have any of that and I was wondering why that would be. Also I was wondering what that little lever is for that's just in front of the trigger and if it's important because my gun doesn't have that either. I was also wondering if anyone knows where I could get a bolt for it because it hasn't had a bolt in it for at least 40 years.

[Jim K]

Your Ross might be a sporting rifle, but appears to be a sporterized military, with the front sight hood removed and a sporting rear sight installed. The hook in front of the trigger is a magazine cut-off, which would not have been needed or wanted on a sporting rifle.

I know of no source for a 1905 Ross bolt.

Jim

[RJay]

I've never own a Ross, but I've read that they are very accurate but easily fouled with any tiny bit of dirt. Perhaps the bolt was removed as a cautionary. I under stand that if the bolt is disassembled and reassembled incorrectly, it can be hazardous to your health.

[ShawnDow]

Again...
*** ****** is the part missing

[permafrost]

The bolt may be missing for a reason. As the above poster said, if the bolt was not reassembled correctly they became a missle shooting rearward into the shooters head or eye. It was rare, but documented. They had a number of other problems during WW1 also. Be careful if you find one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_rifle

[Jim K]

The Ross with the bolt problems was the 1910 model, a later design. AFAIK, the Model 1905 had problems but improper bolt reassembly was not one of them.

Jim

[permafrost]

Originally Posted by Jim K

The Ross with the bolt problems was the 1910 model, a later design. AFAIK, the Model 1905 had problems but improper bolt reassembly was not one of them.

Jim

Good to know

[Jim K]

There are some who say it never happened or that it can't happen. But I have a Model 1910 Ross and I have put the bolt together wrong (deliberately) and gotten it to fire a primer with the bolt lugs unlocked. It is not very easy to do, but it could be done by mistake.

Properly assembled, the Ross 1910 is one of the strongest rifles made. I once used that rifle to fire up some Italian 7.7 machinegun ammo (same dimensionally as the .303 British) that had destroyed a Mk III SMLE. The Ross didn't care.

Jim

[nmckenzie]

While on the subject of Ross Rifles, does anyone know where I might be able to find a magazine cutoff & cutoff spring for a 1905 MkII? Thanks for any leads.

[CHW2021]

You may live longer if you keep the bolt out of the rifle and keep it as a collector piece only. My .02 only, but I feel the with a reputation like the Ross rifle has it would be better safe than sorry.

[MRMIKE08075]

the 1905 Ross has its design origins in target rifle competition

the tolerances are very tight - no slop or play

the problem that arose was twofold...

1: dirt - mud - water - debris - detrius of war
this can impede or prevent a firearm from operating
the super tight tolerances made this issue pronounced

2: ammo age and production standards
ammo for the british empire (.303) was made on several continents over a 60+ year timespan
it was not made to exacting tolerances and was stored under some dubious conditions
the super tight tolerances made this issue pronounced

you may encounter arsenal modified variants with an "LC" marked on the receiver
this is the "Large Chamber" variant were the chambers were enlarged with a milling machine
this mostly fixed the ammo feeding or fouling issues

if you own an Enfield in .303 you will have noticed the largely oversized chambers and the ability to alter the headspace by changing out numbered bolts

you may have also noticed that fired - spent cases are swelled / bulged / split and can be difficult to reload

the 1905 Ross bolt CANNOT be reassembled incorrectly - not possible

lets not pass on incoorect firearms myths lacking 1st hand knowledge

Best Regards, Mike.

[CHW2021]

Mike, you apparently have a better understanding of the Ross rifle than I. However, I believe that we can both agree that the rifle can and has failed and caused injury to the shooter.
Since this is an obsolete design, with unknown factors for the original poster of this question to concider, it may be most prudent for him to keep grandpas gun hanging on the wall.

[deadin]

As stated by JimK, the M1905 Ross is perfectly safe. It's the M1910 that had/has the problem with the bolt being capable of being assembled wrong and could fire in an unlocked condition. It was also the 1910 that suffered most from dirt and grime fouling the canon breach (interrupted screw) type of bolt lugs. There was/is an arsenal fix on the 1910 that alleviated the bolt assembly problem. It consisted of putting a rivet in the bolt body that would then not allow the bolt to be put together wrong.
As for the oversized chamber, one of the weak points of most "straight pull" actions is primary extraction. (Nothing like having a rotary bolt with a nice lever (bolt handle) to crank on to break everything loose). A little crud and not highly spec'ed cartridges just plain couldn't be overcome by the rifles primary extraction. Over the years I've owned and shot a number of Ross's, including a commercial 1910 in 280 Ross. (Beautiful rifle and a hot cartridge.)
Although, I will admit that the rumors of the 1910 bolt coming out was always in the back of my mind......

[MRMIKE08075]

Gentlemen,

the reason that i know the answer to this question is that i own and shoot several ROSS 1905 rifles...

and yes, i always have a wee bit of doubt in the back of my mind that the bolt might come straight back out of the rifle...

i feel the same way about my .236 Lee Navy

early on in my gun collecting - aquiring life i discovered that much of the lore passed on to us in books, magazines, movies, and around the proverbial campfire have little or no basis in reality

safety 1st is a good mantra to strictly adhere to at all times

but life experiance and actual real world field testing weigh heavily as well

let lifes questions spur you onti actual research

2 facts to consider...

1: i am blessed to own several hundred firearms and to have spent much of my life working proffesionaly with guns

2: i learn something new every day and my "expertise" has a somewhat limited and narrow focus

the 1905 Ross is as safe as the 1903 springfield

JMHO

Best Regards, Mike.

[ShawnDow]

Is there a reason I cant post a link to the firearm auction site that has this guys bolt?

[Jim K]

MRMIKE wrote:

"the 1905 Ross has its design origins in target rifle competition

the tolerances are very tight - no slop or play

the probllem that arose was twofold...

1: dirt - mud - water - debris - detrius of war
this can impede or prevent a firearm from operating
the super tight tolerances made this issue pronounced

2: ammo age and production standards
ammo for the british empire (.303) was made on several continents over a 60+ year timespan
it was not made to exacting tolerances and was stored under some dubious conditions
the super tight tolerances made this issue pronounced"

Once again, the dirt and mud problem arose with the Model 1910 which was, as noted, a whole different rifle from the original poster's Model 1905. The Model 1905 (Mk II) was never used in wartime; it was too late for the Boer war and too early for WWI. The Model 1905's problems cropped up in testing and training, not in the trenches of Europe.

The Model 1910 did have dirt and mud problems, but problems with ammunition made over a 60 year period on several continents was not one of them. For one thing, forty of those years had not come yet, and the ammunition used by the British and Canadians in WWI was made in England and the U.S.

Jim

[Bindernut]

Originally Posted by ShawnDow

Is there a reason I cant post a link to the firearm auction site that has this guys bolt?

Yup, that particular auction site is one of the "naughty" words that is censored by the forum admins/software. I don't know the story as it was long before I joined here...

[Shooter45]

Originally Posted by ShawnDow

Is there a reason I cant post a link to the firearm auction site that has this guys bolt?

As the note says in your last post, by-passing the auto censor is NOT ALLOWED. So, don't do it.

[ShawnDow]

O.K., I see the note (I didn't see it originally), My apologies for trying to bypass the auto sensor. How am I to get this guy the info on who has the bolt then? Im just trying to help the guy.

[Shooter45]

Send him a PM or an email.

[ShawnDow]

Originally Posted by Shooter45

Send him a PM or an email.

Thank you, I will do that. And thank you, for helping me, help him.
Shawn

[Shooter45]

No problem.

[45Auto]

In my parts bin is a 1905 Ross action damaged when the bolt blew out of it. A gunsmith I know with experience with the Ross examined it and said that it had the characteristics he had seen before when Ross rifles were fired with improperly locked bolts. The back of the bolt looks like it hit something after being forcefully ejected. From the history of the Ross, it is known that the RNWMP rejected the 1905 Ross because of this very problem.

[Jim K]

Could be. All I know is that I tried to reassemble a Ross 1905 bolt the wrong way like I did a 1910 and couldn't do it and others reported the same thing.

Jim

[deadin]

I'm with Jim. If you have a M1905 Ross that blew out the bolt, I would be pretty sure it wasn't due to a mis-assembly of the bolt, but some other malfunction....