Disappointing Ross rifle...

T

tacfoley

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This morning I got joed into going along with a friend our LGS to examine a Ross rifle in .303 British. Turned out to be a MkIIIB with the simplified back sight, and externally was in pretty fine fettle for a hundred-year-old rifle. However, the inside was another matter, as the bore was pretty much shot to **** from the breech/chamber to a point about a foot from the muzzle - in fact, I have NEVER in my life seen such an appalling barrel on anything, and that includes guns from Nepal that looked like they'd been stacked underwater. I have one of these spiffy little App-driven endoscopes that will happily go down even a 6.5 bore, but sending it down from the muzzle, it stopped dead, as I noted, about foot down the bore, where the metallic rust growths began - just like on an old ship where, I bleeve, the are called rusticles.

What a crying shame it was for both of us - him because he had seen the photos and got his interest up, and having a spare .303 spot on his FAC, could have bought it there and then, and me, because I'd talked him into a Ross in the first place.

Now the crunch - the vendor wanted £2000 for this piece. Today, that's just over CAD$3400...

So why do we see so many Ross rifles with appalling and unshootable bores?
 
I bought the NIDAGE wifi endoscope camera off e*** for USD$18. The APP is a freebie from Applestore or Google play store. The model number is W655-3.5M - the last refers to the length of the cable - yes, really! It works off any phone, iPhone or Android, unless you have regular digital camera that does wifi and can download apps. I guess that you can do the same with a tablet, too, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

It comes with a selection of heads - the standard looks directly forwards, there is a side-view and a fish-eye - using that will give you the willies, for sure.
 
Tac, the bores are crud because the rifles have spent too long in a DAMP country and have not been cleaned after firing that HORRID British ammunition with the mercuric/corrosive (BOTH!!!) primers.

That said, should be able to hit the EE and find a decent Mark III barrel.

Now, if only we could do something about that ridiculous 2000-quid pricetag!

Best of luck, my Friend!
 
smellie said:
Tac, the bores are crud because the rifles have spent too long in a DAMP country and have not been cleaned after firing that HORRID British ammunition with the mercuric/corrosive (BOTH!!!) primers.

That said, should be able to hit the EE and find a decent Mark III barrel.

Now, if only we could do something about that ridiculous 2000-quid pricetag!

Best of luck, my Friend!
Click to expand...

That's odd. I've got nineteen rifles here in this 'DAMP' country, and none of mine have the slightest sign of rust in the barrel - nor anything else. As I noted, the outside looked great...and it's a commission sale from the estate of a late shooter, so the price is firm. :(
 
tacfoley said:
That's odd. I've got nineteen rifles here in this 'DAMP' country, and none of mine have the slightest sign of rust in the barrel - nor anything else. As I noted, the outside looked great...and it's a commission sale from the estate of a late shooter, so the price is firm. :(
Click to expand...

And if your rifles don't look like sewer pipes, then you probably clean and oil your guns. Apparently the previous owner of this gun was good about the outside being cared for but not the inside...
 
smellie said:
Tac, the bores are crud because the rifles have spent too long in a DAMP country and have not been cleaned after firing that HORRID British ammunition with the mercuric/corrosive (BOTH!!!) primers.

That said, should be able to hit the EE and find a decent Mark III barrel.

Now, if only we could do something about that ridiculous 2000-quid pricetag!

Best of luck, my Friend!
Click to expand...

So nice to read your posts again Smellie, thank-you.
Dave
 
cantom said:
A lot of Rosses have literally been shot to death. They were good but still have a maximum number of rounds that the barrel will take.
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have a 1905R factory sporter that is so shot out and the neck so eroded that I can take a fired case and drop an 8mm bullet in.

lots of corrosive ammo floating around post war surplus and it was mostly corrosive
 
Yes, all that corrosive .303 ammo and all it took was a shooting session or two where the owner didn't clean it afterwards...

It's actually amazing when you find one that has a bright, clean, like new shiny bore.

I had a Mk III a few years ago with a literally rotten bore...the more I cleaned it, the more metal was coming out on the patches. A great candidate for dewatting or rebarrelling.
 
I was taught, 100 yrs ago, to ALWAYS "boil our the barrel" after any surplus (or of "unknown quality"" ammo. Still have (and use) my fathers handmade tin soldered funnel hanging by the landry sink and shiny barrels.
"Ya can't cure 'em but ya can keep from makin 'em worse".
BTW '05 Rs, Es (or any prized .303 for that matter) can be rebored/chambered to .35 Winchester and the o5s are a peach to carry in the woods.
best
OGC
 
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