Ross mk III complete action - what would you do?

Tudenom

Tudenom

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Hey folks

I have a complete mk III Ross action that I bought a long time ago to be a parts gun but I’m starting to think I should do something with it (mostly day dreaming here).

The barrel was a sewer pipe that someone cut off prior to the registry fiasco, but the rest of it looks to be in serviceable condition. I also have a spare sporter stock for it.

If you were going to re-barrel this what would you do? I’m not familiar with the barrel threading profile, could a good condition No 1 or No 4 barrel be screwed on? Is the Ross thread pattern one of a kind, or could a gunsmith put on a new barrel without much fuss?

Could this be a platform for a wildcat or exotic cartridge? Didn’t the Russians use Ross rifles in some fashion as competitive rifles (large bore biathlon)?
 
Barrel could be turned down and threads could be cut on a lathe by any competent machinist. With the large chambers on an Enfield I wouldn't be looking at one of those for a barrel unless as a last resort. You could rebuild it in .280 Ross. I think the rim diameter is the same as 303. Or you could cheat and neck 303 down to 280 or 270 and find another barrel and have it rechambered. Gunsmith work doesn't come cheap though. I would love to have a spare builder Ross action but I have my own lathe. Farming the work out and not getting killed on price would be tough.
 
I am currently doing one which I have started a thread in the target and precision forum (moved to Milsurp forum). The MkIII action is extremely strong and can handle almost anything you want to chamber it in. Have a look at my thread "Period Ross Long Range Target Rifle Build" and it answers a lot of questions you have. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

The thread is a 12tpi buttress type (square) thread which is quite different from a Lee Enfield. The MkIII's are much easier for a smith to do compared to the earlier MkII's with the quick change thread, so it should not be hard to find a smith to do it. Just for my project, I called numerous smiths when organizing things and the vast majority said it wouldn't be a problem. The breech face has a few tougher cuts that need to be made which aren't hard, but take some extra time.

Rosses are great for wildcats and other cartridges. The only challenge is the 303 bolt face is quite large compared to most rimless case head diameters, so the bolt face needs to be altered to accept the smaller rims and the extractor extended if that's how you want to proceed. This is not too hard and I have some pictures of a bolt face converted by Sedgley to 30-06 if you're interested in how it's done (again discussed on my thread). Another option is one of the numerous 303-based wildcats (I am doing mine in 6.5/303).
 
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The barrel breech is square threaded, with a counterbore and eccentric extractor cut. Rebarreling is practical; much easier than rebarreling the majority of Mk. II rifles. .303 based cartridges would be easiest from the standpoint of boltface and magazine. .280 would require a different magazine system, and a reamer, gauges and brass complicate using this caliber. Belted magnums are possible, but the .303 magazine would be a non-starter. An issue barrel could be rebored to a larger caliber.
Is the sporter stock you have worth using on what is likely to be an expensive project?
Lee Enfield barrels would be too small at the breech to retrofit to a Ross. Might be possible to rework a P'14 barrel, but spare P'14 barrels with crisp bores don't grow on trees.
Sharps45-70 is engaged in a well thought out custom project. Do have a look at his thread.
 
Were it I (and it's not, as I have two actions sitting and waiting) I would throw away the magazine for starters. It is constraining, cumbersome and a bad design anyway. Then I would set in a cut down 5 round L/E mag. on a screw on floorplate. I would have a barrel made in something like .308 on down to .223 (see below) in a SLIM profile (per R, E or M-10) as Bubba'd MKIIIs with even 24" barrels are still barrel heavy, and a club to carry in the woods. Now drop the whole works into your (hopefully factory) sporter stock and you are away. Surplus ammo would be cheap, and readily available, so you would shoot it, instead of putting it in the rack. Bolt face/extractor details have been solved as early as the 50s by Sedgley (ask "45-70" for pics or see his posts on this site).
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Buiid record LE .303.jpg
A little something along the same lines on an L/E a hundred years ago.
OGC
 

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I believe that the Mk. III magazine is the way it is because the action (receiver) was designed for the .280 cartridge, so the magazine was a way of making the design work with the very different .303 cartridge.
 
Thanks guys, lots of reading to do And lots of options to think about.

I like the idea of the 358-303 wildcat. I used to have a 35 Whelen but sold it after recoil got me Wailin!
 
fat tony said:
Is the barrel stub there? if so it might be possible to use it as an adapter for the barrel. I heard the threads are left handed but I do not know personally. These also have a grub screw?
Click to expand...

That is the Mk. II (1905) action. The 1910 Mk. III has conventional square threads on the shank.
 
woodchopper said:
the 1905 have the 3TPI left hand buttressed threads, and a set screw.

the 1910 is easy compared to that, simple squared threads similar to the P14 and M17 barrel threads
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Correct for the most part. The the Mk II**, which is a member of the 1905 family, uses conventional V threads. I would prefer to start with a Mk II** receiver if I wanted to do a Ross based build. The Mk II** action is basically a 1905/Mk II with a Mk III trigger group. To my knowledge, the cocking piece is the only other action part that differs from other 1905s.
 
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