has this rifle been sabotaged??

[keithreid]

sorry to be a pest about this rifle. I just took the ross rifle i posted about earlier apart for a detailed cleaning/inspection. the pic's below show what i found on the barrel beneath the rear sight. 2 holes drilled in the barrel.
are these normal on a ross, or has someone hacked it up into a non shooter? the rifle is full of what appears to be decades of dust and crud, and the holes in the barrel were beneath that, so it wasn't done recently, at least.
thanks, and y'all have a good day! Keith

 

[H Wally]

Whereabouts on the barrel are the holes? How deep? WTF?

Off the top of my head, I'd say avoid it. Holes in barrels weaken integrity. That said, they may not weaken the barrel much and not cause anything at all. Helpful eh?

 

[keithreid]

don't have any tools with me to measure the depth, but they are at least 1/8th inch deep and do not penetrate to the inside. Not knowing anything about these rifles (yet) i was asking to see if the holes might be normal for one.
they are on the bottom of the barrel, centered on the rear sight(front to rear).

thanks, y'all have a good day! Keith

 

[tiriaq]

There were a variety of rear sights fitted to Mk. II rifles. You will see shallow holes which don't seem to have any purpose, but which were involved with other sights. If the holes are no deeper than what you would see on a sporting rifle barrel like a Remington 700, they are original.

 

[Rossguy]

Keith- Almost standard on the US Contract MkII***'s- no fear- it's a rifle that started out with an earlier barrel sight, then when modified, the barrel was rotated 180 degrees and the standard CanTool base was fitted-