.
Elwood Epps and Charlie Parkinson. That brings back a lot of old memories. Charlie also introduced me to Groundhog hunting, and Elwood introduced me to Wildcat Cartridges. Charlie was a bit independent, and sometimes when he wanted to go hunting, he would put a sign on the door that said something like "Out for a while, be back later," and off he would go. And, sometimes you went by the shop and saw someone waiting there for him to come back, but that person was not knowledgeable with Charlie's sense of time ---- "back later" might be hours or even a day or so. Charlie also had a terrific stock of old parts and such. I bought a Winchester Low Wall that had been rebarreled to .22 R2 Lovell. This used the old STTEVENS 25-20 cartridge as a basic case. (NOT the same as the 25-20 Winchester, which was much shorter.) I happened to mention this to Charlie one day when I was in his shop, and he not only came up with 2 boxes (100 cases) of Griffin and Howe 25-20 Stevens cases, but also a set of Belding and Mull reloading tools for the Lovell.
One of the best signs Charlie made was "Attending Hardware demonstration at Long Point." We were shooting Ducks on the Marsh that day.
But, back to the 1905 Ross and what could possibly be done with it. First is to rebore, either to .338 or .35 Calibre. The .35 option would approximate the Ross sporting rifles made in that calibre, and the .338 might give a bit better ballistics. I think there is a chapter in "Big Bore Rifles" that had an old classic shot out .303 rifle rebored to .338 because the author wanted to keep the original markings on the barrel. It turned out quite well.
Several years ago, I bought a "well Bubbaed" 1905 Ross that had the barrel bent downward to a 90 degree angle. I also had on hand a barrel for a .243 calibre Remington 760 rifle that was not too bad. These barrels have a "block" that the barrel screws into, and then that block enters the front of the receiver and is tightened up with a screw. I took the "block" off the barrel, and threaded a "stub" from a 1905 barrel onto it. I necked down MILITARY .303 case using standard .243 dies, and then reamed the neck of the case to provide the proper diameter for the .243 bullets. Since it was already worked on, I made up a set of blocks for the action, and attached a solid Leupold base onto these blocks. Using SMELLIE's trick of putting elastic hair bands on the cartridge near the rim to hold the cartridge back against the face of the bolt, about 40 cartridges were fire formed using 10 grains of Unique and Cream of Wheat filler. The stock that came with it was repaired and used. (This was a "Winter" project, and the Winter is long and cold in Manitoba.)
It made an interesting and unique rifle to shoot. The rifle was about as accurate as an average sporting rifle, and performed well on Coyotes. By neck sizing the fireformed cartridges, reloading was no harder than reloading any other ordinary calibre. A friend of mine in Alberta fell in love with it, and being a person who can not bear to see a grown man cry, snivel, moan, spend a fortune on long telephone calls imploring me to part with it, and beg and demean himself, I gave it to him. He is still using it.
Certainly anyone who can duplicate that 1905 Ross barrel thread will find people beating a path to his door. I tend to pick up the Ross rifles at Gun Shows and such, if the price is reasonable and the rifle is not in too bad a condition. I had the pleasure of meeting CANTOM this spring at an Ontario Gun Show when he stopped me and asked about the 1905 I had just bought.
So, I would certainly encourage further development into being able to thread these 1905 barrels.
.
Elwood Epps and Charlie Parkinson. That brings back a lot of old memories. Charlie also introduced me to Groundhog hunting, and Elwood introduced me to Wildcat Cartridges. Charlie was a bit independent, and sometimes when he wanted to go hunting, he would put a sign on the door that said something like "Out for a while, be back later," and off he would go. And, sometimes you went by the shop and saw someone waiting there for him to come back, but that person was not knowledgeable with Charlie's sense of time ---- "back later" might be hours or even a day or so. Charlie also had a terrific stock of old parts and such. I bought a Winchester Low Wall that had been rebarreled to .22 R2 Lovell. This used the old STTEVENS 25-20 cartridge as a basic case. (NOT the same as the 25-20 Winchester, which was much shorter.) I happened to mention this to Charlie one day when I was in his shop, and he not only came up with 2 boxes (100 cases) of Griffin and Howe 25-20 Stevens cases, but also a set of Belding and Mull reloading tools for the Lovell.
One of the best signs Charlie made was "Attending Hardware demonstration at Long Point." We were shooting Ducks on the Marsh that day.
But, back to the 1905 Ross and what could possibly be done with it. First is to rebore, either to .338 or .35 Calibre. The .35 option would approximate the Ross sporting rifles made in that calibre, and the .338 might give a bit better ballistics. I think there is a chapter in "Big Bore Rifles" that had an old classic shot out .303 rifle rebored to .338 because the author wanted to keep the original markings on the barrel. It turned out quite well.
Several years ago, I bought a "well Bubbaed" 1905 Ross that had the barrel bent downward to a 90 degree angle. I also had on hand a barrel for a .243 calibre Remington 760 rifle that was not too bad. These barrels have a "block" that the barrel screws into, and then that block enters the front of the receiver and is tightened up with a screw. I took the "block" off the barrel, and threaded a "stub" from a 1905 barrel onto it. I necked down MILITARY .303 case using standard .243 dies, and then reamed the neck of the case to provide the proper diameter for the .243 bullets. Since it was already worked on, I made up a set of blocks for the action, and attached a solid Leupold base onto these blocks. Using SMELLIE's trick of putting elastic hair bands on the cartridge near the rim to hold the cartridge back against the face of the bolt, about 40 cartridges were fire formed using 10 grains of Unique and Cream of Wheat filler. The stock that came with it was repaired and used. (This was a "Winter" project, and the Winter is long and cold in Manitoba.)
It made an interesting and unique rifle to shoot. The rifle was about as accurate as an average sporting rifle, and performed well on Coyotes. By neck sizing the fireformed cartridges, reloading was no harder than reloading any other ordinary calibre. A friend of mine in Alberta fell in love with it, and being a person who can not bear to see a grown man cry, snivel, moan, spend a fortune on long telephone calls imploring me to part with it, and beg and demean himself, I gave it to him. He is still using it.
Certainly anyone who can duplicate that 1905 Ross barrel thread will find people beating a path to his door. I tend to pick up the Ross rifles at Gun Shows and such, if the price is reasonable and the rifle is not in too bad a condition. I had the pleasure of meeting CANTOM this spring at an Ontario Gun Show when he stopped me and asked about the 1905 I had just bought.
So, I would certainly encourage further development into being able to thread these 1905 barrels.
.
Last edited:
