Request info and links on Sporterized Ross M-10 (now with Pics!)

wasa

wasa

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I have a Sporterized Ross rifle that I'd like to research a bit. My understanding that it is a Home Guard unit as it has HG stamped before the serial number 13189 (sorry -my old eyes not the greatest - previous edit had 18189). The receiver says

Ross Rife Co Canada M-10 Patented

Questions:
(i) besides taking it to a gunsmith, how do I know if it is 303 British or 280 Ross caliber?
(ii) will the serial number provided let me know the year of manufacturer?
(iii) will the serial number provide me with the Home Guard unit? I believe it was purchased in Goderich Ontario
(iv) I know it is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, but I'd appreciate any suggestions. One guy offered me $300 for it.

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Thanks!
 
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wasa said:
I have a Sporterized Ross rifle that I'd like to research a bit. My understanding that it is a Home Guard unit as it has HG stamped before the serial number 18189. The receiver says

Ross Rife Co Canada M-10 Patented

Questions:
(i) besides taking it to a gunsmith, how do I know if it is 303 British or 280 Ross caliber?
(ii) will the serial number provided let me know the year of manufacturer?
(iii) will the serial number provide me with the Home Guard unit? I believe it was purchased in Goderich Ontario
(iv) I know it is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, but I'd appreciate any suggestions. One guy offered me $300 for it.

Sorry - no pics now as I'm at work but suffice to say it is "normal" condition for a 110 year old Sporterized rifle. Bore looks fine. No major dings/dents/scrapes.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

$300 is fair for a sperterized Ross. A Ross sporter can readily achieve $1000, plus or minus depending on condition and features. I'll let other answer the rest.
 
If it is a .280 it is highly unlikely (tempted to say would not be) to be a sporterized Mk III since that would entail a bbl swap and bolt and magazine work. It would be a factory built M10 sporter. Does it have a sporterized military stock or a factory-looking sporter stock? You should be able to see the difference between a 280 and a 303 by looking at the muzzle, or check it with a 303 or 30 cal. bullet at the muzzle. The Home Guard rifles did have a serial number with an "HG" prefix so there is a good chance that is what you have and it would be chambered for 303 British unless re-chambered to one of the wildcats.
Someone with much more extensive knowledge on the subject than I will likely chime in soon.
Pictures would go a long way toward identification.
 
wasa said:
I have a Sporterized Ross rifle that I'd like to research a bit. My understanding that it is a Home Guard unit as it has HG stamped before the serial number 18189. The receiver says

Ross Rife Co Canada M-10 Patented

Questions:
(i) besides taking it to a gunsmith, how do I know if it is 303 British or 280 Ross caliber?

[I]Look at the hole in the muzzle. .280 is smaller than .303. .280 cartridge is larger in diameter at the head than the .303. A .280 rifle has a flush Mauser type magazine. .303 has a projecting single column magazine.[/I].

(ii) will the serial number provided let me know the year of manufacturer?

Doubt it. Not aware of any Ross serial number tables.

(iii) will the serial number provide me with the Home Guard unit? I believe it was purchased in Goderich Ontario

No. HG information was stamped on the right side of the butt.

(iv) I know it is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, but I'd appreciate any suggestions. One guy offered me $300 for it.

Sorry - no pics now as I'm at work but suffice to say it is "normal" condition for a 110 year old Sporterized rifle. Bore looks fine. No major dings/dents/scrapes.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

$300 is higher than most sporterized Mk. III Rosses will bring. You don't mention if the stock is cut in front or behind the band, nor barrel length.
Age and condition don't go hand in hand. I have an as-issued Home Guard rifle that is darn near new. Home Guard rifles tend to be early manufacture and have early features.
 
Barrel cut?????
If so it is just another sad case of a ruined military not worth restoring.
Not cut, and there are people (Flying Pig on this site) who can make it whole again.
A bunch of pictures are necessary or it's just "how much is my red Ford truck worth".
If it is really HG 18189 you are beyond the last known numbered M-10 Sporter or HG known to date by over 100+ numbers, and Ross stopped manufacturing in 1917 save for a few "leftovers).
Hope that "red truck' works out
Oldguncrank
 
12341 is the last of the registered (sporter/2*/mil match and the odd HG) serials before yours.
Going to guess at 14-15 for yours but Ross gathered up everything they could find and sent it out for HG use. many were finished to civilian standards.
It appears to be "pukka" with the small aperture on the rear sight.
HOW LONG is the barrel (30.5 is correct) so we may know whether to deal it off or start in on a resto?
See page 182 of the Ross Rifle Story (RRS) for a description of HG 16977 and some technical background.
Don't have RRS; track down Bob McCormick (castregd@primus.ca) and spend $100+- for the "bible) and you are on your way.
Best
OGC
OGC
 
It's a .303 Home Guard Mk III Ross. Bore is full length which is really good.

How is the bore? Black? Rotten? Corrupt? Worn out? (as so many Rosses are) or
Shiny, gorgeous, beautiful, like new? :)

Have you put at least 10 solvent soaked patches through it from the breech end to be able to answer that question?

It can take days or weeks to really clean a Ross bore. At times it seems like nobody has ever cleaned them.

If it has a good bore, Divealta on the forum is selling sight hoods and nosecaps.

Flying Pig makes replacement stocks. He also has the puller to pull the front sight off. (which I sold him) I have no idea how busy he is or whether he's taking on new ones.

What's it worth? A few days ago, a full length Mk III with cut down forend went up for I think it was $500, and it had a dark bore. It sold.
I can't imagine why someone would want a dark bore but it sold.

$300 is too cheap.

Good candidate for a new stock...why? The Home Guard Rifles did not have all of the normal stampings and nomenclature on the right of the buttstock. They usually just had HG CofY or HG BofM or something simple like that.


wasa said:
I have a Sporterized Ross rifle that I'd like to research a bit. My understanding that it is a Home Guard unit as it has HG stamped before the serial number 13189 (sorry -my old eyes not the greatest - previous edit had 18189). The receiver says

Ross Rife Co Canada M-10 Patented

Questions:
(i) besides taking it to a gunsmith, how do I know if it is 303 British or 280 Ross caliber?
(ii) will the serial number provided let me know the year of manufacturer?
(iii) will the serial number provide me with the Home Guard unit? I believe it was purchased in Goderich Ontario
(iv) I know it is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, but I'd appreciate any suggestions. One guy offered me $300 for it.

37SyV3K.png

u1KuehZ.png

cJ7Z6pZ.png

Yjh9Yn5.png

HFiS6hp.png

kjC8yin.png

8hk0NWS.png

LB7Zmcx.png

6zNFZMc.png

TMFD5se.png



Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
As per suggestions I put many, many patches through with Hoppes #9 and copper brushes. Based on my uneducated eye, rifling is very good, and bore is fairly shiny/clean. I'm actually surprised how good the barrel is. Maybe I should try to shoot it - I have a crate of surplus 303 British (Greek, from the 1950s I believe, corrosive though).
 
wasa said:
As per suggestions I put many, many patches through with Hoppes #9 and copper brushes. Based on my uneducated eye, rifling is very good, and bore is fairly shiny/clean. I'm actually surprised how good the barrel is. Maybe I should try to shoot it - I have a crate of surplus 303 British (Greek, from the 1950s I believe, corrosive though).
Click to expand...

Corrosive....aaaaaggggghhhhh...

I won't use corrosive.

I had an SVT40 that I shot Russian corrosive in...took it right home from the range, boiled water, poured it down the bore, cleaned it like crazy. It still turned it dark.

Sure, it will be different. At least, clean it right away.

Some use a rod with patches soaked in Windex, right at the range.

Peter Laidler said the Brits considered every ammunition to be corrosive...you won't go wrong doing that.
 
Hello. This is a post I must respond to. I have Ross HG 13141 in minty shape as are most of the H.G. Ross rifles. Your Ross has the small
chamber that produced so much aggrivation to out troops during WW1. The Ross problem was that Brit ammo had higher variances within
different manufactures resulting in feeding jams usually. So make sure your bolt has fully closed on each cartridge you shoot and you should be fine. All H.G. units obtained weapons directly from the Ross factory . Some units were factory stamped : Ex. E.C.H.G. (Essex County). Some units went unstamped as is yours and mine. Some units used their own stamp: Ex. TPF (Toronto Police Force). So watch your ammo. Watch your bolt. Watch it shoot incredible groups if orignal barrel length. H.G. units were to prevent the Boche invading across the border. (Trump??) Who is to protect us now? JOHN
 
When I was a kid I loved "Three against the wilderness" a book by Eric collier who wrote an embellished version of his life with his wife and son near Meldrum Creek in the Chilcotin. He used a Ross. I have never seen a photo but in the pencil drawing on the cover he's depicted with a full-stocked Ross.

I was quite pleased to be given one at 14 for my first rifle.


https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&...k1j0i30k1.0.iUVllX8nCPU#imgrc=K122Pb-acvhRAM:
 
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