Ross Accuracy?

My usual contribution to this kinda thing

Mk3 Ross...1916 manufacture...FNM.303 ammo...100m(not yards)...one eye CLOSED!!

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I'm surprised no one has commented on the (lack of) stiffness of the Ross action.. It's down right flimsy. I wonder how much the barrel bands contributed to accuracy in these rifles?
 
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The 2 Ross rifles at the bottom are remodeled MK 3 rifles, the lowest one is a 6.5 303 Improved built buy Epp's in 1957 with a new barrel at that time. It will shoot under the inch and the one above is a rebore in 35/303 which I have not taken the time to shot as of yet.
In my opinion a rebarreled Ross will shoot as good as any of the military actions if the job is done properly
John
 
6.5-303

The 2 Ross rifles at the bottom are remodeled MK 3 rifles, the lowest one is a 6.5 303 Improved built buy Epp's in 1957 with a new barrel at that time. It will shoot under the inch and the one above is a rebore in 35/303 which I have not taken the time to shot as of yet.
In my opinion a rebarreled Ross will shoot as good as any of the military actions if the job is done properly
John

I'm impressed: I would love to find a place capable of cutting a custom stock such as the tiger-striped one with the Schnabel forend tip!
I have just the right Ross action for that conversion.
BTW, do you have the specifics of the 6.5-303 at hand?
PP. :)
 
For the 6.5/303 I used 256 newton loads to start with, the first load I used work well so have not done much experimenting since. I have a 6/303 imp now on a martini to start working out loads and of what I have read the 6mm remington is a good spot to start
John
 
I'm surprised no one has commented on the (lack of) stiffness of the Ross action.. It's down right flimsy. I wonder how much the barrel bands contributed to accuracy in these rifles?

Perhaps IMHO only, the ultimate Ross Target rifle was the Long-range .280 Single-shot- AFAIK, it had the first fully-floating barrel, and cleaned up for years at both the 1,000 and 1,200 yard (canadians only: please do your Trudeau-dictated metric conversions) competitions at Bisley pre WWI.
 
Replacement Ross Stocks

I'm impressed: I would love to find a place capable of cutting a custom stock such as the tiger-striped one with the Schnabel forend tip!
I have just the right Ross action for that conversion.
BTW, do you have the specifics of the 6.5-303 at hand?
PP. :)

I've posted this info many times in the past, but several years ago, I loaned stocks for the .280 M-10, the MkII***, the MkIII and the 1912 Cadet to an excellent timberguy - Mike Kokolus, in Dushore, Pennsylvania 570 924 3279.
For real money, not Kretchens, Mike will deliver an approx. 98% complete stock in the hardwood of your choice, needing only final finish (as long as Kanada's JBST's will let stocks through the razor-wire) Not long ago, he did a gorgeous tiger maple M-10 stock for me, and I'm toying with having a MkIII stock made up to match-
 
I've posted this info many times in the past, but several years ago, I loaned stocks for the .280 M-10, the MkII***, the MkIII and the 1912 Cadet to an excellent timberguy - Mike Kokolus, in Dushore, Pennsylvania 570 924 3279.
For real money, not Kretchens, Mike will deliver an approx. 98% complete stock in the hardwood of your choice, needing only final finish (as long as Kanada's JBST's will let stocks through the razor-wire) Not long ago, he did a gorgeous tiger maple M-10 stock for me, and I'm toying with having a MkIII stock made up to match-

I called him and he doesn't have the patterns...he only had them at the time. If you're having another made Rossguy, maybe mention what and when and then others can order them too while he has your pattern.
 
Keep in mind that if you want to fit a new barrel to a MK. III action, it will have to have a fairly large shank diameter.
 
Rossguy, which of the Ross actions do you think would be the most accurate, I know the long range rifles were built on the 1907 action and my sporters are built on the MK 3 action or the M10. I have never seen any made up sporters on the 1907 action but I think it would be interesting to see how one would work in a 6.5/303 and compare it to the MK 3 action. Have you ever had the chance to compare?
John
 
Any of the .280 Scotch Deerstalkers are no more or less than custom Sporters built up on the 1907 receiver (IMHO), which really is just a modified 1905 MkII receiver, using a bolt with multiple lugs....I believe that any of the Brit-market SDS's in particular would qualify as full-blown "customs". The better Brit houses must have bought receivers and triggers from Sir Charles, then worked from there. In my cabinets are examples by Westley-Richards, Cogswell & Harrison and others, with only the Ross receivers in common. No sense cutting up a SDS to build a custom, though. Surely the MkIII receiver would make an excellent donor, with all the bubbaguns littering up the market.BTW, both my MkI and MkII-based Ross varmint rifles used original military receivers, with the Ross-threads removed, and a larger diameter threaded hole cut to mate up a new barrel-Both are chambered in hot-rod .303:22 calibre, with Ackley 28 degree shoulders added. No reason why something like .35 wcf or .405 wcf wouldn't work, and you and I both have 35 calibre customs as well. Mine is based on the .405 case, necked down to .35- yours? It's all fun, so why not find a bubbagun to play with until your new Liberal-led gummint takes them all away?
 
Boring out and rethreading a 1905 receiver would be an interesting adventure. It would certainly make fitting a new barrel easier. The magazine could be converted to eliminate the Harris system. Might make it easier to use a non-.303 based cartridge.
In my experience, Mk. III barrels and P-14/M1917 barrels have something in common - they are in tight. If the original barrel is a scrapper, cutting a relief groove in the shoulder helps with removal.
Don Robinson in BC used to have a pattern for a generic Mk. III sporter stock. I think Wilson acquired his patterns, maybe he could rough out a semi finished sporting stock. Otherwise, a bubba'd military stock could be used to mock up the desired shape, and then used as a pattern for a carving machine.
 
There are a few businesses with carving machines. The length might be a problem. You know, it would be worth asking John Clark, Clark Industries, in Tottenham.
 
I'm surprised no one has commented on the (lack of) stiffness of the Ross action.. It's down right flimsy. I wonder how much the barrel bands contributed to accuracy in these rifles?

Remember it is a front locking action, the rest of the receiver and bolt do not bear the load, the receiver ring and bolt head do that, and they are substantial.

In "The Ross Rifle Story" there is an account of a test made by firing a .303 ball cartridge in a .280 Ross. The action held. I believe the pressures were about 60,000 psi. est. This also happened accidentally on at least one occasion where the barrel was reportedly bulged, but not burst and the bolt held.

On the other hand, there are eight cases listed in the Ross Rifle Story of M10 .280 rifles 'self-opening' or blowing back and injuring or killing the shooter. In most of those cases the bolts were reportedly incorrectly assembled, but this is not confirmed in all cases. There were other cases that were not detailed in the book because information could not be found.

The 1907 .280 "Scotch Deer Stalker', is not recorded as having blown back at any time AFAIK.

Worth checking very carefully before firing any Ross to ensure that the bolt is correctly assembed. If the bolt sleeve is properly pinned, it should be impossible for the bolt to be misassembled.
 
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