Ross ####-Please add your pics!

[Maritime Marksman]

One of my 1905's restored with parts from Lorne at Ross Rifle Restorations.

 

[Sharps45-70]

Lovely rifle! Great to see these photos in this thread! I have a Mk II** with that sight base on it; it was obviously not a commonly sold item as it is the only one (besides yours Sharps45-70) that I have seen. One question for you: I see the colour of the topwood on your rifle doesn't match the bottom super well, which is unusual. Have you had the top wood off yours? Does your lower stock have some grooves cut into the inside suggesting it might have originally had the two piece topwood, and does your serial number have a "2" under it?

Cheers

Ed

Hi Ed, sorry for the late reply. The MkII** Target was a relatively common rifle they sold, but still rare. A recent auction had 6-7 up for sale all at once, and there were several variants advertised in Ross catalogues at the time so they can be had from time to time.

I have had the top wood off because I wondered that myself. It is the earliest known serial number for a target model. It should have had the two piece top with a barrel sight. This rifle is wearing a factory installed "2" barrel, which means it was rebarreled at some point. Around 1911, they changed bore diameters slightly, so I expect it went back for a rebarrel, and it also received the later style single piece top wood. The lower stock still has the grooves for the four seperate clips.

 

[Sharps45-70]

Nice rifle Maritime, Lorne does good work.

 

[SKS Bitten]

Stumbled onto this great thread. I now got the Ross fever when I thought no more guns. I would love to get a non bubba'd Ross M10.

 

[Eagleye]

My 1910 Ross was "hunted" last fall, and I took a nice whitetail at about 85 yards.
The thing is deadly with the new barrel. I am very pleased with it.

 

[apu]

Recent acquisition from Switzer auction a really nice example of all original unmolested military 1905 MKII. The chamber throat, barrel and crown look amazing.

Much thanks to jtaylor a very kind member on this forum for the research on the butt stock markings, which make the rifle all that much more interesting:

"Its an early Mk II with Mk III rear sight as the sight was first put on in Oct.1907. This rifle model was made up to early 1910
and had minor part changes throughout. Mostly cocking piece/firing pin but also
extractor and lower band. There is no date stamp when converted to Mk II 3* - just
the 3* added near the Mk II."

This particular rifle was first issued to the number 5 company(Ottawa) of CASC (Canadian army Service Corps) as rifle no. 78 on
5/14 (May, 1914). By the summer of 1914 the CASC had a strength of 3000 personnel in eighteen companies. Most of these folks were shipped to England by the early fall and further to France the following year. During World War I, the CASC provided a horse drawn logistical support element for each Canadian Division. With the introduction of motorized vehicles, the CASC carried commodities of a greater range and of greater weights. Motorized transportation also resulted in expanded responsibilities such as driving ambulances and engineer pontoon vehicles, carrying all natures of ammunition, and mobile repair and recovery.

It appears this rifle was last issued to the 1072 Cadet Corps in Feb. 1923 as rifle No. 22.

 

[Paul_1982]

 

[KiloOneSeven]

Huot Automatic Rifle, serial No. 2, now on display in the Officers' mess of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, Vancouver.

 

[Goo98]

Here is another stock made by Lorne, front barrel band and sight hood also.

 

[Bartok5]

Here is my minty, all original M10 purchased decades ago from the personal collection of the founder of Wolverine Supplies Ltd.

 

[flying pig]

Sporters allowed? Here’s a few of mine. My Ross collecting has really targeted Factory Sporters this go ‘round. I’d like to acquire more military rifles in the future.

 

[Ax.338]

Good start Brandon. Thanks for sharing.

 

[flying pig]

Thanks Ax! I’ve been bit by the bug again, hard. Really loving these old girls again.

 

[gordonlbyrne]

Haven’t seen you around in a while good to see your doing good and still in the game

 

[flying pig]

It’s good to be back. Took most of a decade away from it to realize I missed it. Was pretty heart broken after selling most of my collection to go back to school. Then a divorce happened, took a couple years to recover. Now, I’m back better than ever.

Great to hear from you too!

 

[flying pig]

Couple more fresh acquisitions: a Home Guard MkIII, and a MkII** Commercial.

 

[gordonlbyrne]

Wow Brandon couple of beautiful rifles there for sure ,tell us more about these pieces of history.

 

[flying pig]

Well, the II** is a mid production serial number with one piece upper wood and no barrel sight. For a rifle with this serial number it should be a rework to have these features but it doesn’t have the Ross rebarrel number stamped with the serial so I’m not sure it is a rework. It may have left the factory like it is.

The MkIII may be the high serial number for the lower serial block recorded for HG MkIIIs. This rifle shoots absolutely fantastic, as good as any of my modern target rifles. It shoots better than I can hold, for sure. I was making 16” plate hits at 465m with 35-40km/hr side winds the other day with it. It really is a great representative of the best of MkIII production. They were finished on the commercial line and it shows.

The B of M Homeguard mark, does anyone have info on it? It was mentioned to me that it’s a well known mark, but I’m not finding anything on them.

 

[Ax.338]

Bank of Montreal I believe.

Couple of nice ones there, Brandon.

 

[flying pig]

Thanks Ax. Bank of Montreal was my assumption, but I cannot find anything to support it. Did the bank own the rifles I wonder? The other example that sold at Great North a while back was in similar condition, lots of handling marks and surface wear/tear. Mine is immaculate internally though.