Ross questions, not 56k friendly

[aric84]

So I finally found a nice Ross M10 that was in good shape ready to fire. I'm trying to learn about it but not really finding any definite information... I'm not sure If the rifle started life as a sporter or a military rifle. Here is what I can tell you about it:

-The stock has some decent checkering on it, not 100% perfect but certainly beyound bubba's skill for sure, looks good.
- stock is nicely crafted, comfortable and solid, but the pistol grip looks different from factory sporters I have seen online, rounded at the bottom.
- bolt is unpinned
- no S/N that I can see
-.303 brit calibre
-barrel looks to have been shortened a bit, it's a fairly heavy profile and has nice deep bluing
-the front sight is a blade I picked up to replace the one that was missing, rear sight is the military type.
-3 position bolt catch, not sure what the difference between the up and down positions is.


It's overall in great condition, only thing I am thinking of doing it getting the barrel recrowned since it is just flush cut and there are some fine tool marks. What do the experts think? I'll try and get more pics up when photobucket feels like letting me upload again...

 

[cantom]

Someone did a nice, tasteful job of modifying a military Mk III Ross into a sporter.

Pretty rifle.

The lever on the left is the magazine cutoff and bolt removal lever. Bottom- mag is cut off and you single load. Middle, bolt can be removed. Top, repeater.

BTW, make sure the bolt is assembled correctly and that it rotates into lockup as it is pushed forward.

If the hole is up and your thumb can fit between the sleeve and bolt head, then it should be good.

 

[aric84]

I've checked the bolt several times and it looks to be fine, I can feel it camming, the gas port is facing up, and if I look carefully I can the the lugs turning counter clockwise into the locking position.

Going to be shooting her tomorrow. Probably going to shoot way low because I picked up a .500 tall front sight so that I could trim it down until I'm zeroed at 100 yards with the sight flipped down.

Overall, even though its a sporter, I have to tip my hat to the person who did the work, they did an excellent job compared to most. Other than a couple of unfinished/shallow spots on the checkering, I would have guessed it to be a commercial stock.

 

[smellie]

^&%^&%%#@#^& v-Bulletin did it AGAIN!

Logged me out, locked me out, made me sign in again and then it ATE my freakin' post!!! FOUR times now; I'm just about ready to give up on this.

Now to point:
1. Barrel looks a bit light to me. Wish I had the rifle here to measure.

2. Stock is NOT an Army rework; it is a VERY nice piece of commercial work.

3. Square cut-off at the muzzle was popular with some people, including quite a number of target shooters back then. I have the same square-cut muzzle on a Mark II*** Match rifle and on a commercial 1910 sporter with a lightweight barrel. Military insisted on the proper crown to protect the rifling, as they knew the rifles were going to get bashed around.

4. Ross Battle Aperture Sight required a special rear receiver bridge, which you have. Your bridge is not a converted flat-top sporter bridge. Also, some people back then actually realised that a quick reload was very possible with chargers and required the charger-guides.

5. In short, I'm not certain of the military parentage of this rifle. That said;
(a) it's a beautiful piece of work,
(b) you're a lucky guy, and
(c) I hope it shoots just as good as it looks.

This one's a keeper for sure.

Congrats.... and happy Ross Rifling!

 

[H Wally]

Aric - that's a pretty ross you have there. A cut above the regular sportered guns.

Cantom - you know, I never knew that's why the bolt release could go up and down.... I'm going to have to check that out tomorrow.... I always just kept it flipped up because that's where the recess is for it, while down it's kind of just sticking out. Very interesting.

 

[Rossguy]

If only some of you would spend a few dollars on books about the Ross Rifle before you spent money on a rifle itself, you'd know if you were buying an M-10 (which was the quality Commercial Sporter chambered only in .280 Ross) or a butchered MkIII Military rifle after Bubba finished with it......
Smellie:-In over fifty years of collecting and studying Ross, I've never seen or even heard of a MkII*** Match rifle-any hope of you posting a jpeg or two of it?

 

[aric84]

you'd know if you were buying an M-10 (which was the quality Commercial Sporter chambered only in .280 Ross) or a butchered MkIII Military rifle after Bubba finished with it......

That's where I was getting confused, mine is clearly marked m10, but is 100% .303 brit.

Barrel looks a bit light to me. Wish I had the rifle here to measure.

I'd have to say that the barrell is close to 3/4 inches at the muzzle, definitely not a light contour.

I tried playing with the bolt catch and I can see how the down position stops the bolt from coming back all the way and picking up a new cartridge from the magazine. Interesting method.

I'm hoping that my luck keeps up and my chamber is in good shape on this girl, I dropped a fireformed case from my No.4 with a good chamber(hasn't split a case after almost 10 reloads) and it dropped about 3/4 of the way in before stopping. Looks like it might not be reamed. Be nice if it's easy on brass.

 

[cantom]

That's where I was getting confused, mine is clearly marked m10, but is 100% .303 brit.



I'd have to say that the barrell is close to 3/4 inches at the muzzle, definitely not a light contour.

I tried playing with the bolt catch and I can see how the down position stops the bolt from coming back all the way and picking up a new cartridge from the magazine. Interesting method.

I'm hoping that my luck keeps up and my chamber is in good shape on this girl, I dropped a fireformed case from my No.4 with a good chamber(hasn't split a case after almost 10 reloads) and it dropped about 3/4 of the way in before stopping. Looks like it might not be reamed. Be nice if it's easy on brass.

How's the bore on her? Many are shot out and dark...when you find a nice, shiny, clean bore with new looking rifling, it's bonus for sure.

When new, that rifle had a 30 1/2" long barrel.

There's little point trying to change anything...enjoy a nicely sporterized Ross!

 

[cosmic]

Well - its definitely a military action. As far as the stock goes, who knows.. Regardless, its well done, and should offer you satisfaction. Some of the military conversions are exceedingly well done. I have a sported Mark II **** that is very nice. Whoever did it spent a lot of time on it. I suspect most of these were done by 'smiths years ago, when labour was cheap and hardware was expensive.

 

[aric84]

Bore is good, shiny with some light pitting troughout. Cleaning patches managed to come out clean after about an hour of cleaning. Rifling is still sharp and bonus is that my cast bullets are almost a perfect fit for her, going to give those a shot later.

I just loaded up for 150 grain hornady's over 44gr of H335 and shot almost into an inch with the open sights with 4 shots during sight in, needless to say I am very impressed. I'd post a pic of the target, but it's a bit busy with all of the sight in shots, and I almost covered the group with another batch of rounds I assumed(wrongly) would hit lower.

Think I did well for $275