Ross Rifle Complete Action, What to do???

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bryan.14

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Hi all,

I have this old Ross Rilfe Action and have no idea what to do with it.Its marked 1910 Ross. I'm not a gunsmith, but I was told to find a .303 enfield barrel for it.

Will an Enfield barrel fit?

Are the original barrels for it?

Should I try and find parts to restore it?

Thanks in Advance!
 
A Lee Enfield barrel cannot be fitted to a 1910 Ross receiver.
A P14 barrel might have enough meat at the breech to be adapted. There is no great supply of P14 barrels.
There are no new original replacement barrels.
There are used salvaged barrels. Whether you could find one with a bore good enough to justify using is anyone's guess.
There are 'smiths who have installed new commercial barrels. This would not be an inexpensive option.
If the cartridge is other than .303 based, feed from the magazine is going to be problematic.
Stock options are limited.
 
As tiriaq said, there are a list of roadblocks to that project. Personally I would sell it as a parts action and put the money into a sportered Ross, if I just had to have one.
 
Ross action

Mike Webb said:
As tiriaq said, there are a list of roadblocks to that project. Personally I would sell it as a parts action and put the money into a sportered Ross, if I just had to have one.
Click to expand...

A sporterized Ross M-10 complete shootable rifle can be bought on the EE, usually in the $200 range. This is about half of what the barrel alone would cost to have installed on your action, not to mention all the other parts you would have to buy if you could find them.

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The last sported Mk. III Ross that I bought was an ex-HG, which cost about $100 all in. There is one at Accuracy Plus in P'boro for $199 at present.
Obtunded did mention is passing the possibility of having Kreiger make some replacement Mk. III barrels. IF these ever became available, and IF good replacement stocks were made, it would be possible to assemble a fine shooting rifle. But it wouldn't be cheap.
Generally speaking, Ross projects are best done either as do-it-yourself, or as a relief for chronic backpain caused by poor posture resulting from an overly thick wallet.
 
Very true, gentlemen, if we are being practical or if we are trying to assemble something to duplicate an original military rifle.

But if we want something which will turn heads more than a bit, I can't think of anything much better than a 7mmRM on a 1910 action or (even better from my point of view) a nice new .280 Ross on a .276/.284 barrel so new commercial slugs can be used without raising the spectre of the semi-mythical .287 Ross bullet (which was actually used only on the experimental .28 cartridge). It would cost a LOT of bucks but it would/could be a nice rifle. It all depends on how big your income-tax return might be.

But to build up an "original" rifle, the gentlemen above are quite right.

On the other hand, the barrel thread IS a standard V-type 60-degree buttress thread which can be cut in just about any competent machine-shop.....

But I digress.

I also tend to blither a lot.

But I do like Rosses.
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If I was going to build a nice sporting rifle on a Ross, I'd skip that and jut pick up a .280 Ross in nice condition (which I did) - best way to go, really. Figure somewhere between $1000 and $2000 for a decent one, depending mostly on condition. If you can find one already drilled and tapped, you won't feel guilty about adding optics.

Some will shoot standard .284 bullets just fine. In my case, I use a forming die to swage up soft points to .287 - works well enough for big game hunting.

If I still wanted to go ahead with a custom, I'd look for a 1905 action as the M-10 action is far less elegant in sporter trim.

YMMV.
 
Pretty sure Mk. III/1910 threads are square, not V. I'll check when I go to the shop in a few minutes. Will post nominal dimensions. A large shanked blank is needed for a Ross rebarrel. Just like a P14.
A Mk. II action is sleeker for a sporter. Actions tend to be very smooth as well. A salvaged II** would be the one to use - they don't have the strange left hand quick twist take the barrel off without tools thread.
I have a takeoff Mk. II (odd thread) barrel with a badly washed bore. I've often thought that it would be good rebored to .35 for .35/.303, and installed on one of my 1905 factory sporters. Would duplicate one of the .35 Winchesters Ross made. Mk. II barrels ARE easy to change.
 
1905 was available as a factory sporter in .35 Winchester, which you can fake from .30-40 Krag brass or make from .405 Win brass, available once again thankfully. Cleaning out the bore would be a good excuse to clean out the chamber, too, then you would have a semi-custom moose-flattener at your disposal.

Yes, the 1910 thread isn't really a V: it has a flat top, bottom. Lot of oilfield equipment using the same thread, so it's not hard to find guys who can cut it. Sixteen tpi. Ross used US standards on all his threads.... except that left-hand semi-buttress 1-turn-in-1/3-of-an-inch jobbie on the 1905 barrel. You look at that and you know a really good reason to buy a jug of Lakka!
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I definitely wouldn't buy a custom barrel etc...there was a member on here that had had one built like that, tried for years to sell it on the EE for something approaching what he had into it...not sure if there was ever a taker.
I think it had a Bevan King barrel and custom stock. For sure it was like new.

For Ross collectors, originality is everything. As soon as you change one thing...

...then you're into the hunters who would be willing to use an older rifle like that. Not so many of them unless it's cheap.


tiriaq said:
The last sported Mk. III Ross that I bought was an ex-HG, which cost about $100 all in. There is one at Accuracy Plus in P'boro for $199 at present.
Obtunded did mention is passing the possibility of having Kreiger make some replacement Mk. III barrels. IF these ever became available, and IF good replacement stocks were made, it would be possible to assemble a fine shooting rifle. But it wouldn't be cheap.
Generally speaking, Ross projects are best done either as do-it-yourself, or as a relief for chronic backpain caused by poor posture resulting from an overly thick wallet.
Click to expand...
 
OK, dug out a takeoff Mk. III barrel, here are some measurements taken with a digital caliper:
Major diameter at the shoulder: 1.306
Shank length: .715
Thread major diameter: 1.120
12 tpi, square.
Threads and grooves are about .04 wide.
The first thread is turned off, 1.065 diameter by .125.
There is a counterbore on the breech face .060 deep, tapered edges, .800 and .730 across.
The extractor cut on the right side is .500 wide at the outside, .375 at the chamber, .120 deep. The cut is asymetrical. The lower edge curves in toward the chamber less than the upper.
Duplicating this shank would take greater effort than machining a Mauser, Remington, etc. Similar to a P-14 or M1917, though.
Any custom build on a Ross would have to be a labour of love.
 
Seen an article on a pre-war mauser sporter in .303 with a shot out bore [Rigby?] the new owner /Ken Waters had re-bored to .303/.338 and shot 200gr out of retaining the original markings..........
 
Oh, definitely a labour of love; you'd absolutely never get your money back.

Be fun, though.

@tiriaq: thanks for measurements. I can't get them because mine are all together!

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Thanks again for all the information!

You say the barrel is similar to the 1914/1917 model Enfields?

Would it have to be professionally fitted? Or just screwed in?

If it was a .30-06 barrel, would the bolt need to be altered to have the .30-06 cartridges fit in the chamber?

Also, what would a fair price be for a Ross Mk III action?
 
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the bolt head wont take 30-06, but i bet it will take any of the 375 H&H based magnums with perhaps just a bit of filing of the extractor.
im not sure what the maximum OAL the action will take, but i have considered making a short magnum wildcat in 7mm to approximate the 280 ross for the same reason
 
The action length is not the issue. It is the magazine. The Mk. III .303 magazine does not lend itself to adaptation to non-.303 based rounds.
Any barrel other than a Ross barrel is going to have to be machined to fit, then installed and headspaced. A P-14 barrel is similar in that it has a large diameter shank and square threads. Different barrel, though. Many barrel blanks are not large enough in diameter to work well with a Ross.
Any action that turns up will be one salvaged from a spoiled rifle. Most of the Rosses you see are bubba'd, and quite inexpensive.
Rosses aren't that easy to work on. Getting the old barrel off one can be a misery. If the barrel is scrap, a relief groove can be cut around the shoulder.
 
Somewhere around here, I have a thin book titled "Sir Charles Ross and His Rifle."

- I recall it being a good read, the man's last living words being "Get the Hell out!"
 
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