Ross rifle (Sort of)

treebutcher

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Hi

I bought an old Ross rifle without wood for 50$ back close to 20 years ago and it has been sitting in my gun cabinet since. I don't know much about it but there are not a lot of markings on outside of the top of the action and the side of the barrel. I would like to restore her to a reasonable shoot-able state. The bore and bluing look real good. In my quest I picked up a bayonet blade and a barrel band so far. Still a long way to go:)

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It's a Ross Mk III military action. Barrel should be 30 1/2" long. Many were shortened. Many were shot out, worn out, dark bores.

If it has an original length, shiny, bright barrel, may be worth spending some $ on it. But looking for parts for them is not very rewarding.
 
Wood will be the hard part for sure, also it looks like the rear sight is missing also. But with patience you may be able to get her all back together.

I own a MkIII just like yours and it is an awesome shooter, and in my opinion yours would be well worth trying to restore!
 
Mark III (Model of 1910) it is.

Can you provide some in-focus photos? We can tell a lot more from good shots.

Bolt LOOKS to have been Pinned, which is GOOD.

Rear sights are found at gun shows, $5 and UP. They need their Spring and Screw as well as the Pin.

ALL threads on the Ross are made to American standards: no strange threads from the Black Forest or anything.

Restore this one and you have a century-old rifle which will outshoot most modern ones.

Bubba'd stocks are out there; you can start with one and work from there.

Hardest part to find is the NOSE CAP.

Good luck!
 
I tried to get a few better pictures. The barrel is 30 1/4" from the muzzle to the action, good sign. The bore looks good far better than some 20 year old rifles I have seen. I'm leaning towards fixing her up. I did try to get a picture of the bore but that is beyond my skill.

 
Excuse me if I repeat myself again and again, but the best and quickest way to get the 100 years of crud and the black (mag) and silver (bolt) paint off this rifle is Easy Off oven cleaner. Buy the pump bottle, not the spray bomb, unless you'd like to experience Gas-Warfare-Lite2013© or feel that your bronchial passages need a good cleaning out also! :D

Strip the rifle down, to the bare barreled action, put all the small parts in your wife's favorite stainless steel kitchen strainer and spray generously with oven cleaner. I admit the ejector is a B to remove so I usually don't bother, just pay particular attention to washing out, drying and lubing after.

Wear proper eye protection and rubber or vinyl gloves; this stuff is caustic soda (aka sodium hydroxide)

Spray lots down the barrel too, it will take a lot to fill that long barrel. Lots in the breech around the threads too.

Now wait 20 minutes, take an old tooth brush and scrub all the cracks and crevices well. Be warned, the brush will make the stuff splatter so dress appropriately and choose your location well.

If you have a rod and bore brush, now's the time to give the bore a good brushing out. You should get lots of purple goop out: old copper deposits and who knows what else.

Wash off in very hot water, brush out the bore and rinse repeatedly. Old milsurps usually have layers and layers of deposits and corrosive primer salts built up in the bore.

Blow off with compressed air, heat gun, hair dryer WHY, or put it on top of the wood stove and let dry. Run a dry patch or two down the bore ASAP.

You can use a propane torch if you're careful as well. Get it just hot enough that no more moisture comes out. Stay away from springs or thin parts with the torch.

Spray generously with your favorite gun lubricant and wipe down.

You now have a rifle as clean as it ever was since it left the factory.

Excuse me if it seems like I'm insulting your intelligence, not intended.;)

Take some good before and after shots maybe?
 
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In order to shoot it, the easiest stock to find would be an unrestorable sported one. As a matter of fact, I have one that you can have for the postage. It is cut in front of the band (could be spliced), but has an old recoil pad on it. With the butt trimmed for the pad, it isn't a reasonable restoration candidate. Send a PM with your mailing address if you want it.
 
I'd take Tiriaq up on that offer if I were you! Full length barrel in good shape, well worth messing with.

I did and thanks Tiriaq. I may have a line on a rear sight. I would love to get a chance to run a few rounds through her and see how she works.
 
I just got some wood on the old girl (Thanks again Tiriaq for the stock.). My front band fits so I'm starting to get somewhere. I'm going to put an improvised cross bolt in the stock and see if I can get to the range this weekend. I'm not much of a target shooter so we will see if I can get minute of tin can out of her.
 
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I made up a cross bolt and put a few rounds down range. It works like a top I had one time the feed was a little sticky but no big deal. I do have a question about the rear sight mine seams a little sloppy, is there any way to tighten it up or should I leave it along so I can blame it when I miss? i should specify the worm gear is loose at the top and bottom
 
I made up a cross bolt and put a few rounds down range. It works like a top I had one time the feed was a little sticky but no big deal. I do have a question about the rear sight mine seams a little sloppy, is there any way to tighten it up or should I leave it along so I can blame it when I miss? i should specify the worm gear is loose at the top and bottom

The sight frame is the spring that tensions the shaft, so if the shaft is loose, take it out and carefully bend the top of the frame up a hair. Might be a good idea to measure before and after so you can see the change. When you refit the shaft, the top of the frame needs to be compressed downwards slightly. If the temper of the frame is good, it should spring OK. It's easier to do with the sight off the rifle, but then fitting the sight axis pin is a bit of a bugger too. A tiny C clamp or an machinist's Jorgensen clamp could be used under the sight bridge to compress the top of the frame if you don't want to take the sight out.
 
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