Ross Rifle: What's it worth?

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swampdog

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I'm thinking of buying a WW 1 Ross Rifle to go with a bayonet that a friend passed on to me. (I know, that sounds kind of backwards, but ...)

What should I have to pay for a Ross rifle in its original configuration (not sporterized, etc), in reasonable condition? I did come across a nice one, with lots of CEF and British markings, for $900. Someone who has owned a few of these told me that was too high a price. Me, I don't know.

Any help with this will be appreciated.
 
swampdog said:
I'm thinking of buying a WW 1 Ross Rifle to go with a bayonet that a friend passed on to me. (I know, that sounds kind of backwards, but ...)

What should I have to pay for a Ross rifle in its original configuration (not sporterized, etc), in reasonable condition? I did come across a nice one, with lots of CEF and British markings, for $900. Someone who has owned a few of these told me that was too high a price. Me, I don't know.

Any help with this will be appreciated.
Click to expand...

A Mark II or Mark III? $1200 is not unheard of.

I'm looking for a Mark II.
 
The one I found is from 1916 or 1917, at least that is the CEF date on the stock. What MK would that most likely be? Thanks.
 
I'd agree with JRW...

If you can find a Mk III, in full military trim AND with the stock markings still in place for under $1,000, grab it. The bayonet alone is worth more than $150.

Mark IIs in full trim w/ markings are even harder to come by in my experience, and therefore would be a bit pricier. Lots of variation in these in their production history, though, so more details/pictures of the rifle in question would help.

Don't know how familiar you are with the various Marks of the Ross, but below is a picture of my .303 Rosses.

IMG_9855.jpg


Top is a Mark II 5* - 1910
Bottom is a Mark III - 1916
 
The bayonet is not included, but I do have two Ross Bayonets, including one in nice condition.

This rifle seems to have pretty much every marking imaginable on it, including several sets of dates and various British proof and nitro markings. As someone who looked at it with me said, "there's a history written on that gun."

Can someone tell me what calibre this should be in? One guy looking at it with me said it could be any one of three or four variations of .303. I heard that they often underwent calibre modification. How can I tell the calibre, as it only says 303 on it?
 
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If you want to know the history of the rifle, you are going to have to post pictures of ALL markings on it. Especcially the markings on the right side of the butt stock, and the barrel / receiver area.

Without good clear pictures, trying to describe the markings accurately is like mind reading -----and we are Gun Nutz, not mind readers, ----even if someone has one.

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Here are a few pictures, including of some markings. It also has other markings, but some of those consist of initials lightly scratched into the stock, etc. This rifle is so long that it doesn't really fit into one picture.

Looking forward to hearing what anyone can tell about the rifle and its history from the pictures!



 
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The rifle is a Ross Military Mark III rifle. The serial number is 983/1916 LO. (Not sure on the last letter due to impressed wood in pix.) It has the standard Canadian rear sight. If this sight has a "HWC" in a circle on the side of the sight ladder, it was made by Cooey

The Butt Stock indicates it was issued to the Royal Canadian Engineers. (and others) It also has English commercial proof marks on it indicating that it was sold for export sometime after WWI.

The Bolt is not the original bolt, but has been exchanged for one from a batch of rifles issued to the British Royal Marines.

Is there a pin in the top of the bolt. A picture of the top of the bolt would be nice, also pictures of the top of the barrel / receiver and right side of the barrel / receiver.

The reason we ask for specific areas in a photograph is that at periods of time, modifications were done that can help date the rifle. The example of the pin in the bolt is one of these modifications.
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Thanks for the information, everyone. Does the non-original bolt devalue the gun much? Or is that type of swap quite common?

Here are a few more pics of the bolt and sight area. I hope these help.









 
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With the additional pictures, we can now deduce that the rear sight is a Ross made factory rear sight and not a Cooey one.

The rifle was sold for surplus AFTER WWII. Many of these rifles were sent to England when WWII began, and were used as armament for the Home Guard and secondary units while the British Small Arms industry were trying to catch up production.

After WWII these rifles, along with other rifles and equipment was sold as Surplus to the "Trade." That is, to the smaller gun factories in England, who converted them to "Sporters" for export. Some were sent to India. It seems that not a lot of care was done to match bolts to rifles on a lot of these rifles.

As the British Commercial proof marks are on the rifle, I am a bit cautious on giving an opinion as to whether the stock is original to this particular action. Ross rifles were marked at the factory with the serial number on the butt stock, and not on the metal, so there is not an easy way of tying one particular action and barrel to a particular stock. Many have been exchanged over the years, and we see many examples on this fourm of people looking for wood to put a sporterized rifle back to a semblance of original condition.

Go to Milsurps.com for a lot more information on the Ross and other rifles. Pay particular attention to the bolt assembly and disassembly as, even with the pin modification, it IS possible to assemble a bolt wrong. This results in the bolt not fully closing and turning the locking lugs fully closed, with the results when the rifle is fired, the bolt can come back and injure the shooter.
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Quit teasing. If you don't want it, I do! Rosses are tough to come by, and while that is a high price, it is also a pretty nice example. I'll give you a grand, or trade my 1941 M97 trenchgun for it.
 
I did end up buying it after the first few responses to my first post yesterday morning, which is why I have it on hand to take the pictures. It came out of an estate sale and I'm under the impression that the former owner had it for a long time. By the looks of it, it has not been monkeyed with as far as swapping the stocks, etc., or at least not recently.

Can you tell from the pictures whether the bolt has been pinned? I did find a lengthy article on cleaning and reassembly of the bolt, so I need to go through that too.
 
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