Ross rifles safe to hunt with?

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SaskGun

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i have heard many cases where a ross rifle bolt was not properly closed and it caused the bolt to fly back and injure the shooter. i was wondering are bolt action ross rifles safe to use when hunting or should i use a savage instead?

thanks for replies


people call me a troll because i ask questions.
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I have a straight pull M95M Budapest Mauser and you can feel the action lock when you close the bolt, if the bolt is hard to close and open I would shoot away if you want a definitive answer take it to a gun smith and have it checked out.
 
If they're fine to shoot, they should be fine for hunting, aren't they?
Just make sure the bolt head is correctly inserted into the bolt body. A pinned bolt body would also be safe to shoot. Many of us shoot these rifles without any harm. The rifle must be in good, shootable condition, of course.

If you don't know for sure if the bolt head is correctly assembled, you can pull the bolt head out and measure from the rear of the bolt head to the front of the bolt body, the shank portion of the bolt head sould measure about 1.00"

See picture below;

20120710_152504.jpg


If in doubt, see a competent gunsmith who KNOWS about Rosses.
Enjoy.
 
You have been given good advice here,if you have the slightest suspicion about the rifle's condition please have it checked over for your own peace of mind.One of my early rifles was a 1910 Ross .303 in original military configuration,in really nice shape,that was pretty accurate with iron sights and would have certainly been a menace to just about anything on four legs at reasonable ranges.I only used it for hunting a couple of times because I found it a bit unwieldy in the bush,but it was a nice shooting rifle for sure.
 
I have heard bad things about these, and they are not "loveable" in my eyes, so I just don't bother with them! I sold the bunch that that came in the estate sale that we bought! They are all yours, I wish you well and good luck with them. No offence intended at all.
 
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These rumours have a ridiculous life of thier own. Some NWMP officer was hurt wwwaaayy back when he reassembled a Ross rifle bolt improperly. A screw or rivet was introduced on later versions to address this issue. As a tight tolerance target rifle it performed poorly in the muddy trenches of Europe in WW1 and was replaced with rifles of better function. However Canadian snipers kept these for thier own duties. Henry Norwest used one exclusively. Do you think the Russians would have used these rifle actions for Olympic competition if they were a truly dangerous item?

an ancient rumour that refuses to die........like the sasquatch!
 
The Ross Mk. III/M-10 could have its bolt assembly incorrectly asssembled so that the bolt would not rotate to locked position.
This could not be done with earlier models like the Mk. I which failed during Mounted Police use. That was a defective rifle. The Mk. I had serious problems. Or with the Mk. II rifles. If the bolt has two lugs, it cannot be mis-assembled..
The rivet alteration was introduced during WW2, and applied to some Mk. III rifles that were still in use for training.
For a rifle to be placed in the dangerous condition, the bolt assembly must be manipulated to create the situation, while out of the rifle. It cannot just happen. When a Mk. III action is being closed, the bolt can be observed to rotate to locked.
There are extensive photo spreads here and elsewhere.
If a bolt is mis-configured, the rifle may fire unlocked. It may also misfire. It may take more than one try to get it to fire unlocked.
Ross rifles were chambered for Cdn. manufactured issue ball ammunition. Some British contract ammunition early in the war had thick rims. It jammed rifles and machineguns. Both the Ross and the Lee Enfield had their chamber dimensions revised. It was standard practice for Canadian machinegunners using the Colt Browning machinegun to run every last cartridge through the T slot of a breechblock before loading the rounds into the belts.
Ross rifles are safe to shoot, provided the shooter has some really basic knowledge about how the rifle works.
 
I've got a typical sporter that I would definitely hunt with.

I think they're great rifles, and I'd snap up another, if used prices on the EE hadn't gone batshizt crazy on them in the last year or so...
 
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I was given one when I was 14 in 1967 and shot my first several deer with it and I'm still here to tell the tale.
 
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The problem is with the 1910 Ross rifle that has the multiple locking lugs. The bolt head can be assembled incorrectly. If this happens, only about 1/7 of the locking lugs are engaged and there is a good chance of the bolt flying back on firing.

A correctly assembled bolt has about 1 inch of space between the rear of the locking lugs and the bolt carrier. If it has only about 1/4 inch, it has been assembled wrong.

You can easily check for bolt lug engagement on a Ross by using a small flashlight. With the bolt open, close the bolt while shining the light into the rear of the receiver and watch the bolt lugs rotate. If they rotate and lock fully, then you are good to go. If they only rotate slightly and you can see a lot of the rear of the bolt lug exposed, you have a problem.
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Ross.png

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Great pics!

In addition to that, you can watch the bolt head rotate from the rear. If it doesn't rotate, DO NOT USE THE RIFLE!

I have an unpinned M1910. I purposely tried to put the bolt together wrong. It can be done. It's not easy, but possible.

They are very strong rifles when in good working order and assembled properly. Quite accurate too.

The issue with mine, (303Br Military version) as with many others, it shoots a foot high at a hundred yards. I must get around to building a new front sight some day.
 
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