Sported Ross rifles

I have 2 M1910 factory Sporters, one with a 26-inch tube, the other a 24.

YES, the Ross was made in calibre .35 Winchester. This is a .405 case necked to a .35: powerful juju. At least one still exists (in Lahore, believe it or not) in this calibre, a 1905 factory Sporter which was sold originally by Alex Martin, Glasgow, who were agents for the Ross Rifle. My shooting partner for many years was Alex Martin's nephew, described for me a tour he took of the shop in 1948.

BTW, I am willing to cry, whine and snivel ANY time it will get me another Ross. I'll even throw in a temper tantrum with kicking the floor if the rifle in question happens to be a .280!

Rosses are just FINE: possibly the single GREATEST bolt rifle ever made.
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buffdog

I think I know the other feature you are referring to, to identify factory sporter rifles.

If it is what I think, I have also seen this on other Rosses that were not considered sporters.
 
smellie said:
I have 2 M1910 factory Sporters, one with a 26-inch tube, the other a 24.

YES, the Ross was made in calibre .35 Winchester. This is a .405 case necked to a .35: powerful juju. At least one still exists (in Lahore, believe it or not) in this calibre, a 1905 factory Sporter which was sold originally by Alex Martin, Glasgow, who were agents for the Ross Rifle. My shooting partner for many years was Alex Martin's nephew, described for me a tour he took of the shop in 1948.

BTW, I am willing to cry, whine and snivel ANY time it will get me another Ross. I'll even throw in a temper tantrum with kicking the floor if the rifle in question happens to be a .280!

Rosses are just FINE: possibly the single GREATEST bolt rifle ever made.
.
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There must be a few kicking around still, they were listed in the catalogue as available in .35. Perhaps a few went to Africa, as the .405 and .35 were used there to a small degree at least compared to the more popular British rounds.
Back in the early 20th century the American gun writer Ned Crossman was of the same opinion as you, he said the 1910 Ross sporting rifle in .280 was his personal favourite hunting rifle of all. High praise from an American and PO'd the Springfield crowd to no end.
 
There are also the rifles assembled from left over parts after WW1. These might not be true to form.
I have a 1905R with a badly worn barrel, and a Mk. II barrel with a poor bore. I have long thought that it would be interesting to have the service barrel rebored to .35, chambering it to .35/.303. This would simulate the .35 Winchester to a degree. M1905 barrels are so easy to change, it would be an easy conversion.
One of my 1905R rifles is in about as nice condition as one could expect for a near century old rifle. Oddly enough, it has the enlarged chamber. Smellie and buffdog - I obtained it from Southern Manitoba, poached it, so to speak. I wonder if it was one of the ones retailed by the HBC?
A 1910R in my collection is just about new - except some twit got some rust on the barrel, and attacked it with sandpaper. One of these days I will carefully repolish the barrel and hot water blue it.
Incidentally, if anyone were to stumble across a 1910E rear sight.....
 
You mean the 3 leaf express sight?
Wow...I wonder where you'd ever find one. :(
You pretty well have to find these parts on another rifle.


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Incidentally, if anyone were to stumble across a 1910E rear sight.....
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For those who have a shot out bore, it would be fairly easy to have the rifle rebored to a larger calibre. As mentioned, the .35 calibre would duplicate one of the original Ross cartridges.

Another consideration might be the .338 calibre. In one of the Wolfe books, ( think it was "Big Bore Rifle Cartridges",) there was a write up on a fine old British sporting rifle in .303 British calibre with a shot out bore that was rebored to .338. The reason was that the owner did not want to have a new barrel made as the markings on the original one would be lost.

I have a 1905 Ross Mark II** target rifle that has been cut down and the bore badly neglected, that I bought very reasonable. I have been thinking of a .35 or a .38 calibre rebore, just for the use of cast bullets. Maybe, one of those days it will happen.
 
.338/.303, .35/.303, .375/.303 would all be dandy wildcats, easy to load, and very practical for hunting. Feeding would not be an issue. 8mm/.303 probably wouldn't work, the eroded bore might not clean up.
Is Ron Smith the only 'smith doing reboring these days?
 
The ACTIONS were identical, sporting and military. They just made ACTIONS, then completed them as whatever was needed.

Installing a double-column internal Magazine (as for the .280 Sporter) will enable .35 Winchester, .405 and the belted crowd to feed with very little trouble.

I don't know why anyone would want to use a rimless cartridge: just way too many headspacing problems with the things. Go with rimmed or semi-rimmed or even belted: keeps all the headspacing issues at the back end, reduces the chances of separations.

Even the .28 Ross (prototype for the .280) was semi-rimmed.

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M10s tend to be more expensive than 1905R or 1910R sporters. .280 mystique, I guess. 1905Es seem to be less common, 1910Es more so. Then there are the odd ones, 1907s, etc.
 
tiriaq said:
M10s tend to be more expensive than 1905R or 1910R sporters. .280 mystique, I guess. 1905Es seem to be less common, 1910Es more so. Then there are the odd ones, 1907s, etc.
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Personally I prefer the look of the 1905, much more streamlined than the 1910 plus I don't handload so a .303 makes more sense than a .280.
 
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