I can't rotate the bolt! -Ross Rifle Model 1905

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  • rob63

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    I just won this at an auction. A Canadian Ross Rifle. The full story on these is quite fascinating and I highly recommend the video by C&Rsenal. The short version is that Canada decided to adopt a rifle of her own design and manufacture due to frustration with being dependent on British whims. The rifle that they adopted was a straight pull designed by Charles Ross, who had powerful friends high-up in the decision making process. This led to a rifle that was never properly tested before adoption and it consequently went through a series of iterations that only led to the final version actually being the worst of the bunch. The Mark III was a disaster in the trenches of WWI and was withdrawn from service in 1916.

    This particular version that I just purchased is the Mark II, which is generally considered the best of the bunch. It fixed most of the issues that the Mark I had, and didn't have the worst of the vices introduced with the Mark III. It has an amazing target rifle quality rear sight, with both course and fine elevation adjustment, and windage adjustment. The most unique feature to me is the large button that can depress the magazine follower so that loose rounds can be dumped in. I don't know how anyone thought this was better than stripper clips or en-bloc clips, but it is certainly neat.

    Another unusual feature is that there are no serial number markings anywhere on the metal. The Canadians only marked it on the wood, near the butt plate.

    The US actually purchased 20,000 of these rifles from Canada to use for training when the US joined the war due to a shortage of arms. Ironically, the rifles were surplus to Canada because they had been replaced by P14's made in the US! The US markings include a second serial number added underneath the grip.

    This is one I really look forward to getting to the range, they have an excellent reputation for accuracy.

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    The following two photos show the magazine follower being depressed by the large button. The location of the button looks awkward, but it is actually very easy to do with the support hand when holding the rifle in the normal manner. It was just hard to photograph.

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    IndyDave1776

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    The U.S. buying Canadian rifles for the U.S. military while Canada was using American rifles for the Canadian military... sure is something lol. Neat looking rifle!
    Not really as crazy as it sounds. Canada was buying the P14s to use in combat where a straight pull will get gummed up with dirt and fail. We were using the Ross rifles for training only, so there was no threat of winning an enemy marksmanship award for getting capped while fighting a jammed rifle.
     

    BGDave

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    Beech Grove
    Read carefully the assembly instructions. If I recall correctly the bolt can be assembled wrong and put the bolt through your eyeball.
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Very nice Rob! I've got a sporterized version and I love it. The straight pull action is every bit as nice as the one on my Swiss rifles. I'd be hard pressed to pick one over the other.
     

    rob63

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    Read carefully the assembly instructions. If I recall correctly the bolt can be assembled wrong and put the bolt through your eyeball.
    It is the third (1910) model that can be assembled incorrectly, this one doesn't have that problem. However, disassembly and reassembly of the bolt is still a pain.

    I've been studying up on these quite a bit and there doesn't seem to be a satisfactory (to me anyway) explanation for why the Canadians abandoned this model and adopted the third model that introduced the issue with incorrect reassembly of the bolt.

    As near as I can tell, they had finally decided that charger loading was the way to go and wished to get rid of the odd way this one was loaded. Meanwhile, Charles Ross had developed a new magnum power hunting round that he wished to sell on the civilian market. He apparently used his connections to get the military to switch to a beefed up action more suitable to the magnum power cartridge even though they weren't switching cartridges, they just wanted a different way of loading the magazine. This would allow Ross to develop the tooling for his new sporting rifle at the military's expense. The result was a new rifle (Model 1910) that introduced issues that proved disastrous in the trenches. This is my understanding of what happened, anyway.

    I have watched several videos on the 1910 model, and, amazingly, not only is it possible to reassemble the bolt incorrectly, it is actually EASIER to reassemble it incorrectly!

    The great irony in all of this is that Ross ended up losing his rifle factory as a result of the scandal, but his rifle may have proved satisfactory if he had simply kept the older 1905 action and paired it with the 1910 magazine, which is what the military actually wanted.

    It's all conjecture, straight-pulls were susceptible to mud anyway, but the 1910 was much worse than the 1905 on that score and it introduced the reassembly problems as well. The 1905 action is very similar to the Austrian 1895 Mannlicher, almost a direct copy. That rifle wasn't the greatest in the trenches, but it didn't earn the scorn that the 1910 Ross did.
     
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