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Contributing Member
Ross M.1910 Mk.III Warner & Swasey Sniper Rifle Restoration
Some may have already read on the Ross M.1910 Mk.III barreled action that had turned up and been discussed in this thread here: https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=68310
As I had mentioned at the very end of the thread I have been the one who bought the barreled sniper action from the seller. I have held a scope bracket milled to exact the original specs to the receiver, and it perfectly lined up with the holes in the receiver - therefore leaving little doubt on it once having been an original sniper rifle. For the start post I'm therefore re-posting the picture of holding the rail to the receiver showing how perfectly the holes align.
Edit: I think I (re)added the pictures not as they were originally. Sorry for this, but I don't remember in which post I had posted which pictures - hence I added the pictures of the restored rifle to this starting post.
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Last edited by Promo; 01-13-2022 at 10:54 AM.
Reason: Had to re-upload pictures.
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10-21-2019 10:56 AM
# ADS
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Legacy Member
Well its great to see the old girl is coming along, it came close to being over looked. It was definitely aan original sniper rifle from the great war ,if only it could talk.Well its in good hands now and well be preserved and and cared for as a genuine relic of ww1.Cant wait to see the final product.
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Advisory Panel
What's interesting about it is the change of number under the mount base. That could only be stamped there with the mount base removed. The logical conclusion therefore is that when the second scope was fitted the armourer removed the base from the original rifle in the belief that the base was unique to the scope, and that the side wall of the receiver was a consistent dimension so that when the base was fitted to the second rifle (this one), collimation would be be maintained.
So, when originally fitted were the bases tweaked until they collimated, or were they fitted to the rifle and the dovetail then given its final machining in a jig, similar to how H&H machined the pads on the No.4(T)?
And of course, just how accurately repeated were the side wall dimensions in the Ross MkIII?? Certainly they maintained a high standard of finish throughout production...
We know from Clive Law's research that these rifles were requested by the UK in 1940, but Canada declined to turn them over and used them for training until perhaps early 1944, when it seems the scopes were scrapped for their heavy bronze content, except for a couple of dozen survivors.
From the available information, only about 150 of these rifles got to France in WWI, so presumably this one was refitted in WWII.
“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.”
Edward Bernays, 1928
Much changes, much remains the same.
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Contributing Member
Well .. a new scope was mounted if the previous scope got damaged or went missing. If it was damaged in action the scope rail might also got damaged. Therefore it doesn't mean the scope was individual to the rail. Since original rails also carried the scope serial, it could had been that they swapped the rail which came with the other scope which has had the correct serial on it too.
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Advisory Panel
“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.”
Edward Bernays, 1928
Much changes, much remains the same.
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Contributing Member
Rob, we've anyway had lengthy discussions on the P.14 with the Canadian W&S telescope ... still have not found one of these rifles, but I did not give up!
For unknown reason this rifle got stripped of its original scope and a new one was fitted. Maybe it is as simple as the scopes and rifles were stored separately and the matching numbers scope got lost or damaged and they then fitted another scope - who knows. It is however interesting because I personally have not seen before another Ross where two scopes were fitted.
Speaking of this, the rifle is currently with a friend of mine. Restoration on it will finally start next month (he had another project he is about to finish) and I hope to be able to get it back within the next half year. Quite a tough project since there are some parts that have to be rebuilt, welded and repaired. I borrowed the friend of mine another Ross M1910 rifle to check how it should look like, to make it easier to understand the function.
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Contributing Member
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Contributing Member
I have the required original Canadian scope, but thanks for the link! Have seen this one, think it is a bit too pricey. I paid $ 3500 for my Canadian M1913 scope a few years back, compared to $ 1500 the US M1913 scopes were back then (all prices in USD, not CAD).
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Contributing Member
Restoration is complete. Too much hours went into it to be mentioned, but thanks to nowadays technologies such as laser welding you can even repair a bullet hit to a receiver.
Therefore, just enjoy the results shown in the attached pictures. I guess the restoration will remain as close as I can get to an original Ross M1910 sniper rifle.
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