1905 Ross MkII question

[Lucite]

I recently got in a 1905 Ross MK2 that unfortunately met bubba. The stock has been sanded and cut forward of the mid band with the upper wood being replaced by a No.4 mk1 upper rear hand guard and No4. mid band and sling swivel. Probably worst of all the length of barrel forward the front sight has been cut off but at least was nicely crowned. The receiver has been drilled and tapped and fitted with a Williams peep sight. As for missing parts from what I can see the list is as follows

• The front sight hood and screws

• nose cap

• mid barrel band

• rear sight assembly

• magazine cutoff spring

• butt stock sling swivel

• buttplate

Now my question is would someone by chance have a picture and dimensions for the magazine cutoff spring. By the description in the 1907 Ross manual "the cut off spring whose upper end has a point which enters vertically into a small hole in this projection. The lower end of the cut off spring has a similar point which enters a similar hole in the
top of the trigger guard." sounds like it would be fairly simple to duplicate with the right dimensions.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[oldpaul]

This is from a MkII 5*, likely they are all similar. Length of the main body of the spring sans the 'points' is 18.6mm (0.73"). The projecting tips lengths are 3.5mm (0.14"). O.D. is 9.42mm (0.370"). Wire size is 1.14mm (0.045") with six total coils. Tom.

[Lucite]

Thank you, that was just what I was looking for. Here I was thinking it would have been a spring with two machined end caps with points on them but that is many times simpler to duplicate.

[flying pig]

Lucite, I may have some of the parts you need. Send me a pm and I'll have a look

[Lucite]

I also forgot to mention the rifle is stamped DP on the stock, bolt, receiver, and barrel which worries me but it appears the previous owner fired it. Also everything thing seems to be in good condition better than a couple of some of my no1 mk 3's. I plan on checking the headspace and possibly doing a chamber cast and if need be I could get it MPI'd. Any thoughts about potential safety concerns or could it possibly be one of those rifles that was DP'd because it was deemed obsolete.

[browningautorifle]

the rifle is stamped DP on the stock, bolt, receiver, and barrel

That's a pretty big issue. Means the rifle isn't to be fired under any circumstances. You can do what the previous owner did, but when you do and it goes to pieces...don't look for something to put in your eye sockets. The receiver of the rifle will be there...

[Lucite]

Well I gauged the head space and it failed the no-go but passed the field, I also did a chamber cast and it appears its been enlarged around the neck area.

[M94/14]

It appears there is some generalizing going on here between what a DP means on an Enfield pattern rifle, and what it means on a Ross Mk2 pattern rifle.

All of the Mk2 Ross' I've personally come across that were "DP" marked, simply had the firing pin end ground off. They were "DP" marked and sent to the cadet corp units to be used for Drill because the sights were graduated to the MK VI ball round (215gr Round nose), and not suitable for firing the Mk VII round.
Basically, they were marked "DP" because they were obsolete, not because they were unsafe. That said, what I did with mine, was have a Gunsmith look it over for any potential or real problems before I fired it.

You are correct in that the neck area is enlarged greatly compared to the rest of the chamber. Mine is too. It causes no problems at all, unless your brass is quite brittle. I bought some Win. commercial cases and have reloaded them 3 times so far without problems. I would however recommend neck sizing only, as the force required to full length size with that enlarged case is tremendous.

[browningautorifle]

It has nothing to do with what you can see, or maybe that's just the slightest part of the whole thing. These were decommissioned for a reason, there's positively reams of info regarding DP and why, all written by the very men that DP'd them. Just search these hallowed threads and see. Most are staying away from this discussion because we seem to have it about once monthly. And still it goes on... Thing is, after being marked DP within the military, it was against written orders to fire them for any reason. There has to be something to that.

[Ax.303]

Normally what you say is true.

In this case however, as jakester has pointed out. It is fairly common knowledge that a large number of Ross Mk I and Mk II rifles were relegated to DP status simply because they were obsolete.

It should still be thoroughly checked out by a gunsmith familiar with Ross rifles.