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Well, I've had this rifle for quite some time now. Originally bought it because of it's scope and mount, but seeing that even the scope made matching to the rifle I can't butcher it - also because of the great craftmenship that Mr. Gibbs used to turn this rifle into a very nice sporter.
The caliber is .280 Ross. Since I'll now sell it again because it doesn't fit my collection I thought I should post the pictures of it here as long as it's still in my posession.
I can only imagine the stories it could tell.
Thanks for the pics.
J
beautiful.
That is an original rifle--some of the British gunmakers did order and customize the Ross rifles in their heyday, and units by George Gibbs are well documented. Very very nice! Glad you didn't butcher it, and I hope you find a buyer who will understand and cherish it. Whereabouts in Europe are you located?
Ed
The barrel is (.280 caliber...) quite worn, so it's not as nice on the inside as on the outside. But with fully matching numbers and including the scope it's original as it was thought to - so I'll leave it this way.
I bought the rifle in Germany and it's now in Austria. Bringing it to Canada would be quite some work, but I know a company in Germany who does export to any country worldwide. Where would you guys value this rifle? Haven't made my mind up yet.
PS: It doesn't have a buttplate. Instead it has been checkered at the rear! What a beautiful work!
That is correct for that model--the 1907 Scotch Deer Stalker. Not sure why it wasn't called the Scottish Deer Stalker, as Scotch is a drink. Anyway, those were a top of the line sporting rifle in their day, and came with hand selected stocks with a chequered wooden buttplate. They are not all that easy to find now.
Ed
As Ed has said above. It appears that Gibbs installed the scope and mounts.
The rifle it`s self looks to be 1907-E SDS as it would come from the Ross factory.
Wonderful rifle, thank you for sharing it with us.
Does anyone know whether this scope mount originates also to George Gibbs, or was it someone else invention?
I just found it interesting that a few years ago a Ross M1905 in military trim with (nearly) identical mount, bearing a PPCo scope, was sold at Hermann-Historica. See yourself here: Hermann Historica Ross M1905 "Sniper"
PS: If someone is interested in this rifle, drop me a line. I'm not hanging to it and willing to part with it.
Yes that was an interesting MkII at HermanHistorica. The scope was obviously a recent put-up job IMO, however the bases looked like they had been on the rifle a long time.
MkIIs were in the UK for training in WWI, but if someone was making up a sniping rifle on their own hook you would think they would use one of the heavy barreled MkIIs. Not that the earlier rifles weren't accurate enough as they'd shown at Bisley, and perhaps that was what was available.
It would only stand to reason that various officers, sniping and otherwise would have tried different rifles if they could get them. The MkII was a lot more handy for length than the MkIII. We may never know as I believe Gibbs' records were lost in WWII bombing, or most of them.
I thought the rifle deserves some better pictures than the crappy ones I had posted here .. so I took out my DSLR and made a few. Hope you like it, also the small details of it!