I was given a sporterized Ross 1905 yesterday by a fellow who didn't want it, his grandfather had hunted with it I guess. anyway, the only stamping on the barrel is on the top just ahead of the receiver. It is stamped 303 Ross (I'm guessing that a gunsmith did this and that the cartridge would be the 303 Britishicon.

The barrel is 26 1/8 inches (and the front blade missing). The fellow also gave me a 3/4" (?) diameter Weaver J 2 1/2 brass scope and mounts (odd looking but definitely off the rifle). The scope was made in El Paso,Texas. The rear sight had been removed and there is a blank in the dove tail.
the stock is sporter style, no handguard and no visible marks (I'm guessing any marks were sanded out) The buttplate is steel, with the sliding door and in fact there is an old piece of cardboard with a newsprint clipping attached from Col Crossman regarding the 'safety' issues and the confusion surrounding the different Ross models.

Did our troops ever use such a small scope? I'm thinking that it was part of a 'sporterizing' package to use the 3/4" size.

The bolt uses an interesting 'angle iron' shape for the extractor, was that the case for the mark I and mark II rifles or is it a possible method of model determination. The only marks on the rifle (other than the aforementioned 303 Ross) are on the receiver left side Ross Rifle Company Quebec 1905. If it was a 'mark 1 -5' would the asterisk be after the 1905?

Finally, this rifle is a shooter obviously, if I wanted to install a 1" scope, can you point me in the right direction for a supplier? My eyes are too old to use open sights, unless there's a compatable peep sight out there.

thank you in advance

Rod
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