Rare 1915 Ross MKIII sniper rifle

[Badger]

Copied from the *** August 2010 Purchases *** thread in the Member's Showcase Forum.

With many thanks to claven2, we were able to locate from an estate sale, a very rare piece of Canadian history with an ""all correct" and in superb condition, "all matching" 1915 Ross MKIII sniper rifle serial #223 complete with its matching Warner and Swasey scope No. 18, 1913 patent. The stock is also stamped "SCOPE NO 18" and the scope base on the rifle is also stamped "18". The original tooled leather case for the scope is C-Broad Arrowed marked and stamped with both the scope serial number (18) and the rifle number (223).

This sniper rifle is from the first 250 batch ordered by the Canadian Government and being "SCOPE NO 18", it would have been very early in the production run of these rare rifles, with not very many surviving all these years.

We've taken a few temporary pics, however, in the next month or so, we'll create a highly detailed and more complete photo montage showing all the markings etc., for inclusion within the Canada section of the main Knowledge Library.

Some pics of Canadian snipers in WW1 equipped with their Ross MkIII c/w Warner & Swasey telescopic sights.

Attachment 14910 ----- Attachment 14911

Regards,
Badger

Information

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[Badger]

A follow up ....

For those of you interested in the old Warner and Swasey scopes, the one below is for a Springfield 1903. It's essentially the same as the two lots of 500 that were bought buy the Canadian government to mount on the Ross MKII during WW1 as shown in the previous post. Some also ended up mounted on P14's at the start of WWII

BTW, this one belongs to my wife, not me. She has two of them and is thinking about mounting one on a 1903 as a shooter.

Model 1913 Warner & Swasey Telescopic Musket Sights
c/w RIA M1908 Pattern Leather Carrying Case

(Click PIC to Enlarge)


Model 1913 Warner & Swasey (44 pic photo montage ... click here)

The individually labeled pics in the photo montage also explain how the scope operated. The scope reticule has stadia lines placed in upper left quadrant of cross hairs, so they span the height (5' 8") of the then average man standing at a distance of 1,000 - 1,500 - 2,000 yards. On average, almost 100 years ago, people were a LOT shorter then today.

Regards,
Badger

[jmoore]

5' 8" might still work over in the "Rock Pile", still...

Looking forward to seeing more of the Ross!

BTW, the Warner and Swayse isn't all that bad a set-up, except that the eye cup is kind of scary. I've have one on an '03 for a while.

[NavyShooter]

Pretty!!!

[Claven2]

Now where have I seen that rifle before???

[jmoore]

"Taunting" us "a second time" w/ that link to here, Badger is...

[Badger]

"Taunting" us "a second time" w/ that link to here, Badger is...

Regards,
Badger

[Surpmil]

Congratulations on finding the grail of WWI sniper rifles, and the only complete original set in existence AFWK, and thanks for posting those excellent photos.

Is there a small inspection stamp on the inside of the female dovetail (on the scope)?

I hope you will try to research the history of this set and share that with us if possible? It must have had an interesting life as it does not look like it saw service in WWII for training as most of them did reportedly.

Have you removed the action from the stock and the butt plate to see if there is any identifying information anywhere?

Oh, and any notches cut in?

[Badger]

Congratulations on finding the grail of WWI sniper rifles, and the only complete original set in existence AFWK, and thanks for posting those excellent photos.

You're welcome ….

Is there a small inspection stamp on the inside of the female dovetail (on the scope)?

I don't know as I've not had the opportunity to look that close. I'll be doing so and photographing in better detail, every aspect angle and surface I can, similar to what we've done for other pieces in the MKL.

I hope you will try to research the history of this set and share that with us if possible? It must have had an interesting life as it does not look like it saw service in WWII for training as most of them did reportedly.

The provenance is excellent. As claven2 related to me, the owner died about 15 years ago and it's been in his family estate since. At the time of his death, a huge part of his original collection was sold off except for a few pieces, including this Ross sniper. I gather he was quite old and he originally obtained the Ross sniper in the 1920's. I guess the current generation of family finally decided it was time to sell it, which is how I heard about it.

Have you removed the action from the stock and the butt plate to see if there is any identifying information anywhere?

Oh, and any notches cut in?

No, my wife says my tools should be for show only ..... .... as she says I'm dangerous with them.

I'm afraid to take it apart, but triaq has volunteered to help me with that, as well as to ensure it's properly preserved to last another 100 years. When he has the time to work with me on this, at I'll add detailed photos of what's underneath.

Regards,
Badger

[Surpmil]

The provenance is excellent. As claven2 related to me, the owner died about 15 years ago and it's been in his family estate since. At the time of his death, a huge part collection was sold off except for a few pieces including this Ross sniper. I gather he was quite old and he originally obtained the Ross sniper in the 1920's. I guess the current generation of family finally decided it was time to sell it, which is how I heard about it.
Regards,
Badger

I wonder if the former owner kept any record of where he obtained it and from who etc? That was the information I was thinking of. If it was picked up in the 20s it would probably have come from whoever brought it back from France, and in your shoes, my goal would be to find out that in particular.