I juts got hold of a 1905 sported Ross in .303 British which seems generally in reasonable condition with a nice scnabel stock fitted. Mostly I have Enfields so i've heard the stories about how a Ross bolt could be assembled incorrectly and deprive the shooter of an eye. What do i need to do to check and confirm that this is assembled right before it goes to the range?
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Flying Pig is correct. The 1905's cannot be assembled incorrectly. Well, let me rephrase. They can; I bought a 1905 at an auction recently with the bolt out of the rifle, and assembled incorrectly, but the bolthead wouldn't spin open and therefore could not be put back into the rifle. Therein lies the difference--if you incorrectly assemble a 1905 bolt (the one with the solid bolthead) you can't put it in the rifle. Period. If you reassemble a 1910 incorrectly (that's the one with the threaded bolt head--looks like a big screw, as in the video above) then you can put it into the rifle with some wiggle-waggling, and it will then blow open in your face when you fire.
I have never had the need or inclination to dismantle my Mk.3 bolt which has "The Rivet" mod. It would have been nice to understand exactly what the rivet does or prevents from happening which he didn't touch on.
A further point is that a lot of the problems encountered with bolt jamming in the trenches was attributed to the bolt stop distorting the same lug that fractured in the test when the bolt was repeatedly opened sharply. As a result, a larger bolt stop was fitted to many rifles which may be why the the bolt in the test was retained in the receiver rather than blowing out completely.
I still wouldn't want my face in the way though!
The rivets were put in to mesh with a space created by the removal of a few teeth on one of the spirals, thus allowing to the bolt to only go together in that one way. Nothing to fear from the process except they can be a bit fiddly to get back together. If the bolt head rotates into battery on closing you are good to go, unless the pawl or lugs on the bolt sleeve are badly damaged, but they never seem to be, beyond the point of functioning that is.
Last edited by Surpmil; 04-27-2016 at 11:20 AM.
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