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

[Surpmil]

It's essentially the same as the lot of 500 that was bought buy the Canadian government to mount on the Ross MKII during WW1 as shown in the previous post. Regards,
Badger[/size]

Slight correction.

[Badger]

Slight correction.

Yes, there were 500 in total, delivered in two batches of 250 each ...

... but what I was pointing out was:

This sniper rifle is from the first 250 batch ordered by the Canadian Government ....

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?