1905 Ross MkII w/MkIII sight

[smle addict]

Hello all,

First time posting on this forum; I'm somewhat of a regular over on the Lee Enfield Forum, but any and all 303's pique my interest, particularly the Ross series of rifles.

I purchased this two weeks ago, and just picked it up today after the 10-day wait (California). It's a commercial 1905 Ross Mk II with Mark III rearsight, no serial number

Rifle is in absolute beautiful condition. Very few small scratches in the wood with majority of finish remaining. The only wear appears to be on the floorplate and top of the butt-plate. I tried taking pics of the color-case hardening on the bolt. Photography is not my strong point.

Anyways, here are a few pics. The most interesting is the inscription etched on the butt-plate. I'll do a some research on this later.

The rifle came into a gun-shop in Culver City California, seven years ago. The owner recognized the rifle in scarce condition and had intentions of keeping it. He had it stored at his shop until the store manager mentioned the growing collection in the stock room. He decided it was time to winnow out his collection, and put it up for sale. He told me he remembered an older woman walking into his shop. All she could elaborate on was that it was in the family for many years. They were cleaning out the estate of a relative and the rifle surfaced. No one in the family showed any interest in the Ross, so she took it into the shop to liquidate.

Then I wandered in and spent the better part of a paycheck on it. It wasn't cheap, but I'm very pleased with it.

Hope you all enjoy the pics.

[NORTHOF60]

A nice rifle, and a piece of Canadian history. Congratulations. I'm envious.

[gordon byrne]

That is one absolute nice rifle ,the condition is outstanding.

[AGB-1]

Was it purchased from Martin B. Retting by chance? Thanks.
Very nice rifle.

[smle addict]

Thanks all, for the nice comments.

AGB-1; yes, this was purchased at Martin Retting. I only make it into this shop once or twice a year. They have a nasty habit of taking my paychecks! Two years ago, I was sick of being in traffic on the nearby freeway, so I stopped in to kill time. I wound up purchasing a Charger Loading Lee Metford and Magazine Lee Enfield Mk I!!!! Both were beautiful, and put me on the path to many overtime days to cover the costs.

I took the Ross apart last night to do some light cleaning, and I do emphasize LIGHT. The original grease had long since dried out, and was as hard as plastic. The magazine cut-off and transverse safety were frozen solid. Some penetrating oil and several cotton swabs restored their function. Re-assembled with a light coat of grease, and plenty of BLO for the stock. Oddly enough, I found paraffin wax packed under the barrel and around the action.

I did manage to find five serial numbers!

More pics...

[AGB-1]

I used to get Rettings Catalog(flyers) in the early 60's. they always had neat items and they still have ads on Gun Broker.

[steveu]

Very nice rifle. You may want to use raw linseed oil instead of BLO due to the other chemical additives that speed up the drying process.
Cheers, Steve

[smle addict]

I took my new Ross out this morning for a quick range session. It did not disappoint! It is an accurate rifle with mild recoil. Target pic was best five-shot group at 100 yards.

I fired several handloads through it, and found it liked 150 grain sierras over IMR 4064. While accurate, it did odd things to the brass. Last pic are two cases, both HXP. Tarnished case was a factory military load fired through an Enfield No 4 I also brought along. The shinier case is a full-length sized HXP is use for my reloads. Check out that odd looking neck!

[NORTHOF60]

The chamber appears longer and wider at the shoulder in the Ross fired case than that of the case fired in the No. 4 Enfield. Is there any indication (i.e. stamp) indicating that the chamber has been re-cut? Ross marked the knox form his .303 cal. sporter rifles as .303 Ross.

[smle addict]

Nothing marked on the barrel or chamber area, other than an "I-Q". Until recently, I used to have a cut down Mk IIIB Ross that did this same thing to brass. No pressure signs or other indicators on the brass, other than the blown out neck.