New Ross MK2, have some questions?

[tr63]

You have a Ross Mk II***. It was first manufactured as a Mk II**** with a Ross Mk III rear sight. That sight was replaced with the present Canada Tool & Specialty Co. (Sutherland Mk II) sight and the rifle designation changed to Mk II ***. The M.E. Sutherland Sight Co. became the Canada Tool & Specialty Co. That all happened at the factory, and before the rifle left the factory, and the two divots on the under-side of the barrel are remnants of the earlier sight mount.

Your barrel has been set back one turn.

In that case the chamber needed to be reamed to lengthen the chamber back to the correct size !! Why was this done ? Was it to correct chamber problems ? Will a replacement stock need to shorten at the muzzle end to be able to fit a bayonet ?

[Surpmil]

From the damaged slot in the barrel-locking screw it looks like they figured out the barrel threading in the end. The chambers of these rifles were enlarged when hard-extraction issues appeared during WWI, due to poor quality ammo.

The fact that yours has a very good bore would explain why someone went to the trouble of shortening the barrel and re-cutting the chamber close to original specs.

As Tiriaq mentioned, you have the band and nosecap so a restoration is mostly woodwork.

And yes, this was an ex-Canadian military rifle.

[Bluenoser]

The scuff marks on the barrel are likely due to them thinking the barrel had right hand threads when they tried to remove it. As much as I enjoy restoring Ross rifles, I don't believe I would put the money into restoring one with a shortened barrel. Decent full-length barrels can be found, but they generally have poor to fair bores. The nose cap, although likely rebuildable, appears to have been quite heavily modified. Still, I would try to rebuild that cap before installing a reproduction.

[browningautorifle]

Will a replacement stock need to shorten at the muzzle end to be able to fit a bayonet ?

Yes it will.

I don't believe I would put the money into restoring one with a shortened barrel

Agreed, in the end you still have an oddity. Could make an excellent target shooter though as is.

[Surpmil]

And as for removing these "buggy whip" barrels as they are sometimes called, once the locking screw is removed, a few blows with a soft face mallet on the receiver around the chamber area usually loosens them enough for hand removal.