This review was posted on "Forgotten Weapons" about four years ago. The words are Ian McCollum's, not mine:
“The Ross Rifle Story” is the Bible of Ross rifle collecting – it is the only substantial reference work on the subject and it has a tremendous amount of information about the development of the Ross. However, it is also one of the worst-edited firearms reference books I am aware of. It has a second Table of Contents on page 85 – need I say more than that?
Well, I will. The photographs are black and white and often too dark or too light. Beyond it really being two separate manuscripts printed back to back, the organization is really lacking. Finding information in the book is sometimes very difficult, as the subject matter jumps around a lot. The story of the Ross – especially separating the civilian and military development – is a pretty complicated one, and even a well-edited book on the subject might be a bit difficult to parse. This book is really bad at times.
But for all that, it *does* have the information (with only a few errors), and it’s the only book that does. If you are interested in the Ross, this is a must-have book despite its problems.
A second printing was run in 2002, and not much effort was put into marketing it. Despite the online prices all being $300+, the seller still has a couple dozen copies remaining as of this writing. To order one (for $100 plus shipping, via PayPal) email him at ross.rifle.story@sympatico.ca .
Since this review was published, the second printing has been sold out, so if you want this book, you will have to find it on the secondary market. The only thing I can add is that the book at times has the look and feel of a college term paper - it seems like the authors were trying to fill pages rather than present useful information. Do we REALLY need to see pictures of Sir Charles Ross's three wives?