The Ross MkII (aka Ross 1905) was a reasonably successful rifle design, but it lacked a few elements that the Canadian military would have preferred. Most significantly, it was not compatible with the charger clip that was introduced for the Lee Enfield rifles in 1907. The rifle we have today is a toolroom prototype Ross from about 1909 that was an experiment in adding clip compatibility. The receiver is a 1905/MkII type, but with a combination stripper clip guide and rear sight screwed onto the rear of the action. It has a 5-round staggered Mauser-type magazine box, a Lee Enfield style buttstock, a 1903 Springfield type bolt stop, and a thinner profile barrel than either the MkII or eventual MkII Ross patterns. The only marking on the rifle is the designation “H5” on the receiver and bolt. Ultimately, virtually none of this rifle’s unique features were included in the finalized MkIII Ross.
Machine pistol
Vintage Saturday: Premature Anti-Fascists
Canadian volunteers of the Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion in the Spanish Civil War, armed with with grenades and Mauser Schnellfeuer machine pistols or (more likely) Spanish-made copies thereof.
Light MGs
C2A1: Canada’s Squad Automatic FAL
Canada was the first country to formally adopt the FN FAL as its standard service rifle, and in 1958 it added the C2 light machine gun version of the FAL to its arsenal. The C2, […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Turner Semiauto SMLE Conversion (Video)
Russell Turner was a Pennsylvania gunsmith and inventor who developed this semiautomatic conversion of an SMLE bolt action rifle circa 1940. It was intended for trial and potential sale to the Canadian military, as it […]
My 1905 Ross is one of my favorite rifles. Too bad it’s next to impossible to find the .280 Ross ammo for it.
You can find it. But at almost $6 a round you have to really love that rifle.
I’m surprised that nobody thought to add a bolt cover or any feature to keep dirt out of the bolt track.