Abridged-some images removed
NZART ID No: 146,
Arm Type: Rifle, Date of Draft (V1) 10/7/2012, Compiled by Phil Cregeen
Pattern: Ross M 1910 Mk III & MK IIIB, Introduced
into NZ Service: 1916, Withdrawn: Post WWII
Makers: Ross Rifle Co, Quebec, Canada
Details of Arm:
Calibre: .303 British, Rifling: 4 groove 1:10 in LH Twist, Barrel
Length: 30.5 in., OA Length: 50.5 in. Weight:
9 Lb 14 oz
Action: Straight pull bolt with 5 round fixed box
magazine.
Sights: blade foresight with protector, aperture tangent back
sight with windage adjustment, 400 yd fixed battle sight and long range sight,
front of the slide graduated 1-12 and the side 0-9.
Bayonet: (NZART # 55) Pattern Ross Mk II Length OA 14.7 in (373mm),
Blade 10.0 in (254mm), MRD 16.5 mm, Scabbard 11.2 in (284mm). Wooden grips
secured by two screws, Brown leather scabbard with integral frog, steel locket
and internal chape.
Markings: MK III: serial no and date plus code letters on RHS
butt, MK IIIB: serial No on receiver ring prefix B, NZ Issue marks.
Ross
M 1910 Mk III manufactured 1915 Canadian issue
The Ross came about as a result of a desire by the Canadian
Government to manufacture their own arms following the Boer War. Britain refused to allow the Lee Enfield to
be made in Canada and so they turned to Sir Charles Ross, who offered his newly
designed straight pull rifle as a suitable alternative and set up a factory in
Quebec in 1902. The first military rifle Mk I commenced production in1903 and
then went through a number of improvements resulting in the Mk III in 1910.
The Ross Mk III is a straight- pull, bolt action rifle, with a
charger loaded 5 round magazine, made in Quebec by the Ross Rifle Co. for the
Canadian armed forces. It has a 30.5 in
barrel in .303 British calibre, with four groove LH twist 1 turn in 10 in. The
stock is one piece with a top hand-guard to the lower band. The rear sight
incorporates an aperture with windage adjustment, a 400 yd open battle sight
and a long range sight, the blade fore-sight is fitted with a hooped protector.
The safety catch is a flip over type on
the bolt and to the left of the receiver is a combined cut-off and bolt release
change lever. The rifle weighs 9 lb 14 oz and has an overall length of 50.5 in
The rifle featured here was manufactured in 1915 by the Ross Rifle
Company of Quebec (serial number and year stamped on the butt), it was
completed sometime after August that year (from the letter E stamped on the
barrel denoting chamber enlarged to accommodate the British manufactured Mk VII
303 cartridge). It was sent to the western
front with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (butt stamped CEF over 18).
On the western front the Canadian troops experienced problems with
the Ross, its complex bolt mechanism suffered in the mud of the trenches and it
was prone to jamming, to such an extent that the soldiers lost confidence in their
rifle and picked up SMLEs at any opportunity. Much of the jamming was later attributed to
differences in head space between Canadian and British manufactured ammunition
and also poor manufacturing tolerance of the chambers, which lead to the
enlarged chambers mentioned above. Another problem of the Ross was that if the
bolt was assembled incorrectly it would not lock and would blow back on firing,
causing injury to the shooter. After three months of Canadian combat experience
the C in C, Field Marshal Sir John French ordered the Canadians to exchange
their Ross Rifles for SMLEs. However it was retained as a sniper rifle, as it
was found to be more accurate than the Lee Enfield out to 600 yds.
The Ross Mk IIIB was introduced in LOC 17690
dated 21 October 1915. Having ordered 100,000 Ross Rifles Mk IIIB from Canada
to augment the British rifle production, but only actually receiving 66,590
before cancelling the order, Britain retained a further 95,000 of Mk III rifles
in exchange for the SMLEs supplied to the CEF.
The Ross rifles were used by the British to arm second line forces and
some were supplied to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, (this one marked RM on
butt plate). A quantity of these rifles were supplied to the Chilean navy as ships
equipment in 1920 when the Battle ship HMS Canada and 3 Faulkner class
destroyers were sold to Chile, these rifles are marked with a DA prefix number.
The Ross Mk IIIB was declared obsolete by LOC 24632 dated 15 November 1921.
New Zealand
Service:
When NZ home based military arms supplies ran out in 1915-16
NZ land forces travelled to Europe unarmed, when they arrived they were issued
with small arms and ammunition, B Company, Wellington Infantry Battalion were
issued with .303” Ross M 1910 MKIII rifles & bayonets. One of them Private Alfred Hugh Dillon MM, served as a sniper. He
was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for gallantry at Bon Avis Ridge over the
period 29 September – 3 October 1918 while acting as Battalion Observer.
300 Ross Rifles were issued to the New Zealand Division of
the Royal Navy, which became the RNZN in 1941.
Ross rifles and bayonets were used by the Home Guard in
WWII. They were sold as surplus in the 1970s.
To date no NZ marked Ross rifles have been observed, however
a number of DA prefix ex-Chilean rifles were imported by the trade in the
1970s.
Acknowledgements: Photo:
Phil Cregeen , John Osborne & Terry Wilson
References: The Ross Rifle Story by R Phillips, F Dupuis & J Chadwick
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