tark
Member
Having fun over at the autoloading pistol thread asking the same question about automatic pistols, so let's have a go at rifles. Two classes, military and all others. No 22s please, stick to center fire rifles.
I have very little knowledge of hunting rifles but I do have a nomination for the worst military rifle: The Ross Mk. 1 and Mk. III. The former suffered from poor design and poor materials used in its construction The heat treatment was bad and several blew up, with some of fatalities. ( Sound familiar? ) The latter suffered from poor design. The left rear locking lug ( the Mk III had seven. ) would bang against the bolt stop and slowly deform. After a time the bolt would start binding in the receiver. This resulted in the soldier beating on the thing until it got so bad the bolt froze up. This , too, got people killed.
And then there was the problem of the incorrectly positioned bolt head. It was possible to assemble the bold with the locking lugs in the wrong position. The bolt can be inserted into the gun and chamber a round with the lugs in the unlocked position. The blown back bolt will be stopped by the bolt stop, AND YOUR RIGHT THUMB!!! In the rifles defense, the bolt in this position was very hard to insert in the gun and moves very stiffly. That alone should tell one something is wrong. This flaw was corrected in later guns.
The Mk II was a fairly robust and reliable design, whose biggest flaw was it couldn't be clip loaded. Ross should have stuck with it. I have a Mk III and it is a minute of angle gun. The most accurate military bolt gun I have ever owned
I have very little knowledge of hunting rifles but I do have a nomination for the worst military rifle: The Ross Mk. 1 and Mk. III. The former suffered from poor design and poor materials used in its construction The heat treatment was bad and several blew up, with some of fatalities. ( Sound familiar? ) The latter suffered from poor design. The left rear locking lug ( the Mk III had seven. ) would bang against the bolt stop and slowly deform. After a time the bolt would start binding in the receiver. This resulted in the soldier beating on the thing until it got so bad the bolt froze up. This , too, got people killed.
And then there was the problem of the incorrectly positioned bolt head. It was possible to assemble the bold with the locking lugs in the wrong position. The bolt can be inserted into the gun and chamber a round with the lugs in the unlocked position. The blown back bolt will be stopped by the bolt stop, AND YOUR RIGHT THUMB!!! In the rifles defense, the bolt in this position was very hard to insert in the gun and moves very stiffly. That alone should tell one something is wrong. This flaw was corrected in later guns.
The Mk II was a fairly robust and reliable design, whose biggest flaw was it couldn't be clip loaded. Ross should have stuck with it. I have a Mk III and it is a minute of angle gun. The most accurate military bolt gun I have ever owned