Ross(?) straight-pull, military rifle, .30-40 Krag

[cp1969]

Want to comment on this thread: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/canadian-ross-mark-ii.179387/

Years ago, I, too had a straight-pull military rifle chambered in .30-40 Krag. I put a question mark by "Ross" in the title because I have never been able to find anything that said Ross chambered their rifles in .30-40 Krag. It was my first centerfire rifle.

Having found the thread above, it looks to me like they did. Mine was not sporterized. It was straight-pull and the bolt handle dipped down slightly and had a horizontal hole through the center of the bolt knob, like the Ross rifles I've seen pictures of. IIRC, it had only one locking luck. It had a hinged ladder-type military sight, mounted over the chamber or slightly in front of it. When flipped up, the sight was graduated out to something ridiculous, well over a thousand yards.

I shot it quite a bit and found it to be reasonable accurate. I still have a piece or two of the fired .30-40 brass. Unfortunately, the gun is long gone.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

"One lug" is a Krag. The Ross had interrupted screw locking lugs. On the other hand, the Krag was a turnbolt not a straight pull action.

 

[cp1969]

Look at the picture of the bolts of the Ross MK III and the Ross MKII** on this link. I can't tell if the MK II** in this picture only has one lug. I know for sure that my gun didn't have interrupted thread locking lugs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_rifle

 

[cp1969]

duplicate, deleted.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The bolt on the left has the helical thread (cannon breech) bolt. The one on the right has two lugs -- you can see one, the other is on the other side of the bolt head. So you could have the MKII **. But I don't know if any were made in .30 US Army (.30-40 Krag.) What are the caliber markings on your rifle?

 

[cp1969]

Wish I could tell you. I don't have the rifle anymore.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

One of the most common cartridges in the Ross was the .303 British. If it was a military rifle, that would almost certainly be the chambering. The .303 is very similar to the .30-40. In a pinch, you can use resized .303 brass in the .30-40.

 

[cp1969]

Yes, that's my understanding and has been until I read post #13 in the linked thread.

It must have been marked .30-40. .303 British ammo was just as available as .30-40 back then and I would have used it, had the barrel been marked as such.

 

[tark]

"One lug" is a Krag. The Ross had interrupted screw locking lugs.

The Ross Mk II hat two locking lugs and they traveled in the vertical position and locked up in the horizontal position. It was the Mk III and the M-10 sporters that had the seven lug interrupted screw bolt.

I have a Ross catalog from 1910, there is no mention of any sporting rifle chambered in 30-40. The Mk II military rifles were a different story. My Mk II has a grossly oversize chamber, cut that way on purpose. Since the case headspaces on the rim, this is perfectly safe, but it results in cases unsuitable for reloading. This rifle will chamber and fire 30-40 ammo, but accuracy is poor, with the undersized bullet. My Enfield will not chamber 30-40 ammo. With one rare exception, the Mk II actions were not used to make sporting rifles. That rare exception was the 1907 "Scotch Deer Stalking Pattern" which was a modified Mk II action with an interrupted thread bolt head. The lugs still traveled vertically and locked up horizontally, like the parent action. This was the rifle that Ross used to introduce the 280 Ross caliber. Very few were made. In 1910 Ross introduced the Mk III action, which, with a different magazine design, was the basis for the M-10 Sporter.

To the best of my knowledge, no military Ross was ever chambered in any caliber other than 303. But, as my Mk II proves, that doesn't mean that they can't chamber and fire that caliber.

In a pinch, you can use resized .303 brass in the .30-40.

With the difficulty in finding 30-40 ammo these days, this is exactly what I'm gonna have to do.

I still have a piece or two of the fired .30-40 brass. Unfortunately, the gun is long gone.

Any way you could post a pic of that fired brass? I'm betting it will look a lot like a ".303 Improved" for the reasons I listed above. From your description of the bolt handle, you almost certainly had a Ross.

 

[Oldschool shooter]

Could this be a Lee Navy rifle? They were chambered for the Krag round, and were a straight pull design. Only issued to the U.S. Navy, and for a short period of time.

 

[Oldschool shooter]

Disregard my last post, caliber was 6mm for the Navy issue rifle. I owned one that had been rebarrelled and shot the 30-40 Krag round.

 

[cp1969]

I can't find either piece of brass right now and am at a loss for where to look next.

That's a good idea. The Lyman #49 has dimensions for both the .303 and .30-40 and I've got calipers and a micrometer.

But like I said, there would have been no reason for me to shoot .303 ammo in it unless it was marked .303. In those days (early '70s) surplus .303 ammo was available and that's what I would have used if it was marked for that.