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The Ross Rifle
One of the story lines in my series is the controversial Ross Rifle. The Ross Rifle Mark III was the standard service weapon of the Canadian Expeditionary Force until it was replaced officially in August 1916 by the SMLE Lee-Enfield Mark III. The Lee-Enfield would remain the Canadian Army’s standard service weapon until it was replaced by the Fabrique Nationale’s FN C1 in 1955.
The Ross Rifle Mark III was a straight pull bolt action rifle that weighted nearly nine pounds, had a five shot magazine, with a barrel length of 28" and a range of 600 yards.
Background
Based on the Canadian military’s experience during the Boer War the Department of Militia and Defence wanted to replace the then standard service weapon, the Lee-Metford, with a more modern one. The rifle the department wanted was the Lee-Enfield that the British Army was recently adopting. The Canadian government had acquired some 40,000 and had wanted to order another 15,000 to fully equip the Canadian forces. When Sir Frederick Borden, the minister of Militia and Defence, when to England to place contracts for the rifle he had to leave empty handed. The War Office said they didn’t have sufficient numbers to meet their own needs let alone the colonies. Also, they were not willing for the Canadians to manufacture the Lee-Enfield under license.
Sir Frederick Borden considered this to be an intolerable situation since they were dependent on the British to supply them with nearly all of their equipment and arms. Also, the Canadians felt that they were at the bottom of the War Office list and were getting surplus and cast-offs. Sir Fredrick thought it would be in the country’s best interest to acquire as much equipment as they could from domestic sources including a new service rifle.
Sir Charles Ross
When word spread that the Canadian government was looking for a new rifle Sir Charles Ross, the 9th Baronet, submitted his new rifle for testing. The rifle he submitted was based on the 8 mm straight pull Austrian Mannlicher rifle but chambered for the British .303 round. The Mannlicher was a successful design and was used by various militaries until it was phased out of service in the late 1940’s.
When the Ross went through its trials it had failed two critical tests: the overload test and the endurance test. Foretelling some of the problems that Canadian soldiers would have during WW1.
The overload test is when an overloaded cartridge is fired to test the rifle’s ability to handle the explosive forces involved. The endurance test is when a thousand rounds are fired to test how well it could handle rapid fire. During the endurance, testing the Ross Rifle’s bolt action became sluggish after 60 rounds. After 300 rounds parts of the rifle started to melt.
Sir Fredrick was impressed enough with the weapon and by Sir Ross assurances that the problems would be fixed in production a contract was issued for the manufacture of 12,000 rifles for delivery in 1902, 10,000 per year for five years at a cost of nearly $25.00 per rifle.
The War Office wasn’t happy when they learned of the contract. They were of the opinion the British Army and the colonial forces should standardize with the Lee-Enfield.
Rifle Production
Ross Mark I
Of the first 1,500 Ross Rifles that came off the production lines in 1904 a 1,000 were given to the Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP) and 500 to the Fisheries and Marine Department (Coast Guard) for testing. By 1906, the RNWMP had returned all the rifles that they had been given stating that the cartridge extractor failed and the rifle jammed so often they banned rapid-fire for safety reasons.
Ross Mark II
Ross Rifle Mark II
In 1905, the Ross Mark II was released to correct some of the problems with the Mark 1. Some of the changes were how the hammer was cocked, the chamber size, the strengthening of the gun barrel (it added adding pound to the rifle’s weight), and a bayonet mount. What is interesting is that Colonel Sam Hughes wasn’t particularly interested in the bayonet saying he didn’t feet that it was of much use. In late 1905, the Militia and Defence department suspended accepting shipments to improve its inspection system.
The Ross Rifle continued to be modified. An asterick “*” was added to the model number as each mark was modified.
In 1909, a Mark II** was used to win the Bisley shooting competition. There was some controversy whether the Mark II was a military service weapon or not. When the Minister of Militia and Defence confirmed that it was a service weapon it was allowed.
Ross Mark III
Ross Rifle Mark III
In 1912, the Mark III Ross was unveiled. The Mark III was a significant change from the Mark II. The barrel was lengthen by two inches from 26” to 28”. A five round box magazine replaced the previous tube magazine under the barrel. Also, the parts between the two marks were not interchangeable.
By 1914, there were only 3,500 Mark III rifles that had been produced. Shortly after war was declared on August 4, 1918, the Ross Rifle Company managed to produce sufficient Mark IIIs to equip the First Contingent.
1914-1916
Reports that there were major problems started coming out during the first battle of Ypres in March 1915. Canadian soldiers reported that the Ross Rifle frequently jammed. In some cases, the bolt actually froze such that a significant amount of force was needed to pull the bolt open.
Testing was done on the Ross to determine what the cause was, what fixes that could be implemented to resolve them. One of the problems was the .303 ammunition. Cartridged from certain manufactures caused the rifle to jam. Also, the ross rifle was built to tight tolerances which means some o the amount expand in the chamber making it difficult to extract the cartridge.
The rifle’s chamber was enlarged to use Canadian made ammo. By this time, the damage was done since Canadian soldiers had lost confidence in the rifle and picked up discarded Lee-Enfields. Each division in the Corps slowly replaced the Ross when Lee-Enfields became available. However, the Ross was still the official service weapon of the CEF.
Controversy
In April 1916 a report by Lieutenant-General Alderson’s, the British commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, criticizing the Ross Rifle was leaked to the press causing a political firestorm. The report contributed to the firing of Lieutenant-General Anderson.
It’s also rather ironic that the actual decision to replace the Ross rifle by the Lee-Enfield was not made by the Canadian government but by Field Marshal Haig after Sir Borden had passed the decision to him as whether to keep it or replace it.
After the Ross Rifle was replaced by the Lee-Enfield the Ross Rifle was still being used by the Canadians as a sniper rifle. It was well suited for this role because of the rifle’s high accuracy. The sniper teams could easily keep the rifle well maintained, and it would be on rare occasions that the snipers would engage in rapid fire.
The Ross Rifle Factory
The Ross Rifle Company factory was located at Cove Fields next to the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City. There had been some controversy with the factory’s location so near the famous battle site. The factory was constructed in 1902 and it employed four hundred workers. By 1914, the factory had grown to a thousand employees. The workforce grew to three thousand by 1916 to complete of orders from the British and Russian governments.
With the cancellation of the contracts the factory was eventually expropriated the factory and paid Sir Charles Ross. Even though attempt were made to build other weapons. The factory was torn down in the 1920’s.
Today, examples of the Ross Rifle can be still be found in the used market. It is well regarded as a sniper rifle.
Sources and further reading
Web
Ross Rifle - The Canadian Encyclopedia
Ross Rifle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Charles Ross, 9th Baronet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Forums and groups
Service Rifle - www.canadiansoldiers.com
Ross Rifle, The Royal Canadian Regiment
Duguid, A.F., Appendix 111, The Ross Rifle Monogram, Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War, 1914-1919, Vol I Part 2, 1938.