Gentlemen...I came across this rifle...all original with non fouling oval bore..I love the balance, weight and barrel contour of this one...

I have never seen any other, are they rare..?

I know Lancaster marketed the .280 Ross vigorously but was it ever popular..? Any good..?

Relatively rare now but not then..... one of the once very popular cartridges that simply disappeared and the guns that shot them as well ? The 318 WR comes to mind
So popular at the time that Mauser had it on offer for the British trade and we see Lancasters, George Gibbs, William Evans, Jeffery but to name a few who offered this.

One of those firsts in the velocity race. a 7mm albeit is .287 to .289 version that would break the 3000 fps ceiling...... some say the first and some claim a First for heavy for caliber spitzer bullets ( not true as the French had this one sewed up as far back as 1891 )

Anyway caught the attention of those who would lay claim to the meaning of really fast...... a step down the path and we see again a Mauser this time with very long 32 and even 34 inch barrels take the 280 to a whopping 3900 fps with a 100 gr bullet when Halbe and Gerlich with their 280 Halger attained this velocity at the Hallensee Proof range in Germany..... Gerlich was a American who after failing to get his work accepted in the USA moved to Germany where he worked on High velocity projectiles and munitions.

Pretty unusual for one seller to have two slant box Mauser magazine rifles for sale at the same time:
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/792627832
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/794035843
Both the .303 and the .280 are rare enough, but the Lancaster also has a stepped receiver ring, usually seen only in connection with Rigby 400/350's.

probably bought out an estate. That is what guys do that buy guns.

quote:

Originally posted by xausa:
Pretty unusual for one seller to have two slant box Mauser magazine rifles for sale at the same time:
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/792627832
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/794035843
Both the .303 and the .280 are rare enough, but the Lancaster also has a stepped receiver ring, usually seen only in connection with Rigby 400/350's.

Xausa, the one I am looking at also has the stepped receiver ring..

Are those steps actually part of the receiver or some kind of eccentric Nock's form on the barrel?

Stepped front ring Mauser Magnum action
Was produced specially for Rigby circa 1902
The step is in the front bridge
there was also a variant with single square bridge with stepped front ring.
Rigby had the sole rights to Mauser sporting actions , barrels and guns and they supplied the rest.
The Sporting use of the Ross starts around 1907

The 280 Ross is historically significant in that it was the first commercial sporting cartridge to break the 3000 fps ceiling.

of even greater importance is its role in the later search for munitions to defeat armour.

This is a slant box, single square bridge, stepped receiver ring Rigby Mauser action:

Thanks ALF and xausa, so does that strengthen the rifle by extending the barrel threading or weaken it by reducing the ring diameter?

My personal opinion (which I have never seen validated) is that the purpose of the "step" was to allow lower scope mounting using claw mounts by increasing the angle the scope could be tipped forward in removing it from the rifle. I have only seen it in connection with single square bridge actions.

I have an original Lancastor over/under 455 caliber smooth bore pistol.

I had lots of fun shooting seagulls with it and 410 shotshells!

Those who had no idea about guns thought it was incredible, that I can shoot flying birds with a pistol!

I got a call from a friend who was a director at Holland and Holland in London.

He said he found a pistol which he thought I should have.

He was right.

I used to shoot skeet with my Krieghoff Teck O/U double rifle in .458 WM, using .410 ammunition. The shells didn't fit well and afterwards were impossible to reload, but it was a lot of fun and useful as well. Try shooting a low house station 8 from the low gun position with a scope attached!