I've always wanted one of these rifles, and yesterday brought home one of my bucket list rifles. It's an unaltered, lightly hunted rifle, with a perfect bore. The SN is 17xx, so it could be a first year production. Located my someday stash of 375 Ruger brass to form 280 Ross cases from. Sadly Woodleigh .287" bullets are nowhere to be found since the fire, but I hear that the Ross rifling is cut deep and .284" bullets can be made to work. That or I might just cast bullets and have the option of plinking with the rifle.

I would welcome insights from others that have experience with the M1910 and/or loading for the 280 Ross. I do have the old Handloader article on the 280, so I do have some data to work with while I'm waiting for dies to arrive.

Just a word of caution! Don't remember much about it but I THINK if the bolt is assembled wrong there can be major problems of the bolt blowing backwards into the face.
Please research this if you are not sure!

Hip

Thank you for your concern.

You are correct and the later production rifles were modified to prevent incorrect bolt assembly.
I checked with several Ross rifle resources which show how to identify an incorrectly assembled bolt. I'm good to go.

Do you have dies? A friend is selling his rifle, he might sell his dies.
I bet Hawk makes the correct bullets for the Ross.

I haven't yet place my die order with CH4D.
Yes, Hawk makes fat 7mm bullets, but the accuracy reports are spotty. Woodleigh would be my first choice, but since the fire that might be an impossibility.

Please PM me if he would like to sell the dies to me.

I will ask him tomorrow.

Great find, congrats on your bucket list.

Buffalo Arms lists .287" 154 grain spitzers, probably 'bumped up' from Hornady 154s. They show out of stock at the moment, but it's worth contacting them to get some on order.

https://www.buffaloarms.com/28...spitz-bac287154.html

I have used their similarly bumped up .228" bullets for the 22 Hi-Power and they work very well.

I wouldn't hesitate to try standard .284" bullets in your Ross. The copper of the jackets is fairly soft and obturates quickly under the pressure of the propellant. You might find accuracy is about as good as with a larger diameter bullet.

I own a Sako 7x33, which is of course a much smaller cartridge that uses a lower nominal pressure. It is specified for a .286" bullet, but the .284" bullets I've used have shown very acceptable accuracy.

I used 300 Win Magnum brass to make 280 Ross when I was shooting mine.
I formed easily. The brass WAS easy to find at the time.
The belt on the 300WM is the right dia to fill the Ross chamber base. So it centers the case base in the chamber for you.
Then the case forward of the belt expands to fireform & fill the chamber.

Some fear the brass just ahead of the belt expanding to that belt diameter is too dangerous.
You only do this once in the case forming step.
I always used minimum loads.
284 bullets gave me so-so accuracy. The bore in my rifle matches the accuracy!
Needs more attention at the reloading & firing bench.
Right now the rifle is all apart to fix some stock issues that I should have taken care of when I first got it some yrs ago.
It has the Porter sight which is nice.
That 0-500 yrd rear bbl sight is quite something,,,a flat shooting cartridge for sure!!

I never had any case failures and reloaded the cases as I would have any other CF rifle case. No unusual occurances seen.
Many other 280 shooters use the same method.

I was lucky enough to find a set of RCBS 280Ross dies at a gun show (OGCA) for $25.
I'm told by Ross-ites that commercial dies very often don't match the Ross commercial 280 chamber specs and that they'll likely be un-usable.
I guess I just got lucky for once . They work just fine. So much for Exspurts.

The 375 Ruger case is another one that will make very nice 280 brass as well.
It uses a couple of separate steps in forming of course. But the case will fill the Ross chamber unlike the 300WM needing the expand at the base.

I bought a box of Hornady 375R brass back a few yrs ago with intentions of using it for 280. Never got around to it. Not really sure I have what's needed for the intermediate forming steps but can likely make do with something out of the boxes of reloading dies on the shelves.
I'll keep the brass,,everything made of brass and looks like a cartridge case is getting hard to find it seems.

Interesting rifle and caliber. Just a range toy for me.

You sometimes get the warning not to shoot that rifle 'Cause the bolt'll come right out the back and hit you in the forehead'.

I appreciate the concerns though, people watching out for others is a good thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I wouldn't hesitate to try standard .284" bullets in your Ross. The copper of the jackets is fairly soft and obturates quickly under the pressure of the propellant. You might find accuracy is about as good as with a larger diameter bullet.

I own a Sako 7x33, which is of course a much smaller cartridge that uses a lower nominal pressure. It is specified for a .286" bullet, but the .284" bullets I've used have shown very acceptable accuracy.

I'm to try applying the polymer coating to .284" bullets that the cast bullet folks use to build the bullet diameter up to .288" diameter. This is along the lines of the blue Barnes VLC bullets from years ago.

Two cycles of coating yielded .2785" diameter bullets. Now I just need to wait for Wednesday for the dies to arrive.

Just today reading an interesting article in the 1982 edition of Shooter's Bible, the article called "Canada's Ill-Fated Ross Rifle".

Good details on the history of Sir Charles Ross and the rifle he developed which was supplied to the Canadian armed forces. Ultimately in battle troops that had been issued with the Ross rifle threw away their rifles and took possession of 303 SMLE rifles from dead comrades who had been originally issued with Enfields. Despite many changes being made to the Ross rifle it was still an absolute miserable failure as a battle rifle.

It was only the combination of military arrogance and stubbornness from certain individuals including Ross himself, that the Ross rifle was first accepted and then retained for so long in the Canadian armed forces.
Who knows how many men lost their lives because of the failure of the Ross rifle in battle.

Fortunately mine is civilian hunting rifle.
The muck and grime of WW1 trench warfare does not lend itself to finely crafted, close tolerance designs.

John, following this thread. It's a happy day when dies finally arrive.
I see a reference to an article on loading the Ross in Handloader No. 45, September/October 1973. I no longer have my back issues, but it might be worth ordering from Wolfe if you don't already have it.

I still have my old 'Handloader' collection; if you would like a copy of that article send me a PM.

Thank you for the offer, but I have a copy of that article.