Courtesy of resident gun-sleuth Tony-Sahib, we bring you a particular variant of the straight-pull bolt action Canadian Ross rifle.
Originally chambered in a proprietary caliber for the Canadian Army, the rifle had a checkered history. It was by all accounts a very accurate rifle, and it did well on the range. (There was a good article on it in American Rifleman sometime earlier this year.) However, it was not well-suited to the demands of trench warfare, and was quickly superceded by the .303 Enfield, unofficially at first by acquisitive (and smart) Canadian soldiers.
Now, the one shown below was captured or seized here in the recent past, and was handed down by various occupants of our office. Tony-Sahib did a little checking and found that a whole lot of them was made for the British Army in 1915, chambered in .303. This is one of them. Overall it’s in good condition, but somehow the bolt was put together improperly, so that you can’t pull it back all the way, thereby rendering it ineffective. A good illustration of why it wasn’t a successful fighting rifle. How exactly it got here, none can say, but I bet it could tell some tales.
Here, you can see the straight-pull bolt:
Here, the whole thing, borne by a true rifleman.
Also– Not strictly gun-related, but it sure is worth mentioning. What could be more useful in trench warfare, or during the apocalypse, than a blade from Zombie Tools like the nicely named D’Capitan?? The discussion on how long it takes to make one is worth the price of admission alone.
