Quotulatiousness

December 15, 2020

Experimental Pre-WWI Ross .30-06 Machine Gun

Filed under: Cancon, History, Military, Weapons — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published 14 Dec 2020

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In August 1913, the British War Office wrote to Sir Charles Ross requesting a sample automatic rifle for trials in the UK. Ross was able to submit a prototype in May 1914, which was tested at Enfield — but only fired 308 rounds before the test ended, suggesting that something important probably broke. The gun was a very strange looking contraption, whose Ross MkIII lineage is visible only in the bolt and front of the receiver forging. A long stroke gas pistol was added, and the action flipped upside-down. A large 25-round magazine was fitted, along with a thumbhole style stock that looks very similar to the grip of a Lewis gun. In addition to one example tested at Enfield in .303 caliber, one other model was send to the US for testing, chambered for .30-06. That is the gun we are looking at today, which came to the Canadian War Museum from the collection stored at Fort Knox in the 1970s and 80s.

Thanks to the Canadian War Museum for providing me access to film this extremely unusual Ross for you!

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