THE ROSS RIFLE

Taihape Daily Times, 18 July 1919, Page 3

THE ROSS RIFLE

A CANKDIAN WEAPON The Ross rifle which has been deelal'ed not a service weapon and its 'use in services matches therefore not permitted to the New Zealand rifle team now in En;-,'L.;.‘., ', ' "‘>?::1r“.?:»“_ weapon. The original Canadian Expeditionary Foree was‘ armed with this rifle, but it was never used in action, the short magazine Lee—En-

field Mark VII, being considered a much more serviceable arm. The

Ross rifle has a. bead sight and ifs excellent for sport and target shooting, and there is an impl'cs§‘lon in New Zealand that the rifles purchased from Canada by the Government for one dollar each were of the Ross pat-‘ tern, but this is not so. They were Lee-Enfields, and were taken" on service by the New Zealand forces. The infantry carried the Mark VI. LeeEnficld, which is longer than the Mark VII, used by the mounted rifles, but before the forcowent to France all troops received the latter, one of the vir‘mos of which is that it has a wooden covering over the barrel right 1113 to the muzzle, and I;herc.fol'c it is much more easily handled when the the metal heals througli rapid rifle fire.