.280 Ross Explained

.280 Ross
Origin:Canada
Type:Rifle
Service:Canada
Designer:F.W. Jones
Design Date:1906
Manufacturer:Ross Rifle Company
Variants:280 Flanged (280 Lancaster)
Case Type:Semi-rimmed, bottleneck
Bullet:.287
Neck:.317
Shoulder:.404
Base:.534
Rim Dia:.556
Case Length:2.59
Length:3.50
Case Capacity:76
Primer:Berdan #59
Max Pressure:47200
Bw1:140
Btype1:SP
Vel1:2900
En1:2620
Bw2:150
Btype2:SP
Vel2:2800
En2:2610
Bw3:160
Btype3:SP
Vel3:2700
En3:2600
Bw4:180
Btype4:SP
Vel4:2550
En4:2600
Balsrc:"Cartridges of the World" [1]

The .280 Ross, also known as the .280 Nitro, .280 Rimless Nitro Express Ross (CIP) and .280 Rimless cartridge, is an approximately 7mm bullet diameter rifle round developed in Canada by F.W. Jones as a consultant to Sir Charles Ross, 9th Baronet, and his Ross Rifle Company of Quebec, Canada for use as a Canadian military cartridge as a replacement for the .303 British, and in a civilianised and sporterised version of his controversial Mark II and Mk III Ross rifle, and first commercially produced by Eley Brothers of London, England, in late 1907.

History

The .280 Ross was the first practical cartridge to reach the edge of 3000ft/s muzzle velocity. Sir Charles Ross did many attempts while in the process of creating the "perfect cartridge", one of them leading to the creation of the .28-1906 in November 1906.

Ross also tried to convince the British War Department to adopt the .280 Ross (and his rifle) as the new service cartridge, but World War I came along and dashed his hopes.

The .280 also paved the way for Sir Charles' newly designed bullets, such as "Full Metal Patch" and "Metal Covered Hollow Point". The Ross Mk III rifle was especially developed to handle the .280. The .280 (and the Ross Rifle) won the famous Bisley international matches in 1908, 1912 and 1913 (King's Prize) plus many other prizes in different competitions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Performance

Firing a 1401NaN1 bullet at a muzzle velocity of 29000NaN0, the new cartridge qualified for the contemporary designation "magnum". It was used as a military sniper's cartridge,[2] in addition to achieving some celebrity as an African plains game cartridge in the years immediately following the First World War. However the large capacity case was capable of moving the bullets available at that time faster than would be desirable for reliable expansion, causing them to fragment rather than penetrate properly.[3] Commercially, the .280 Ross was popular for stalkers in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries like New Zealand and Canada, chambered in sporting versions of the Ross rifle. It was found to be an excellent cartridge on red deer with a terminal performance comparable to the modern .270 Winchester or .280 Remington. Compared to other cartridges of the period such as the 6.5×54mm Mannlicher, 7x57 Mauser and the .303 British, all with the slower loadings of the time, it was notably superior.Ballistically, the .280 Ross cartridge's performance was broadly comparable to that of the more modern .280 Remington / 7 mm Express Remington and 7×64mm. It works well on all North American game when used with an appropriate bullet.Once the Ross rifle company went out of business after WW1, the cartridge was orphaned as no one else chambered rifles for it. As a commercially manufactured item this cartridge has been obsolete for some years, because of the inappropriate bullets often used in it originally, as well as problems associated with the Ross rifle that it was normally chambered in.[4] Handloaders continue to load successfully for it, by removing the belt from 7mm Remington Magnum or .300 Holland & Holland before resizing or by using swaged and necked-down .300 Remington Ultra Magnum cases. Proper head stamped brass is also available from Roberson Cartridge Company. Hawk 160 grain 286 diameter bullets are specifically made for the 280 ross. 275 h&h 287 diameter bullets of 160 and 175 grain from Woodliegh Bullets should also work. The German round .280 Halger Magnum is based on the .280 Ross case. Load references can be found in the September/October 1973 issue of the Handloader Magazine.[5] As of 2020 correct size bullets are available from Woodleigh in Australia and Kynamco (Kynoch) from the United Kingdom.

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. Book: Barnes, Frank C. . Skinner, Stan . Cartridges of the World . 11th . 1965 . 2006 . Gun Digest Books . Iola, WI, USA . 384, 408 . 0-89689-297-2.
  2. "Out of Nowhere: A History of the Military Sniper", book by Martin Pegler, Osprey Publishing, 2004, p. 135
  3. "The .280 Ross (.280 Rimless)" by Chuck Hawks
  4. "The .280 Ross Rifle, A Fast Shady Lady" by Erin Body at Chuck Hawks web site
  5. The Handloader Magazine, page 29, Issue No. 45, September/October, Vol 8, No 5, 1973. Publisher Dave Wolfe, Box 3030, Prescott, Arizona 86301, USA