Reloading the .280 Ross

American Rifleman, vol 65, No. 3 Oct 12, 1918, pages 55-58

By J. R. Mattern

In "Rod and Gun in Canada"

WE have a reasonable quantity of .280 Ross cartridges in process of manufacture, but our plant has been placed entirely at the disposal of the Government, and it may not be possible to complete them.”

This is what one of the ammunition factories said in reply to a request for “.280” cartridges. It will be observed that so far as this firm is concerned, the situation for owners of Ross rifles is not bright, and this is one of the most favorable received to numerous queries.

Another factory has this to say: “.280 Ross cartridges are now in the experimental stage with us, and we cannot say at this time when they will be ready for the market. It will perhaps be four or five months hence if pressure of war work does not prevent progress on them meanwhile."

The Ross plant at Quebec has been taken over entirely by the Dominion Government and neither it nor its New York representatives have much more .280 ammunition to sell. The rifles are not manufactured at present. A few scattered dealers still have small stocks of ammunition.

The scarcity of finished cartridges is not so apparent in respect to bullets, as many factories either have them in stock or are prepared to make them at any time.

In the main, it looks as though a satisfactory supply of .280 Ross factory ammunition, will be doubtful, and that every owner of a Ross rifle who prefers to use it in the woods next summer or fall will find it to his interest to devise ways and means of making a few factory cartridges go a long way. Those who have empty fired shells are fortunate. They can make themselves largely independent of the market.

Before going into the details of loading this rather peculiar cartridge, it perhaps is well to consider that even without the scarcity of new ammunition, there is abundant reason for reloading. The game bullet at better than 3,000 feet velocity is a wicked destroyer of meat. Small and medium sized game should not be shot with it except in an emergency. A light load, with a bullet that will not expand, is needed by every hunter.

The reduced load also comes in well for short range target shooting, and possibly for signaling in the woods where hunting is done by a crew. It is a great help in familiarizing a person with the rifle. If only the full powder charge is fired few men will shoot enough to become properly proficient—not that the Ross is hard to shoot well, but that a considerable amount of practice is necessary with any rifle before trigger pulls, appearance of sights, balance and working of the action are learned. The reduced load does not have the recoil of the full power.

The alloy bullets that must be used in reduced loads lack the damaging effect on the barrel of the steel or nickel jackets. It has been told in some of the magazines how an international match was won with the Ross rifles that had each been fired more than 8,000 times before that day, and how the sub-calibre bullets the Ross rifle uses prolong the accuracy-life of the barrel to double that of the Springfield barrel. Let those facts be as they may, and whether it is powder erosion, rust under metal fouling or plain bullet wear that causes the trouble, .280 rifles that do not get their ammonia cleaning regularly will develop inaccuracy long before the schedule time. A Ross hunting barrel must be cared for well, and should be shot with discretion, if its original lustre and polish and exceptional accuracy are to be preserved for many years.

The high cost of ammunition is another factor in favor of reloading. The original price of $7.50 per I00 cartridges was a long step up from the $4.50 or $5 we used to consider the limit a sane hunter was justified in paying for his cartridges, yet the lowest quotation on .280’s seen in recent months was $10 per I00, and one dealer is getting $2.35 per box of 20 cartridges.

Materials for reloading of course cost more than they used to. They are not so hard to secure new, as a rule, however, as the completed cartridges. Lead and block tin or solder can be bought of any good hardware store, and primers from gun dealers. The Ideal Manufacturing Company should be able to furnish copper gas check cups within 30 to 60 days of receiving an order. Metal cased bullets of any of the types mentioned farther along, except those made by the Ross Company, should be procurable on order through proper dealers at a cost of $1.50 to $3 per 100—which is high, though better than $11 or $13 per 100 for loaded cartridges in exceedingly limited numbers. It is likely that the full metal eased target bullets will be easier to find than soft or hollow point ones, because some manufacturers made up large stocks before the war, which they have not yet completely sold. In emergencies, these bullets can be used for all practice shooting. Powder is the easiest of all components to buy, owing to the enlightened policy governing powder makers. It may be bought through dealers, or arranged for direct. New empty shells -are hard to find, but old ones, fired once, should be plenty. A small “want ad" should bring a supply to the man who has not saved his old ones.

Reloading tools are somewhat slow in arriving, but should not take longer than the copper gas check cups. Anyone unable to get a tool made for this cartridge should not overlook the possibility of using some other size tool as a makeshift. Thus an Ideal No. 3 tool for the .45-70 cartridge or any similar one can be used simply by fitting into it a double adjustable chamber for the Ross .280 cartridge. Even the chamber can be dispensed with by using instead, one for the 30-06, 33 Winchester, 30 Newton or a like cartridge. The threads and holes in the firearms of the Ideal tools for big cartridges, nearly all are identical. One tool will take many different chambers. Winchester and Newton reloading tools of other sizes should be equally adaptable if necessary, just so the chambers are big enough, Second hand tools often can be bought of dealers who advertise. Bullet molds of course will have to be secured from the Ideal Company.

It must be understood that a makeshift tool is not as good as the proper one, and that good work can not be done with any other than the proper tool unless great care is used. No substitution is possible for resizing dies, but muzzle reducing and expanding dies can be made in a machine shop.

The Ross .280 cartridge, unlike any other known to the writer, is fired with an oiled shell. Factory loaded cartridges always are found oiled all over when boxes are opened. If the shell is dry in the rifle chamber when fired, it will expand enough to stick. Not one shell in a hundred that is oiled will extract hard, or refuse to seat again freely after firing. As a result, resizing the shells their entire length is unnecessary. This is fortunate, because the walls of the shell are so thick that no ordinary machine is capable of forcing a full length die over them—not even the Ideal bench loading press, and they cannot be driven into a hand-resizing die without the head of the shell being deformed.

Another important and unique fact about this cartridge is that the bullet used in factory cartridges is upwards of three thousandths of an inch smaller than the rifle bore. The bore of most Ross hunting rifles measure .289; and most bullets .2865. From a reloading standpoint, the result is that the necks of all fired shells must be resized severely before they will hold metal cased bullets friction tight, and the job must be done with care or the bullets will not be held true to the bore. Cast bullets, to shoot accurately, must be oversized, as for other rifles, which means that they must measure .291 or .292. Normal fired shells will hold them tightly without being resized.

For those who never have reloaded rifle ammunition, it should be stated that the following operations are required in reloading the .280 Ross. For reduced loads, the shells must be decapped, the inner edge of the muzzles reamed or beveled out slightly with a knife or sharp reamer, and new primers seated. If the cartridges are to be kept many weeks before firing, the shells should be cleaned before they are recapped in a solution of sulphuric acid, (4 minutes in a solution composed of one teaspoonful of acid per quart of water) or at least in a strong soda solution. If they are not, the powder may be deteriorated by the fouling inside the shells.

Bullets must be cast, lubricated and sized or bought ready for loading. The powder charges should be dropped into the shells, and the bullets started into the mouths of the shells with the fingers. Then the reloading tool should be used for seating the bullets, the finished cartridges cleaned of any dirt or surplus grease with a rag, and if to be used in the woods, should be tried in the rifle in order that tight ones may be detected.

The making of full powder ammunition proceeds along he same lines, though there are some vital additions necessary. Cartridges to be fired within a month do not require that the shells be cleaned in the way mentioned above, though they are better when so cleaned. Before the shells are recapped the muzzles should be resized. Any showing the slightest signs of splitting or holes should be discarded. Powder charges must be weighed accurately for each cartridge on suitable scales. After the bullets are seated, they must be lubricated with a proper grease. It is well to try in the rifle all cartridges to be taken into the woods. Before they finally are loaded into the magazine, the shells should be given a very light coat of thin grease, and the bullet lubrication should be made sure of.

The regular Ideal tool for the .280 is No. 10, since the shell is classed as rimless (though there is enough rim to catch the edges of the tool hole in recapping). The tool should be fitted with double adjustable chamber, muzzle resizing die, muzzle expanding die, and cap extractor. Other tools necessary or desirable are a mold for each cast bullet desired, an Ideal lubricating and sizing machine with a .2915 or .292 die, and an Ideal No. 5 powder measure, a reliable scale that will weight to ¼ grain accurately, and a Lightning de- and re-capper, though it is possible to load a considerable amount of cartridges with fair satisfaction without the de and re capper, the lubricating and sizing machine and the powder measure, but it is a longer, dirtier job.

This is the reloading operation in outline. Many details should be considered—for instance, the different bullets available, lubricating materials, kinds and charges of powder and methods of cleaning shells.

Considering now reduced loads, the cast bullets that are available are Ideal gas check bullet No. 291379 for the .280 Ross, weighing 143 grains; Ideal plain bullet No. 285365 for 7mm cast in enlarged mold, weighing 110 grains; and Ideal gas check bullet 285346 for 7mm cast in enlarged mold, weighing about 160 grains. The latter two are fairly accurate if the molds they are made in happen to be enlarged to a full .291 at least, and are true round. Not all molds are. (Enlarging is done at the factory, on special order, by manipulating the cherry).

The first named bullet has such a short bearing surface that it will stand only a comparatively low velocity, though when loaded carefully it is very accurate. It should be hard-one to ten, tin and lead, anyhow. The use of antimony in the alloy is not advisable, since the copper gas check cup protects the base of the bullet from the hot powder gases, and the tin and lead mixture is tougher and less brittle. The same alloy should be used for the 7mm. gas check bullet, No. 285365 bullet can be made similar metal, or a little antimony can be used in the mixture. The Ideal metals, of course, are unexcelled for the purpose. All cast bullets should be lubricated ally, without fail.

No metal cased bullets are on the market that can be used for reduced loading, owing to the sub-calibre scheme. All that are available require the full 55,000 pounds or so of the regular powder charge pressure to upset and expand them to bore diameter be fore they will shoot accurately.

The gas check cup sold for the .280 bullets by the Ideal Company is the one they make for 7 mm. calibre hence it is too small for the .280 Ross. We must make the best of this situation, however, even though the under-sized cup is one of the limiting factors in the accuracy of the reloaded ammunition. The only present opportunity of getting anything better is to size down .30 caliber cups in the lubricating and sizing machine, and the results of this slow operation are none too good. ‘

For the 7mm. check bullet, the powder charges can be anything up to those recommended in the Ideal Hand for that cartridge-say 22 grains of Dupont No. 21, or 26 grains or more, of Dupont No. 18, or 20 grains of Hercules Lightning. Maximum accuracy probably will be obtained in most rifles with lighter charges, as, for instance, 16 to 20 grains of No. 18, or 12 to 18 grains of Lightning, or I0 to 16 grains of Dupont No. 80. Marksman or Dupont No. 75 also can be used in charges two or three grains less than of No. 80.

For the plain bullet, No. 285365, powder charges must be light. About 8 to 10 grains.

No. 75 or 10 to 12 grains of No. 80, is the limit.

The regular .280 gas check bullet probably will be used more than either of the others mentioned, hence it should receive more attention. The Ideal Hand Book states that proper powder charges for it are 30 grains of Dupont No. 21 or 25 grains of No. 80. These loads are utterly impracticable, however, and how they came to be mentioned in this usually reliable publication, is beyond the writer. They lead the barrel and shoot exceedingly wild. Their limit of accuracy literally is a "horse" at 50 yards. Lightning powder gives excellent accuracy with this bullet. A charge of 12 grains often will make an inch group at 50 yards. Ten to 13 grains of No. 75 is equally accurate. Fifteen to 16 grains of No. 21 does very well in respect to accuracy, though it leaves a few hard unburned grains in the chamber. Eighteen grains of No. 18 is accurate and practically all burns. Twelve to 13 grains of No. 80 is an excellent load, Scheutzen, DuPont No. 1 and other powders are not good in this cartridge. Sharpshooter, though accurate, is hard on the expensive barrel.

For reduced loads there is no necessity for weighing the powder charges. The Ideal measure will throw them with sufficient accuracy. A few grains will be cut in two by the edge of the measure cylinder, but the cutting can be minimized by bringing down the machine handle quickly.

Resizing of shells is not required, except now and then of a fired shell expanded so much at the muzzle that it will not hold a .291 cast bullet friction tight. Such shells can be resized, then expanded with a .291 or .292 plug, or the muzzle resizing die can be reamed out slightly so it will not reduce the shells too much. The latter usually is the best procedure, but when done a second muzzle die must be secured for use if metal cased bullets are to be loaded. Any shells that fit tight in the rifle chamber usually can be loosened by loading regular with full charge, lubricating well, and firing. For resizing muzzles the die need not be oiled, though the work will be easier if oil is used. For expanding muzzles the plug or shells must be oiled or the shells will come out of the tool so hard that extractor hooks often will be broken or head rims pulled off.

Loading full power charges involves weighing the powder carefully. An error of a half grain or grain of powder may cause thousands of pounds change in pressure, and, what practically may be more important, a change of several inches in the striking point of the bullet at 20o yards. The Ideal measure will not throw coarse-grained powders accurately to within half a grain, nor can charges be scooped or measured close enough in any other way. Spring scales are not to he relied on—the beam and weight type should be used, and the pans should be above the beam.

To speed up the work, a funnel with an end small enough to enter the shell-mouth should be fastened at a convenient point. A good place is a hole bored through the work bench or table, an inch or more from the edge. The shell then can be held under the funnel with the hand while the powder is dumped in with the other. A wood block, with 50 more holes in it, big enough to take the shell heads, will prevent spilling of powder, and if it further has a thin board fastened to one side the 50 or more shells can be picked up without being upset.

The powder for use in the Ross .280 cartridge is not a matter for selection by the individual, as often is permissible with other cartridges. The original powder used by the Ross Company was Dupont No. 10, formulated expressly for the requirements of this cartridge. This powder was one of the vital elements that helped to make the excellent reputation for accuracy and velocity of the .280. Later on, DuPont No. 15 was made, and gave still higher velocity. It has now been largely superseded, however, by Dupot No. 13, on the market but a few months, which gives the highest velocity of all. No other powders than these will give even passably good results in this cartridge.

The individual who wants to maintain the same adjustment and trajectory required by factory cartridges should stick to No. 10 powder, and should load amounts specified on the can. These charges likely will be as follows: With 143 grain bullet, 56 grains; with 150 grain bullet, 55 grains; with 180 grain bullet, 52 grains.

When velocity higher than 3050 feet per second is wanted, or when this velocity is desired with less pressure and recoil than the factory cartridges give, No. 13 powder may be used. (This year factories may use No. 13 powder, but since they seldom state such facts, judgment had better be based on former information). There is a little difference in the barrel flip of this load and that with No. 10 powder, hence slightly different sight adjustment is called for. A velocity of 3150 to 3200 feet with 143 grain bullet will be obtained with 68 ½ grains, and, ‘judging from the flattering of the primer, with less actual breech pressure than is given by the standard factory loads of No. 10 powder. Velocities and pressures for different loads of No. 13 powder have not yet been worked out fully by the Dupont Company.

The charge of 68 ½ grains leaves a slight air-space behind the 143 grain bullet. A little compression of No. 13 powder does no harm, such as is done by compressing Lightning, for instance. Hence this charge can be increased one or more grains if desired and 3,300 feet or higher velocity obtained. Careful attention should be given the primer when such loading is tried. Under no circumstances should it puncture, and the maximum flattening should be about that produced in the standard factory loaded copper-tube cartridges, which generate a pressure of 55,000 to 57,000 pounds per square inch. Correct charges for 150 and 180 grain bullets should give about the same pressure, hence should be smaller than that for the 143 grain bullet.

A velocity of 3,300 feet may be obtained with No. 15 powder, using a charge of 60 grains behind the 143 grain bullet. No. 15 gives a peculiar prolonged recoil and requires considerable more sight elevation than No. 10 powder. It is not likely that quite as fine accuracy will be obtained with No. 15 powder, as with No. 10 and 13. All three burn cleanest and most uniformly at the maximum pressure, consequently we have the rather unexpected result that the heaviest loaded cartridges are the most accurate. Attempts to lower the velocity a little by reducing the charges a few grains usually result in wild shooting.

The metal cased bullets on the market probably are more numerous than the average Ross owner may suppose. The original copper-tube bullet, weighing 143 grains, and the cavity-point steel jacketed target bullet, weighing I80 grains, introduced by the Ross company, can be secured now with difficulty, if at all. A few still are in the hands of dealers. The Remington U. M. C. company catalogues a 143 grain umbrella point bullet in this caliber. The Winchester Company lists a 150 grain bullet without specifying whether it is full cased only or soft point also-—it likely is made in both types. The United States Cartridge Company makes a copper-tube 143 grain bullet apparently identical with the original, and a full jacketed 180 grain bullet. Two other manufacturers, at least make .280 bullets with soft sharp points similar to those of the .22 High Power and .250-3000 Savage.

The Ross Company during the last two years marketed factory cartridges with 143 grain hollow point steel jacketed bullets, and perhaps some of these bullets might be available yet. They are excellent killers, always mushrooming—in fact, in deer and smaller game they mess things up more than necessary. One deer was shot, for instance, on the front blade of a hip, ranging forward, and the bullet did not come out. That entire quarter and loins were torn up too badly to be used—but not a drop of blood came out of the animal till it was cut open.

These steel bullets may or not wear the barrel excessively. That is a subject open for further discussion. The factory cartridges carrying them always come with bullets thickly coated with lubricant. Nickel jacketed bullets, in which class all the above mentioned fall except the two steel ones, give less trouble from metal fouling than usually is experienced in a 30-06 rifle. Some batches of bullets, however, seem to be jacketed with an inferior nickel alloy that fouls badly. At one time shooters were directed to fire one steel bullet after each four or five nickel-jacketed ones, to remove fouling. Some copper-tube bullets have been sold, both separately and in loaded cartridges, that were defective and inaccurate. The Ross Company recalled and replaced as many as they could find of one such lot.

The copper-tube bullets are the best killers of any the writer ever has seen, not excepting bullets of the heavy .40 and .45 calibers. They will plow right through a bear, leaving a hole one can look through, and will take a deer or bear leg nearly off. Smaller animals usually collapse like an empty bag when hit center, or tear wide open if hit along a side. For instance, a dog once got in the way of a .280 copper tube at 200 yards range. The point of contact was his stern end, and one entire ham and leg was torn entirely off and thrown eight feet.

Two different makers have manufactured copper jacketed bullets for this rifle, though none such are believed to be regularly on the market. Here is an opportunity for the Newton Arms Company to distinguish it self in a way that will be appreciated. The Newton protected-point soft point bullet with copper jacket in the .280 ought to rival the famous copper-tube-one in accuracy and effectiveness. It should be noted that copper-jacketed bullets will stand four or five grains more of powder than nickel jacketed bullets of equal weight, consequently can be given higher velocity.

All metal cased bullets vary in weight several grains, and some vary in diameter. Steel jacketed bullets show, more variation than others. It is well to weigh them be fore they are loaded, and to separate them into two classes, at least. The correct powder charge for each weight then can be used. All bullets very much off the .2865 diameter standard should be used for unimportant shooting.

Lubricant for these bullets ought to combine high melting point, much adhesiveness, and ability to stand high temperature. Pure mobilubricant has the latter quality, but not the two former. Several uncommon greases often used to secure high melting point are not available now, owing to war conditions. Beeswax is fairly good and can be secured anywhere. A little graphite added to any mixture increases its lubricating power under high temperature and pressure. The best lubricant for the purposes, all in all, therefore is likely to be made by melting together and mixing mobilubricant, beeswax and graphite, in proportions of about 4, 2, 1, by bulk. These proportions should be varied to suit weather and carrying conditions. The same material is excellent for use on cast bullets. Shells should be greased lightly with pure mobilubricant.

Hunters will have difficulty in keeping bullets and shells properly lubricated ready for instant use unless they use belt pockets to carry cartridges, and smear the insides of these pockets sufficiently (but not too much) with this mixture in the bottom, and with pure mobilubricant along the sides. Some extra grease should be carried in a small flat tin box, for emergencies.

The accuracy that may be obtained from these, full power reloaded, is fully up to the wonderful Ross standard. Major Whelen is reported to have said, once upon a time. that he wanted to put telescopes on both a Ross and a Springfield in order to determine which would make the smallest group When the glass in necessary, hunters can assure themselves that the last quarter inch per hundred yards is to be counted, and that scattering the bullets over a four-inch bull at that distance is to be looked on as the result of crude holding. The 143 grain bullet apparently has not proved less accurate within 500 yards than the 180 grain.

Accuracy with reduced loads is another thing. When targets are made with the Ross gas check bullet and 12 ½ grains of No. 80 powder at 50 yards this bullet can be made to group regularly into 1 ½ inches, using the stiff powder charges, while 1 ¼ , 1 and even ¾ -inch groups at this distance may be obtained with specially light loads of No. 75 powder, Lightning powder and possibly with No. 80. The 12 ½ grains of No. 80 should give a velocity of about 1,300 feet, or a little less, and this is a good all round woods charge for birds, rabbits and squirrels, and which gives good satisfaction in knocking off pine cones, walnuts and tin cans at miscellaneous ranges.

The 7 mm. gas check bullet will group into 1 ½ inches at 50 yards. The plain bullet will not do quite so well. It makes a very light short range load chiefly useful for practice, though the velocity obtained with it probably is as high as with the Ross gas check. Anyone wanting to try shooting cans in the air with the Ross, which is a splendid way of keeping one's hand in practice, should use this load.

A new cast bullet is needed for the Ross–- one along the lines of the present No. 308334-30 caliber bullet, with plenty of bearing surface, weighing as much as possible in a length that will seat properly in the shell and go through the sporting rifle magazine. A new gas check cup is needed also. It is to be hoped that the manufacture of the rifle will be resumed soon, and that these ammunition improvements will be forth coming. Meanwhile, the Ross owner who improves his opportunities to secure cased bullets and to produce reduced loads, will be able to provide himself with abundant ammunition, and to get better all round satisfaction from his rifle than when his supply of factory cartridges was all he had.