My favorite Ross story: Decades ago I was quite a straight pull fan, had all sorts, even a Steyr 95 .30-40 by Sedgley, looked just like a Sedgley Springfield except for the funny action in the middle of it. At one point I had a Ross 1905 .303 factory sporter and shot it a lot, being careful about bolt assembly. Was out at a New Jersey range one weekend and must have put a hundred rounds through it shooting military ammo as fast as I could. Got very hot. Emptied a magazine full and watched in amazement as the bolt head rotated and the bolt slid back part way. Sold that gun not long after !!! Still have a handsome .303 custom by John Dubiel, sold a .35WCF by Ed Weber last year.
I remember reading that somewhere a few years back and saving it on my computer.
Can you tell us more about this? At what point in the firing cycle did this occur? During the recoil or after? I assume the case came back out of the chamber as well?
....I have the American Rifleman back to its beginning in 1923, the military were selling rifles to NRA members, and there was a good deal about them in the magazine. There is no doubt that bolts came out and injured several and maybe even killed one or two people. Unclear which model, clear that incorrect assembly was responsible for some incidents but there was a residue which left many folk wondering if even correctly assembled a bolt might come out.
That was also the conclusion of the authors of the Ross Rifle Story if I read it correctly.
There is a photo in that book of a number of 1905 bolt sleeves with blown out bolt stop lugs. I have one exactly the same myself that came out of a gunsmith's parts box. Unfortunately someone has messed around with the area of the fracture a bit, but it is clearly a fracture. The bolt stop lug and the portion of the sleeve it attached to are gone completely.