"Give me one million men who can hit a target at 500 yards , and we would not have a foe who would invade our country" - Minister of Militia and Defence Sam Hughes.

Rifles were produced at the Ross Rifle factory in Quebec City and numbered 420,000 with versions 1-5. The cost to build the rifle was $28. The rifle weighed 8 1/2 pounds. It could fire 20 rounds a minute. It was accurate up to 1,800 feet. The bayonet was 10" long.

This rifle was given to the infantry and snipers and they loathed it.

At the end of the Boer War in 1902, Canada was unable to persuade Britain to supply Canada with the Lee-Enfield rifle, or even a licence to manufacture them. The question was then asked "how are we going to arm the military, the police and the militia.

It was at this time that Scottish industrialist Sir Charles Ross stepped forward and proposed to build a factory in Quebec City to manufacture a rifle of his design. The Government of Canada immediately ordered 12,000 units with a delivery date in 1903.

The rifle's straight pull and bolt action designed promised a faster firing rate than the Lee-Enfield rifle. The accuracy and precision won the support of Sam Hughes who was an avid marksman and Minister of Defence 1911-1916. Problems were revealed during the testing of the rifle which including having the bolts jam during sustained fire, and Ross promised that all issues would be addressed. This was the beginning of a process of continuous redesign.

The First Canadian Contingent along with the troops from Newfoundland departed Canada with the Ross rifle. Snipers loved the rifle because of its accuracy. However, the rifle was too finely tooled for the variance of mass production to mass produced British ammunition, and keeping the rifle clean was a huge challenge for the infantry in the muddy trenches of the battlefield.

In March of 1915, during the battle of Neuve Chappel, rifles jammed. The British ammunition made of soft brass expanded and then stuck in the chamber and in addition the mud of the battlefield gummed up the works. At Ypres in April, soldiers used their boots and shovels to loosen the jammed bolts. One officer quotes "It is nothing short of murder to send out men to battle against the enemy with such a weapon."

Soldiers in the infantry then began to discard their Ross rifles which had been named "the Canadian club." and then began to pick up Lee-Enfield rifles from fallen allies, despite being ordered not to do that.

As one issue was fixed another would take its place. Early rifles were retrofitted with reamed -out chambers allowing them to hold larger ammunition, then a manufacturing problem arose: parts on new models were over tightened at the factory which distorted the chamber. Other fixes included hardening the soft metal of the bolt head and installing a larger bolt stop.

While using the Ross rifle on the battlefield the confidence of the men using it began to be tested even tho the snipers loved it. It was deadly accurate while in the hand of a marksman.

In June of 1916, the Canadians were ordered to exchange their Ross rifles for the Lee-Enfield rifle. In the same year, Hughes was replaced as Minister of the Militia and Defence. In 1917, the Government of Canada expropriated the Ross factory. Various versions of the Ross rifle continued to be manufactured and was used for training and in the Second World War.