Phil Sharpe, in "The Rifle in America", mentions "Ross rifles and cases of ammunition" being sold by the DCM for "about $5". Sharpe wrote that "the military Ross rifles were perfectly safe, but with their oversize chambers, you could not hit a flock of barns with them". These were apparently used as drill rifles by the US military.
I have been told by Canadian sailors that the Royal Canadian Navy kept their Ross rifles in service for many years, possibly until the .303 cartridge was replaced with the NATO cartridge in the 1960s.
Poor ammunition in WW1 was not limited to English production nor to .303 cartridges. McBride wrote about stealing a case of some "name brand", Winchester or Remington or such, .303 to be sure the ammunition was accurate enough for his intended use. The ammunition made by the large ammunition firms was OK, but the stuff loaded by inexperienced contractors ranged from awful to dangerous. Some of that stuff is still with us. Just last year, while serving as duty rangemaster at our local club, I found a kid who was going to shoot his grandfather's 1903 Springfield with some old ammunition headstamped H-17. That ammunition has been associated with many of the reported Springfield mishaps. I swapped the kid's H-17 stuff for some recent CMP ammunition. Then I destroyed the H-17 stuff, lest someone else try to shoot it.
