This is really a one of kind prototype self-loading Ross rifle. This unique rifle was developed specifically by Charles Ross circa 1910-1918. Obviously he was one of the numerous companies at this time that was attempting to develop some kind of self-loading semi-automatic rifle for not only the Canadian Commercial market but probably for future Government sales. Based on the overall configuration of the rile you can certainly tell its lineage, as the complete trigger guard, box magazine, barrel, barrel bands and forward section of this rifle is exactly like the Canadian Ross MKIII rifles. The complete action/receiver section is a all new design effort. The written documentation provided by the consignor notes that this rifle was developed in the 1910 time frame specifically by Sir Charles Ross. During the WWI time frame he brought this rifle to the Savage Arms company for further testing/evaluation. It remained with the Savage Arms, R&D department until 1946 when it was sold to one of the Savage production Engineers, prior to the move by the company from Utica NY to Chicopee Falls, Mass. This rifle is a very large and complex rifle design employs a brass vertical locking block mechanism similar to the later 1921 Thompson SMG and also has a similar appearance to the later 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) designed by John Browning. The only markings on the rifle are the serial number on the barrel which is "HG15238", which was probably associated with the original MKII/III Ross rifle, where those parts came from. Certainly a very interesting early Ross Rifle Company Prototype design that would be worth doing more research on.