This booklet details the Training of Army Recruits on the care, rifle drill and musketry operation of the standard Canadian Military Rifle of the time, the Canadian designed and manufactured Ross Rifle. The Ross rifle was a straight-pull bolt action .303 inch-caliber rifle produced in Canada from 1903 until 1918.
The Ross Mk.II (or “model 1905”) rifle was highly successful in target shooting before World War I, but the close chamber tolerances, lack of primary extraction and overall length made the Mk.III (or “1910”) Ross rifle unsuitable for the conditions of trench warfare, exacerbated by the often poor quality ammunition issued. By 1916, the rifle had been withdrawn from front-line service but continued to be used by many snipers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force until the end of the war due to its exceptional accuracy.
It is interesting to note that there are more pages devoted to parade rifle drill than to firing and maintaining the weapon which may have contributed to its lack of success as a field weapon.