Scout Rifle

[norton]

Watched some video on the Scout rifle concept and now have an itch to buy one.  I don't hunt, but I like the idea of a light weight bolt action. 

The Steyr looks interesting.  I know Ruger has developed a rifle on roughly the same concept. 

Any of you own a Scout Rifle, particularly the Steyr or Ruger.  What are your impressions? 

[Citra47]

The Steyr was above my pay grade so I bought the Ruger .308 Scout Rifle several years ago. I liked the rifle and think the concept is well founded. Understand, the idea is based on one or two individuals by themselves away from group support who are not to confront enemy troops accept in defense. However, the rifle makes a great hunting rifle and I really like the scope located in front of the receiver for shooting out to 200 yards or so. The scope is low power to give great field of view and is designed for quick, close in shooting. I had a buddy who wanted it more than I did so it went to him for one of those give me that gun and $$$ and the Ruger is yours. He did and it is. 

[AK_Stick]

I thought it was a cool idea.

 

 

The execution and reality of them isn't quite as cool as the dream.

 

 

Though a Ruger Scout in 338 Federal would probably be an interesting cat.

[Quickling]

I do love me a light and capable woods rifle, but the whole scope forward of the action is a relic of a time when rapid reloads were accomplished through stripper clips in mil-surp riles. In todays market we can accomplish the same idea with a light rifle in a solid caliber, but with detachable box mags becoming the norm, we can use a traditional scope setup.

Why do I think that is important?

Because we have access to some really great glass right now. Bushnell offers plenty of 3-21x options, or if you want ranges in 3-15 or 4-16 are commonly offered by nearly everyone. To me, this means that you can have your low power for rapid shots, but still be able to have the upper end of magnification for longer range work or data gathering.

So yes, I really like the concept of a scout rifle, and I have almost purchased a ruger on a few occasions, but with current offerings I think we are now able to have a "light precision" rifle that extends the usefulness of the scout, but current factory scout rifles do not have the longer range precision part down very well.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Quickling
Forget to finish a sentance.

[blueiron]

One of the primary reasons why Jeff Cooper wanted the extended eye relief scope over a traditional scope in the Steyr wasn't stripper clip loading. Steyr had used detachable box magazines for years prior in the SSG-69 sniper weapons and wanted to do so in the original Scout. Cooper said that it was to force the shooter to see the total environment to the front of the shooter and not focus on what was limited by the scope's FOV, gaining tactical awareness of the surrounding area. 

Having played with them, I concur with AK_Stick. It may have a place for the autonomous woodsman, but it really isn't revolutionary. 

[AK_Stick]

The scout concept existed long before the Steyr. And he was an advocte for the use of stripper clips and a magazine cut off. 

 

Moving the scope forward was a byproduct of the fixed sights and stripper clip requirements. 

[willieH]

I had the Gunsite Scout in .308 and it worked well enough with a long eye relief forward scope. I traded the gun to a person who better appreciated the concept. 

[Moeman]

If not a forward scope I’m down . Also note that .308 on a short barrel is loud as hell

[jame]

On 7/19/2018 at 1:01 AM, willieH said:

I had the Gunsite Scout in .308 and it worked well enough with a long eye relief forward scope. I traded the gun to a person who better appreciated the concept. 

Me, too.  Mine was a synthetic stocked Ruger Scout, with a 16" barrel and a Weaver 4x fixed power scout scope.  It was a fantastic rig.

It's the Swiss Army knife of rifles.  It will do anything that nearly any rifle will do.  

Pretty much.  Not great, but good.

As it was intended, it's a great walking around rifle.  I just don't do much walking around any more.

I would encourage everyone to try one, because it may just be the magic mix you've been searching for in a rifle.  I really can't say a single bad thing about it, other than it just didn't work for me.