quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by Hammer:
Think he referred to his 350 Rem Mag as a 360 Fireplug. Was built on a slightly longer than necessary action to allow the bullet to be seated out further and increase case capacity a little.

Cooper had a 35 Whelen built on a Springfield '03 action. Soon after Cooper's was built, my brother built a similar one.
My brother was also along on the Bamamkulu Trek. On that trip, he carried a '95 Chilean Mauser in original 7 x 57 converted to Scout configuration by Gayl Wiegand.

Hammer,
not being a jerk, but the 350 remmag scout was the "lion scout"

quote:

Cooper also commissioned "Lion Scout," chambered for the .350 Remington Magnum cartridge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_rifle

but's it's easy to become confused from his writing

quote:

As a long and satisfied advocate of the cartridge commercially referred to as "350 Remington Magnum" I am somewhat unsatisfied with the prevailing terminology. At the behest and advice of John Gannaway, we now load it with a 250-grain semi-spitzer bullet slightly extended, permitting a 2½-grain increase in powder capacity in cartridges to be fed through actions slightly longer than the parent Remington 600 and 660. This combination shows a starting velocity of 2500 foot seconds from the 19-inch barrel of the Lion Scout, which is based upon the ZKK 601 short action. These ballistics duplicate those of the 35 Whelen, but are obtained in a much more compact weapon, which has proved itself to me as "the Lion Scout." Therefore, I intend to refer in the future to this cartridge as the "360 Short," as a slightly improved version of the original "Fireplug" cartridge. This avoids a lot of unnecessary explanation.

though from hsi writing's, cooper never endorsed the 1903 as a scout rifle, though his daughter had a "pseudo-scout"

quote:

We were somewhat startled recently to see a "Springfield Scout" proclaimed on the cover of the American
Rifleman. We investigated immediately and found to our relief that the piece referred to bore no resemblance
either to the production scout now about ready for release in Austria, or to daughter Lindy's Springfield
"pseudo−scout," which distinguished itself recently in Africa. Certainly no one owns a copyright on the term
"scout," but I do my best to keep the concept consistent.

http://www.dvc.org.uk/jeff/jeff4.pdf

Will gladly concede the pseudo-scout status and Lion Scout labels.

Very few if any of the early attempts at Scouts made all the requirements. Some were known from the start to only be pseudo-scout candidates.

Cooper had his own likes and dislikes about specific makes and some opinions changed with time.

The Savage scout was never going to be accepted by Cooper, yet Cooper was a fan of the Savage 99 lever action.

Doubt a '03 Springfield could ever make weight requirements and therefore could not wear the true scout label. Cooper liked the Springfield and the 30/40 Krag none the less. Cooper often talked about the Krag being among the best rifles ever.

Cooper will always be an interesting individual to study. While his Scout rifle concept will never be accepted by the masses, it is still a useful tool for those inclined to study and master it. And not being accepted by the masses would never have bothered Cooper anyway.

One can wonder why Cooper did not make better advantage of Ruger given the proximity of Prescott to Gunsite. But two strong personalities (Bill Ruger and Cooper) may not always mix well.

With regard to Cooper's writing, the only difficult thing is to realize his opinions evolved over time. Things he supported at one time may lose favor as he learned more. Also, much of his writing implied an ongoing conversation covering many years with his readers. Stepping into the middle of this conversation would leave most catching up as would any conversation.

The Springfield Scout that Cooper was objecting to was a M1-A with a forward mounted scope and short barrel. He labeled his daughter's 1903 the Pseudo-Scout, doubtless because of its weight.