I gave up on the scout rifle concept and instead have begun to focus on an excellent practical carbine on the Mauser action and in .308 because I never was able to "make weight" and Steyr had to goto aluminum and plastic to get it done and I don't really care for it.

Somehow my mind's eye keeps converting it to a tactical practical carbine. I still want a peep on the rear bridge BUT I would also like to mount a scope in the traditional fashion- a protected adjustable picatinny peep base fit to the Mauser rear bridge? Not much space there to work with... 20" barrel but not featherweight and a well fitting stock with steel buttplate, no cheekpiece, 8" forend, and if I had my way, a picatinny quarter rib.

Ever handle a Pre War Winchester Model 70 Carbine??? I think they had the concept a bit early!

I am troubled by putting a short .308 round into a standard sized mauser action. Aren't the 7.65 Argentine and the .308 similar sized rounds??? Shouldn't the 1909 Argentine make an excellent .308 for feeding and function???

If you don't need magnification I can't think of a better site for a quick shooting than an Eotech holosite. One would work great on a scout rifle. Especially the 376 Scout......DJ

I toy with the idea now and then of buying or building a for-real Scout rifle.

I have heard one criticism and imagined another. I am iterested in hearing any advice on these points.

First, I have heard that the forward-mounted scope is problematic, because any time the sun is anywhere behind the shooter, the main thing the shooter sees in the ocular lens of the scope is a tiny and very bright image of the sun. A normal scope doesn't have this problem, because teh shooter's head or the brim of his hat shades the ocular lens.

Second, I have wanted Pachmayr flush-mount sling socket things ever since I first saw them. Now I'm not sure. They are slick and nice looking, but what if I want to use a bipod? I am only familiar with the Harris bipods, and these attach by way of a standard sling swivel stud. Are there flush-mount socket adapters for tripods? Do I need to have flush mounts and a regular stud? How ugly would that be?

Again, I am sure that these problems are not overwhelmingly impossible to deal with. If anyone wants to poo poo or minimize them or tell me what the solution is, I'd be glad to hear it.

H. C.

First of all if you can find a Steyr scout at a price you like you might buy it. It solves most of the problems you mentioned with the built in bipod.
On my two scouts I experimented with the forward mounted scope and didn't care for them at all. I went with low powered variables on them. With the low powered variable you can still shoot both eyes open and have an option to crank up the power for a longer shot. You also have a far superior field of view.
Basically a std mounted scope is optically superior in every way to the forward mounted scope. Maybe Gunsite or a training school could teach me a good reason to use the forward scope but at the moment I just don't see it.
Pachmayr did at one time make a bipod adapter for their flush mount swivels - I had one. I don't know if they still make them or not. The issue that I see with using it is that if you use the bipod adapter pin to attach a bipod you can't then attach the sling to the bottom of the bipod with a flush swivel stud. You either need to leave the bipod on full time and use a std sling swivel on the front to attach to the bipod, or not use the sling with the bipod. I think that the best solution would be to just use an extra swivel stud just for the bipod in front of your flush swivels.
I've never had the sun in the ocular of a forward mount scope, but probably because I didn't use it long before I switched. Good observation.
Overall I still like some of the concepts of the scout rifle. I think the Ching sling is great. The short handy rifle is great in tree stands, heavy brush, shooting houses etc. I've banged the barrel of a longer rifle too many times on the roof of a stand the Scout minimizes this.
Good Luck with your project, it's worth the effort...........DJ

I used a Scout for years and never had the scope problem you describe. But HunterJim has, and he has posted about it here and other places. A search for his posts would be worth your time.

Your comment about swivels and the bipod leads me to think that you're considering a custom Scout. Unless money truly is no object or you need a peculiar chambering, I would buy a Steyr before I built a custom Scout. Building one that makes weight and is durable is fraught with technical problems that few people can handle properly, and those people charge a lot more than you'd pay for a Steyr. If you have to do this on a budget, either put it off until your budget gets bigger or find a used one. You will well and truly screw yourself if you try to build a cheap Scout.

The Steyr will work right from jump street, is more friendly to non-Scout optics and will have better resale if you get tired of it. Hope this helps, Okie John.

I built a scout rifle for my son because he is left eye dominate and right handed. As a new shooter he tried to climb over the stock to shoot either iron sights or a standard scope. A converted M96 with a handgun mount at the mil. sight location and a Barris long eye relief 2X works for him. He is now 22 and soon to get out of the US Army. He now shoots with both eyes open using his right eye only. The scout scope concept has taught him to shoot well. Four PA whitetails have fallen to his "Scout" 6.5x55. I now have 2 grandsons with the same "situation". I have one 7x57 so converted and two in the safe to work on. The scout concept is great because it is an easy fix for the eye dominance problem. I will down load the 7X57 ammo to an appropriate level for the "new" shooters as I did for my son to begin. The origional mil length stock will be just about right for these guys, maybe shortened some at first and then added to with a recoil pad. I think that the scout concept is excellent.

Henry,

Good comments on the scout from the posters: I did indeed lose a great nyala bull from sun interference with my scout. That started my serious examination of the utility of the scout for hunters.

You could go to Gunsite and shoot the scout and never have a problem. The scouts work well on ranges, especially from 8:00a to 5:00p I like to say.

I would not worry about the bipod. I have only used the Steyr Scout bipod to hold the gun off the ground as a rifle rest.

I still like the scout's handy characteristics, and I use one frequently for deer hunting in blinds. I just mount the scope in conventional position and go hunting.

For a scope I recommend a 1.75-6X40 variable because the flexibility works best for hunters.

If you want to convert another rifle to scout, I would start with a lightweight rifle with detachable box magazine and an 18" to 20" barrel. Add a third swivel and Ching Sling, and then go hunting. Don't worry about the forward scope and the bipod, all the charm of the scout does not depend on them.

I built one before the Steyr Scout came out on a Tikka carbine.

jim

Depending on what you think of Ruger rifles, they now offer an option that looks like this:



The sales pitch is here:

http://www.ruger-firearms.com/Firearms/News-11-11-2004E.html

Too bad they didn't include a rear peep and front sight.

I've got a Guide Gun with a 1.5x Leupold pistol scope mounted on a XS Scout Scope Rail. Haven't got to hunt with it though, my son or my fiance always snatch it up before I do.

It seems very fast to get on target and the couple of moving targets I've attempted seemed very easy to hit. Never had the problem with glare, but that doesn't mean I won't if I ever get to take it in the woods and see that dream buck at last light. . .

Rick

I did my first scout just like the Ruger idea. I had a Tikka carbine (their Battue model), and took off the iron sights. A Ruger #1 base fit that barrel perfectly, and on it went.

And I went hunting. My first critter was a California wild pig.

jim

Could a person use a dot sight on a scout rifle and dispose of the glare problem? I am ony asking because I have shot a few IPSC pistols with dot sights and have never experienced a sun flare.

John

Henry:

Every design concept is a compromise and the Scout concept is no different. I like the forward mounted scope and have not had the problems HunterJim has had, but I have had the problem of getting "lost in the scope" with a conventionally mounted scope. The small objective of the available Scout Scopes shares the low light disadvantages of other scopes of similar objective size.

One advantage of the forward mounted scope that hasn't been mentioned is that it leaves the loading port unobstructed, and on rifle equipped with stripper clip guides, allows stripper clip loading. With a magazine-fed or closed-top action these points are moot, but with a Mauser-style action, it does make for easier loading, unloading, and clearance of misfeeds, etc.

I agree with HunterJim that the bipod is the least valuable feature of the Scout concept. It's only worth having if it's integral to the forearm and of insignificant additional weight.

My standard advice to those who are interested in trying the Scout concept is to buy a Savage Scout. The new Ruger Frontier is a new option in this regard at a bit higher price point. The next option is to start with any lightweight carbine (Model Seven, Winchester or Ruger Compact) and use an Ashley/Clifton mount to add the Scout scope. The forward scope is the most distinctive feature of the concept, so you need to be sure that you're comfortable with it and that it works for you before worrying about backup iron sights, bipods, etc. Of course, I like to encourage testers to include the Ching Sling or Safari Ching Sling in their initial evaluation, as a true shooting sling is, in my opinion, the second most distinctive element of the concept.

Ropes, that is exactly what I did with my steyr scout. Binned the scope that came with it as part of the package, because of the glare problems in the late afternoon light. Fitted a Trijicon 6.5 MOA dot reflex. Behold, no more glare problems! It has been on the rifle for a year, no problems so far. It is no precision scope, but works fine on deer sized critters out to 250m.
Both eyes open, put the dot where you want the bullet to go, and squeeze. Deer usually falls over, unless I screw up.

Cheers, Dave.
Non Illegitium Carborundum