I am a fan of the late great Jeff Cooper, have no where near the shooting credentials he has, and have the utmost respect for him as a soldier, shooter, American, and warrior-poet. But I have never really been sold on the idea of a scout rifle. As I recall, the Colonel specified this rifle to be light, chambered in a rifle cartridge such as 308 Win, detachable magazine, and forward mounted scope. Although I do not think he would have been necessarily opposed to a semi-auto in this configuration if it met the weight requirements, most of the time the scout rifle is thought of as a bolt action.
I like the idea of a scout rifle. It sounds cool. But what exactly is the scenario I would find myself in that I would not prefer to have either a regular hunting rifle, an AR with a red dot optic, or maybe even a handgun?
There are only a few scenarios that I generally find myself in that involve guns. One is at the range of course, where it doesn't matter what gun you might have. You could play with the scout rifle on the range, just as you could any other gun you might own.
The next is home defense, where a bolt action 308 with a scope would never be my first choice. I would prefer an AR, shotgun, or even a handgun over a scout rifle in the role of home defense.
The third is hunting, where I would generally rather have a normally configured bolt action rifle, though in the deep south where i live a scout rifle would work as effectively but no better. This is actually probably the most realistic use I would have for a scout rifle.
Fourth is bumming around in the woods, but I don't see why I would need a 308 or similar caliber to do that. It is unlikely that I am going to walk up on a deer in deep woods. I would rather have a handgun or 22LR rifle if I was just wandering around in the woods.
Last would be some fantasy end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenario, in which case I think I would just rather have my AR.
Perhaps the scout concept, as a general purpose rifle, is a "jack of all trades, master of none" type weapon. Its cool, its neat, but not really a first choice for anything.
Is there any scenario you can think of where the scout rifle would be your first choice of weapon?
I like the idea of a scout rifle. It sounds cool. But what exactly is the scenario I would find myself in that I would not prefer to have either a regular hunting rifle, an AR with a red dot optic, or maybe even a handgun?
There are only a few scenarios that I generally find myself in that involve guns. One is at the range of course, where it doesn't matter what gun you might have. You could play with the scout rifle on the range, just as you could any other gun you might own.
The next is home defense, where a bolt action 308 with a scope would never be my first choice. I would prefer an AR, shotgun, or even a handgun over a scout rifle in the role of home defense.
The third is hunting, where I would generally rather have a normally configured bolt action rifle, though in the deep south where i live a scout rifle would work as effectively but no better. This is actually probably the most realistic use I would have for a scout rifle.
Fourth is bumming around in the woods, but I don't see why I would need a 308 or similar caliber to do that. It is unlikely that I am going to walk up on a deer in deep woods. I would rather have a handgun or 22LR rifle if I was just wandering around in the woods.
Last would be some fantasy end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenario, in which case I think I would just rather have my AR.
Perhaps the scout concept, as a general purpose rifle, is a "jack of all trades, master of none" type weapon. Its cool, its neat, but not really a first choice for anything.
Is there any scenario you can think of where the scout rifle would be your first choice of weapon?
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