IIRC, Col Jeff Cooper's scout rifle concept was for a extended eye relief scope partly for the purpose of using stripper clips to load the rifle. AFAIK, none of the manufacturers make a scout rifle where stripper clips can be used.
Should a manufacturer(s) make a scout rifle that makes use of stripper clips?
The extended eye relief scope actually serves four purposes;
1) It provides more peripheral vision with the shooters aiming eye because the scope is further from the eye
2) It allows one to use stripper clips and/or easily access the top of an enclosed magazine
3) It allows the mounting of a back up aperture sight on the receiver and
4) It allows many of the rifles to be carried one handed where they are the most balanced; at the magazine.
Back when I was shooting High Power I used a competition rifle that was based on a Remington 722 action. For a stripper clip guide I found a random scope base whose holes lined up with those on the rear receiver ring, that was long enough to extend over the rear of the magazine. I then cut it to length and with a Dremel tool and files cut a slot in it that would accept stripper clips. I got the idea from another competitor who was using a Remington 700 with the same set up.
All of Coopers original "scout" rifles were built on military surplus actions. Some guys today still take that approach when putting together a "scout" rifle, but as far as I know all of the commercial "scout" rifles in use today use detachable magazines.
If you study Coopers concept it did evolve over the years. His idea of the perfect rifle changed somewhat, and if he were still around I firmly believe he would have continued to let his perfect rifle continue to evolve.
Forward mounted scopes are a handicap, but if you want to be able to reload a rifle fast using stripper clips are a necessary evil. I see no reason for them to continue to be on a "scout" rifle with the use of detachable magazines and better modern optics. A small 1-4X or similar scope mounted conventionally does everything better. And I believe Cooper would agree if he were still alive.
I'm not sure the concept has evolved as much as folks have developed their own definitions of "Scout Rifle" and now tend to slap a forward mounted scope on any random rifle and proclaim it a Scout Rifle. Most people (Whom I suspect have never owned or used a Scout Rifle) want to view a Scout Rifle through the lens of a hunting rifle. A Scout Rifle in it's original context was never intended to be a dedicated hunting rifle. Rather it is a rifle that is not perfect for any one task, yet is capable of performing many, very well.
I built mine, which is a .308 based on an FR-8 ('98) Mauser action, back in the '90's. I've been hunting big game now for close to 45 years and I'd almost bet I've killed more deer and hogs with my Scout Rifle than all other rifles combined, and I know for certain I've killed more with it than any other single rifle I own. I started carrying it when I was helping a rancher buddy with his cattle and farming. It rode muzzle down in the seat of the pickup and didn't take up much room, and I found it super easy to swing in and out of the cab of a pickup or tractor when a bunch of hogs were spotted, but it worked equally well when stand hunting. It is also one of those rare rifles that somehow shoots the full-tilt jacketed hunting load close to the same POI as a medium power cast bullet load. This made it really nice for my oldest daughter who used it to take her first two or three deer. The combination of a light recoiling load and the easy to use EER scope made it much easier for her.
Forward mounted scopes, like anything, can be a handicap. In the 25 or so years I hunted with a Scout Rifle and the dozens of heads of game I took with it, only once was the EER scope a handicap. It was late one evening when I topped a terrace in a wheat field and could see the head and neck of a buck behind another terrace 100 yds. or so in the distance. With the sun at my back, he couldn't make me out, but the sun was glaring off the ocular lens so I couldn't get the shot. The following year I was walking a fenceline when a crafty old 12 point let me walk past while he hid in tall grass. Once I was about 75 yds. past he jumped from his bed and took off like a rocket. I still remember how easy it was to pick the buck up in the scope, swing out in front of him and fire. He cartwheeled so hard he broke the left beam of his antler as well as two or three points.
On the subject of magazines, I personally, for my own use, do not care for detachable magazines in such a rifle as they're just something else to break or lose, leaving one with a really slow-to-load single shot rifle. When one spends enough time in the woods, especially far from roads, vehicles and spare rifles, one learns the value of a solid utility rifle.
If our society could forget about Scout rifles and about neck sizing, life for all of us would be improved.
35W