Show off your Scout Rifle

The purists won't like it, but IMO this is a better "Scout" rifle than what Cooper designated. The key elements are:

Light weight
Compact length
Fast reloads
Easily obtainable ammo
Moderate recoil
Enough power to take most big game at fairly long range. Cooper had a specific number, but I can't recall the exact details. It was something like a 400 lb animal at 400 yards. Feel free to correct me if that is wrong.

He did prefer 308 for the reasons above but was open to other cartridges. In some countries 308 is illegal, and in Africa where game is larger he liked the 376 Styer.

Optics weren't a requirement, but he did specify forward mounted optics if they were used. Mostly because all of his original designs used military surplus actions which were loaded from the top via stripper clips. This is where I depart from Cooper. With a modern DBM, and modern scopes, there is no reason to not mount the scope conventionally. Coopers designs were constantly evolving and I believe that if he were living today would also have come to the same conclusion. Optics today are much better than what he was used to.

I don't think you can make the weight requirement with any semi-auto so a bolt action is probably best. This wasn't intended to be a combat rifle, but a survival rifle that could be used in a pinch for self defense from human threats so firepower wasn't a huge concern.

I like my Ruger Predator 308 with AI style magazines. It currently has a VX-2 Leupold 3-9X40 sitting on it because I had one sitting in the safe unused. I'll eventually go to something like a 1-6X scope on a 30mm tube for this rifle.

I still own an early Ruger GSR with a 17.25" barrel. I couldn't care less if it meets scout criteria these days, it's just a solid all around rifle no matter if it has a forward mounted optic on it or not. I've tried 2x and 4x forward mount scopes and receiver mounted 1.5-5x and 2-7x scopes. It currently wears no optic.

My favorite scout styled rifle is my shortened Zastava in .22 WMR, with storage for 18 cartridges in the self-made trapdoor. I went from a red dot, to a 2x scope, to the current 4x Weaver on that Zastava. 4x is well suited to that gun.

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Always liked that scout rifle concept. Picked up a Leupold 2.5X Scout Scope in 2007 and put it on my K-98 Mauser with a no gunsmithing mount so there's no "Bubba" work involved. I enjoyed it a lot but don't have any good pix of it scoped except this one which is a digital close up of an old snap shot taken while out deer hunting 10 or 12 years ago. .... Took it off a few years ago and the gun is now back to original... .. Then a couple years ago I realized how much I enjoyed that forward mounted scope configuration. I find it fun, probably just because it's different and yet it works for me, although some folks don't feel comfy with that much eye relief, I guess. So I got another no gunsmithing mount from S & K Scope Mounts for the 91/30 Mosin Nagant, ( K-98 mount was from them also ), and dug the scout scope out of a drawer and made a no-Bubba Mosin scout rifle. . Same scope & rings, different gun & mount. Col. Cooper was on to something when he came up with that concept. I like the lower powered ( 2.5X ) scope for 90% of the shooting I do and it fits into Col. Coopers theory of having optics but not with excessive power. Here's a pic of an NRA 100 yd. High Power target, which is on a 21"x 21" piece of paper with that black bullseye being 6" in diameter as seen through the 2.5X scout scope on the Mosin at 100 yards on my club's range. .. And a poor shot of the target from 100 yards except only the rifle is in focus and the blurry target frame circled. . Can even shoot it easily at 25 yards with that scope which also fits the part of the scout rifle concept of being capable at most any normal shooting distance. Even at 20-25 yds., that 2.5x gives a good field of view. Someday the Mosin scout rifle will be back to all original but not right away because it's too much fun and this fall I need a deer to volunteer for a test of some 7.62x54R 150 gr. soft point handloads.

chicharrones said:

I still own an early Ruger GSR with 17.25" barrel. I couldn't care less if it meets scout criteria, it's just a solid all around rifle no matter if it has a forward mounted optic on it or not. I've tried 2x and 4x forward mount scopes and a receiver mounted 2-7x scope. It currently wears no optic.

My favorite scout styled rifle is my shortened Zastava in .22 WMR, with storage for 18 cartridges in the self-made trapdoor. I went from a red dot, to a 2x scope, to the current 4x Weaver on that Zastava. 4x is well suited to that gun.

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Love the Zastava butt-mag!

I think the FR8 counts as a "scout" rifle- and its just one of the handiest all-round carbines Ive ever shot. The rear rotary sight is particularly neat!

Photo credit to GunnyUsmc- I still dont have a good picture of mine, lol.

If there's no stripper clip guide then there's no good reason to have the scope out there. I agree with Jrm40

troy fairweather said:

If there's no stripper clip guide then there's no good reason to have the scope out there. I agree with Jrm40

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Receiver mounted aperture sight. If you're into that sort of thing.

chicharrones said:

Receiver mounted aperture sight. If you're into that sort of thing.

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But the scope is off anyway then so still no good reason to have the scope forward.

Yesterday I took my Ruger GSR for a walk. Left hand, .308 with 18.5" barrel. Leupold 2.5x fixed scout scope, and a biothane rhodesian sling from Andy's Leather. Oh and Magpul 5 (or 6) round magazine.

I plan to follow this thread, due to personal interest. I have been following the scout rifle concept since Col. Jeff Cooper’s write-up in that early Eighties issue of Gun Digest Annual, but have never owned a rifle that truly met all of the criteria. My Lighting and Takedown Browning BLR rifles have been the closest, due to their light weight, and being chambered for .308 Winchester, but I actually like the iron sights, so, they have never been scoped. The BLR’s magazine cannot be topped-off, from the top of the rifle, while the action is open, but, then, that is not possible with the Steyr Scout, either.

The advent of truly sturdy low-powered variable optics (LPVOs) has, arguably, made a forward-mounted scout scope less necessary. This has caused some to advocate the light-weight/compact “practical” rifle, as being more realistic, in the Twenty-Twenties. OTOH, I really do like the way a Steyr Scout Rifle handles. (I have often “visited” Steyr Scouts, at a nearby gun store.)

troy fairweather said:

But the scope is off anyway then so still no good reason to have the scope forward.

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Simply a set of BUIS for those that want 'em. Could go red dot if a magnified scope isn't wanted.

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I have a GSR with the synthetic stock. Added a rail and a non forward mounted scope. Liked it so much I ordered one identical for my son when he got back from afganland. In Maryland on another work trip or else a photo would be posted. Not much for long eye relief scopes.

NIGHTLORD40K said:

I think the FR8 counts as a "scout" rifle- and its just one of the handiest all-round carbines Ive ever shot. The rear rotary sight is particularly neat!
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Photo credit to GunnyUsmc- I still dont have a good picture of mine, lol.

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I still wish I had come across a nice FR8 back in the day. Coolest bolt action carbine ever, IMO.

Rexster said:

The advent of truly sturdy low-powered variable optics (LPVOs) has, arguably, made a forward-mounted scout scope less necessary. This has caused some to advocate the light-weight/compact “practical” rifle, as being more realistic, in the Twenty-Twenties.

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True. Living in the past is not necessarily bad either. Hence me owning revolvers and lever guns.

The low-buck scout rifle. 2.5X shotgun scope on a Arisaka. If things get serious enough to actually "scout", the only ammo available will be what you have. So the 7.7X58mm will do just fine.

More forward mounted optic action. Avert thy eyes.

Can I get me a stripper clip up in here? Anyone? Anyone?
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Jeff wouldn’t care for it, but this is my M1 Carbine in scout configuration:

Ugly Sauce said:

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The low-buck scout rifle. 2.5X shotgun scope on a Arisaka. If things get serious enough to actually "scout", the only ammo available will be what you have. So the 7.7X58mm will do just fine.

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That thing is so fugly it's cool.

It doesn't take long (at all) for non-Scout Rifles to show up in these Scout Rifle threads, does it?

FR-8 in .308 with a Burris Scout Scope mounted on an X-Systems scope mount and a Redfield micrometer receiver sight-



My oldest daughter and I have killed a pickup load of deer and hogs with that rig.

1916 Mauser in .308 with a Burris Scout Scope, a Williams micrometer receiver sight and a front sight off of an M1 Carbine.



Haven't taken any game with this one yet, but she's a good shooter-



35W

Spanish FR8,

Lee Enfield no. 5 “Jungle”.

The only reason I sold my nIfty FR8 was due to not understanding how to correctly align the front sight “hood” (or maybe the post) in the rear aperture for 50-yard shots.

This is my very early Savage Scout.

It is in .308, and it uses a detachable box magazine. Leupold Scout scope, and I-don't-know-whos Ching sling. Probably Galco, but it's unmarked and decades old.

The barreled action is the usual Savage workaday competence. The tupperware stock is awful. It was so flimsy that it would audibly slap the barrel upon firing, which resulted in a seven MOA gun. I hogged out the plastic latticework in the forearm and epoxied in a section of fiberglass fishing rod. This stiffened things up to the point where the gun became a solid three MOA performer, and after a great deal of additional work, the magazine hardly ever falls out anymore.

In other words, I really like the concept, but the execution left a little to be desired.

This meets @jmr40 requirements, but not col coopers..... ruger American ranch rifle in 7.62x39. Nikon 3x9BDC

Or if you want a more traditional setup

chicharrones said:

I still own an early Ruger GSR with a 17.25" barrel. I couldn't care less if it meets scout criteria, it's just a solid all around rifle no matter if it has a forward mounted optic on it or not. I've tried 2x and 4x forward mount scopes and receiver mounted 1.5-5x and 2-7x scopes. It currently wears no optic.

My favorite scout styled rifle is my shortened Zastava in .22 WMR, with storage for 18 cartridges in the self-made trapdoor. I went from a red dot, to a 2x scope, to the current 4x Weaver on that Zastava. 4x is well suited to that gun.

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My only complaint with the Ruger GSR is the name - if you're going to call a rifle the Gunsite Scout Rifle it ought to be made to Cooper's Scout specs. But you've got the right idea, it's a rugged all around rifle. IMO with the detachable magazine, rugged stock and sights it would make an ideal truck rifle. I just wish Ruger had called it the UTR - Ultimate Truck Rifle instead.

I love the Zastava Cub Scout. What did you use for a scope mount?