Savage Scout Rifle

I'm not sure it's in the line anymore; it might possibly be a custom item now. Only looked at one once, but it seemed nice and I wouldn't mind having one in .308.

Google up scout rifles, and particularly "Fr. Frog. As I recall there were some decent writeups on them in those parts.

2) It is under the LE products, is this and issue to my purchasing one? There is nothing which I can see which would make it illegal for me to own.

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It's probably under the the law enforcement banner b/c someone looking at the stats for the website noticed that a large number of people that looked at/for the scout rifle were also looking at the 10/110FP series guns that populate teh rest of the LE section.

and no there is nothing that would prevent you from owning it. in teh case of Savage the "Law Enforcement" label is a marketing tool.
they'd LIKE to get a foot hold in LE circles and start competing on an even footing with Remington in that market. and IMO i think savage is a better value, but most Departments will still buy remington 700 based setups, b/c they have a more recognition as "good guns". but that's not what you asked about so moving on.

3) Any substitutes in .308 or .30-06 worth mention?

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In a word, No.

the Savage is the closest match to the rifle Col. Cooper lined out years ago. the other two "scout type" factory guns i'm aware of the Steyr Scout and Ruger Frontier are/were both without a set of iron sights and the ruger (discontinued) also lacked the detatchable magazine.
THEN you start looking at the price, and now that Ruger's out of that market the choices are (based on MSRP listed for savage and what i can find on Gunbroker for the Steyr) About $600 for the savage or probably around $2K for the steyr (?? couldn't find a NIB price for one).

so there are pretty much NO other factory rifles so equipped, and the closest other match to the specs is anywhere between 2 and 4 times as much (the ones on GB are between $1,800 and $2,250).

There is a used one on Guns America for $519 right now. I have the 10FP with the 20" barrel. I upgraded the stock. Nice rifle. Heavy barrel version.

There's a custom version offered at http://www.shawnstactical.com/truckgun.html More money but may or may not be closer to what you're looking for.

The Steyr Scout has fold down iron sights.

Held one at a local shop. It was light and fairly nice. The irons on it were pretty nice too. The only negative I noticed was the buttpad was that foam crud. I'm not really into that foam stuff, it felt a little cheap. Local shop was asking $535 NIB.

I don't know why it is under "law-enforcement". It wasn't under that heading on their website until fairly recently. It used to be under "specialty guns".

Unless you want to spend substantially more on a custom gun, or bubba one up yourself, the savage is the way to go as far as scout rifles go.

I really want one too, if I get one I'm going to put an aimpoint 2x on it.

I have an older version of the Savage Scout, it has the side push button mag release.

I tinkered around with it a bit, and modified a couple of M1A magazines to go in, so I now have a true detachable magazine rifle, with the option of either a 5 round (for hunting) or 20 round magazine.

I have an old Leupold scout scope on the rig, and when I hunt this is the rifle I turn to, it is light, handy and very accurate.

Is there anyway to convert it to work with the M1a1 mags as mentioned with the new mag system? I would really like the option to have say a 9 round detachable mag.

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Don't know about converting it for M1A mags but

Sharp Shooter Supply is marketing a Hi-cap magazine conversion system that meets the 9-rds of .308 requirement you mention. it's a little pricey thought at $74.80 for a complete mag, or $54.80 for a conversion kit to turn your factory center feed Detatchable mag into a 9-rd model.

hope that helps some

You can do a search here for "Savage Scout" and come up with a lot of info.

Mine is pretty old, and I have been told that my information isn't current enough to be accurate, so take it with a grain of salt.

Mine came with a truly awful synthetic stock. In my experience, all Savage synthetic stocks are awful, but I have not handled a new one in the past five years or so and am told they have improved. But I am also told that Savage synthetic stocks have always been fine, which leads me to believe that some people have pretty low standards. The stock on mine was so flexible that you could pinch the forend between thumb and index finger and pull it away from the barrel by at least an inch. Upon firing from the bench or bipod, you could actually hear the forend slapping the barrel. Accuracy was in the neighborhood of 7" @ 100 yards.

I kept an eye out for a suitable replacement stock for several years and never found one. Eventually I hollowed out the plastic latticework that fills the forend and epoxied in a length of heavy deep sea fishing rod. I then free floated the barrel, leaving at least a quarter inch of space between it and the forend. This looks pretty bad, but it cut groups down to the 1.5" range.

Additionally, the magazines are well known for poor fitting. They apparently often come from the factory either very difficult to fully seat, or so poorly retained that they fall out of the gun. The latter was the problem with mine, which took a bit of tinkering to fix. It was possible at one time to have Savage fit the magazines to the rifle upon ordering. I do not know if that service is still available.

Mine did not come with a third sling swivel stud in front of the trigger guard, necessary for fitting the proper ching-type sling. This was easy to install, however.

The trigger is very good. There are those who insist Savage triggers are no good, but in my experience they can always be tuned by the careful owner and are completely satisfactory. The "Accutrigger" also works just fine.

The scope rail on mine eventually rattled loose. I LocTited it and have had no troubles since.

Overall it's been a fine budget rifle. If the stock truly has improved I would buy it again. If they still come with the flapping silliness they did a decade ago, I'd think seriously about the Ruger Frontier.

HTH!

The Steyr Scout has fold down iron sights.

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What's interesting is the Jeff Cooper edition Steyr with factory mounts and Leopold scope, prevents the spring-loaded front sight from popping up. The front of the scope is practically sitting on the folded sight.

I believe you need to remove the scope to use the back-up iron sights.

I don't say that Steyr understood the Scout Rifle concept, only that they made the attempt.

I hope to pick one up eventually, but I'm not going to use it as a Scout. I just want to put a 1.5-5x Leupold on it an use it as a general hog/other hunting "practical" rifle. I want it for it's short barrel and light weight.

the savage scout i had the displeasure to shoot had the most awful recoil of any firearm i have ever had the chance to fire. seriously.

The new one is much nicer. It has the new "accu-stock" and "accu-trigger" and feels more solid by far than the original. The price at dealers is about $625, which is very good for what you get. They DO NOT come with a BiPod, they are pictured with them often, because there is an additional sling stud for a bipod up front. Shawn's Tactical Truck Gun used to beat the pants off it, but now that they have gone up 50%, I'd say the Savage is the bees knees.
Steve

alistaire,
I wasn't implying anything other than adding on to your post.

In terms of the Steyr Scout's BUPS (backup plastic sights) the rear aperture is so low as to hinder a proper cheekweld (call it a high cheekbone weld). This awkward position is not optimal for acquiring the backup sights. Functional, yes, but only just so.

I don't necessarily buy into the "scout concept", but that concept did in fact evolve a great lightweight bolt action adaptable to a wide variety on uses. My latest though is to mount a Short Dot in the conventional rearward mounting location.

I've thought hard about using the Savage for a project gun, but do not like their solution for the forward rail mounting. This is where the Steyr is head and shoulders over other offerings, with its full length integrated rail.