How well armed would you be with a Savage Scout rifle-red dot and side arm?

add a small semiauto with a good mag capacity and id say your set for shtf like an underfolder ak or even a pump shotty

This is a pretty vague question, just about any longarm and sidearm in the hands of a proficient shooter is always well armed in every sense, regardless of caliber or optic. For specific firearms choice, are you in wide open country? The city? Small town? Big town? Your question is about a specific firearm and optic in a too open ended question.

I think that a bolt rifle and a sidearm will get you through anythi, as long as you're proficient with them. Then again, I am biased as I own no semiautos.

A bolt rifle is a pretty versatile tool. One should be able to cycle the bolt pretty fast, almost as fast as the pump, without losing the sight picture. You can do that - you are good to go.
One avdantage a scout or a military bolt rifle has over a lever action is ability to reload fast with stripper clips. It takes a while to fill up the magazine tube. That is why the French switched from Lebel to Bertier in WW1. A 3-shot clip loaded rifle was preferrable to an 8-shot tube-fed one.

If push comes to shove, your sidearm will cover the bad breath distances. Your rifle will cover everything else.

My patrol load out...

Howdy, good topic.

My patrol rifle is a Savage Scout and duty gun is a 1911.... they both work fine!

Andy

PS Come visit the Scout Forum www.scoutrifle.org

I also was going to say a zombie with a 30-30 lever would outgun you. The savages are top feeders and 4 rounds in a slow cranker? A lee enfield is a better cranker than that.

Make sure you also have a radio to call in air support and reinforcements

If I was all alone when things broke down I would feel confident with the Scout (my friend has one and I like it, I bet I would like the new accustock ones even more) and say a Glock 17 or 22. I would feel even more confident if I had a trusty AR or something along those lines.

In any situation like TEOTWAWKI any gun is better than no gun. But if you were stuck with the just the Scout and semi auto pistol I wouldn't go about engaging any enemies (hell I wouldn't do anything like that on my own even with a nifty arsenal of SOCOM weaponry.

Four in the gun, shoot twice. Move. Load while moving. Four in the gun, shoot twice. Four dead enemy in less than 10 seconds. Anyone up to the challenge? I really don't care what kind of rifle you use. You really think a semi auto is going to beat a Scout rifle? (In any man's Army, in any gunfight, four dead in 10 seconds is a great challenge for one rifleman. In the history of gunfights, probably very few have achieved four for four.) A good man with a scout rifle beats an average man with a semi auto.

JShirley, I was pointing out that, depending on the skill of the rifleman, a lot of shots expounded from a semi auto will not achieve any remarkable feat (four dead enemy in 10 seconds) any more than that which is capable from a bolt action. Everyone is so worried about fast follow up shots. If a marksman is performing correctly, he shouldn't have to aim....again...at the same target....he is going to have to pause to locate a new target. Plenty of time ty cycle a bolt. Sighting, and hitting, four separate and irregular targets in 10 seconds is a great exercise to gauge how proficient a rifleman's skill level is. For myself, it is highly unlikely that I could do it even once right now, but it is a GOAL. I don't think having 20-30 rounds immediately available is going to make me hit four targets any faster.....most likely, it will slow me down. I'm more likely to MISS faster. Fewer available shots would make ME take my time and focus on HITS. This sees to be the reason that in each war our country has been in, the rounds expounded for every killed enemy keeps getting higher. I think weapon capacity and rate of fire has overshadowed the real need for simple marksmanship and a cool head under stress.

I have a Savage Scout, and have had both Aimpoints and scout scopes on it, and the scope is the better choice for what it is. The red dot works great, but takes away from the rifles strengths and capabilities.

The Scout is an accurate rifle, and a good hunting rifle, but with five rounds in the gun, your somewhat limited, especially against others who are armed with autos. As was mentioned, it lacks a stripper guide, which is better than the mags in my opinion, and thumbing single rounds in while moving and under stress isnt the best option. If your going to try to rationalize its going to work, you need to be realistic in your thoughts and scenarios. People will not just stand upright, out in the open, like a paper silhouette, waiting on you to shoot them. If they have any experience, you'll be hard pressed to get a shot off while they move on you.

I think a better option would be an AK or AR set up with a forward mounted Aimpoint. Both offer fast, natural, and easy shooting, in both active and reactive situations, and if your hunting, will easily take most game. Better to have a gun that is versatile and covers a broad spectrum, even if it lacks in a couple, than one that is limited to just a few. If things dont go like you planned (and they rarely do), and things get close, the Scout is REALLY going to suck.

I think you would be reasonably well armed for most situations. Maybe not ideally armed for all situations but good enough for most.

A stripper clip guide would help out the Savage. I was lookig into a Savage Scout once and asked their custom shop if they could put one in and they said they could.

The Brits had the Mad Minute where they shot a vital size target either 200 or 300 meters (depending on source) away in a minute. The record was 37 to 40 (depending on source) 15 was the standard. Could many do that with an AR, AK, M-14?

Training and tactics are key.

My thinking on the scout:

First, I'm not a hunter, but I think they would be fun to hunt with. Lightweight and a broad choice of possible-but-not-easy shots.

I plan to get one, because it sounds to me like a good way to learn disciplined shooting. Force myself to make every shot count. With a semi-auto, those easy followups are going to be too present in my mind. Force myself to keep both eyes open. Force myself to use the sling. Etc.

I could go all the way to a single-shot, but all my previous practice is with bolt-actions and I love them. I have nothing against lever-actions but they are not my "thing". Thus a cheap scout will fill the same place in my armory that an SKS or 30-30 would fill in another person's.

Self-defense? I know little about rifle self-defense (edit: by which I really mean "home defense"), but I do know that more options is better.

An option is to train up on bolt-actions, and then make a transition to an autoloader after I have learned fire discipline. I'm not exactly the type to fire off 20 rounds of 308 in the general direction of the target, but for the time being I'm not going to mess with autoloaders.

More on topic: Does anyone make extended magazines for the Savage 10FCM?

I have seen "old" hunters more experienced than myself who are able to hit a running whitetail in the head with the first shot at ranges out to 100 yards.
The rifle goes off just about the time the buttplate touches the shoulder. It's unreal but I have seen it myself... from a man who was pushing sixty and blind in one eye.
Carry your M-4 if you want, but if you cross paths with that guy under the wrong circumstances I don't think it would make any difference. Except that he'd be the owner of a shiney new M-4...

So the Scout would probably work fine.

Well, I have to say this. Firing multiple shots at a each target might result in a higher frequency of "lucky" hits, and I can't discount that. My dad related carrying a Garand in WWII (he was an 81mm mortarman, and the Carbine was standard issue, but he trusted the Garand more). His only "up close and personal" was freaking out over a supposedly dead Jap that his squad has passed (acutally one LIVE one laying amongst several dead next to the trail). My dad, bringing up the end of the patrol, turned around to see one enemy getting up from the ground, and Dad fired from the hip, walking the rounds into the enemy soldier. That was Dad's style; he used to do a lot of quick hip shooting with a shotgun as kid on swamp rabbits. I think the same COULD have been accomplished with a fast aimed shot (I believe it was less thasn 20 yards). BUT, if you want to justify a semi-auto over a bolt gun, this would, or could be, an example.

Just so I'm completely clear on the topic, which high capacity autoloaders did Alvin York pass over in favor of the 5 shot bolt action?

An '03 with a Pedersen device.

"A rifleman with an old 30-30 that he shoots enough to be super proficient, will always be more dangerous to his adversaries than an occasional shooter with an AK and 10,000 rounds"

Amen!

That said, I have an other opinion on the subject: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=476747

I am becoming more and more convinced that the M1 carbine, combined with proper expanding ammo, modern sights, lighting, and high-capacity magazine, is an outstanding HD/CQB weapon.

To get back to the parameters of the original subject: The whole deal if there is this melt down in our civilian world--aka SHTf--is that the last thing you want is a fire fight against a group.

Inherently you want to play sneaky-snake, avoiding contact. That's what a scout does: Observe without being observed.

Okay. In the event of unavoidable contact, you shoot and scoot. The benefit of Cooper's design is first and foremost the rapid acquisition of the target. IOW, hit first. And then practice being elsewhere, at a high rate of speed.

Another factor is having a cartridge with some range capability, as well as big-game capability. It's the old food thing; meat is good.

The Scout Rifle concept thus lends itself quite well to the requisite tactics to deal with a messy world while using a rifle.

Handgun? That with which you are most accurate and quick. Again, you're not playing Hollywood High Noon or any of that TV BS. You're gonna backshoot or whatever, in order to be the one left upright.

You have an assault rifle and a pistol. How much more armed can you legally be?

I like my scout built on 8MM Mauser action- I am not looking for a fight, have no ord re supply drop and no evac-I just live out in the sticks - if I have to fight I will be that cat you dont see, in the trees, in the ground and just hiding, shooting and retreating, yup, running!

Where I live in = short shots, lots of cover for aggressor and target and a big bullet just gets through the green we have here

If I can hide, 'snipe' at 400 yards, fire and move,and,have a side arm with 20 rds to break away with/ CQB-would I not be well armed?

It seems that folks are trying to invent a scenario where their rifle choice is best VS what the other guy said- me too!

Short of it is, there is no perfect rifle for every situation

Weapon choices should be mission specific -and- geographic specific

An AR15 in the back woods thick, not such a great choice, 12g pump or scout

Urban? yeah! AR15 8 mags -side arm

for me, the scout build up works great, and I have gotten pretty dang fast with those stripper clips!

Besides, scopes are great for sneaky shots! I aint out to fight fair, just to win!

YMMV

Art Eatman has the right of it. I often see threads like this where someone asks if a scout rifle is the right thing then a bunch of people start comparing it to a semi (or auto) with a large detachable mag in a fire fight.

The whole point of the scout rifle is that it is a good rifle for a scout. Where before you pull the trigger you really have to think if it can be avoided, because you know you will lose a fire fight. You have to think about how you are going to get from where you are to where you aren't after you shoot, because you will lose a fire fight. A scout rifle isn't about winning in a firefight, it's about forcing you to think about how you avoid one and giving you options for when you can't.

Scouts in the old sense need to move far and fast and gather intel without giving any away. Light on provisions and heavy on foraging. Looking for the broadest perspective possible, not focused on just one target. A good scout isn't seen or engaged.

If you don't envision yourself acting like a scout, don't get a scout rifle. If you do, then the scout rifle as we know it today is designed to give every advantage to the scout that it can, so long as they act like scouts.

You have an assault rifle and a pistol. How much more armed can you legally be?

Click to expand...

Wow...Now bolt action rifles are "Assault Rifles".

I think I understand what you mean, but I personally get very concerned when any U.S. citizen questions the legality of owning something with more firepower than a 5-round, bolt-action rifle. 100+ year-old technology.

A little reminder:

The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Click to expand...

To answer your question - he could "legally" be much better armed for overthrowing a tyrannical government with a Springfield M1A SOCOM II with a boatload of easily-relaodable magazines.

If you look at what was legal at the time of the founding of our country, he could own a gunship armed with modern cannons.

Or, under popular, current interpretation of the US Contitution, he could own and use a cheaper WASR-10 (AK-47) and cheaper magazines that hold a lot more cartridges, or an AR15. The WASR-10and AR15 would allow for carrying more rounds per pound on his person than the .308, so he would then be better "armed" for an extended field engagement.

None of these are even officially "assault rifles" because they do not have full-auto firing capability.

Of course, full-auto firing capability is perfectly legal in the USA if you buy the right federal stamps.

So, he could legally be much better armed in terms of magazine capacity, firepower and rounds per second.

I like having my rights to keep and bear arms. I want to keep that right for my children. We need to define and defend our terms if we want to keep our rights.

P.S. - I love the Savage Scout. It's what I use for deer hunting. Great choice for an all-around rifle. As such, it will be targeted next if we let them take away the M1As, AK-47s and AR15s.

P.P.S. - To the original poster - replace the red-dot sight idea with a nice Leupold M8 IER scope. It's an awesome setup for getting off a fast, accurate "snap" shot from an easy-to-carry rifle.