New scout rifle using stripper clips?

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?

 

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.

 

Then the gun manufacturers would have to start making stripper clips.

 

I don't believe stripper clips were in the original concept. The first rifle was a Remington 600 in .308 then a 'Super Scout' in .350 Remington Magnum.

 

Far from new, but do actual combat theaters count, such as the Malaysian Communist Insurgency in the 1950s (and later)?

These Aussies or British probably had stripper clips for the Enfield #5.
Very many LE "Jungle" Carbines are still around, and in very good condition; this is for the many viewers who Don't know.

One soldier does have an M-1 Carbine, but my point was to mention the Enfield #5s on the right and left sides of the photo.

 

One of the reasons I went with a Mauser 98 action for my Scout Rifle build back in the 90s was the stripper clip option.



It's handy, but I don't think it is much of an advantage on a Scout Rifle. Light weight, quick handling and accuracy were favored by Cooper over firepower; in fact, at his direction the Steyr Scout featured a second magazine detent that served as a magazine cutoff.

 

Evidently the No.5 remains fairly popular in the Khyber Pass -- here's a screen shot from a recent YT video, showing the back wall from a Darra Adamkhel gunshop in Pakistan:

 

I can use stripper clips in mine, the receiver even has the cutout to make it easy . I would like a smaller scope than the 30mm on it now ,I tried a Leupold scout scope but that was a no go for my eyes .

 

Besides stripper clips, another reason for a flush magazine receiver to be clear of an optic was to make the gun easy to wrap your hand around near the balance point for carrying. Much like any* bolt or lever gun with no optic mounted. Part of making it “handy”.

*back in the day

 

I have my RGSR setup with a forward mounted scope and don't see any disadvantages or handicap. Can you please provide some details to your statement on this, jmr40? Honest, nonconfrentational inquiry.

 

Stripper fed guns, and just knowing how to shoot and work a bolt gun properly in general, are becoming another lost art.

 

Only if said misguided manufacturer believes the dwindling population of Cooperites is a worthy market.

Scout mounted optics are a proven disadvantage at the very thing they were touted to enable, so the ONLY remaining purpose is reduced to top loading stripper clips, which is another proven disadvantage over DBM’s.

It’s an outdated notion for a paradigm which scantly applied outside of fantasy even when it was developed, and which has been disproven as favorable across every application by every other expert in the field.

 

I fantasize about a lightweight clip fed .308 scout. Would be really nice.

 

I had an early Savage Scout that had the detachable mags, and a couple of quasi homemade Scouts, that really didnt fit Coopers criteria, but they worked OK too. Weight and size tend to be hard to meet, but Ive never really been bothered by the weight of most long guns in general, as they tend to be easier on you if you shoot them a lot, although I do prefer them shorter.

I did prefer the stripper fed guns over the mag fed Savage. I just find I can get the gun loaded quicker and easier. But I learned on old military bolt guns and learned to use strippers so Im pretty familiar with using them.

The Scout scopes do have a couple of issues, but for what the guns are, and are likely used for, I think the positives outweigh the negatives, or at least cancel each other out. That said, after using them and a red dot in their place, I do prefer the red dots.

I also prefer the Ching Sling set up that Cooper recommended, and they are really hard to beat, and not just for a Scout.

I went through that Scout stage back in the late 90's, and have since moved on from it. I do like old military bolt guns that are stripper fed, over most of what you see commercially today. Same goes for older commercial guns. The new guns are geared to a different type of shooter it seems, and I guess Im an old and antiquated fogey.

The two older bolt guns I do still have, are an old 03, and an old FR-8 in 308. If I had to choose between them, the FR-8 gets the nod hands down. Great guns and good shooters. Those old "straight bolts" are the ticket too.

 

No ... but they certainly carried beaucoup ammo in chargers for those Nº5s.

Sorry ... could not help myself.

BTW, great pic. Thanks! Makes me hot & sweaty just looking at it.

 

I have never owned a true intermediate eye relief scout scope, but having shot quite a few handgun scopes on specialty pistols, it just makes me shake my head that anyone would want that on a rifle. One of the first things I look for on any scope that I am going to hunt with is the field of view. I hope someday to try one to see what all the fuss is about.

 

If our society could forget about Scout rifles and about neck sizing, life for all of us would be improved.

 

^ Internet winner of the day ^

 

I like mine quite a bit. The basic idea is that it is intuitive to keep both eyes open while using them, which renders the "field of view" somewhat irrelevant.

Of course, I still neck size rounds for my Scout rifle, so doubtless should be disregarded as an irrelevant old man.

 

My distance vision is pretty poor and I can't wear glasses so I use the scope as my corrective lens. Perhaps if I had 20/20 vision the concept might make more sense to me.

 

Back to the stripper clips, if you must have that capability, the receivers on most commercial bolt actions can have slots milled into them to accept the clips. Military surplus clips are available for .473 and .376 heads, and probably a host of foreign cartridges as well.

Gunsmiths used to know how to do things like that. Not much call for that skill today.