What scope for a "scout rifle"?

[Lone_Gunman]

What scope do those of you with scout rifles prefer? I just got a little Ruger Frontier in 308, which I realize isnt a purist's scout rifle, but is still pretty close. I would like to mount a forward scope on it.

Would a red dot sight be good in that situation or should I get a long relief pistol scope? I use Aimpoints on my ARs and like that, but would it work well on a forward mounted scout scope? I probably don't want to spend as much as an Aimpoint costs, and was looking at less expensive red dots like those by Burris, Bushnell, and Nikon? There are mostly in the $100 to $200 range.

The Nikon Monarch Red Dot looks pretty good to me, and mounts directly to the rail on the Frontier. How is it?

 

[.38 Special]

The eye relief on a pistol scope is too long. I haven't tried a red dot on a scout rifle. Cooper likely wouldn't have approved, if that matters to you, because he didn't think much of a rifle that becomes useless when its battery dies.

As far as I m concerned, the Leupold Scout scope is THE scope for this concept. If that costs too much, I believe Burris makes a lower cost version.

 

[Molasses]

I've tried the Burris scout scope and their 1.5-4X pistol scope in this role, and the pistol scope needed extension rings and the Weaver base adapter on a Ruger Frontier rifle to work.

Currently, the only one I've got is the Leupold that came with the Steyr that replaced the Ruger when I got tired of fighting to get makeshift rigs to work. I'm happy with this setup.

 

[dagger dog]

Some of the extended eye relief scope that are used on hard kicking large bore slug guns muzzle loaders and dangerous game rifles should be of long enough relief to be used in a scout application.

 

[Ian]

I have a Burris 2x-7x pistol scope on mine. I picked it out by going to the local Cabelas with my rifle and rail, and test fitting all their IER and pistol scopes to see which had eye relief that would work with my particular gun. I did try some shotgun scopes as well, and they were all way too short.

If you do this, keep in mind that the eye relief changes as you change the magnification.