Scout Rifles
Kim addresses scout rifles. He comes to the same conclusion I’ve had about them ever since I read about them in the first place. For a good, all-around rifle, there are plenty of better options that do everything better. I don’t see how a scout rifle can be a bolt action when a semi-auto or lever action is simply much better. The scout rifle tries do all things fairly well but the fact is that plenty of other rifles can accomplish those same tasks better and for less cash.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:26 am
FWIW, Cooper never said it had to be a bolt action. It’s just hard to get a semi-auto in a large caliber down to the weight he specified.
He also never specified the price. The Stery Scout is expensive because Steyrs are expensive, and because it came with a nice piece of glass. The Savage version was five bills or so.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought cooper helped design the Steyr?
March 13th, 2006 at 11:06 am
I can understand the ruling out of lever actions. Just exactly how convenient is a lever gun with a bipod?
The Scout Rifle concept was for military as well as civilian use and a lever action just doesn’t fit in well with prone shooting for either use.
March 13th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Uncle, he had a hand in it, apparently because Stery were the ones who were interested in the concept back when. I guess if Kel-Tec had hopped on the bandwagon instead that scout rifles would have been a lot cheaper. 😉
March 13th, 2006 at 11:35 am
…because the number of semiauto or lever action rifles chambered in a .308-class round that meet the weight criteria is pretty much zilch.
The bolt gun still has a lot to recommend it in compactness, simplicity, and ruggedness.
March 13th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
RE: Scout. I dunno….For general all-’round handiness, I keep reaching into the boom bin and pulling out the Savage 10 Scout. I’d prefer the Leupold was a 4X rather than 2.5, another few rounds in the magazine would be nice, but it was $200 used, another 150 for the scope and QD mount; it’s light, always works, weather doesn’t faze the syn stock, groups well out to as far as I can see to hit stuff, and likes M1A food, which works on most everything.
Seems to work.
March 13th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
I can see the prone issue with leverguns, but doesn’t the Browning BLR meet the weight criteria, even with a laminate stock? If you ignore the prone, especially the bipod, the BLR seems like a superior starting point in every way. And if you don’t mind being high enough on your bipod to change an assault rifle magazine, then the bipod isn’t even all that bad.
March 14th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Levergun actions are also more fragile, and complicated than bolt actions.
If I could make my short handy little Rermington 600 scout semi-auto without it being any heavier or longer, sure, but right now, at 6.5 pounds, I just can’t see the added advantage for a rifle that’s not for head-on battlefield use. It puts .308 in a nice neat group out to 300yd.
Not all scout style rifles are $2400 Steyrs.
March 14th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Leverguns, as much as I like them, are also slow to reload. A good scout should accept either clips or detactable mags.