Project Appleseed

How do scout rifles compare to other .30 rifle's?

The answer is that it depends. I have shot field shoots with them and a 2.75 scope and been failry satisfied. Some of the shots could have benefited from a clearer view but they are light, handy, and capable of good accurracy out to at least 500 yards.  I would not feel undergunned with a Scout rifle by any means.

Get five or ten of each.

Who doesn't need more rifles?

We just had a guy with the Ruger at a shoot this weekend.  My first impression was very positive.  The only negative I noticed is that the bolt isn't exactly "buttery" and seems to get hung up every now and then when shooting quickly.  I'm sure that can be overcome by practicing the proper finesse.

Seems like a cool and effective platform.

I have an Israeli sporterized Mauser that is setup as a scout rifle.  The speed on target of that setup is superb as is the ability to load the rifle.

Balance is also nice so as is the cheekweld it allows with such a low mounted rifle.

I like it.  Wish mine were magazine fed though.  That would be awesome.

I've had a Savage Scout in .308 for about 10 years, it's a really nice rifle for what I paid for it, feels good, quick on target, and carries well on a motorcycle; but it's so light that felt recoil is noticably more than an M1A.     I've read that some people have had problems with the magazine catch (side button in the stock) in earlier models, but I have not seen that issue in mine - just the same I notice it looks like M1A mags will fit in the well with a slight modification from a side catch to M1A style rear catch.  Another of a long list of projects I will probably never free up the time to do.

I haven't been overly impressed with the shortened M1A's.

The Scout is functional, and will work.

The SOCOM is a piece of crap from my experiences. I've seen some reliability issues and it's become a joke between myself and a fellow NCO in my Guard battalion. He owns a SOCOM, and had problems with it at an Appleseed years ago. On one side of him was another fellow NCO with a full size M1A, on the other a teenager with a full size FedOrd M14A. Both outshot him, and the guy in the middle actually isn't a bad shot. The rifle let him down. Harmonics and a factory butchered gas sysytem are the likely culprits.

And we have been assiming that we are going by Col Jeff Cooppers def of scout rifle  6.6 lb's /7.6 lbs (should be within ),,,,forward mounted scope  perfured mag fed  normaly bolt action, perfured .30 cal,,,
Look it up if you want exactly what he said.

Ok now that thats out of the way,,I have shot an m1a scout I really liked it  I think it could be good out to at lest 700 yards (I hope to test that someday) If I could carry one in my truck I would (state laws get iffy at times ) looks like my next truck rifle will be a"scout rifle" forward scope  detachable mag  stripperclip fed bolt action  I find myself thinking enfield.

Wade

Quote from: Wade on July 22, 2011, 10:54:13 AM
And we have been assiming that we are going by Col Jeff Cooppers def of scout rifle  6.6 lb's /7.6 lbs (should be within ),,,,forward mounted scope  perfured mag fed  normaly bolt action, perfured .30 cal,,,
Look it up if you want exactly what he said.

Ok now that thats out of the way,,I have shot an m1a scout I really liked it  I think it could be good out to at lest 700 yards (I hope to test that someday) If I could carry one in my truck I would (state laws get iffy at times ) looks like my next truck rifle will be a"scout rifle" forward scope  detachable mag  stripperclip fed bolt action  I find myself thinking enfield.

Wade

We includes me, too. Mine is a Steyr that I got for a Ruger price. It is also 7mm-08 which I am becoming very partial to for hunting and target shooting.

My problem with the M1A scout and SOCOM is the sight radius. You really have to have good sight alignment (even better than with an AR) to do well with them using Iron Sights. I have seen people shooting 10 MOA groups with the Socom shrink those groups to 4 moa with an M1.

The scout m1a I shot had a forward mounted scope  it work out well,,On short sight radius I have a mas 49/56and yes I have to work a little harder,,,,,
Wade

I'm hoping to see the new Ruger Gunsite model to show up to see how it performs, has anyone had any AS experience with it?

Quote from: Garand on July 21, 2011, 08:28:24 PM
How do scout rifles compare to other .30 rifle's?

A scout rifle is intended to be a general utility piece: instead of having an entire safe full of rifles for specific tasks, you have ONE scout rifle that can be put to service in multiple situations. Is it the best for line practice? Big game hunting? Zombie apocalypse? TEOTWAWKI defense from U.N. invasion?

No. There are better guns for each of those scenarios [& countless others.]

What it is is the best compromise that will serve across ALL those scenarios pretty darn well! 

The Steyr Scout is a very impressive device. A .308 that makes hitting 200 yard steel feel like shooting a pop can at 50 yards with a .22 rimfire.

The concept was developed in order to take a large step forward in rifle ergonomics "user friendliness". Short, light, handy, fast, accurate, and powerful. The forward low-power scope allows keeping both eyes open to maintain field of view and allows stripper clip loading from the top. The Ching sling is a fast-acquisition loop sling. Overall a pretty worthwhile concept, especially for a hoppin' and poppin' practical field piece. You really have to shoot one through some practical field drills to get an appreciation.

My first smokeless rifles were lever guns, I do like them. Laugh if you will, but I have always thought a Savage 99 in 257 Roberts or 7mm 08 with a scout scope would be a sweet thing to have.

YHJ

Sounds like fun, but just go ahead, bite the bullet, and get the full-length M1A.

It'll ring 500-meter steel all day long (slung up in prone) - so consistent it's almost boring.

Git-R-Done!

Quote from: yellowhousejake on July 22, 2011, 11:00:43 PM
My first smokeless rifles were lever guns, I do like them. Laugh if you will, but I have always thought a Savage 99 in 257 Roberts or 7mm 08 with a scout scope would be a sweet thing to have.

YHJ

I'm a lever-gun guy, too.  I like the Marlins in 30/30, though.  Plenty accurate up to 200 yards and fun to shoot, but most of the time I'll stick with my M1A's.

shot half an AQT with my new Ruger Gunsite .308.  As mentined before bolt is not buttery and mine flat out would bind and not go forward without moving my wrist back and forth when I pushed.  Someone else wanted it much more than me and it is gone.

The forward mounted scope is a good idea on a bolt action or M1 Garand to make reloading easier/possible.  It might even be nice on an M1A (you find a lot of folks have issues with jamming due to the empty case hitting the scope mount and bouncing back into the path of the next round to be chambered.)

As to limiting rifle length or weight that is (to me) more of a personal preference.  I'm 6'3" and I don't find a standard rifle to be "too long" (just as I don't have problems keeping a 30 round AR magazine off the ground while firing prone).

Consider an effective flash suppressor if you're going with a short barrel.

Some designs are much superior to others and a lot of thought/effort went into the design and development of them.  Modifying something to fit your idea of what would make it better usually doesn't turn out so well (I'm not talking about minor mods like sights, synthetic stocks, better triggers, etc. - I'm talking about chopping barrels on gas operated guns which usually leads to function issues - don't believe me?  Just visit falfiles or arfcom and read the posts about function issues folks have with rifles that are not made to the original design).

Scout rifle?  Here's mine.  It works just fine.

Last year I had a shooter on the line with a Savage Scout.  Very nice rifle, accurate and he was real quick with it too.  I  later learned the shooter, a real nice guy, was a national champ of revolver shooting.

Problem came after the 2nd, maybe 1/2 way through the 3rd RFAQT when his hits on the target went to a giant shotgun pattern because the barrel heated up, went wonky and accuracy was out the window.

Realized at that moment, it might be great on the Stage-by-Stage but it wasn't built for sustained fire of any kind.

He struggled on but soon switched to his AR and damn near scored Riflemen that day.

Had him back on the line this past month and he left the Scout at home.

Jake, if you ever find a scout scope mount for a Savage 99, let me know!

Quote from: Colorado Pete on July 23, 2011, 07:07:46 PM
Jake, if you ever find a scout scope mount for a Savage 99, let me know!

Unless I find it on a mill table,  I doubt I will. It's a good dream though...

YHJ

Ashley Outdoors (now X0 Outdoors) years ago showed a picture of a 99 with a Scout mount. I called them up and they said it was just a one-off prototype and they were not going to make it a production item, there were too many barrel diameter variations. The rifle looked REAL good with it! That, a Ching sling, and a backup rear peep would make a heck of a nice package.

I've got a pseudo-scout made from a M1896 Swedish Mauser, and I LOVE it.  Never shot an AQT with it, though.  The Burris 2.75x is plenty to HIT with, although you don't see as much detail as with a higher-power scope.  Forward mounting means I didn't have to modify the safety, and stripper clips still work.  I didn't have the bolt handle bent, and wish I had.  No need for it for scope clearance, but it might have been a little quicker and handier if the bolt handle didn't need to come all the way to vertical.

Mine doesn't "make weight," and I left it in 6.5x55 when re-barreling, because I already had brass and dies.  Midway USA house brand 22" barrel and an injection-molded stock were installed.  It's now 8.5 pounds with scope, mount, and sling but unloaded.  That old caliber is more than plenty for our little Texas whitetails.  Recoil is enough to let me know when it went off, but not at all punishing.

New Ruger Gunsite model is on order, no arrival yet.

I handled a Ruger Gunsite Scout today and noticed that the bolt would bind when all the way back and pushed forward with a slight upward angle of the push, just like my Rem. 7. With a perfect in-line or slight down angle forward push, they don't bind. Something to learn.

One of the first things I do with a new .22 conversion kit for the AR is degrease it, smear some 60 grit lapping compound on it and work the bolt back and forth on the rails for awhile.

If I had a bolt action that was binding up as described above I'd try some lapping compound on it as well to polish it up some.

Of course you've got to get all the lapping compound off it and re-lube it when the polishing is complete.

did that with my new rem 700, very stiff to start, used the 2 finer compounds, made a great improvement but still not like a high end action