"I was considering getting a Gibbs carbine some years ago. The one thing that turned me off, was the lack of of a good setup to mount a scope."
I'm thinking of having some bases made to fit the barrel of my cut down No4 to use with a forward mounted scope. This would actually meet scout criteria in most specs, tho I'm not sure about weight. I was going to avoid the "Scout" word for forward mounted scope, the term is WAY overused for guns that do NOT fit any other "Scout" criteria. A scout is NOT any rifle with a forward mounted scope on it, it is a gun that meets a cetain set of length, weight and caliber criteria, a scope is only one element, and the scope is NOT even a required element to be a scout rifle. The JC is about as close to a scout rifle as the factories have ever made until Steyer and others started producing them.
http://pw2.netcom.com/~chingesh/scoutrifle.html
The link above does not specifically address caliber, but scout caliber specs call for a round in the medium power range. The 303 fits neatly in this range.
Coopers later writings regarding rifles called "scouts" that do not meet any criteria other than a forward mounted scope, he notes that a proper scout does not neccesarily need a scope to be a true scout, and a forward mounted scope does not make a gun a "scout rifle".
"scout" rant off.
A bit OT, but some thoughts on the general subject of defensive rifles. The subject has been given much thought. For those that don't read Coopers stuff, but may be interested in that principal of bolt guns as serious defensive tools, there is some good info here, but you'll have to search some through the site.
http://www.dvc.org.uk/~johnny/jeff/