Ruger/Gunsite Scout Rifle - gunwriters' review

[J.Boyette]

A double stack side fed detach mag, and a bolt action is not a good way to go. Unless you can control alot of quality control stuff.

This is why so many company's are going to the AICS mag's, its a double stack, single feed mag and works real well.

John

 

[taliv]

I mean this as a sincere question because I've never owned a bolt action that didn't use a double stack magazine, but is this really a concern in a bolt action? I've only had one bolt action that ever gave any difficulty feeding, but I think that was more because it just had a defective magazine than because it was double stack.

I guess the Mosins I've owned were single stack, but for the purpose of this discussion I think they're a different animal.

it's not a huge concern. heck, AI makes several flavors of mags and I think most are are double stack.


john, you know, as something of a sling junkie, the first thing i noticed in all those pics was that not a single person in the class, or any of the instructors were using the sling. wonder why

 

[J.Boyette]

taliv,

because training was not the goal, it was to butter up guys like the one who started this post and play grab A$$ and take some pictures to impress each other with.


Oh, its so great, its the best, come shoot free ammo, take a jacket.

But lets not look at any details, lets not deploy the rifle correctly, lets not do what we need to do. That is eval this rifle correctly.

Bottom line this is what happened, no details other then I got a jacket, a huge group at 50yds, and we did not deploy the rifle correctly, oh and I got to meet the staff who is buttering me up, and did not want to be here. "hence cold at first and warmed up after two days"

 

[Rack Grade]

Other Flash Suppressors?

Maybe I missed it, but could you put an M14 flash suppressor on this?

 

[highorder]

Maybe I missed it, but could you put an M14 flash suppressor on this?

No, sorry the thread pitch is different.

 

[praharin]

Originally posted by minutemen1776:
Well, I guess I'll let the rest of you have a go at Ruger's newest version of the Scout rifle concept. I've never cared much for the idea in the first place... On another note, I find it interesting that companies are still attempting to produce a concept weapon devised by Jeff Cooper so many years ago. If they were that utilitarian, I suspect that the market would have made these odd rifles more popular, but that hasn't been the case.

So you don't like a gun you have never tried, and wonder why it hasn't caught on. Maybe, like you, other shooters haven't tried it and don't like it. It's hard for something to catch on, no matter how good it is, when people don't try it. It would also be worth noting that both Steyr and Savage discontinued their respective scout rifles only to bring them back. Maybe there is more to it than you realize.

For me personally, I have no Jeff Cooper connection to the Scout rifle. I understand his connection, but it has no bearing on my love of the rifle style. I guess that's a better way to say it. I even carry one with a Glock on occasion. I wonder how the good Colonel would feel about that?

 

[Sheepdog1968]

1KPerDay, I imagine they want to sell proprietary magazines. More profit, that way...

Sheepdog, the Gecko was among several who had to "tacticalize" any and all weaponry. Seriously, though, there's more to it than just the lug. Gotta factor in the size and location of the bayonet's muzzle ring, as well.

LOL. Thanks for the clarification. I'm definately not a mall ninja. With the expection of sights (age and comptuer moniters impacting my eyes), I tend to keep the majority of what I own stock. The more stuff you change, add, the more likely things will break.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Questions,

What was the point of the sling if no one used it?

What size group is that at 50yds?

What kind of a ZERO did they have you all run?

Where the rings quick detach, or not?

I am shocked the Gunsite would let these pictures be let out. It does not look good from my point of view at all. The non-use of the Ching Specialty Sling is a lack of training or a lack of knowing how to deploy a system. The whole point of having the Ching Specialty Sling is for kneeling, sitting and off hand.

That group, at 50yds makes me not want to buy a $900 rifle. At that price that shot group should be a lot tighter and 50yds.

Just no a good showing of the rifle at all. It looks cool, until you look at it with open eyes.

In another blog (Michael Bane from Down Range TV), there is a discussion of the Ruger Scout since Micael was at the reveal event. If you read the comments to his original posting, about half way down, one of the lead instructors at Gunsite has had some time since the reveal to take the Ruger Scout out and shoot it at 100, 200, 300 yards with five 5 shot groups. With proper ammo, he was able to get sub-MOA accuracy out of the Ruger Scout.

I think it was a bad idea that they didn't show or have someone at the event sling up and shoot some groups with good ammo to show the accuracy potential. Personally, I tend to be about a 3 to 4 MOA shooter so I am rarely in danger of exceeding a rifle's potential.

 

[Jason_W]

There's just no pleasing some people

I think it's a neat concept and will be an ideal multi-tool. The truth about any multi-tool is that it's not going to be perfect at any one task, but adequate at most of them.

Does no one here keep a leatherman or swiss army knife in a tackle or tool box even though you can individually buy a knife, screwdriver, pliers, and corkscrew that will be superior to that on the swiss army knife?

I also have to ask why everyone is so hung up on MOA or sub MOA groups all the time? With the exception of small varmints, how many real world targets are sub MOA in size at 200 yards or less?

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

5/8x24tpi is standard threading for many .30 weapons, such as the M60 machinegun and M60E3 suppressors, several high end aftermarket muzzle breaks and flash suppressors, and a wide variety of sound suppressors.

 

[LACamper]

I spent a lot of time in the woods as a teenager with an enfield JC over my shoulder, so I love the idea of the scout rifle. Iron sights that stayed on the rifle would have been better. A bit of picatinny rail at the back would have allowed AR sights to work. I'm glad they did away with the bipod. An extra sling stud would have been a cheap easy thing to add, but easy to DIY if you want.
Since this rifle is meant for SHTF it would have been nice for them to use a commonly available mag. M14, Fal, etc. Even 10 round Remington M700 mags...
I'd love to find a modern bolt gun action that is even half as smooth and fast as my enfield.
Accuracy and reliablility are not quite inversley proportionate. The more accurate, the tighter the tolerances, the less room for dirt, debris, etc., the easier it is to lock that gun up. I don't want a minute of angle scout (well, actually I do... ), I want one that I know will work no matter what its coated in. It should be just as reliable as my JC and I hope much more accurate.

I'd love to see a 3 gun type stage/ match for guns like this...


Overall, its a nice rifle and I'm tempted...

 

[deadduck357]

Since this rifle is meant for SHTF it would have been nice for them to use a commonly available mag. M14, Fal, etc. Even 10 round Remington M700 mags...
I'd love to find a modern bolt gun action that is even half as smooth and fast as my enfield.

Their mag choice was exactly for SHTF. Two reason why they decided against M14 mags - 1) they would have had to widen the action/stock, 2) they did test a variety of available M14 mags and found to many variables between them, one would function properly and then the next wouldn't. They chose to go with a reliable proven design. The AI type design is used by some of the best known names in sniper rifles, actions and stock manufacturers, they are reliable and that's what they wanted for this rifle, reliability...

The action on the one I used was very smooth, I bet with even more break-in and use it would be slippery.

 

[deadduck357]

Questions,

What was the point of the sling if no one used it?

What size group is that at 50yds?

What kind of a ZERO did they have you all run?

Where the rings quick detach, or not?

I am shocked the Gunsite would let these pictures be let out. It does not look good from my point of view at all. The non-use of the Ching Specialty Sling is a lack of training or a lack of knowing how to deploy a system. The whole point of having the Ching Specialty Sling is for kneeling, sitting and off hand.

That group, at 50yds makes me not want to buy a $900 rifle. At that price that shot group should be a lot tighter and 50yds.

Just no a good showing of the rifle at all. It looks cool, until you look at it with open eyes.

1) because I didn't take any pics while we were using it.

2) I didn't measure it

3) I don't know about the others but mine was about 1.5 low at 50 yards.

4) On mine they were not, but many companies offer QD rings.

Your point of view complaining behind a computer screen typing on a keyboard.

Some of us can use a rifle without always needing the aid of a sling.

We were instructed and drilled in offhand, kneeling, sitting and prone with the use of the sling.

That 50 yard group is 30 rounds AFTER 4,170 rounds have been down that barrel.

Some are blind with eyes open.

 

[praharin]

LACamper, your post is so full of fail. The magazine issue has been discussed literally ad nauseum. I mean it, I now want to vomit...

The "tolerance" of this or any other rifle have absolutely NO bearing on the reliability in the sense you are speaking of. Please look up the word in relation to engineering/machining. Then look up "clearance" in the same sense.

A "modern" bolt gun will be just as smooth as your Enfield after a similar number of cyclings and cleanings. They won't be as fast, most likely, because the Enfield is a completely different design than any modern rifles I know of. Meaning the cock on closing function. It just makes it faster. It probably has down sides too, but I have never looked into it.

 

[deadduck357]

taliv,

because training was not the goal, it was to butter up guys like the one who started this post and play grab A$$ and take some pictures to impress each other with.


Oh, its so great, its the best, come shoot free ammo, take a jacket.

But lets not look at any details, lets not deploy the rifle correctly, lets not do what we need to do. That is eval this rifle correctly.

Bottom line this is what happened, no details other then I got a jacket, a huge group at 50yds, and we did not deploy the rifle correctly, oh and I got to meet the staff who is buttering me up, and did not want to be here. "hence cold at first and warmed up after two days"

"hence cold at first and warmed up after two days" ???

We did as we were instructed to do.

Again some don't need the aid of a sling every time we deploy a rifle.

Where were you ? Were you there ? No ? Armchair Commando ?

 

[Sam1911]

Well, the downturn in tone indicates that we've wrung out all the value from this thread. Time to say 'done.'

Thanks for the write-up deadduck.