Talk to me about Scout Rifles?

[hillbilly]

Itgoesboom, I sent you a PM on a scout rifle, complete, that's well within your budget.

hillbilly

 

[AZgunstudent]

A "sorta scout" can be done for not too much money this way (though there are some tradeoffs).

Use a .308 Remington 700 Youth Synthetic as the base gun. It has a 20" barrel and a short stock. Remington claims it at 6.75 pounds, though, so you may be pushing all-up weight. You can get these at Wal-Mart for $369, if you can stomach buying a gun there. Plan on $400 at your friendly local dealer, if you like to support real gun shops.

Natchez sells the Burris heavy-plex scout scope for $200. If you prefer the Leupold, get one for $220.

Get the B-Square scout mount (same one Savage used on their Scout) from Brownells for $29. While shopping there, also get a Williams WGRS rear aperture sight for $35. Plan on tossing out the screw-in fine aperture and just using the big hole as a ghost ring.

Order a Ching Sling from Andy Langlois, Galco or The Wilderness for $60.

Get swivels and an extra stud for $20. Installing the middle stud is no great trick for anyone possessing basic skill with tools. Also get low scope rings for $30.

The stock Remington trigger can be tuned a good crisp pull by a patient shooter. Good instructions can be found online. If you shy away from trigger work, pay a local gunsmith $50 to adjust the trigger.

Total for a functional, though not "slick," pseudo scout done this way (going the Wal-Mart/Burris route and doing your own trigger adjustment), is under $750 before shipping and taxes. Add extra bucks for buying at a gun shop, getting the Leupold, and/or paying a gunsmith for the trigger work. Optional extras, perhaps added later, are a buttcuff for spare rounds and a square post front sight.

Downsides are that the rifle may or may not make weight, has a blind magazine, and no bipod. But it'll be short, fast-handling, accurate, with a good trigger and scope, and backup irons.

 

[itgoesboom]

Wow, that looks like a very good option!

Thank you.

I.G.B.

 

[itgoesboom]

Actually, after looking this over a little more, that psuedo-scout Remington sounds like a pretty good deal.

So is there any reason I couldn't do this with a Savage?

How accurate is the base Remington 700 youth?

Anything else I should consider?

I.G.B.

 

[AZgunstudent]

I don't see why you couldn't do it with a Savage. The Savage Ultra Light may be slightly pricier than the Wally World Remington, but maybe not.

I assume that B-Square has a scout mount for the Savage available, since Savage used that mount on their Scout. Or perhaps the Remington scout mount will fit the Savage. Keep in mind that the B-Square mount situates the scope slightly higher than is ideal, so use the lowest rings you can.

I prefer the shorter stock of the Remington Youth -- it shoulders faster for me. I find the Savage stocks a bit clumsy in general. I also prefer a properly adjusted Remington trigger to the Accu-Trigger.

The Remington Youth should be as accurate as any other 700. Whether it is more accurate than the Savage probably varies from rifle to rifle. For appropriate "scout rifle" missions like general purpose hunting of medium game and defense of home and country, I'd think a 2 MOA rifle would be fine, and wouldn't sweat small differences in accuracy between guns.

 

[RonS]

I wondered how much the custom shop option would cost, not good news for scout fans.

The Remington sounds like a good option. For a little more money than B-square, I think Burris still sells the original "fitting and drilling required" scout mount that sets down low on the barrel. It is steel and is drilled to match the Remington rear sight hole spacing. You have to contour the bottom to match the barrel and drill a third hole in the barrel.

The good news is, the stock on the Remington is probably better than the Savage.

 

[itgoesboom]

AZ,

So with the mount being slithly higher, does it interfere with using the aperture sights when you remove the scope, or do you have to remove the base as well to use the iron sights?

It does sound like a really good option.

Now I just have to decide between this and an AK47 clone.

I.G.B.

 

[ClarkEMyers]

Oh come now AK-M clone surely?

Why ask for a milled dustcover on a Kalashnikov?

I haven't seen a lot of true Scouts on the used market, as opposed to the folks who bought them right at CDNN or such and are trying for a quick turnover at close to list - far more than the new price just recently, but I'd think there must be some floating around at a discount from the CDNN new price?

Granted they didn't meet expectations but no Savage on the market used? Even an abused Savage is easy and cheap to rebarrel?

I can't imagine putting a Scout, or a pseudo-Scout in the same class as an AK.

 

[AZgunstudent]

I've only held one rifle set up with the B-Square mount, and the owner had the scope attached. I am almost certain you could use the irons with the mount attached, but I am not 100% positive. A quick call or email to B-Square would probably answer your question for sure. If you want to quickly use the irons, though, remember you'll need to spend some extra money on quick-detach rings.

RonS made a good suggestion about the Burris mount, but as he said, it does require drilling and tapping another hole in the barrel, as well as recontouring the base. The B-Square mount requires no gunsmithing. I think if I were going to go the gunsmithing route, I'd go ahead and get the Express Sights "ring" mount.

The faux scout is more versatile than the AK. The AK is really only useful for defense of home and country. A sorta-scout is good for that -- perhaps better in some respects -- if you see things realistically and rule out the "Wolverines" fantasies. The scout is also good for hunting medium game, which is not really the province of the AK. The AK is quite a bit cheaper to shoot, though.

 

[itgoesboom]

Clark,

I know that the AK is not really in the same class as a psuedo scout-rifle, but I still have to decide what is best for my specific purposes.

Part of me says go practical, get the scout. Part of me says get the "evil assault rifle".

I probably won't make up my mind untill I am at the counter, with a handfull of cash. Probably happening this weekend.

I.G.B.

 

[CaesarI]

For a little bit more money ($500 online) you can get a Remington 7 which weighs 6.25lbs. The Express Sight ring mount is rather superior to the B-Square, and isn't much more expensive ($60). The moderate increase in price provides a significant improvement in product quality.

-Morgan