I’ve been somewhat enamored by COL Cooper’s concept of the Scout rifle and his insistence on the long eye-relief or “scout” scope. Only in the last few years have I gotten serious about experimenting with both. I’ve learned some things for sure.
First, I learned that as useful as the scout rifle might be as a general-purpose rifle, there are a variety of other rifles – like my CUR – that can fill that niche. Cooper was very critical of magnification and distrustful of optical sights, which is one reason he insisted on back-up irons. But, today’s optics are very dependable. And, as much as Cooper thought magnification was not needed, a lifetime of hunting all over the world has shown me that some shots cannot be made without at least 4X magnification; you cannot shoot what you cannot see. Dark timber and brush limit the usefulness of low power optics.
Secondly, many of us do not want or need a single rifle to sort all our problems out with. We can have deer rifles, varmint rifles, home defense carbines and any number of other specialty long guns to use as the need dictates.
Finally, a compact rifle that allows for both eyes open aiming with open sights or a riflescope, and that allows unrestricted access to the action can be handy, particularly when combined with some of the other features like COL Cooper suggested on a true scout rifle. I don’t think there is any arguing that the Steyr Scout is the best of the bunch, followed closely by the Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle.
With the help of Jerry Dove at Dove Custom Guns and Jim Brockman at Brockman Custom Rifles I’ve put together a few scout rifles and I have to say they are useful and damn handy. You’ll be able to read about each of these in upcoming feature articles in Guns & Ammo and several of the Special Editions from Guns Magazine.
In the meantime, I thought it might be helpful to share what I’ve learned about some of the scout scopes available on the market. After all, what is a scout rifle without a scout scope?
Leupold Scout Scope
This is the scope that comes with the Steyr Scout Rifle. It is 10 inches long, weighs less than eight ounces and offers 2.3X magnification. It has no focusing ability; if you need glasses to see you’ll need them to see the reticle in focus. This is a negative as far as I’m concerned. But, this is a rugged optic with a 9.3-inch eye relief and a 22-foot field of view at 100 yards. The objective and ocular lens housing is 1.4 inches in diameter, which means it can be mounted with its center about 0.8 inches above the bore. I used this scope in South Africa several years ago to take several warthogs, a few of which were not sitting still.
If you have good eyes, this is a great option.
Leupold Custom Scout Scope
Direct from the Leupold Custom Shop you can get a variable powered scout scope. It offers 1.5 – 4X magnification with a variable eye relief from 7.75 to 8.75 inches, depending on where the magnification is set. The same is true with field of view, which ranges from 8 to 41 feet at 100 yards. It is also light at 8.8 ounces. This was the optic I used on my 1895 Marlin lever-action when I when buffalo hunting in Mozambique. Like the standard Leupold scout scope the reticle is thin and I would have preferred something more robust. Like the fixed power Leupold, it can be mounted low.
This scope has an adjustable ocular so you can focus it but on every rifle I’ve mounted it, it extends back beyond the action / ejection port. Not a big deal on a lever gun but on a bolt it sort of defeats some of the purpose of the scope concept. The option of more magnification is handy for longer shots or when more precision is needed.
Burris Scout Scope
Recently I’ve been playing with the Burris 2.5 x 20mm Scout Scope. I like it. Its weighs 7 ounces, has a thick duplex style reticle and is only 9 inches long. It can also be focused to your eye and be mounted just as low as the Leupold. However, the field of view is 7 feet narrower than the fixed power Leupold and the eye relief is two inches shorter.
If I wanted a both eyes open, fixed power scout scope this would be my first pick.
Burris Variable Scout Scope
This is really an interesting take on the scout scope. It has a magnification range of 2 to 7X and is also fitted with a ballistic compensating reticle. To me this scope is the perfect match for a general-purpose rifle that might be used for just about anything. It is a little heavier and the eye relief varies from 9.2 to 12 inches. Still, it’s easy to find a sweet spot for mounting without the ocular housing intruding in the area of the ejection port. Field of view runs from 4.6 to 16 feet at 100 yards and it is heavier at 13 ounces.
For a do it all, optic for a scout rifle, this may be the best option.
Weaver Scout Scope
Little known to some is the Weaver 4X scout scope. Granted, the 4X magnification sort of inhibits the fast application and both eyes open shooting for some but it is indeed handy at longer distances and when trying to see an animal in low light or thick brush. I really like this scope and have two of them. One is on a custom Ruger American .22 Magnum made scout ready by Jerry Dove. The other I’m using on my Jim Brockman customized Marlin 1894 in .327 Federal Magnum. Its 9.5 inches long, weighs 9.5 ounces and has 9.5 inches of eye relief with an 8-foot field of view at 100 yards. Its perfect for a rimfire scout for precision shooting and great to have handy for an iron sighted centerfire scout rifle when low light or precision work is needed.
If you were primarily looking for some magnification assistance with a scout rifle, this scope is a good option, especially in quick release rings.
EOTech Holographic Sight with Magnifier
In reality, the scout type bolt-action rifle has been superseded by the AR platform. Anything you can do with a scout rifle you can do with an AR. This is even truer when you consider the lighter weight DPMS GII which will come in just under Cooper’s 7.7-pound maximum weight.
My GII is equipped with an EOTech Model 518 holographic sight with side controls and a prototype G45 5X magnifier. (Both will be released by EOTech in 2015.). This system sort of offers the best of both worlds as far as the AR is concerned. You have the zero magnification holographic sight for close in work and with a slap you can engage the magnifier for longer shots. What most folks do not realize is that the magnifier does not magnify the reticle in the holographic sight, making it perfect for precision application.
I used this set up to take an elk and a whitetail in Montana at 345 and 331 yards respectively. Both can also be mounted to a bolt-action rifle equipped with a rail; my wife did this while taking a course a Gunsite with a Mossberg bolt-action. She was impressed with the set up with the exception of the high mounting which made establishing a good cheek weld difficult. This of course is not an issue with an AR
With the AR the choice is simple for me. With a bolt-action scout rifle consider exactly what you need the optic to do and choose accordingly.
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