Hi Beemer Guy, I just today came across your post about the JC JC Steyr Scout Rifle. I also bought one shortly after they came out. Have been a reader and fan of Jeff for years.
I have found the Steyr Scout to be, literally, as Jeff put it, the most usable, friendly, lightweight, all-around general-purpose rifle I've ever owned. I have, over the years, owned Remington 700's (7 altogether), two Weatherby's, Winchester Model 70's, AR-15's in several calibers, and others. If you buy into the Scout concept, this rifle excels in every aspect.
No, it is not a Sniper rifle. I have my Remington 700 LTR and heavy barreled 700 Police for that.
No, it is not a prairie dog rifle. It does not shoot dogs at 600 yards. I have my Remington VS for that.
No, it is not a Buffalo, Rhino, or Water Buffalo rifle. There are calibers for that niche.
So can these self styled "experts" please stop trying to tear apart this handy little piece because it is not a "General Purpose Rifle" AND a SNIPER, TARGET, PRAIRIE DOG, AND IMMENSE AFRICAN GAME RIFLE?
I attended a 5-day Hunting Rifle course at the now defunct "THE SITE" firearms training facility in Northwestern Illinois, started by one of Gunsite's adjunct instructors, retired Navy SEAL Hershel Davis. He tried to bring Gunsite's tenets and practices out here to the midwest for us Cops and other citizens a little too poor to afford the Gunsite experience.
The course was taught by another retired SEAL, Jim Kauber, Navy Sniper extraordinnaire.
There were 8 guys in our class. I was the only Scout Rifle shooter. Most of the other attendees carried highly customized, big-caliber, big-buck rifles, including two Robars, that, according to the owners, cost $7,500.00 each.
When we did our first initial sight-in, the Scout did very well, printing a verified by calipers by the instructor 5-round group of .70 inches. I take that to be quite remarkable given the little skinny barrel. My Police Remington 700 26-inch barrel behemoth will, on a really good day on my part, shoot 5 rounds into a .50 inch group. My LTR will do about the same.
When we all marched down 100 yards to the sight-in targets, I was really pleased. My group was, by far, the smallest on the range. My step-son's, (who was shooting my LTR) was next best, at .75 inches.
I do have to mention that I served a multi-jurisdictional Police ERT unit as a Sniper for 15 years, so I do have a little experience with trigger time, but I was extremely pleased with the ragged hole on the target.
I was, as you have found, using the Federal 168 grain BTHP for best accuracy while taking the class. I have since found 2 other hunting loads that shoot pretty well: The Hornady 150 grain "Light Magnum", and the Federal Premium 165 grain Trophy Bonded. The Winchester Failsafe line did pretty good as well.
I can't stand these "gun writers" who take a box of **** quality, imported military ammo, and then bitch about 3 inch groups at 100 yards. I firmly believe that if you can afford this rifle, you ought to be putting good ammo through it.
We eventually, over the 5-day class, shot out to 600 yards. (Yes, the holdover with the Scout was crazy). But, even out to 600 yards, once I got a good holdover aiming point, the little rifle printed a 7.5 inch group. This was the smallest group fired by any of the rifles in the class. My step-son's group was second smallest again at 9 inches even.
My comments on the Jeff Cooper Steyr Scout Rifle after attending this class, and shooting it at all kinds of targets, cans, old CDs, rocks, and numerous game animals.:
1. The rifle is the lightest medium caliber rifle I have ever owned or handled. Some of the rifles in the class were in the 11-pound range with scope and bipod. The owners of those rifles were draggin' by the end of each day from carrying the weight around.
2. It is by far, the most accurate rifle I have ever owned by weight-to-group-size measurement. This is right out of the box, with no adjustments or customizing. Both of my Police sniper rifles were modified with custom triggers to get them to shoot to were they are now. They both also sport Leupold Tactical 4.5 X 14 scopes.
3. Don't be afraid of using the bipod. I used it every day during the class, extending it as I went down to prone position. It did not break, no bending of the legs, it was sturdy, stable, and did the job. The ability to pivot the rifle left and right were helpful when the terrain was not level.
4. Handling is superb. The rifle sits in your hands naturally. The gripping surfaces hit my hands in all the right places. The thumb safety is intuitive to use, making it easy to roll the safety off as you come up from either low-ready or high ready. The magazines engage and disengage with a pinch of the thumb and first finger.
The rifle shoulders smoothly. This is a trait never mentioned in "Gun Magazines", but one a shooter can appreciate. The short buttstock (adjustable of course), makes it sublimely smooth to "melt" the buttstock to the shoulder, instantly, and to the same shoulder-and-cheek-weld every time. The only other rifle I've had this experience with, (ha-ha surprisingly!) is my little 36 year-old Glenfield Model 60 .22, purchased at the Sears store for $39.00!
5. The trigger is fantastic, right out of the box. I DID adjust mine to a lighter break eventually, but I attended the class with it as it came from the factory. The take-up is even, no surprises, and the break is actually better than the Remington 700 Police rifles from the factory. The break, to me, has little palpable movement after the sear disengages. I can't feel any.
6. Barrel length- No issue. I have 26-inch barreled 700's, and they certainly don't shoot 6 inches of barrel length more accurately, nor, to me, do they provide ballistics so much better than to convince me to carry another 6 pounds beyond the little Scout Rifle's weight. The ballistics of the Scout, compared to another .308 shooter's 24-inch barreled rifle's dope, varied by about an inch to an inch and 1/2 at usable ranges (100-400 yards) That is negligable for most shooters. Again, ("Gun Magazine writers" pay heed) it is NOT A SNIPER RIFLE!) I am certainly not going to consult a Sniper Log Book, and dial in 1 inch of drop in a field hunting situation. A point blank range of about 275 yards worked well with the Scout on Deer sized targets. A hold in between the top of the back of the Deer and the heart-lung area target worked fine at 300 yards. 400 yards, to me, is only for the well-trained and experienced shooters, even with a Sniper-grade weapon. I have seen shooters in the Sniper class miss a human silohuette at 400 yards with world-class rifles.
7. I Love This Rifle!
8. Two Mule Deer, seven Coyote, a Missouri Hog, and thousands of pop cans, old CD's, rocks, blocks of wood, and all the other junk we shoot at when practicing have fallen to the Valiant Scout Rifle.
9. This might be my favorite rifle of all time.
10. Scope Reticle. Okay. I get it. Some folks think it's too thick. It seems to work fine for me. If you need a great sighting-in target for the thick reticle, go here:
The Steyr Scout Rifle Page and meander around in the Scout Scope section until you see the link for "Ammo Database". There, you will find another link to "Zeroing" There are 100 and 200 yard sight-in targets. The neat trick is that the sight in target is exactly matched to the width of the thin post area of the Scout Scope reticle, such that, when viewing from 100 and 200 yards respectively, there will be just the slimmest sliver of white on each side of the thin sections of the crosshairs. This makes it easy to make sure your hold is perfectly centered. There is also a small box printed 2.8 inches high if you care to make that your 100 yard zero. This will give you a point blank range of about 275 yards.
If you don't like the thick reticle, Leupold will install the thin reticle on your Scout Scope for about $65.00
Okay, I have b abbled on here. Suffice to say, my little Jeff Cooper Steyr Scout Rifle is the best-handling, best looking, best shooting out-of-the-box, lightest, most beautiful and most focused for it's task tool I have ever owned. I like it so much I just bought another one, the Steyr Jeff Cooper Commerative Scout Rifle package, identical to the one I first purchased back in 1998 or 1999. I look forward to "breaking-in" this new addition to my armory.
By the way, I also ride a Beemer, a 1995 R100RT that was converted by the dealer before I rode it to the R100RS configuration. Great Bike! It is my third Beemer. I had a K100RS, and a K1100RS prior to the Airhead.
Ride Safe, and Shoot Straight!
-Ray
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