Fell in love with the Steyr Scout

I will not bash this gun for its price.
I really like the idea of a light scout type rifle in .308 with a long eye releif scope and iron sight. I just strongly disagree that it should be a bolt gun!!

People that can't afford it may bash it because of the price, but there are also people that CAN afford it that will say it's great just because it's pricey and owning one can make one feel a bit prestigious.

I would bet that a Savage Scout with an aftermarket trigger would be as accurate or better than the Styer.

As for an all purpose deep woods gun...I am leaning toward the 12ga. You can simply carry so many different types of shells to fit a wide variety of needs. The wide open is something different though...but in the woods range is limited anyway.
 
I own a poor mans' scout rifle. And I love the concept. My platform is a Marlin 444 lever gun. I put on a set of Ashley Outdoors ghost ring sights, an Ashley Lever Scout rail on it, a set of Leupold QRW rings on that, followed by a Leupold Scout Scope. I personally think it fulfills it's roll as a scout rifle admirably. I have loads that go from a 300 grain cast bullet over 4 grains of bullseye which has the report of a .22 short up to a 300 grain bullet at 2200 fps. I have also loaded multiple ball rounds, and shotshells that are comparable to a .410 bore shotgun. I know this will not be believed, but inside 100 yards, this is the most accurate rifle I have. With both cast and jacketed bullets, with both iron sights and scope, with hot loads or loads that barely push the bullet out the bore, this thing holds it's own. With my 300 grain load at 2200 fps I zero at 125. This puts me down 9.48 at 200, down 19.36 at 250 and down 33.54 at 300. That is not exactly flat shooting, but easily compensated for. This give me a muzzle energy of 3257 and 1124 at 300. I have hunted big game in a number of states and have bagged whitetail deer, mule deer and elk. I have never taken a shot at over 100 yards yet so again, I don't think I am really handicaped by the caliber or action type. I seriously doubt that I would spring for the Styer. I can't see what practical advantage it has to offer me.
 
If you don't understand the Steyr Scout bashing...

Here is a re-iteration of one of my previous posts on the subject:

The Steyr Scout is perhaps the single worst representation of the "Scout Concept" currently extant. It is a shame that Cooper allowed his name to be hung on it. In retrospect, I am fairly sure that Steyr sold him a bill of goods, as they did the rest of us.
I have a lot of experience fixing these things, and they have a lot of inherent problems that can not be fixed short of having the factory change their weak design. Since they are STEYR, they will not.

TOOOO Long chambers that close on a No Go gauge.
This causes poor reliability with a wide variety of ammunition.
Push feed action.
Barrels that are pressed into an aluminum receiver, thus preventing rechambering or rebarrelling.
Terrible butterknife bolt handle design.
VERY Rough internals.
Poorly designed striker and spring system, difficult to adjust/repair.
Non standard scope mounts.
Flimsy bipods.
Flimsy auxilliary sights with a very short radius.
Weak latches on the spare mag compartment that often dump the spare mag, especially if it is loaded.

The list goes on, but I have wasted more time and energy trying to make silk purses from sow's ears a la the Steyr Scout than any half dozen other weird projects I can think of.

Bear in mind that I have nothing against the original "Scout Concept" per se, I just feel that Steyr has perpetrated a huge ripoff in the marketing and manufacture of their version of the concept.
There are many less expensive and vastly superior ways to accomplish the Scout concept.
 
For 4500 Swiss Francs (that's the equivalent of these 2600 US-$), I
can get a fancy Sauer&Sohn Bolt action, or a SIG, or a Blaser R93 or
almost anything else in any caliber I wish.

I get a medium-end glass on it, and maybe a bipod, and have my bolt
action scout rifle. However, as 'scout' rifle, I rather prefer a
semi-auto gun like the HK SL8, the M14 (hear, hear - a Swiss likes US
guns!), M1A or maybe a lightweight Garand.

In the latter case, even with good optics, I still have some change
left to buy ammo.
 
Kevin (AKA mad Dog) care to elaborate on the ways to make a cheaper / better "scout" rifle? I'm interested in the concept but agree that the Styer version isn't it.
 
By less expensive I meant less expensive than buying a Steyr Scout AND paying to have it redone so that it is marginally reliable...

But here is a version that I have seen work with great success, and it is relatively inexpensive. It can be upgraded over time to virtually any quality the user desires.

Mauser 98 type actions are fairly cheap and very plentiful. Many have dandy 8mm barrels already screwed onto them.
The VZ24 from Yugoslavia is an excellent example of this.
They are common at <$200.00 in new condition.

The Ashley Outdoors slip on Scout mount is easy to add on, and requires minimal tooling and little time. About $80.00

A variety of plastic stocks and composite stocks, starting at about $60.00 (Butler Creek)and going up to about $300.00 (McMillan)are readily available. The barreled action drops right in, but a little extra inletting is necessary to accept the Ashley Scout Mount.

Add the IER or EER scope of your choice, starting at about $100.00 and going up to about $400.00.

Bingo. Controlled feed, Scout scoped, synthetic stocked 8mm Mauser. Want it lighter? Saw off some of the barrel and recrown it.
Want another caliber? Barrels are cheap and plentiful too, and can be swapped out for about $150.00-$200.00.
Everything I listed above, with the exception of the VZ24 barreled action is available through Brownells.

I think that about the cheapest this whole deal can be done well at retail is on the order of $500.00 start to finish.
Naturally, haunting gunshows, pawn shops, used gun dealers, swap meets and garage sales could net some treasures that will reduce the cost of buying everything new at retail.
 
Picked up my SS/JC for about US$ 1550. If you insist on using mil.surplus ammo with hard primers, the new firing pin can be adjusted to 5 (as opposed to 3) different spring tensions (factory setting is 2nd lightest resp. middle).

It is a matter of philosophy if you want one rifle to do it all (a scout), or a separate rifle for every occasion.

It does attract attention anywhere it goes, and amazement when its capabilities are demonstrated (something I still need to work a lot at, being rather new to rifle shooting).

You should have seen the astonished look on some hunters faces (who were used to shooting with 8x to 12x power scopes) when the paper target gams (a smallish mountain goat found here in Austria) came in from 150 metres with two nice clean holes (10 and 9 of 10) and a flyer...
 
Yah I hear you, ive got a Marlin 1895g (45-70) with the Ashly mount and Leupold scout scope- Yes their are other good choices than the styer, but that is not a reason to knock the styer-

I do think a semi version would be highly desirable, but the M1A scout is too heafty for me to call a replacement for teh styer. (yes i have one of those too, the loaded package, and it bit me yesterday, i was running a bore snake through it, and when i went to pick up the brass feed line off the top of the mag, i guess i depressed it just enough to have the action close on my thumb. Common and stupid mistake).

Oh well, said my piece.
 
Dang, I really liked my Steyr Scouts. I never had a problem with either one. Now I find out that they are junk and you can't even get them to fire a round. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get me a Mauser and have me a real scout rifle built. Wish somebody would have warned me beforehand.
 
I have one, around $1900 including Leupold 2.5x scope, "tactical" version (black with round knob bolt handle), that I used successfully in a 5 1/2 day Masters Rifle Class at Gunsite. I have several other rifles, including a Rem 700 based scout (hart/macmillan/etc.) that cost around $1700. I think the Steyr is a fine rifle with a lot of nice features. It is easy to shoot, and accurate. It is not perfect, but what is?
 
Well I picked up a Savage Scout Rifle for $340. Why you ask? First, I like to use my stuff (read that Abuse my stuff). I got it not to be a scout rifle but to be a mountian rifle. It was in 7mm-08 so I just had to have it, now I have a nwe gun to play with and a great caliber to handload for (already reformed a batch of .308 cases. and I have a third caliber that woks very well with Varget). As far as hunting deadly game .308 would not be my first choice. I do like the idea of a Leaver gun in .450 marlin though.
 
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