Forward mounting a scope

H

Hawkeye

New member
I'm intrigued by the Scout rifle concept, particularly the forward mounted scope (ahead of the receiver). I'm considering trying this mount on a Remington 700, probably a Lightweight Tactical Rifle (.308, 20" fluted heavy barrel).

Has anybody tried this on a 700? How would you go about it?
 
Hawkeye, there are a couple of ways you could go about this. One might be using a cantilever base that would utilize the forward two holes in the reciever and then D&T two more in the barrel. The other would be simply to D&T holes in the barrel. You might also check with Ashley-Clifton at www.ashleyoutdoors.com and see if they market a mount that will work for you. George
 
Hawkeye if I might make a sugestion.Find a scout rifle to shoot first before puting a lot of money in a system.I had one and did not like the scope system at all.The field of veiw is too small for my taste.

------------------
beemerb
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and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men
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Yeah, with the heavy, fluted barrel, you have lots of "meat" in which to drill and tap.

Another alternative, and I've been unable to re-find the website, is a tapered clamp-on mount. It looks like a reasonably solid, machined aluminum "sheath" which fits over the barrel in front of the receiver ring. This would mean inletting the fore-arm, of course. I think the maker is in Arizona. Maybe a search under "scout rifle"? Dunno.

FWIW, Art
 
The "Ching Ring" mounting system was Eric Ching's idea. It is produced and offered by Ashley www.ashleyoutdoors.com and by Geoff Beneze www.beast-enterprises.com

Before considering a scout scope, ensure that your master eye is on the same side that you shoot from (right eye, right shoulder). The scout scope is used with BOTH EYES OPEN. This is next to impossible for a cross-dominant person and, if you can't use it correctly, there isn't much need for a scout scope. Complaints about the scout scope's narrow field-of-view reveal a lack of understanding of how it's used. The manner in which a scout scope is used (both eye open) also dictates that it be of low magnification (2x-3x tops), so that there isn't a big disparity in the images each eye is seeing.

It's your rifle (and money), but I don't think that a heavy-barrelled rifle is a good candidate for scout scoping. The scout concept is based on a light, short, and handy rifle.

Rosco
 
I'm going to agree with Rosco on this one. A Remington 700 LTR is probably not the best platform for the Scout concept.

For the price of a Remington 700 LTR and a Ching mount, you should be able to pick up a used short action Remington 700 BDL and have a gunsmith rebarrel it and braze on pedastal mounts for QD rings...

You would receive the benefits of NOT having the detachable box mag to jam up on you and the whole setup would be lighter and more appealing to the eye...
 
On the subject of forward-mounting a scope, ala the scout concept, I have a question.

Does the standard separation (distance) from cheek-welded shooter's eye position to scope eye piece usually call for an intermediate eye relief or extended eye relief?


[This message has been edited by sensop (edited May 25, 2000).]
 
A scout scope mounted so as to put the ocular lens just forward of the ejection port will need about 9" to 11" of eye relief. Pistol scopes have too much, with optimal eye relief of about 15" to 18".

The early Leupold M8 2X scopes that Cooper used on the early scout rifles were, ostensibly, pistol scopes. However, they had about a 9" to 11" eye relief for some reason (maybe people held their scoped pistols differently back then). Later, Leupold extended the eye relief of the M8 2X and made it too long for scout use. The older M8 2X scopes were much in demand among scout builders until Burris brought out their scout scope.

A friend of mine had a Remington 700-based scout built by Fred Sinclair in 1982 or so (don't bother to ask. Sinclair doesn't build scouts or ANY rifles anymore). Sinclair used one of the longer eye relief M8 2X scopes and mounted it WAAAAAY out on the barrel (about where an open rear sight would be). It worked fine. My friend took it to Gunsite for an API270 and Cooper griped about the scope setup on it. When pressed for specific objections, Cooper had to admit that it just "looked funny" to him. That rifle is still in the "family" and it shoots just dandy still.

Rosco

[This message has been edited by Rosco Benson (edited May 25, 2000).]
 
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