Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The Steyr Scout. Have you ever seen one?

The above pic. is from a Gunbroker auction.

To each his own ok! We can hunt and cherish what we like. Trying to be kind I can't stand the look of that rifle! I never followed Cooper anyway. As I say to each his own.

Link to Scout

Yup even shot one. Very accurate and perfect function. Horribly overpriced and butt ugly. Good for the "tactical" crowd.

I love them. I wish I could afford one in .308.

They are funky looking but it would take about two shots to get use to. Good Airplane gun.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and beauty is as beauty does.

Mine all have far superior optics than the original Scout Scopes:




A low powered variable is IMO a much better solution optically than a scout scope.

The Steyr rifles themselves are little honey's. They have a spare mag in the butt that you can store with different ammo or like I do keep it loaded and just switch mags when you are ready to hunt. It has a compartment that will store a cleaning kit and allen wrenches for takedown and maintenance. Fold out bipod, accessory rail, 3pt sling mounts. Maybe more features than some will use but some of them are quite usefull. Most importantly the guns SHOOT! Both of my 308's have shot a good number of 3shot 3/4" groups at 200yds using superb hunting bullets - Nosler Partitions. The little guns work as hunting rifles. Handy, superbly accurate, good safety, great sling etc. etc..

They may not look like what everyone expects but they are awesome little rifles............................DJ

I wish that I could afford one. I'd have to go with the optional gel buttpad due to shoulder surgery, though.

Never shot one, but did get to handle one. Felt and looked like a toy rifle. VERY handy and user friendly feeling sort of rifle.
Would like very much to play with a new Ruger Scout Rifle. Looks like it has some really fascinating features. Wish they came with a 19 inch barrel.
Had a custom built Rem M7 with a Scout Scope and all. Liked the three point CW Sling so much, most of my synthetic stocked hunting rifles have that setup. I'm just starting to try out the Cling Sling, another fascinating and probably very useful feature for the shooter that appreciates a shooting sling. E

The Scout rifle is an answer to a question that ONLY Jeff Cooper asked.

The biggest complaint people have about them is the forward mounted scope. When you change that you're left with a short barreled rifle....just like people have been using for forever.

Yup, fail to see why spending all that money on an ugly gun is better than buying a beautiful Kimber 308 with a nice 1" Swaro on it.

For "scouting" I'd prefer my AR 10 308 with a Holo sight, 16" barrel and 2 30 round magazines taped back to back. It'll hold 1.5" at 100 with battle ammo.

"don't bring a bolt action to a semi-auto fight"

What Cooper failed to realize is that in the time it took to go from concept to reality, the concept became obsolete. The military doesn't need them, he didn't want cops to have them, so that leaves hunters, the tacticool crowd and people clinging to an outdated concept, just like Cooper.

They kick like two mules, well made, accurate, but nothing you can't get in something else without the wallop.

As djpaintless said beauty is in the eye of the beholder

my Steyr Scout is in 7-08 cause of our stupid gun laws, own it for 11 years now (was a Steyr salesman for a while)hunt sometime with or use it for shooting paper and steel. With it and a std Leupy 2,5-8x36 shot a corsican ram 347m lasered (140grs NBT)
With standard scope i used the Scout to shoot paper to 600m without problem. In 7-08 even with short barrel i can get enought velocity with 145grs Speer Match or 150grs Sierra 1915 to buck wind and have good enough trajectory (830m/s with Speer) Not a bad rifle. I owned one in 376Steyr but sold it to buy other thing, was a mistake. It was a good boar stopper....

The Steyr Scout is the most comfortable and fastest on target of any rifle I've had the pleasure to shoot.

I'm tossed on mine - they do kick pretty well, which leaves a bit to be desired for accuracy on my part. Otherwise, yes it does group well, provided I'm WELL supported with it.

Also, its features are plenty, but get in the way of themselves. The bolt is ultra smooth, very solid/safe, and scrolls wonderfully, but its heavy lift slows you down, and forces you to really hard-handle the rifle. It's storage compartment is handy, but requires dinging up the tip of a bullet to get to, or carrying a different tool to access it. It's rear storage for mags is cool, but does offset the balance rearward, which it REALLY doesn't need with the already light front-end. The bipod goes on the same lines - handy when down, but the rifle is so light that the bipod still slides on most surfaces you put it on. Plus, it's not elevation adjustable, and it makes horrendously loud clicks extending and retracting. Which I really don't need when deer-stalking. Lastly, the sling is handy, but it's so heavy you need to actually wrap it each time you go to offhand the rifle, or it's weight on the rifle pulls it back and forth swinging.

However, I will say that as a collectible firearm, or a unique and expensive piece, it is WELL worth the $$. People will disagree, but it's present in the materials it's made out of.

It's synthetic is fiber-laced, and resists most abrasions quite well. The aluminum reciever is light and strong, and the weatherproof MANNOX finish is one of the best in the business.
Also, what many don't realize is the quality of the barrel. You can get it HOT, and it still doesn't string/spray rounds. Plus it's a fast-twist out of the box, and does VERY well hauling heavy-gr. projectiles from a pencil-thin 19" barrel.

The other unseen perk is the full-length pictanny rail. It allows you to leave the scout scope on, or if you have QD rings, pull off the Scout scope and put on a LR scope. Lose the scopes? Flip a switch and pop up your iron sights, which also work well, and are all VERY well made.


It's a little like a Land-Rover Sport - great for that guy with ALOT of $$ who wants to go have an offroad fantasy, and still come home that night.

I have hunted with my Steyr Scout in Africa and North America, and you can do anything with this rifle. I also go with a low-power variable over the action, which is a more general hunting optic than the low-power forward mount scope.

I have also used the SS at Gunsite and Front Sight in rifle classes, and they are tough to beat in the target games.

I really don't notice the recoil...

jim

I'd buy one if it was in the budget. They're nice to shoot.

That might have been mine that you shot. Was it at the Nagaunee Gun Club bout 2 years ago? I joined the club when I was working in Marquette. I really enjoyed the range and the people up there........................DJ

I've got the Kimber:




Including one with a nice 1" Swaro on it:





The Kimbers are indeed nice rifles, a little lighter but not as short and handy. The real difference is that the Steyr's shoot as good of groups at 200yds as the Kimbers do at 100yds.










I've got the Semi-Auto 308's too:



M1a, FAL and H&K 91 not pictured.

The pick of that litter is the SCAR 17. It's about 2lbs lighter than the LMT MWS shoots 5 shot MOA groups at 100 and beyond.

None of the Semi-Auto 308's are anywhere near as easy to carry as a Steyr Scout or Kimber 84m. As long as we aren't declaring War on the deer a bolt action is plenty good as a "Hunting Scout" rifle.

Any rifle you choose is a series of answers and comprimises. For a lot of the hunting that I've done the Steyr Scout answers more of the questions with fewer comprimises than a lot of other rifles.........................DJ

Most folks want an accurate rifle. That would not be a Kimber.

Semi-autos are fine for wars and police actions.

How many have you owned? Answer ZERO, STFU.........................DJ