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

Yes that was the one. Saw one in Jay's in the northern lower with the scout scope also. Hope all going well with you.

I'm currently working in PA. I wish it would go ahead and hail in Marquette again so I could come back up. That's a great area up there with some really nice folks. It was one of my favorite job locations........................DJ

Based on the targets you put up, my Montanas do better than your 700s.



and hunting, and plinking and.....

George

War is what Cooper had in mind when he designed the Scout rifle you tard.

I have one in 308 Win. If I had to get rid of all my rifles except one (except for the Model 99 300 Savage my dad left me) I'd keep the Styer. I'll admit, looking at it in a picture, it looks a bit weird. But when you get rid of the long relief scope and put a real scope on it, man, it's a shooter. The bolt is the most robust I've ever seen. 4 lugs. You'd blow the barrel off it and not get a scratch. It comes up fast, it's accurate as heck. You wouldn't understand unless you held one and shot it. There's a reason you don't see any used ones for sale, or very few. Those who have shot one or packed one hunting, won't get rid of it. And if you're worried about the cost, and I can understand that, you'll never lose money on one. It wasn't designed for military use. It's a hunter's rifle, or a survivalists rifle. Made to take down a 400 pound animal at 300 yards. I know if the $hit hits the fan, I'll be grabing my .45 and the Styer. I've shot 4" clay pigeons with it at 600 yards. It was funny having the other guys snicker when I joined their shooting competion with this weird looking, short barreled contraption. They expected to see a laser comming out of it. I didn't win, but had more than one of them ask what the heck I was shooting. It isn't the best at any one thing, but it can do a lot of things well. I'll keep mine.

Depending what kind of scheit hit the fan, I might be more inclined to grab my 22 rimfire, 20 bore pump and S&W 329. He who survives is he who has (can carry) the most ammo.

Have yet to meet a Kimber that won't shoot 1" or better IF the shooter knows how to shoot a lightweight rifle. You just don't plop it in the bags and pull the trigger. It's a technique more akin to real hunting as is another rifle held to be inaccurate, the Savage 99.

Swampy needs to read up on Cooper. If you want to go "scouting" with your fixed magazine bolt action 700 against an enemy armed with an AR 10 and 40-60 quick shots, the enemy will soon own your 700. Has he noticed the demise of bolt actions for sniping duties ? May I suggest he join the NRA and read the past two issues of the Rifleman.

Steyrs are fine rifles but the price put on the scout was a complete rip off.
When they appeared they cost THREE times as much as my Steyr special order 6.5x68 (264 win mag no belt). Of course I could outrange the Cooper as it was like a 6.5x284 + a bit.

The Cooper is overpriced and obsolete for its intended use.

Hi TU95,

Cooper never developped the Scout concept to be an army rifle. It was developped to be "polyvalent", able to be used by hunters, to be a "survival rifle" for people going in the wild, to be able to kill 250kg game at 300m in case of and in some case to be used as a "designated marksman" rifle. Even if it failed in that role the Scout concept is always a good one.

Steyr was the only company at that time who wanted to produce the rifle and, as you know, euro firearms are more expensive than US one. Steyr is one of the most expensive. As the number made and sold is far from that of a 700 or a M77 the prices are even higher. About the recoil i don't feel it even with 175grs bullets, for sure its less "violent" then the one of light Kimber in 308 with equivalent bullet weight.

About the number of ammo carried and fired with a semi auto i will respond that it's not the number of rounds fired who count but only the one which hit the target. As my russian friend Vladimir (former Spetznaz officer in Afghanistan and Tchechenya) told fire power is not always the answer: will to fight and no fear to die, ability to hit it's target and choice of the place of engagement can change a lot of things. When he was in Afgha, when russian intervention began, they where shot out very long distance by fighters with very old 303 SMLE without scope. Using fast ranging fire they where able to do damages.
Ask US veterans, if you know some, about this "part of the game".
May be you have some experience yourself, i don't know, but my own tought me the same lesson as Vladimir's.

Back to the Scout concept it never was created to be a modern war front line assault or sniper rifle and we must never compare apples to oranges.

I don't tell AR10 or any semi-auto is not good, but there're in an other class of firearm. Even if i live in poor old France, believe me, i know a little about semi and full auto rifles. Some you can't even imagine.

One can'nt abide to such concept but saying that Cooper was outdated like Bluedreaux says it a bit unrespectful for man like him. To say such thing one must have as credential and experience as the old Colonel had.

Here is another picture of my second Scout with 10 round mag, Harris bipod and Kahles ZF95 fixed 10 power scope i use sometimes to medium range shooting (200 to 600m. The bipod is adapted only for shooting purpose cause the Steyr one is not made for long series of cartridges. It's an help in case of need for long shoot in field or to rest the rifle out of mud and sand.
The Kimber 84M is my new light stalking rifle, scope is an old S&B 1,5-6x42. Enough for our max legal shooting distance of 300m during hunt, use it for gams (Alps and Pyren�es mountains) and for roes.

Bear is a fantactic aircraft, ultimate �volution of the three B29 that landed in Russia in 1945 after being mauled over Japan...Have a good flight and good day.
Dom

Good post, Dom.

Especially the parts about respect.

Now, about that forward mounted scout scope -

it is a great concept in the game the Colonel had wanted it for - fast, accurate shots.

That such shooting is not called for in hunting situations is not the concepts fault - even running boar are different than shooting clay pigeons, in the air.

I own two Scout scopes - on on a 8x57 pseudo scou rifle and one on a single shot rambling rifle.

Hi Carl,

You're right. Too get advantages of the scout scope concept one as to re visit the way he use scope and it demands a bit of practice and training: both eyes open shooting for exemple as with a red dot sight.
Cooper was all about training and for sure in our society where time is an issue, training is not for every body. When you get used to that scope it's not so difficult to use with good results. It's all about the concept: not the best in one play but good for most of the situation one can encounter.
I like to use the Steyr with it's Leupy scout for ringing steel gongs at different distances, going from far to close or mixing and also to shoot at "non politicaly correct" paper targets in all the field positions, rested or not from 50 to 300meters.

I think Jeff would have liked that way of training: making every shot count...
Sorry must go working...
Have a good day, regards
Dom

Exactly what do y'all think a "Scout" is? The rifle was designed around Cooper's perceived needs of a military scout. Cooper was a military man first and hunter second.

The foremost concept of the Scout rifle is the foreword mounted optic, which even Dom seems to realize isn't always the answer. Take away the forward mounted optic and you've got a short, light rifle...just like a Remington 600/660 (which Cooper used as a basis for his first Scout rifle), or a lever action .30-30 (which was the basis for a Scout build that I dealt with, put together by a Gunsite instructor and incorporated into a class I took), or "Sweetheart" (a Sako with custom stock and short barrel), or Kimber Montana or whatever else.

Point being, the forward mounted optic was a big part of the concept and also the first thing people ditch.

As far as respect...I respect what Cooper accomplished with his life, but that doesn't mean I have to drink the Kool-Aid. Respect isn't the absolute refusal to criticize.

Hi Bluedreaux

Seem you don't like the "scout concept", mostly its long eye relief forward mounted scope. Ok that's your right and all tastes are in nature, but it's only my opinion and i don't consider myself expert it's not an outdated concept.

Lots of offering for such mounts even if they don't sell like small cakes and some gunsmith offering them like: Wild West guns, Brockman, Ashley Emerson, versions of M1A Socom with forward mounted scopes or red dot, Savage, Steyr and some others.
So the idea is not dead, some people seem to like it. But as i wrote above and i agree with you, it's not every one cup of tea you need to get used to the both eyes open concept on low power scopes.
Me and some friends like and use them with good results on running game (driven hunt). One of my buddy just finish to mount one on a take down BLR in 358 Winch. A good rig when travelling. Will be able to use a red dot (Aimpoint)and a Nikon 2,5-8 long eye relief scope or his Burris scope that already on a custom 1895 Marlin 45-70.
Note that the rail come from the USA so there're people who buy it for sure.
Cooper was not so wrong and other before and after him.

Sorry about thinking you as unrespectfull, i'm not so fluent in english: when i read outdated close to Cooper i thought you were speaking of him, not about his scout concept...

Here are some bad pictures of the BLR, sorry scope is not on. Note the Lyman peep at the rear in case of....
Have good week
Dom

Has anyone considered building a Scout on a straight-pull bolt design? I don't mean putting an LER on a K31 and calling it a scout either... ;P

You mean you don't like my Swiss/S&K/Leupold "Scout"




Cost 1/5 of a Cooper Steyr, will certainly kill big game like an Elche @ 300 meters, a lot smoother action, will load from stripper clips (much faster than changing magazines) and of course it is Swiss made. Takes a very nasty bayonet should the need arise and butt stroking a raghead will leave the raghead dead, not you with flying magazines and pieces of plastic.

Yup we've come a long way.........

I think you are mistaken. What Cooper thought is easily verified inhis published articles, books and newsletters.

That's not a real Scout rifle but it's surely a very good shooter, you can do the same with any 96 and 98 Mauser and S&K or B-squre mount. If i follow you the German sniper 98 with ZF41 was also a scout rifle. Must be a little serious Bear.
I had also, for a while, a Benelli super 90 12 gauge with slug barrel and forward mounted scope or red dot but it was definitly not a scout rifle. The Cooper concept included some notions of weight and lenght in.

You're right Mike, we must have read the same books and article by the old Colonel. Articles by Finn Aagaard and other writers confirm that point. Scout rifle was never conceived as a war machine...but every body is free to think, imagine or dream what he wants.
regards
Dom

My 308 Steyr Scout will never be for sale. The forward mounted optic works as designed, for those who can actually break a trigger clean from something other than a benchrest, and don't have eye-dominance issues. Those with "mixed" dominance typically can't hit schit unless they are shooting off of a bench with a good squint going on, I guess it sucks to have missed the genetic train.

I'm sorry, but Cooper didn't have the needs of a modern military "scout/sniper" in mind when he designed and developed the Scout Rifle. He was refering to the much older concept of a scout. The kind of guy that covered lots of ground, gathering intelligence, living off of the land, and fighting only if he must.
The idea was to improve the rifle for the widest possible range of uses. It, the Scout Rifle, isn't just a short light rifle with a forward mounted scope. It used other, very useful new concepts as well. The CW/Ching Sling concept is one, for instance, that I use with my hunting rifles.
Really effective iron sights as well as a forward mounted scope was another.
That forward mounted scope was an attempt to see just how fast a scoped rifle could be made to function and still retain some of the advantages of a rifle scope.
BTW, the idea that being able to shoot faster with significant accuracy does have a very useful place in the game fields.
So, the idea was to throughly test new ideas in rifle design. With that goal in mind, I say the Scout Rifle was very sucessful. E

The Scout Rifle concept works for me. I have shot a Steyr Scout extensively,and took one to Africa. I have not experienced the issues that some have with the forward mounted scope. For me a 7 pound bolt action .308 with a Ching Sling and Leupold scout scope solves 95% of the problems I need a rifle for in real life.

Recoil is mostly mental(Cooper said that too). One of my daughters prefers a Marlin 336 .30-30 over the Steyr Scout in .308 because of recoil. Her younger sister prefers the Steyr in .308 over the Marlin because of recoil.

I prefer the custom Scout Rifle pictured below:

When Cooper coined the term "Scout" rifle, what did "Scout" refer to?