Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Scout Scope vs. Iron sights - forest hunting?

Did you get a Spike or a Forked-horn that weekend that it rained? Distance and conditions of the shot(s)? It sounds like you have much experience in trying conditions,with walking back and forth to the car so much. Is the terrain rugged too? Thanks.

Why don't you test this?


Or this? Target 100m Aimpoint 9000, Bar 300WM

Or the small one MicroH1?Triple in driven hunt, wood cover, 9,3x62 Markel SR1


Red dots are good and choosen for military ops they will serve you good too! In woods, plains, from zero to 200m, on moving game or standing one. They are no scope for sure but when eye relief gone sour after 45 they are even better than gost ring. I use both...

I hear good things about dots. Their reticle subtension does not always sound sweet however. 4MOA is getting to be too much of a good thing and then some. Hear good things about 1MOA dots though.

The smallest you can have on Aimpoints is 2 moa but not on all models. For driven hunt where most shots are inside 100m, most of time 50m, 4 moa is OK. For a more wide range of application i use 2moa with lot of success. In deep woods 4moa can be ok too because of short distances where shots are taken. The Leupold Prismatic(new versions 2011) is real good too.

As per prior mention,I hear good things about 1MOA reticles.

Depends on the conditions and the style you prefer.
Irons allow unlimited field of view and are dead nuts reliable unlike many scopes. With the exception of the fiber optic front sights, they can take alot of knocking around.
The Scout Scope gives you the same unlimited field of view because you can look around the scope as well as through it. It works better, that means you can see the target better than you can with irons. So for a guy that wants to save weight, needs a very rugged, reliable setup, and doesn't require much low light performance, either the Scout Scope or irons work well at those ranges.
All that said, a small 1-5X20 class scope has it all over both for seeing the target better especially in bad light. The better ones, like Leupold's 1.5-5X20, VX3 are quite reliable as well. So much so that there is apparently no practical difference there. E

SCOUT SCOPE CONCEPT SUCKS.

Scope for hunting bucks that need quick identification or low light, Ghost rings work well for meat.

Well, I agree with you, but what possessed you to revive a nearly 10 year old thread?

I use conventionally mounted scopes more than scout scopes, aperture sights or open sights. Even so, I find I like all of them forsome uses.

Except for a 92 in .357 all my scout scopes are on shotguns, Ithaca Deerslayers specifically. I prefer them to other sights for use an a shotgun used with slugs and shot out of the same barrel. They are the easiest for me of the options to wingshoot with. We use them after we fill our deer/elk controlled tags to hunt bear, grouse and varmints in our Eastern Oregon area.

I have found the 2.5 X is not as powerful as I would like for doe hunting. Their are lots of small bucks in with the does and you hae to be careful to avoid taking one. I use a 1.5-4x Leupold now.

I am trying a 2-7 Burris scout on an 18.7" barreled Ruger Scout rifle. It is OK but I am going to switch to an XS Rail so I can use a conventionally mounted scope, probably a 2.5-8x36 Leupold. This will be a nice setup for using irons when I would like. I do want to get the front blade modified so it is more visible in low light.

I still hunt with aperture sights when situations allow. I never owned a scope until I was 27 (1974) so I find them easy to use. The biggest problem is getting a good set of sights together for low light. My .250 Savage TD has a Lyman tang peep with a flip out aperture to go to a ghost ring. The front bead is ivory. This works as well as anything I have found. Another option is the aperture rear on my 98 Mauser in 35 Whelen. I use it with a sourdough front post. I have the same front post on a couple of other rifles.

Down side to scout scopes is glair reflection in the evenings as said. You can solve that problem with a rear shade. (yeah, who's got one of those? I came by mine by accident. The rubber eye piece off one of those com-block sniper scopes. I cut the flared eye cup off it and would carry it in my pocket when hunting with a scout scoped rifle. In the evenings I would slip it on if needed.

Folks will say with modern low power scopes, the scout scope isn't needed. They're right if you only look at it from an optical standpoint. To me, the greatest thing about a forward mounted scope is being able to grasp the receiver, wrapping my hand around it to carry it, as opposed to cradling it like a traditional scope. (almost never use a sling to carry a rifle)


As far as dots, I've shot 1" 100 yard groups with a 4 MOA dot (with a .50 Beowulf AR of all things), and 8" steel out to 400 yards with one, 5.56 (never tried farther) So it's not necessarily too big. I have two scout scoped rifles and keep kicking around the idea of an Aimpoint on one, but the price (vs how often I'll use it) and a worsening astigmatism keeps me away.

Tried a 2.75 scout on a ML one season. Found out it was no instrument for telling hide from dried grass, even at about 100 yards. Experiment over. Worked okay at the range, in good light, on distinct targets.

If red dots aren't for you, a prism sight might be an option. They can be focused, and don't tint the view like red dots. I'm playing with one for plinking on a .22, but in the field I want some Xs on tap, except maybe very close up. Even then, a low-X scope on a well-fitting rifle is very fast, and for me eliminates the need to wear PITA glasses while hunting, at least until I run out of eyepiece threads.



A good question. Just start a new one.

I never warmed up to the scout scope concept, but I do have a few peep sighted rifles. I shoot better on paper with a scope and shoot better with a peep sight then a barrel mounted sight. I also believe regular iron sights are easier see to use in real low light then a peep sight, but a scope is best.

I have a Leupold 1.5-5x20 with the German #4 reticle and I can't really see where it would slow me down in the brush as it is fast with lots of eye relief and light weight.

I haven't warmed to scout scopes, for reasons already set out above. I find them slow and unhandy, and I see no redeeming features other than perhaps for those rifles which cannot have a scope mounted over the receiver. I've tried red dots too, but didn't like them much either.

I think that a conventional low-magnification scope (such as a 1.5 -6x or 4x, or perhaps a 2 - 7x) which is located so your eye is directly in line as you mount the rifle is the best option for the type of shooting described by the OP, for everything except rain. It is definitely better than peep or barrel mounted options for low light, and faster too - and I grew up with open sights. I have shot literally truckloads of running critters with such scopes, sometimes several one after another in quick succession. I've shot trap from gun down and flushed birds with the shotgun barrel of scoped combo and drilling too, using 1 1/2x on 1 1/2 - 6x or 1 1/2 - 5x scopes.

In the rain though I prefer a ghost ring, or even an open rear sight, and I think the best of both worlds is a hand-detachable scope with zeroed back-up sights, so you can take the scope off if it starts to rain or if you have a fall or other reason to doubt your scope.

Open sights aren't all equal either. I prefer the ghost ring, but if I'm going to use open sights I prefer a big square notch rear and square post front. I'm coming around to fibre-optic fronts too, as a result of using them on my bow, but I still have some doubts about their durability. I'm not a fan of bead fronts, especially rounded ones (particularly due to their tendency to shoot away from the light), and I wouldn't give you thank you for a buckhorn or semi-buckhorn rear - a truly rubbish idea IMHO.

Instead of listening to people like Boxer and Savage_99 why don't you go to www.Scoutrifle.org. Maybe they can help you out. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

"I am trying a 2-7 Burris scout on an 18.7" barreled Ruger Scout rifle. It is OK but I am going to switch to an XS Rail so I can use a conventionally mounted scope, probably a 2.5-8x36 Leupold. This will be a nice setup for using irons when I would like. I do want to get the front blade modified so it is more visible in low light."

DB...I have the same rifle...and same scope. Would be still using the Burris 2-7 SCOUT but have a cataract in the right eye right now that won't let me focus the crosshair correctly so I had to go to a conventional scope.

One thing you may find with the XS Scout Rail is that it places the scope line of sight higher than you would like so you will not get a natural cheek weld or have to use a strap on riser.. You will have to use higher rings to have the objective bell clear the base also... I hated to do it but simply pulled the Scout base off and use a set of conventional rings on the receiver. For backup I just carry a NECG Receiver Sight all pre-sighted in in case the scope fails.

Bob

Or, if you don't want a ghost ring/peep that blocks much of your field of view, get a Burris Weaver to Ruger adapter and an X/S Low Weaver Back-up Ghost ring sight and make one of these. RJ

I had a Scout rifle built once upon a time and hunted with nothing else for many years. During the build I exchanged letters with Jeff Cooper, who insisted that it be built to his specs, and with Finn Aagaard, who reminded me that that when Cooper had a Scout built for his daughter, Lindy, it was a 30-06 on a 1903 action that did not make weight.

The idea of the low-powered, forward-mounted optic is sound, which is why we used to see red-dot sights coupled with magnifiers on M-4 carbines in the hands of elite military units. But contrary to Cooper, more magnification can be useful at times, which is why so many of those units are replacing their sight/magnifier combinations with low-powered variables (LPV) that have illuminated reticles.

After my Scout years, I prefer a short, light rifle with a 4x scope mounted over the receiver. 4x seems to be going the way of the buffalo so I’m looking for LPVs to replace the ones I have.

Peeps are nice if the light is good but I hunt in thick brush and wet weather when the light is usually bad. Glass gives me an extra 45 minutes at each end of the day, so I’m pretty much done with peeps.


Okie John

I have a Steyr Scout and other Scout rifles in process. I believe in ghost ring sight for the rear and flat top post in front. Then the forward Scout Scope in QD rings. It has worked for quite a while for me. The short length of pull and the light weight makes it handle and carry well. I carry the gun more than I shoot it. It balances in the middle similar to a 336 Marlin so carries with one hand in the middle. Check out the Scout Rifle.org you can read and lurk without joining if you wish. Lots of experience there. There are threads there which will answer your question and give you some guidance. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

This is a trait of some rifles that I also like. It is one big reason I like peeps/ghost rings and rear mounted aimpoint T1 type mini red dots. RJ

Low power scopes are fine, but you might be surprised how handy a 3-9x is in the woods. 9x helps a lot with spotting & judging antlers. And 3x isn't too much at a couple feet either. I have a 2-7x that I use a lot too. I like it.