Anyone actually using this style set up as their primary hunting rig. What possible advantage over a LPVO on a bolt gun mounted the traditional way.
In the early 90s, I exchanged letters with Jeff Cooper and Finn Aagaard about the Scout. I also had a pseudo-Scout built in 30-06 and hunted with nothing else for several years.
At the time, good LPVOs were uncommon and the red-dot sight was largely experimental. I found that the Scout does what Cooper claimed it will do, but it has drawbacks that he didn’t mention—one being that it’s difficult to use when the sun is at a very low angle either in front of or behind the shooter. It’s also problematic on partly obscured targets beyond about 250 yards, especially if lighting conditions are not ideal.
When Cooper first described the Scout over half a century ago, the Scout scope was not his first choice. He often wrote that the ideal optic would have a colored, semi-transparent triangular reticle with 1x magnification. Lots of manufacturers sell that today, either as a red dot weighing a few ounces or in a heavier LPVO that’s repeatable enough that you can dial to get hits beyond 600 yards.
Cooper founded Gunsite because he wanted to make better shooters. He despised hand-held fully automatic fire—especially if it came from an M-16—and he hated that the US military justified adopting the 5.56 NATO and the 9x19 NATO because soldiers could carry more ammunition than for weapons chambered in 7.62 NATO and 45 ACP.
Also, in the 80s, rifles and scopes were getting very long and heavy because the gun press valued bench accuracy over practicality. A Scout is light, so it’s hard to shoot well, especially in a hurry. That forces people to become better shots who need less ammunition. He also wanted to shift the emphasis from very long shots to shots that were much closer and faster.
Per his articles, a rifle with a peep sight can be considered a Scout IF it’s short and light, with a three-point sling and a crisp trigger. But a rifle like that demands a superb shooter, and that’s what he really wanted to see.
Time moves on. Most modern LPVOs are kinda heavy, but they’re so versatile that the extra weight is worth it.
Okie John
