Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Scout scope options

I surprised myself by trying one of these and found I like it and now have them on several rifles. They have some advantages but don't suit everyone's needs.
They suit mine well and I find them quick to sight ( now) they keep the reciever and / or the external hammer clear, and are easier to hand carry.
A 2 x 7 variable is all I need for magnification and I have these forward mounted on a takedown lever action hunting rifles ...I can bore sight it....oh yeah, on a heavy recoiling rifle you are less likely to flinch because there is no danger the scope will strike your eye socket.
I wish there were mounting options on more of the bolt action rifles out there. There you go- my opinion.Cheers

I have one on savage scout model 10 in 308. 20 inch barrel the scout is a Leopold 2.5x with the heavy reticle. I liked the concept on paper and bought the rifle thanks to Jeff Cooper. I like to the setup and it is my only scout rifle. In practice the the setup is fast and accurate for what it is. I can keep all of my shots on a paper plate out to 300 yards. when people see this setup at the range they are curious about and ask to check it out. I have never killed anything with it but, paper. It would love to hunt with it. The rifle loves Factory Remington ammo 150gr green and yellow box. I have shot many three shot groups at 100 yards that are one ragged hole.With a 2.5 power scope no less. The thin savage barrel heats up quickly, not fluted. I haven not considered going to a variable scope. But, that rifle setup is solid and I would sell other rifles long before I would sell the savage scout. All in all it was money well spent!

The scout rifle is an acquired taste. For many folks it is not appealing. But some those that have shot one, would at least say Hmmmm!

Yes , people look at it strangely. Once I tried it, I stuck with it and now a reciever mounted scope seems odd.
I really like it on a forward rail, with quick detach rings.
I can remove it easily and holds poi, reasonably.
I always have used a fairly streamline, low power scope anyways. I am not a tacticle shooter or hunter at all but this works for me.

I'm not a testicle shooter either. But a scout rifle mated with a scout scope works wonders. Rusty

I had the Savage Scout, also in 308, and it is the one rifle I sold that I wish I had back...….even went so far as to contact the buyer to see if he would sell, but nope he loves it...….

Tim

I built a light weight scout rifle on a VZ24 action with a Leupold 2.5x (or 2.75? the only one they sold in 2002-2003 anyway) scout scope and shot several deer and bobcats with it. It was a really nice setup for eastern woods whitetail hunting IMO.

I've gravitated more towards longer distance shooting these days but still have a fondness for that old scout rifle setup. Hopefully the current owner enjoys it as much as I did.

I am on the lookout for another long eye relief scope at this time, second hand. The nicest one I have found so far is the Burris 2x7 Scout scope. I have this on a .270. I have tried a few .
What have you folks tried and liked?

I would try a variable scout scope if I had they chance but I as of yet I have not. I do like my fixed power scopes and prefer them on almost all of my rifles no matter what the configuration.

I have a couple 2 3/4X Burris Scout scopes. One is on a Winchester 94. They work pretty well in my experience. Helps if you shoot with both eyes open.

You might want to look at the Vortex Crossfire 2-7 scout scope. It sells for about $150 and has just short of 10 inches of eye relief. I have one on a Contender handgun with a 10 inch .22 Hornet barrel. it works well there.

I know what you meant, but just a point of terminology that hopefully will save you from buying the wrong scope - scout scopes are considered intermediate eye relief scopes, and are different than long eye relief scopes used on handguns. I think if you ask for a "long eye relief scope", most sellers will offer a handgun scope rather than a scout scope. Some guys do try to use long eye relief scopes on scout rifles, but it doesn't work out as well.

Yeah, thanks, but I was aware of that. I am not sure the handgun scopes would stand up on a heavier recoiling rifle either.

Trust me; a scope that lives on a.44 mag revolver has to be plenty tough, not that it makes it suitable for your purpose.

I want to see one that can be barrel-mounted in a Browning A5 (old one) and live to tell the tale.

Am I correct in thinking there are only 5 intermediate eye relief Scout scopes available;

A fixed & variable Leupold
A fixed & variable Burris
A variable Vortex

??

I have tried the leupold and Burris and have looked at the Vortex, I believe there are others, perhaps questionable quality scopes out there

I have a leatherwood 2x7 scout on my m1a scout rifle. Surprising nice scope for the money, they have a duplex and a ballistic reticle.

After reading what Cooper had to say about his scout arrangement, I figured it would be just the thing for use during our mid-day walk drives for whitetail. Shots were usually quick and at running deer at ranges from 10 yds up to 150ish yards. I used epoxy to bed a Weaver scope base to the barrel of a cut down Chilean 7X57 Mauser. Topped it off with a Tasco 2X pistol scope that had a big dot reticle. Loaded with 175 gr Hornady RN bullets, that rig was deadly on running whitetails in the thick woods on our lease. My part was simple....just had to put that big dot on the deer's chest and pull the trigger. I killed 7 deer with 7 shots with it, all running.

Back then (80s and 90s), I hunted with many different rifle/scope combinations. My homemade scout rifle worked very well, but then most of the others did, too, when properly matched to the hunting conditions. We killed a lot of deer with those walk drives, but as the time passed and we started getting older, we did less and less of it. What used to be an almost every Saturday, mid-day event, slipped to a once or twice a season thing. After sitting in the back of my safe for years, that old Chilean scout rifle was given to a young teenager a coupe of years ago. He was trapping beaver on my property. I taught him how to reload and he became fascinated with it, so I let him have it. I need to call him and see if he's killed anything with it....

I am surprised they are not more common.
These configurations feel normal to me now, They are just great on takedown rifles, or any rifle with a 2 piece stock. When the scope is barrel mounted the chance of point of impact changing lessens.
On a heavy recoiling rifle, you won't take a blackened eye and this reduces a chance of flinching.
These arrangements are not seen much because many shooters these days want batteries, knobs and dials.