Elwood
15-12-2003, 12:39 PM
Plastiq fantastiq.
you either love them or hate them .
Right i cant go into all the technical stuff because i don't actually know enough about it !
but i can go into the practical side of this amazing little rifle.
Ok the concept of the rifle .
It was designed by Col Jeff Cooper who i believe ran the American army sniper school ? Basically it was designed for woodland stalking for taking quick short range shots using a very small scope situated up past the receiver and to be used with both eyes open for fast target aquisition.
The practicals
The saftey catch , i've read that some people hate the saftey catch on the scout , personally i think its the best saftey i have ever used on a rifle. The saftey is based on a thumb wheel and it's just so damned easy to use especially when you are in a firing position . It has a small saftey lock that has to be pushed in to release the saftey , slide the thumb wheel up to go to safe and up again to go to fire , its also 100% quiet. One thing i did dislike on the scout was the trigger , it was a two stage trigger and set on about 5lbs (according to Norman Clark) , i had mine converted to a one stage trigger and set to two lbs pull.
The stock
Well its plastic ! there's no cheek piece which i found to be very uncomfortable so i added a ITC cheekrest .The stock also has a extra magazine (5 shot) built into it , which comes in very handy when you have a herd of fallow deer standing in the middle of a field , please bare in mind that the cheekrest will get in the way of magazine . The stock also offers a adjustable butt length with easily removable segments. The fore end has the built in integral bipod , this for me is the master piece , no harris bipod to get snagged up or just generally feel uncomfortable , the Steyr bipod is built into the fore end , with a release button underneath which is extremely quite . Not only does it have a built in bipod , the rifle actually swivels on it , to about 30 degrees either side . Many a time i have seen fox cubs playing early in the evening and belly crawled to a handy firing position and used the bipod to great effect.
The barrel
It's a very short barrel made to match grade standards . The barrel is 19 inches long, fully floated and also fluted , i'm guessing the shortness of the barrel limits this rifle for those long range accurate shots . Also because of the light weight nature of the rifle and the shortness of barrel it's not the most pleasant of rifles to fire (i use .243) this is however easily sorted out with a reflex T8 sound mod , which certainly tames this beast , i would say a sound mod is a must !
However some of you who use bigger rifles might scoff at this , it's just my personal preference.
Extras
The Steyr scout comes with very quick release sling mounts and is studded for the three point sling option , i dont use it but a friend of mine does and he tells me it makes for very steady free standing shots . The rifle also has two pop up iron sights , my guess is there for moving targets, again i have never used them , but they are there should you need them .
Summary
This rifle will not suit everybody , but for me it's ideal . Being a gamekeeper i need a rifle that can do many tasks and the scout can . During any given day i encounter many quarry and vermin species , fox , deer , magpies , crows ect , using a 75 grain Remington V max bullet i'm able to cope with most situations ( magpies at £1 a time <img src="http://jsramsbottom.co.uk/bbs/e/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="Big Grin" width="15" height="15"><!--graemlin::D--> )i wanted to try some 58 grain V max bullets , but i think there is a issue with them actually being legal for shooting deer , i certainly would not be wanting to take shots at fallow bucks with a 58 grain bullet , i'm not even to sure about the 75 grain V max for fallow at anything over 100 yards.
I have ruined many nice wooden rifle stocks in my time from having them in a landrover all day , i have also done many strange manoeuvres getting long barreled rifles out of landrover windows , not any more . This rifle is small,light, compact and very rugged . There is no doubt that you can easily find a more accurate rifle , but i doubt you will ever find a more practical rifle than the Steyr scout.
you either love them or hate them .
Right i cant go into all the technical stuff because i don't actually know enough about it !
but i can go into the practical side of this amazing little rifle.
Ok the concept of the rifle .
It was designed by Col Jeff Cooper who i believe ran the American army sniper school ? Basically it was designed for woodland stalking for taking quick short range shots using a very small scope situated up past the receiver and to be used with both eyes open for fast target aquisition.
The practicals
The saftey catch , i've read that some people hate the saftey catch on the scout , personally i think its the best saftey i have ever used on a rifle. The saftey is based on a thumb wheel and it's just so damned easy to use especially when you are in a firing position . It has a small saftey lock that has to be pushed in to release the saftey , slide the thumb wheel up to go to safe and up again to go to fire , its also 100% quiet. One thing i did dislike on the scout was the trigger , it was a two stage trigger and set on about 5lbs (according to Norman Clark) , i had mine converted to a one stage trigger and set to two lbs pull.
The stock
Well its plastic ! there's no cheek piece which i found to be very uncomfortable so i added a ITC cheekrest .The stock also has a extra magazine (5 shot) built into it , which comes in very handy when you have a herd of fallow deer standing in the middle of a field , please bare in mind that the cheekrest will get in the way of magazine . The stock also offers a adjustable butt length with easily removable segments. The fore end has the built in integral bipod , this for me is the master piece , no harris bipod to get snagged up or just generally feel uncomfortable , the Steyr bipod is built into the fore end , with a release button underneath which is extremely quite . Not only does it have a built in bipod , the rifle actually swivels on it , to about 30 degrees either side . Many a time i have seen fox cubs playing early in the evening and belly crawled to a handy firing position and used the bipod to great effect.
The barrel
It's a very short barrel made to match grade standards . The barrel is 19 inches long, fully floated and also fluted , i'm guessing the shortness of the barrel limits this rifle for those long range accurate shots . Also because of the light weight nature of the rifle and the shortness of barrel it's not the most pleasant of rifles to fire (i use .243) this is however easily sorted out with a reflex T8 sound mod , which certainly tames this beast , i would say a sound mod is a must !
However some of you who use bigger rifles might scoff at this , it's just my personal preference.
Extras
The Steyr scout comes with very quick release sling mounts and is studded for the three point sling option , i dont use it but a friend of mine does and he tells me it makes for very steady free standing shots . The rifle also has two pop up iron sights , my guess is there for moving targets, again i have never used them , but they are there should you need them .
Summary
This rifle will not suit everybody , but for me it's ideal . Being a gamekeeper i need a rifle that can do many tasks and the scout can . During any given day i encounter many quarry and vermin species , fox , deer , magpies , crows ect , using a 75 grain Remington V max bullet i'm able to cope with most situations ( magpies at £1 a time <img src="http://jsramsbottom.co.uk/bbs/e/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="Big Grin" width="15" height="15"><!--graemlin::D--> )i wanted to try some 58 grain V max bullets , but i think there is a issue with them actually being legal for shooting deer , i certainly would not be wanting to take shots at fallow bucks with a 58 grain bullet , i'm not even to sure about the 75 grain V max for fallow at anything over 100 yards.
I have ruined many nice wooden rifle stocks in my time from having them in a landrover all day , i have also done many strange manoeuvres getting long barreled rifles out of landrover windows , not any more . This rifle is small,light, compact and very rugged . There is no doubt that you can easily find a more accurate rifle , but i doubt you will ever find a more practical rifle than the Steyr scout.