Yesterday's Weapons Forums

First, I must say that any gun that has "Scout" or "Mountain" attached to the name makes me skeptical.

Having said that, I've seen repeated Cabela's ads for a Ruger M77 Gunsite Scout Bolt-Action Rifle.

This is a .308 rifle with removable 10 round magazine. It has open sights (rear peep aperture) with a rail for scope mounting. The end of the stainless steel bbl. has what looks like a small flash suppressor on it. Looks like it has a butt pad that is adjustable for stock pull.

It interests me, vaguely, because of the 10 round detachable mag. being on a bolt rifle. But not for $850. I've had mixed results in owning Ruger Model 77's. I still have a 77 Mark II in .223 Rem. that I prize. My .257 Roberts was pretty good but we won't talk about the 7x57 Mauser.

Anyone here taken the plunge or handled one of these Gunsite Scout .308's?

PS: "Gunsite" is their spelling, not mine.

Saw that ad in the last flyer I got from them. No thank you, please. Gunsite is some shooting school in Ariz. I think Jeff Cooper started it.

They want you to think an 850 rifle will make you bulletproof. SW

Oh, I get it now, Gun Site, a place.

I don't know why these off-beat hunting rifles cause me to take a second look. Another that interested me at the time was when Winchester (USRA) came out with a Model 70 that had a detachable five shot magazine. That was very different for a Model 70.

Still another one is the Remington line based on the 760 Gamemaster pump rifle that they did kind of "assault" versions of, police guns, if you will. Model 7615, IIRC. Black plastic stocks (of course), some with pistol grips, some without. The one I was interested in was .223 and took AR-15 magazines. I've heard that they made these in .308 Win. also but I don't think they are made anymore.

One guy told me he thought these were made more for states where AR's couldn't be owned than for police use.

The 760 first came out in 1952 or thereabouts. In those early guns, they made a few .222 Rems and later .223 Rems which were collectible. I've owned a .35 Rem and a couple of .30-06's, liked them all. The idea of having a .223 with 20 round mag. amused me. But you might as well get an AR for that stuff.

The scout rifle, defined by Jeff Cooper, as a lightweight general-purpose rifle, weighing no more than seven pounds, with a overall length of 40 inches, in .30 cal. short bolt action. His first of many "scout rifles" was a 1968 Remington 600 with open sites "I think it was ghost-ring and square front post but not sure" . The glass came along long after the rifle. It was suppose to be the closest to perfect rifle for both hunting and the rifle to carry while scouting an area for a hunt. And you are correct, Gunsite is a range and training academy started by Mr Cooper.

Oh if interested in Gunsite there web site is gunsite.com. Be ready for sticker shock , cheap they are not.

I believe Ruger and Savage offered stainless steel all weather bolt action .308 rifles to the Canadian government as a prospective replacement for the Ranger's No.4 rifles.

A folding stock version was intended for workmen servicing communication towers in Bear country.

Only serious objections I've seen to the forward mounted scout scopes is reflection of sunlight from the eye piece if the sun is behind you.
The barrel mounted long eye relief scope sight did not work out that well for the German battle field snipers or sharpshooters in WW2 and was quickly replaced by more conventional receiver mounted scopes.

Seems to me a barrel mounted scope would be more exposed to damage when carrying in rough country.
Only real advantage is it allows rapid reloading with stripper clips, if the rifle is equiped with clip guides.

The No.5 Carbine is a good out of the box iron sight scout rifle.
Only drawback being that .303 is no longer a standard military cartridge, and the No.5 action is limited to the lowest pressure 7.62 Ball cartridges and equivalent .308 sporting ammo. The hotter Long Range .308/7.62 cartridges being a bit too hot for that action.
The hotter .303 Mk8z cartridges are also often found to be too warm for the No.5, at least when used in hot climates.

The forward rail is probably more intended for a red dot set up on the gunsite. I don't see much of a point in the rifle myself. Another gimmick for the tacticool types