Ruger Gunsite Scout

[applepie_eli]

Anyone else out there have a scout rifle? Curious to see if any others are using it for big game hunting?

Considering buying a synthetic stock for it and throwing a scope on to use it as my go to hunting rifle if I start making trips out west for mule deer, antelope, elk, hopefully sheep someday. This is my favorite rifle I own and would eliminate the reason to buy a new one. But I realize the short barrel might not be the best for long range shooting, which I'm not really crazy about anyway. Might even leave the open sights on it and just make myself get in closer for a shot.

Just wanna hear from others who have experience using it for big game and general experiences with it.

The Scout seems to have a cult following, so if you got one lets see it!

 

[Apollo117]

I've got a CZ 527 in 7.62x39. It doesn't have a forward scout mount, but I use see through steel rings so I can still use the irons.

It makes an awesome pig gun. Very handy.

I'm not sure a scout rifle fits what most folks here consider a western rifle. However, a well made scout type rifle in a good caliber should be able to take game out to 400 yards. You could self impose a limit of 250 yards.

Don't forget that people kill elk with pointy sticks every year.

 

[hodgeman]

I've used a Steyr Scout off and on since 1998. I took my best caribou with it in 2012- 300 yd shot with with no problem.

It makes a handy hunting rifle.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Not a huge fan of the scout rifle. My buddy has a m1a scout setup and previously had the ruger.

Scout optics are way better in theory then in practice.

The ruger is Way too piggy, and to be fair not that accurate as a whole.

Don't think they are stainless either. Any bolt gun stainless with the aics mags and a good 1-6 is superior hunting setup.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Cool guns, I probably wouldn’t choose one for a hunting rifle.

 

[howl]

The barrel looks like a match for a suppressor. Put a 2-10x scope in the normal spot and you have a pleasant 0 to 300 yard hunting rifle.

 

[Tryin]

I use a GSR for all of my rifle hunting. I have the original laminate/ blued outfit and haven’t had any issues with rust or stock warping.

I ditched the factory AICS mag in favor of two each Ruger 3, 5, and 10 rounders. The polymer mags are a nice improvement.

I use the factory irons along with a Leupold VX-II 2.75x EFR scope in proven-to-me repeatable QD rings. The scope has never let me down. Some guys have all kinds of anecdotal evidence about the shortcomings of EER optics, and I carefully considered them. In my experience, the problems are significantly over blown. Sun glare has never been an issue for me, and that included a LOT of intentional attempts to introduce the problem. Some people really like using EER optics, and some people do not. I find that guys who do a lot of AR-15 type training take to the concept rather readily. The eye box on an EER scope is HUGE and this has helped me in two very awkward shooting positions.

You can ignore the advice on getting a stainless rifle, as your picture clearly shows you have one...

Save the rifle money and get a suppressor. You will NOT regret this.

Other than that, go shoot! Get a box or two of several brands and recommended bullet weights for your particular game animal and find out what you like and what is useful. Ballistic calculators will give you great information on expected terminal ballistic performance. Handloading can open a whole world of options tailored for your rifle.

Bottom line, the GSR and the .308 Win. round are perfectly capable to 300+ yards with a “normal” level of shooting experience, and much, much farther with advanced familiarization with the platform.

Is it the best for mountain hunting? No.
Is it the best for prairie hunting? No.
Is it the best for brush hunting? No.
But, it’s capable of all of it. And that was the allure for me.

 

[robtattoo]

I had one for a while in .223, that was a lot of fun. Heavy though & I could never find a comfortable position to carry it. The mag seemed like it was always in the way.

It was a lot more accurate than I expected & the action & trigger were beautiful.

I've had several rifles with EER scopes & I do like the concept, but it really doesn't seem like it's any advantage over a traditional low powered scope.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[RickfromPA]

I have a GSR and love the rifle. Consistently shoots accurately and solid gun. I was not a fan of the forward sight concept and removed the rail and rear site. The huge 10 round metal magazine was not be thing either and I replaced it with two 3 round polymer mags and a five round mag. I have a Leupold VX-II 2x7 on it. I basically bought it for a short action and short barrel bolt action rifle for the Pennsylvania mountains. The terrain is thick and shots are most common 60 yards and less. For that type of hunting I love it.

I am interested too in the performance and ballistics of this rifle in the 200-300 yards range. No reason why it can not be used for western big game hunting but you may just limit yourself to 200 yards or less.

Has anyone removed the flash hinder and replaced it with a thread protector? I would like to remove that thing but do not want to mess with the accuracy of the gun and am looking for a thread cap that would have a similar weight.

 

[hodgeman]

Here's a photo...caribou at 300 yards in dead open country. The 2.5x IER optic is no significant barrier to effectively hunting out to practical range. I find the looping trajectory of the .308 more issue than the 2.5x scope once you get past 300.

 

[applepie_eli]

I use a GSR for all of my rifle hunting. I have the original laminate/ blued outfit and haven’t had any issues with rust or stock warping.

I ditched the factory AICS mag in favor of two each Ruger 3, 5, and 10 rounders. The polymer mags are a nice improvement.

I use the factory irons along with a Leupold VX-II 2.75x EFR scope in proven-to-me repeatable QD rings. The scope has never let me down. Some guys have all kinds of anecdotal evidence about the shortcomings of EER optics, and I carefully considered them. In my experience, the problems are significantly over blown. Sun glare has never been an issue for me, and that included a LOT of intentional attempts to introduce the problem. Some people really like using EER optics, and some people do not. I find that guys who do a lot of AR-15 type training take to the concept rather readily. The eye box on an EER scope is HUGE and this has helped me in two very awkward shooting positions.

You can ignore the advice on getting a stainless rifle, as your picture clearly shows you have one...

Save the rifle money and get a suppressor. You will NOT regret this.

Other than that, go shoot! Get a box or two of several brands and recommended bullet weights for your particular game animal and find out what you like and what is useful. Ballistic calculators will give you great information on expected terminal ballistic performance. Handloading can open a whole world of options tailored for your rifle.

Bottom line, the GSR and the .308 Win. round are perfectly capable to 300+ yards with a “normal” level of shooting experience, and much, much farther with advanced familiarization with the platform.

Is it the best for mountain hunting? No.
Is it the best for prairie hunting? No.
Is it the best for brush hunting? No.
But, it’s capable of all of it. And that was the allure for me.

Awesome! Exactly what I was looking for, another GSR fanatic lol. This is by far my favorite gun. Still on the fence of a long eye relief scope. I'll just keep the irons on it for now, probably throw on a regular scope if I decided to take it out west. But might give the scout style a try one of these days. Ideally, I'd just have another one with a scout scope, synthetic stock, suppressor, and bi-pod. That'll probably be one of my next bolt rifles. Like you said, its a great all around rifle. Not the best at all things but very good at many things. I'm currently comfortable shooting at a deer out to about 150-200 yards with my accuracy, which could be better with more practice. The one in the picture though, it was about 15 feet lol.

Any suggestions for a decent priced 308 caliber suppressor?

- - - Updated - - -

I had one for a while in .223, that was a lot of fun. Heavy though & I could never find a comfortable position to carry it. The mag seemed like it was always in the way.

It was a lot more accurate than I expected & the action & trigger were beautiful.

I've had several rifles with EER scopes & I do like the concept, but it really doesn't seem like it's any advantage over a traditional low powered scope.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Very cool! I also have trouble carrying it over my shoulder with that 10 round mag stabbing me in the back. Probably going to get a 3 rounder that fits flush.

 

[huntsman22]

put flush cups on the side of 'er.....

 

[applepie_eli]

I have a GSR and love the rifle. Consistently shoots accurately and solid gun. I was not a fan of the forward sight concept and removed the rail and rear site. The huge 10 round metal magazine was not be thing either and I replaced it with two 3 round polymer mags and a five round mag. I have a Leupold VX-II 2x7 on it. I basically bought it for a short action and short barrel bolt action rifle for the Pennsylvania mountains. The terrain is thick and shots are most common 60 yards and less. For that type of hunting I love it.

I am interested too in the performance and ballistics of this rifle in the 200-300 yards range. No reason why it can not be used for western big game hunting but you may just limit yourself to 200 yards or less.

Has anyone removed the flash hinder and replaced it with a thread protector? I would like to remove that thing but do not want to mess with the accuracy of the gun and am looking for a thread cap that would have a similar weight.

I tried like heck to remove the flash hider just using a wrench on the flats on the outside of it. I couldn't get it to budge so I didn't push it any farther lol. I need to get one of those big hex wrenches or whatever it fits to try to take it off. It would be nice if it was even shorter with just the thread protector instead of flash hider. But not a big deal and it looks cool now.

I'm from western PA, I usually just hunt around my area but might head up to Potter County for bear and deer next year. The scout rifle will be my weapon of choice!

- - - Updated - - -

Here's a photo...caribou at 300 yards in dead open country. The 2.5x IER optic is no significant barrier to effectively hunting out to practical range. I find the looping trajectory of the .308 more issue than the 2.5x scope once you get past 300.

Awesome! Great kill.

 

[Tryin]

Yeah, it takes a T-60 Torx wrench on a ratchet or bar to pop loose. A little light heat helps as well. I replaced mine with an A2 style flash hider. No degradation in accuracy.

If you want a synthetic stock, bipod, flush mags, AND you want to stick with the scout concept, you may just pony up the cash for a Steyr. The Ruger is borderline chunky already. The Steyr has better scope mounting options as well, particularly if you go conventional placement.

If you just want the open sights and a removable mag, I think Savage makes a model that is a bit more svelte than the Ruger.

Side swivels make all rifles less of a chore to carry.

 

[HawkCreek]

I think they are short light and generally handy little rifles. They do just fine here "out west". With a stiff charge of 4064 and a 175 grain SMK my first would put 5 rounds into a smaller than caliber group shooting prone and using a pack for a rest. That was with an old Leupold 2-7 conventional scope though. That rifle was stollen and I replaced it immediately, havent put a scope on this one so I dont know if I just got lucky the first go around or if that kind of accuracy is repeatable with these.

 

[Newtosavage]

I've had several iterations of scout rifles over the years - first was the "original" (no not a Cooper) - my Winchester 94 with a scout scope base and 2x scope. Then I picked up a rare Savage 7.62x39 scout rifle and put a 4x Weaver scout scope (my favorite of all the scout scopes I've tried) on it. It was just fine out to 300 yards, and I routinely shot clay pigeons with it at that distance. My brother liked the concept so well that I adapted his Savage .308 to accept the scout rail, and gave him my 4x Weaver scope. He loves that setup and is very deadly with it.

But, after all that I've come back to conventional scopes for my dedicated hunting rifles, primarily due to the field of view. Scout scopes limit your field of view on game to the point where it's sometimes difficult to find a critter in the scope, especially if its in brush or moving. My scout rifles were mainly my pig rifles, and this became a problem for me on several hunts, so I went back to a conventional 2-7x33 Leupy on my Savage and never looked back.

The rifle you have is perfectly adequate inside 300 yards for anything you want to hunt, but I wouldn't push it past that. With that short barrel, it's likely you are getting 200 fps less than published velocities (or more) and the .308 is not a particularly flat shooting round to begin with. But load it with a good 165-grain bullet and keep it inside of 300 and I'd say go for it.

Again, give that Weaver 4x a look if you haven't already. Fantastic scope at a good price.

Good luck!

 

[Ndbowhunter]

what is the stock material on the synthetic? At 6.2 pounds stainless that's not bad.

My experience was with a laminate blued one.. it was heavy with the scout scope and was about a 2moa gun with the loads we tried.

Still think a traditional mounted 1-6 would be better.

 

[Mulga]

I have a Ruger Gunsite Scout in .308win, 18inch stainless, laminate. Primarily my go to Hog hunting rifle, its a handy short rifle for getting in and out of vehicles and in tight country. I have mounted a Aimpoint H1 reflex sight on it and prefer the 5 shot polymer mags. It is accurate, dependable and durable.

 

[bcimport]

I run an 18.5” GSR with a 2.5ier Leupold in a McMillan for all my hunting. Bears, goats, sheep, deer, caribou and more. I did replace the bottom metal when the factory trigger guard broke.

Love the gun. I shoot 200gr partitions out of it and getting under 1” groups. It has been my only hunting rifle for the last 5 years. Everyone gives it strange looks until they’re trying to snake a 24” barrel through the alders.

I’m not big on shooting real far but I took a goat two years ago at 280 no problem and can hit 10” steel plates at 400 without too much trouble.

 

[JohnnyB]

Anyone try Howa’s version of the scout rifle? I know that some argue it isn’t a true scout rifle but I’m curious as to the accuracy of this version.