Whipped Cream Difficulties

I finally have my Scout rifle set up almost the way I want it.

Now I just need to get out to the range and zero the scope. I have three different weights of .308 to try in the Scout so I can see what groups best (within my own limits as a marksman). I’d also like to get some accurate velocity figures from the 18″ muzzle, but I need a ballistic chronograph for that. (A most generous friend, who shall remain nameless because I don’t want everyone and his brother hitting him up for favors, has offered to loan me one.)

If I can get the rifle sighted in where I’d like it, and get accurate muzzle velocity figures, I can start putting together a dope card for the combination of rifle, scope and ammo. That’s pretty much the only piece of the puzzle I’m missing.

One other problem, though, is that Texas summer heat is just sucking the motivation out of me to spend a lot of time at the range (or do much of anything beyond curl up with a good book and a tall cold glass of something with lots of ice in an air-conditioned room).

I say “almost the way I want it” because there’s two things I’m missing, but that don’t really affect my ability to shoot the Scout.

Thing #1: I’d like to get some more magazines beyond the single five rounder that came with it. I’ve been looking around and have emailed Savage, but the magazines for the Model 11, and Savage magazines in general, seem kind of expensive.

Thing #2: I’m been thinking about a bipod. The Steyr Scout comes with an integrated one that looks nice and adds minimal weight, but I’ve heard that it is fragile. I know I can get bipods that attach to the front sling swivel, but I kind of want to keep the swivel free for carry purposes. And I’m not sure how much I’d really use a bipod, to be honest: it feels like something that’s nice to have, and might be useful if I was set up in a blind waiting for feral hogs, but would get in the way (and ugly and heavy up the gun) for other types of hunting.

I was pretty much going to blow off the bipod until I saw these in a Brownells email. This looks like a good compromise: get a gunsmith to put a short Picatinny rail on the underside of the fore-end, and I can take the bipod off and throw it in a backpack with spare mags, ammo, and other crap when I don’t need it. If I do need it, it snaps right back on.

(If I did this, I’d probably also ask the smith to glass bed the stock. I’ve noticed the fore-end flexibility problem that AR points out in their review, and I don’t think glass bedding is that expensive or will add that much weight.)

The really funny thing, now that I have it mostly set up (well, funny to me, anyway) is that Savage no longer makes the Model 11 Scout. It’s been replaced in their lineup by the Model 110 Scout.

Am I thinking about upgrading? Not really. If you look at the Model 11, Model 110, and the Steyr Scout side by side by side, and compare them against Cooper’s definition of the Scout (which changed often, but this one seems to be most consistent):

• The 110 Scout and the Steyr offer a larger selection of calibers. Don’t care: .308 is what I want in a Scout rifle.
• The 110 Scout has a 16.5″ barrel vs. the 18″ barrel on the Model 11 Scout. The overall length of the 110 Scout is 38.5″ vs. 40.5″ on the Model 11. (The 110 Scout is very close to the Steyr Scout’s length of 38.6″. The Steyr’s barrel is 19″.) Does the 2″ difference matter that much? I’d have to handle a 110, but I doubt it.
• The 110 weighs in at 7.72 pounds. The 11 weighs in at 7.75 pounds. (All in, with the sling and scope, and a magazine inserted but unloaded, I come up with a bathroom scale weight of 8.8 pounds. “Bathroom scale” weight means: I stood on the scale without the rifle, stood on it with the rifle, and subtracted one from the other. 1.05 pounds for the scope and sling combined as a back of the envelope estimate seems reasonable: Burris gives a weight of 13 ounces for the scope alone.) The Steyr is 6.6 pounds. I would probably appreciate the loss of 1.15 pounds if I was humping my rifle all day over long distances, but I don’t expect to be doing that. And if you take a pound or so off for ease of carry, how that does affect the felt recoil?
• Both Savage rifles have the AccuTrigger. I think, but can’t tell for sure, that both have the “Accustock”: the AR review of the 11 makes a reference to it, but I don’t remember Savage promoting that as heavily as they do on the 110. Both have the adjustable length of pull and stock comb.
• I disremember what MSRP on the 11 Scout was when it was new, but I remember it was cheaper than the Ruger Scout. The record shows I paid $670 for mine from a GunBroker dealer. MSRP on the 110 Scout is $829: I found two on GunBroker in the $650-$680 range. MSRP on the Steyr is $1,787, and like the other two rifles, that’s out of the box: no scope or sling. The Steyr Scouts I see on GunBroker seem to be running in the $1,400 range, so roughly twice what I paid for my Scout, and twice what you can expect to pay if you want to set up a 110 Scout.

It seems kind of arrogant to say I’m happy with a rifle I haven’t shot yet. But: I’m happy with this one, and look forward to wringing it out soon.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 28th, 2019 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Guns, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.