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So I got my new Ruger Gunsite Scout bolt rifle today. When you handle it, it looks and feels so much smaller and handier than a lot of bolt action rifles that I thought I would take a picture of it alongside my Remington 700. It makes an interesting contrast. The Remington has a heavy profile fluted 26" barrel to the Ruger's medium profile 16" barrel. The Ruger's barrel is threaded and has a flash hider mounted. The Remington's barrel has a target crown. Both are magazine fed, but the Ruger's is a removable box magazine of 10 round capacity, while the Remington's has a 4 round capacity and a hinged floor plate. The difference in weight between the two rifles, sans optics, is about 1.5 lb. The Remington is amazingly accurate. The Ruger is, according to reviews, is about a 1.5 MOA rifle....which is decent practical accuracy.

The overall impression of the Ruger Gunsite Scout is that it is the bolt action world's answer to the lever rifle. I'm going to try and get it scoped over the next couple of days, and then I'm heading to the range. I'll give a range report when I've had a chance to shoot it.

I look forward to the range report, I've been looking at one of these in RH.

TAM,

You should send those back to the factory. It looks like they installed the bolt handles on the "wrong" side just kidding... <ducking>

Nice rifles. I have been reading your comments about the Ruger Gunsite Scout and I am real close to pulling the trigger on one myself. Thanks for all of the info you have posted about them!

You plan on mounting the scope in the traditional manner or on the forward rail?

Carry-a-Kimber wrote:You plan on mounting the scope in the traditional manner or on the forward rail?

Forward rail. Here's the scope I have my eye on: http://swfa.com/Leupold-15-5x33-VX-R-Sc ... 51466.aspx

• Matte
• FireDot Duplex
• 30mm
• 1-Button Illumination
• Vibration Sensor
• Index Matched Lens Coatings
• Lead-Free Edge-Blackened Lenses

Specifications

• Weight (oz): 14.4
  Length (in): 12
  Eye Relief (in): 8 - 6.75
  Field of View @ 100 yards (ft): 38 - 16.2
  MOA: 1/4
  Finish: Matte
  Tube Diameter: 30mm
  Elevation Adjustment: CDS Click 1/4 MOA
  Windage Adjustment: Finger Click 1/4 MOA
  Adjustment Travel Wind/Elev: 75MOA / 75MOA
  Glass Type: Index-Match
  Reticle: Fire Dot Duplex
  Actual Magnification: 1.8x - 4.8x
  Dot size @ 100 yds on 1.5x: 4.7"
  Dot size @ 100 yds on 5x: 0.79"
  Battery Life: 120hrs if used continuously on highest setting. If left in the on position, the firedot turns off automatically after some time—less than 30 minutes I think I read somewhere—if the rifle does not move. Once it is moved, the reticle turns back on automatically.

This particular scope is exclusive to SWFA. Here is a list of Leupold scopes that are exclusive to SWFA: http://swfa.com/Leupold-SWFA-Exclusive- ... C4077.aspx

I really like the SWFA brand of scopes and I've owned two of them so far, but they don't make a scout scope. IF I decide to mount a traditionally positioned scope on this rifle, I will likely go with either a 3-9X Leupold VX-R, or a SWFA SS 3-9x42 Tactical.

Good choice. I have my eye on on the Leupold VX-R 3-9x Patrol TMR Firedot if Remington ever decides to make the rifle I paid for in April.

I really want to add the Ruger Gunsite Scout to my collection, but I have been having trouble finding one locally. I will be very interested to hear your opinions after you get the chance to wring her out at the range. Enjoy!

I drove down to SWFA and bought the Leupold 1.5-5x33 VX-R Scout Scope today. I used set of low rise Leupold QRW rings to mount the scope to the rail. I had SWFA mount and bore-sight the scope, but I'm going to have to loosen the ring caps and rotate the scope body a tad as it is tilted just slightly off center. Not that big a deal as I haven't zeroed the rifle yet and it shouldn't make that much of a difference from what it was bore-sighted at.

Anyway, the scope glass is really clear and bright. The Firedot works as advertised. The scope axis is nice and low relative to the bore axis. The reticle is a simple plex with finer crosshairs near the center. There are no stadia lines. But this is a "inside 300 yards" rifle, and I thing that holding my tongue just so and Kentucky windage will work just fine for a .308 at that distance.

Pictures of the scope and rifle:









Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to get to the range until Saturday.

TAM it looks like you have a fun new toy. But I do have a question. What made you pick that over converting your 700 over to a DBM system? I'm not knocking you choice just curious what your motivating factors were. Obviously those two rifles serve very different purposes and truth be told the the Ruger cost less then a converted 700 does.

Longshot38 wrote:TAM it looks like you have a fun new toy. But I do have a question. What made you pick that over converting your 700 over to a DBM system? I'm not knocking you choice just curious what your motivating factors were. Obviously those two rifles serve very different purposes and truth be told the the Ruger cost less then a converted 700 does.

Well, I'm probably still going to convert the Remington to a DBM like Badger Ordnance's or HS Precision's system eventually. It's been on my mind for a long time. The DBM is a desirable feature on the Scout rifle, but it isn't the only reason I bought the rifle. I also like the handiness of it, and the idea of the forward mounted scope—which mounts readily to the eye with a minimum of fuss. I really appreciate that it is not at all hard to find the proper cheek weld because the optic is so easy to use.

Interestingly, the three polymer mags I ordered directly from ShopRuger.com came in, and although they are all 10 round mags, just like the original steel mag, they are significantly more compact than the steel magazine. Ruger offers 3, 5, and 10 versions of the polymer magazine, but they are all priced the same at $39.95. The steel mags are offered in 5 and 10 round capacities, at $65.95 and $71.95 respectively. The polymer magazine has a removable base plate. I've posted some pictures below. Please excuse the quality....they were hastily shot with my cellphone:

As you can see the OEM steel magazine—manufactured by AI, although it has the Ruger logo on the baseplate—is quite a bit taller than the Ruger-made polymer magazine. The polymer magazine is marginally wider than the steel mag, but not so much as to be intrusive. In the second picture, each magazine has 2 rounds of Black Hills 175 grain Match loaded in it.




When you put cartridges into both magazines, it becomes apparent that the polymer magazine stabilizes the cartridge case along more of it's length. I don't think that the OEM magazines have a reputation for failures to feed, but my guess is that the polymer mags are more reliable in that regard. Ruger describes the polymer magazine as being made of "glass-filled nylon." I don't know anything at all about plastics, but if I had to compare the polymer to something else I know of from my own experience, I woud say that the polymer magazine appears to be made of something more like the frame material used in a Kel-Tech P3AT rather than the material used in a PMAG.....if that means anything to anybody. The polymer magazine also comes with a snap-on dust cover, kind like the PMAG comes with.



Even though both magazines are "single-stack," there is some staggering of cartridges in both magazines.



I know this post is image intensive, but it might be useful to anyone else considering one of these rifles. I don't know that either magazine is qualitatively better than the other. If weight and compactness are important to you, the polymer mag is the better choice. If you like a steel mag and hold AI in high regard, then the steel magazine is the better choice. Price-wise, the polymer mag is half the price of the steel mag

Congrats, I know you've been looking at picking one of these up for a long time!

TAM, this is very useful information to me. Thanks! BTW, now I am wanting one even more. When I find one and bring it home I will ask my wife to post her complaints to this thread!

By the way.... One other thing about the Ruger polymer mags: They can be fed straight down from the top, just like an AR magazine. The steel Gunsite Scout magazine won't do that. This means that you can top the magazine off while it's still inserted into the action. This was a requirement of Jeff Cooper's when he came up with the specs....although I think he might have specified the ability to charge the magazine with stripper clips. This one won't do that, but it can still be topped off one round at a time.

Karder, does that help you to hurry up and make up your mind?

The Annoyed Man wrote:By the way.... One other thing about the Ruger polymer mags: They can be fed straight down from the top, just like an AR magazine. The steel Gunsite Scout magazine won't do that. This means that you can top the magazine off while it's still inserted into the action. This was a requirement of Jeff Cooper's when he came up with the specs....although I think he might have specified the ability to charge the magazine with stripper clips. This one won't do that, but it can still be topped off one round at a time.

Karder, does that help you to hurry up and make up your mind?

As luck would have it, I dropped by my favorite shop and behold! There was one on the rack. Now there is one in the trunk of my wife's car. (I haven't told her yet, but I will definitely make it up to her with the purchase of her choice). Now I am just waiting to see what toys you put on yours so that I can copy you!

So far, the only "toy" I've added is the Leupold 1.5-5x33 scout scope. BTW, that particular model is a SWFA exclusive if you're interested in it. The eye relief is slightly shorter than on the other Leupold scout scope, but it is a bigger objective lens and a bigger tube, providing higher magnification and better light gathering. With my aging eyes, that was important to me. But, the overall length of the scope is longer too, as you can see from the pictures, and the ocular lens actually hangs over the ejection port. It doesn't obstruct the port, but it definitely hangs over it.

Otherwise, the only other modification I have in mind is to replace that flash hider. I have in mind either the Smith Enterprises Vortex or the Yankee Hill Machine units that accept a quick detach suppressor. Other than a good sling, that would be about it.