Guns 2011-11.pdf - Jeffersonian

Holt Bodinson Photos: Joseph R. Novelozohe Ruger Gunsite Scout in .308 Win is a head-turner.TIt’s a rakish-looking piece. Racked up in a gunshop, it’s a rifle that immediately jumps out from thecompetition, particularly with its extended, 10-shot boxmagazine, 6" Picatinny rib and Mini-14/SR-556-style flashsuppressor. It demands to be handled and handy it is withits short 16-1/2" hammer-forged barrel and an out-of-theboxoverall length of 38-1/2".The short barrel is beefy with adouble-shank contour that mateswell with the factory Picatinnyrib. The stout barrel plus the blacklaminate wood stock do give theScout some weight. The factory liststhe weight as 7 pounds. With anunloaded, 10-round magazine andthe factory peep sight, the Scoutmeasures 7 pounds, 9 ounces on myaccurate Sunbeam scale. Addingan Aimpoint CompC3 sight to thePicatinny rib brought the weight to8 pounds, 3 ounces and replacing theAimpoint with a Burris 2.75X Scoutscope and the factory supplied ringsregistered a weight of 8 pounds,5 ounces. Ten rounds of .308 addapproximately another 1/2 pound tothe weight of the rifle.Frankly, I was surprised howweighty the Scout can get dependingon the optics chosen; however, itcarries its weight well. Being shortand compact, the Scout places itsweight between your hands andoffers almost a neutral balance whenmounted. It’s that balance whichgives the little rifle some excellentstability and inertia in any shootingposition. Like my beloved Kentuckyrifle, it just hangs there!One nice feature about the fit andfeel of the Scout stock is that thefactory supplies three 1/2" spacersto adjust the length of pull from12-3/4" to 14-1/4", and that shouldsatisfy just about anyone. One detailmissing on the stock is a third swivelbase on the fore-end for Cooper’sfavorite “Ching” sling.ABCDThe Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle was fitted with an Aimpoint CompC3 red-dot sight with a 2-MOA doton the factory rail mount (A). The buttstock’s length of pull can be adjusted from 14-1/4" to as shortas 12-3/4" (B). A fully adjustable backup iron sight is provided (C). A flash suppressor is fitted to theshort 16-1/2" barrel (D).WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM 45