Jeff Cooper On

The Steyr Scout Rifle

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Excerpt from: "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries" July 1997, Vol.5, No.8 The production scout from Steyr Mannlicher has arrived. The working prototype was brought over in person by the factory engineer, and it looks to be splendid. It has now gone back to Steyr to be set up on the production line. Demonstrators will be available at the Whittington Shooting Center on 24, 25, 26 September [invitation only], and orders may be taken at the SHOT Show in January. I have no estimate as to selling price, since marketing is an art beyond the grasp of simple men, but I am led to believe that it will be "reasonable," whatever that means. [The retail price is US$2595 for the "Jeff Cooper Package," which includes the rifle, Leupold 2.5X Scout Scope, Steyr fixed rings, Ching Sling, and two five-round magazines. Jeff Cooper's personal logo is expected to be engraved on the receiver, and a certificate signed by Mr. Cooper will accompany the rifle. A 10-round magazine shroud and 10-round magazines are available as accessories. The cost of the shroud and one magazine is US$100, and a spare 10-round magazine goes for US$50.] The completed piece is such an agglomeration of nifty features that its basic worth may be somewhat obscured by minor considerations. For example, it will be the first production piece to be completely fitted with a Ching Sling, utilizing 3-point hammerhead detachable sockets. It will feature a rounded heel to facilitate the quick mount. Its integral bipod is totally out of the way when not in use. It can be set up by the owner for either 5-round or 10-round capacity at a touch of a screw driver.

The composition stock is fully adjustable for length. These are all fairly small matters, but the important thing is that the piece will be ready out of the box, without recourse to any tinkering or gunsmithing.

The rifle incorporates the new "SBS" SM [Steyr Mannlicher] action, which was the brainchild of Ulrich Zedrosser, who is no longer working for SM, but operates his own consulting service in Austria. His action is of the 90-degree turnbolt variety and includes enough special engineering to warrant a separate article. It does not resemble previous Steyr Mannlicher bolt-actions in any way. For people who are accuracy happy, we can say that barrels and actions by SM portray a tradition of excellence that is difficult to match. Naturally that clean, crisp, light, Mannlicher trigger is the primary aspect of the hitability of the weapon.

Whether this piece will sell is an interesting question. For some it will be entirely too radical. For others, its futuristic aspect may be its strongest point of sale. It has taken me about seven years to bring this artifact to life, and naturally I did not do it all by myself. It is very hard to convince a major producer to take a bold leap into the future. All those genuine riflemen to whom I have introduced the various scout prototypes have been completely carried away by the delightful usefulness of the weapon--generally referred to as "friendliness"--but there aren't many riflemen around, and many of those are too specialized in their particular activities to understand the virtues of a truly general-purpose instrument. My profound hope is that "a better mouse trap" will deliver at the marketplace. The factory has taken a chance on this and we pray earnestly for its success.

Excerpt from: "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries"
November 1997, Vol.5, No.12

The press party for the Steyr Scout was most entertaining. The little gun is truly a jewel, and a great tribute to the ingenuity of the engineers at Steyr. I take satisfaction in the knowledge that this modern version of the scout rifle concept is largely my idea. The little gun is a great pleasure to shoot and, in my opinion, it is indeed a great leap forward. A couple of minor modifications were agreed upon at Whittington and will be incorporated in the production model to be displayed at the SHOT Show in January. These include a somewhat lighter bolt-lift, a black rather than nickel bolt, and a seamless stock juncture. I am doing my best to actuate the left-handed version to be offered ASAP. One out of six shooters is left-handed, and four personal friends of mine have stated vigorously that their money will be forthcoming just as soon as a left-handed version is on the market.

There is already talk of variations in caliber. The basic piece will be offered in .308, and plans are already afoot for a 7-08 version for jurisdictions where 30 is forbidden. Also there is talk of presenting a medium-bore version of the piece, taking a proprietary cartridge to be used in those parts of Africa where the hunting of dangerous game is restricted to cartridges of 375 bore size (9.3mm). It is fun to speculate about future possibilities, but I would like to see the conceptually pure 7.62 NATO item prove itself on the market before we start messing around. In my opinion, the left-hand version of the piece should take first priority.

Invariably the subject will come up: "How does the Steyr Scout shoot?" Well, it shoots very well indeed. Why wouldn't it? The Steyr Mannlicher organization has been producing superbly accurate rifles since before I was born, and I do not see why they should change now. There are those who feel that no weapon as short (37 inches) and light (7 lbs flat including the sight) can possibly shoot alongside a bull gun. Well, it does! You may prove that to yourself the first chance you get, which, incidentally, should be along about March of next year.

We shot Pepper Poppers at 100 (off-hand), 200 (sitting), and 300 (bipod), and those Poppers took a terrible beating. That lovely trigger, with its clean 30-oz break, actually seems to make it hard to miss.

Listen to me purr!

Incidentally, we set up the Billy Dixon shot at Whittington (plus or minus 1340 yards), and I was amazed at the modest amount of holdover necessary with the little gun using boat-tailed target ammunition. We had difficulty observing the strike of the 30 caliber bullets at that extravagant distance, but what we could see was astonishing--to me, at any rate. The drop at that range is, of course, considerable, but somehow when actually shooting it seems less than it should be.

Excerpt from: "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries"
February 1998, Vol.6, No.2

I have gone on at length about the virtues of the concept and the attraction of the resulting piece, but more interesting to me, at this point are the negatives. Just what is wrong with the SS (Steyr Scout)? Aside from its rather curious appearance, its conspicuous drawback is that it accomplishes what it set out to do--everything. There are a lot of shooters, and still more marketers, who are distressed by this idea. This type of shooter wants a piece for every purpose, and the marketer, naturally, wants to sell as many different kinds of pieces as he can. The notion of a piece that does everything is vaguely distressing to such people, and I can understand that. However, it does not change my vast satisfaction with the entire enterprise as it has turned out. If you want to shoot deer, or mountain sheep, or jack rabbits, or kangaroos, or kudu, or wildebeeste, or enemy agents, you simply cannot make a better choice than the brand new SS. (I was amused to learn from one English contact that the term "SS" still has repellant connotations to a lot of Englishmen who have not yet got over their fear of the Nazis. The notorious Schuezstaffel has not been with us now for several lifetimes, yet its mention prickles the scalp of a lot of Englishmen. Coincidentally, the organization that protects the President of the United States may also be referred to as the SS (for secret service).)

Excerpt from: "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries"
March 1998, Vol.6, No.3

On particular examination, we see that most rifles are strictly slow-fire instruments. The idea of a quick initial shot is not given the time of day. I will admit that the quick first shot from the rifle is not normally required, but that does not mean that its study should be ignored. In this connection, the Steyr Scout is no more useful off the bench than a conventional weapon, but it is far superior on the snapshot--without losing anything on the bench. The snapshot in truth is not often required, but when you need it, you really need it.

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We are assembling our forces for our forthcoming birthday bash in Africa. As it stands now, the most popular cartridge is the .308/180. In addition there will be one .30-06/180, and my trusty old Lion Scout. We will be packing at least two Steyr Scouts. Everyone who signed up is a very good shot, and most are experienced hunters. I foresee no difficulties in the shooting department.

Excerpt from: "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries"
May 1998, Vol.6, No.5

Now our 1998 trekfest is mounting up for departure. We have far too many people aboard, but I could not find it in my heart to turn anybody down. One cannot step into the same river twice, and I cannot be sure that this excursion will be as delightful as those that have gone before, but we have the highest hopes. Among other things, we will be demonstrating the Steyr Scout, in three examples. Among its many other outstanding and radical features, the SS may be mounted with a "leopard light" on that rail underneath the foreend. I do not plan to do a leopard myself, but having a coaxial flashlight available on your hunting rifle after dark in the African bush has many advantages. I have a feeling that this feature should be most impressive to the Africans.

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Please do not have junk on a scout rifle. Among the principle attributes of the scout is compactness. What is wanted is less, not more. Already we hear of people talking of recoil reducers and flash hiders and target sights. Wrong direction!

Excerpt from: "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries"
June 1998, Vol.6, No.6

One of our reasons for this [African] adventure was the introduction of the new Steyr Scout rifle to the African scene. We had four such pieces along, and, as you might expect, they performed very well. Why shouldn't they? They were designed to perform very well. The issue of caliber does arise in certain circles because some people feel that the 308 cartridge is inadequate for medium-sized quadrupeds. This attitude is a myth--obviously so when we reflect that more moose have been taken with the 30-30 cartridge than any other, and that the 308 is decisively superior in power to the 30-30. The answer, as we all know, lies in proper bullet placement. If you use a proper non-frangible bullet, and put it where you should, the 308 does just fine for elk, moose, kudu, wildebeeste, and zebra. (Well, actually, nothing does a perfect job on zebra every time. On my first encounter with this beast, my partner struck his target twice through the boiler room with a 458 soft point, and it just ran off, though not very far.) On this hunt we had one rather messy occasion with a wildebeeste, which took eight shots before cashing in. This does not surprise. I know of another case where the same animal, the blue wildebeeste, took eight solid hits from a 300 Weatherby before loosing its footing. Both the wildebeeste and the zebra are remarkably tough animals, and the issue is not whether once in a while one has trouble putting them down, but rather the ease with which they do go down when they are hit properly.

On this trip we used the 165-grain Trophy-bonded Bear Claw bullet in the four Scouts. We lost no animals wounded, and we have no quarrel with the 308 cartridge as used in the Steyr Scout.

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I was recently asked by a correspondent who has wide experience in hunting North America, Africa and Australia, how I would compare the Blaser R-93 with the Steyr Scout. This is a most interesting question. Both pieces are finely made and quite expensive (in the $3,000 range). Each is superbly accurate and equipped with an outstanding trigger- action. They weigh about the same. In contrasting them, we may point out that the Blaser may be had in a great variety of calibers, but that the Steyr Scout offers the integral disappearing bipod. The Blaser is a bit long, both in barrel and stock, and is awkward to load. Its safety, while very positive, is cumbersome to use. The Steyr, with its detachable box magazine, offers instantaneous reloading, plus the advantage of a spare magazine in the butt. The Blaser offers ornamental wood, which, while attractive, is vulnerable, whereas the Scout features an almost indestructable composition stock, which is also adjustable in length. The Blaser offers no auxiliary sight system, while the Scout has one. The straight-pull action of the Blaser affords an almost instantaneous second shot. The Blaser is readily convertible for the left-handed shooter, while the Steyr is not. The Blaser employs a conventional telescope sight system, which is too close to the eye for most people. The Steyr uses the scoutscope by choice, though it may be fitted with almost any telescope and mount system desired on its extended receiver. The scoutscope is perfect for snap shooting--without giving anything away in slow fire. The Blaser has a 3-round magazine capacity, whereas the Scout has either 5- or 10-round capacity, plus the advantage of the spare magazine, in place.

Both weapons are excellent examples of the new wave in rifle design. Perhaps you cannot afford one now, but save your pennies for a brighter day. If some kind soul offers to give you one, don't turn it down.

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Cartridge options for the Steyr Scout are in the wind. It has always been intended to produce the weapon in caliber 7-08 for jurisdictions where 30 caliber weapons are forbidden. The Norsemen at the Nuernberg gun show emphasized that they wish to deal with the weapon available in 6.5x57 for use in Scandinavia. This does not make a lot of sense to me, but perhaps they have warehouses full of ammunition and nothing to shoot it in.

The prospect of a heavier caliber in the Steyr Scout is being considered. Whether this is a good idea or not remains to be seen. Two elements of the Scout concept are light weight and instantly available ammunition. If a "375 JCS" version is a good idea, it will certainly be a bit overweight and mated to an oddball cartridge. This may not matter, but let us not forget that the Scout is a general- purpose weapon intended to be fully fitted (shudder!) for the anti- personnel mode. I have always found it difficult to take these tender types seriously, but many people do--especially marketers.

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