Ruger Gunsite Scout scope setup

[jandbj]

I too have the polymer stocked GSR. Have been trying out a Burris Scout 2.75x20 and a small Bushnell TRS-25 thus far. I also have a conventional Leupold 2.5x20 that's on deck to try out with this rifle. If I go that route I'll likely just use the Ruger rings. If you don't have any compelling need for the back up sights, I'd stick to the Ruger rings for a conventional scope. The rifle already needs a slight cheek riser for me with any of the listed scopes mounted in the lowest rings and mounts available. The XS rail adds another 1/2" at least to the height above bore.

One other thing Doc, if you want to go with one of the 30mm Leupold scopes, Ruger will usually swap the unused supplied rings for a set of 30mm ones at no charge other than the cost of mailing your rings back to them. I've done this on both my GSR & 77/357 when I needed lower rings than the supplied ones.

[schüler]

Highly recommend you try to physically eyeball the recommendations made even if just across the sporting goods store. The farther the better, side by side comparison if possible, the little things (big factors) will start to stand out. I prefer FFP milrad, really appreciate HD/low CA glass at extended range.

+ Eye relief and ease of view, especially at max magnification
+ Eye distance/head position same between 1x and max magnification?
+ Ease of changing magnification quickly without breaking position or using repetitive movements
+ Reticle/illum visibility; too fine a reticle can get lost in background, too thick can hamper precision.

[SteveB]

When I was at Gunsite 15 years ago for 270, state-of-the-art practical rifles looked like this:



Scout scopes are old tech, with well-documented shortcomings. Those rifles had stripper clip notches machined into the receivers; reloading involved shoving 5-round stripper clips into the action, frequently on the move. This necessitated an open action. When I took Randy Cain's practical rifle course (2012?), I used the same rifle with a receiver-mounted LPV. Huge improvement. With the advent of reliable DBM's, you can't beat a properly set-up rifle with an LPV and DBM for speed and versatility. This one has a Leupold 2-7X VXR and an FN mag kit:



A few words about the courses: I'd start with Randy. He is an outstanding teacher of fundamentals, like natural point of aim, for instance. You will shoot from up close to 200 yards on a square range, with a lot of drilling on loading the rifle. This is a strength, IMO, of Cain long gun courses: Loading the gun with movement and time pressure is a skill he teaches well for both rifle and shotgun. Much easier with a DBM! Gunsite is a great facility, with a variety of ranges you won't find many other places. (BTW, shooting steel at 400 yards with a scout scope quickly shows you one significant weakness of that optic.) Finally, I believe that these courses should be shot with a bolt gun, not an SA rifle. At Gunsite, there is a shoot-off, and it's hard for a great bolt gun shooter to beat a good SA shooter. Nonetheless, if you hunt with a bolt rifle, these courses will be the very best things you can do to improve your skillset.

[GJM]

OMG, look at the funny clothes people wore back then. Probably a 1911 somewhere in that picture.

[Sherman A. House DDS]

Awful lot of khaki there!

Good info folks!


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[XXXsilverXXX]

Will the long rail from xs sights work well enough or does that just defeat the whole purpose?

[Chuck Whitlock]

My thought was to put the XS Rail on it, a Trijicon 1-8 Accupower in QD rings, and then use the forward section for an offset light setup.

I had thought about buying the XS rail, too.

One question I've not had answered yet........What is the viability of using an extended AR scope mount, backwards, on the factory forward rail? I'm thinking it would 'float' the scope in a conventional position, but it might be too high.

[nate89]

I had a Ruger scout for several years with the XS rail. It worked very well and allowed me to low mount a 1-4 PST which is what I used for a while. As was mentioned earlier, with the quality LPVO (1-4, 1-6 etc.) the intermediate eye relief optics just don't really have a practical place, in my opinion only, anymore for what I want.

[That Guy]

One question I've not had answered yet........What is the viability of using an extended AR scope mount, backwards, on the factory forward rail? I'm thinking it would 'float' the scope in a conventional position, but it might be too high.

I've thought about that, too, but the way AR scope mounts raise the optic above the rail, I really don't think that would work at all. You'd end up with the scope mounted ridiculously high.

In fact, I have a Leupold 2.5x IER scope in the lowest Leupold QRW rings I could find, and I think even with this setup the stock is too low. (I do get a perfect cheek rest when using the iron sights.)

I'd love to see more LPV's with about a 6" eye relief. One could mount one on the stock rail, get almost a conventional scope location, and still retain that backup iron sight. Alas, I haven't been able to find many options like that. Leupold does make their variable zoom scout scope which sounds like that might work. Bushnell used to make a 1.25-8x32 scope like that, which sounds like it would work really great for this application. (In fact I do believe I've seen pictures of one mounted really, really low on a Ruger Scout stock rail.) Naturally, they've discontinued making that scope. Both of those scopes come with just a duplex reticle (although the Leupold's is at least illuminated). Personally, I'd like at least some sort of a BDC for approximate hold-overs at longer ranges.

[Hambo]

I have a poly stock, Ruger Gunsite in .308. It has the OEM, “Scout Mount,” for forward mounted optics. I’ve noticed that there exists an XS rail product that allows the user to install optics in the forward mount (Scout) or conventional position.

I have a Leupold Mk 4 LRT 3.5-10 that is currently not in use, and I could put it on this Rifle.

My use is primarily for training...I plan to take the Gunsite Scout course AND Randy Cain’s GP Rifle Course in the immediate future.

My question to the cognoscenti is, should I roll with the XS long rail and the Mk4, or get a Scout scope setup for this? I have other conventional scoped hunting rifles, so that’s where my familiarity, in terms of usage lies.

Please advise and thanks.


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I've owned a couple of scouts and have some random thoughts on them. Most of the scout rifles today don't meet all of Cooper's criteria. On the other hand, thanks be to God, we're not in the 1970s. Today I'd skip the whole forward mounted optic part and put a low powered variable over the action. It I wanted to switch to something else it would be a dot, and I'd forego irons entirely.