Do it. I don't know that the Ruger is a good iteration of a scout rifle but it's a heck of an update on the Jungle Carbine. Just beware that mine won't reliably pop primers on 7.62 (it's been great with .308). Not sure if that quirk extends to the .223/5.56 models as well.Originally Posted by Lester Polfus
While I haven't shot a huge amount of surplus 7.62 Nato, every single round I've put through my Ruger Scout has worked fine. Might be a difference in who made the stuff, different primers, something like that? I've shot surplus ammo with MEN headstamp (and new production GGG M2 ball).
That's interesting that your RGS won't pop 7.63 primers. I've run some of the Wolf and Tula through my BLR and Ruger American with no reliability issues. Accuracy wan't all that great but I didn't really have high expectations to begin with.
I never made the connection between the No.5 Mk.1 and the RGS until you mentioned it. That's a really accurate comparison.
Men freely believe that which they desire.
Julius Caesar
Good to know. With Winchester 7.62, I had two misfires out of 20 rounds—one went off with the second strike, the other never did. With Walmart ZQI, none of it fired.
It may be worth getting a new striker spring. It helped an old M-77 I had. Was flaky with surplus ammo, a new factory standard spring cured it completely.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Also, make sure everything is clean and deburred, and parts are straight. I once had an S&W SD9 with a MIM striker that was bent like a banana from the factory. The tip would hit the inside of the breech face before exiting.
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Not another dime.
I think this thread is extremely valuable and provides a lot of insight into the positives and negatives of leveractions rifles and their possible uses.
Synthesizing this thread into more manageable portions it seems that modern leveractions, say from about the 1890's forward, weren't really designed as weapons of war, but rather weapons for the woods or the west. While leveractions have been used in war, I think it is safe to say there are much better choices. I also think it is safe to say that leveractions were never designed to shoot 100's of rounds a day in a training class. I am not knocking this, just making an observation. They are a mixture of simplicity and complication, of handiness and power, of portability and precision; neither being the champion of one nor the abject failure of the other.
A great example of how leverguns were used around the turn of the century for defensive purposes can be found in the book, Willie Boy. While the book definitely takes some liberty with facts, it is a pretty solid account of an incident in 1909 where a murder was tracked through the Mojave Desert for 10 days covering 5-600 hundred miles. The murder, Willie Boy, physically carried a Winchester 94 the whole distance on foot. The vast majority, if not all the pursuers, carried Winchester 94 rifles and carbines on horseback, in wagons, and on foot. The cartridge of choice was the .30/30 Winchester.
After many days of running, walking, and horseback riding through the foothills and desert in sandstorms, light rain, and constant dust, the whole affair came to a head around a place called Ruby Mountain. Willie Boy set up an ambush in a canyon and went to work on his pursuers. Willie was able to shoot and hit 5 out of 5 horses at a range of 2-300 yards killing 4. Once the posse members had taken cover, they were able to return fire from their Winchesters that had also received considerable exposure to the elements.
This to me sums up how and why leverguns were and still are a very useful tool. Willie Boy was able to carry the rifle over five hundred miles because it was portable. Oftentimes he was so tired that drag marks were found on the ground where he was forced to pull the rifle along behind him. He was able to fire it because it was durable within the context of its intended use. He was able to shoot at distance because the rifle fired a cartridge that was decently accurate and had enough range and power to get the job done. The whole affair ended when Willie Boy ran out of ammo and used his last round to kill himself not because the gun got too hot to handle or was not able to function.
I have no problem grabbing one of my leveractions and heading to the hills to camp or 4x4. Likewise I don't have a problem keeping a leveraction around my camp in the foothills north of town. I really can't see being attacked by throngs of people in either instance. I also am very familiar with leveractions and have used them for most of my life. I can make hits very easily and rapidly with them. If I were living in a place where civil unrest seems to be the new norm, I would go with something different. On the edge of suburbia, a levergun might make some sense.
I think it is important to realize the shortcomings of a leveraction, but they are still useful today. Obviously I am a bit bored today, trapped in the house due to a storm, and probably overthinking things a bit. I just feel that leverguns get evaluated out of context and made to appear inadequate.
I hope everyone is having a good afternoon and thanks for reading my rant.
Last edited by ECVMatt; 11-08-2020 at 05:26 PM.
I think the: lever gun, pump gun, bolt gun uses are what they are, people using what they like and usually carry or have handy or have a lot of familiarity with, and will put into use in the event of humans behaving poorly.
All will work well with an experienced user in almost all self defense situations involving man or beast assuming proper chambering for the bigger beasts.
Any dispute between man, and man or beast can go bad even if your cohorts have belt feds and a radio connected to mortars, artillery, armour, air.
But camping with your family, broke down on the side of the road, the zombies come to your house....the tweakers might need to fear the man familiar with his obsolete lever gun. It's not like anyone is suggesting the standard infantry platoon start carrying '94's in 30-30.
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