But the new Scout is unlike any Hawkeye: particularly in how it is fed. While Ruger’s decision to use Accuracy Int’l-pattern magazines can’t be criticized from a purely functional standpoint, it is worth noting that it results in the M77’s otherwise controlled-round-feed action performing as a push-feed throughout much of the feeding cycle. It could be argued, however, that the arrangement still offers the Mauser-style claw extractor’s strength and purchase on the case rim and the fixed blade ejector’s facility for manual control of cases.

The M77’s feed lips are removed, allowing the magazine’s feed lips to guide cartridges. Four shallow ledges machined into the corners of the receiver act as abutments for the magazine’s sheet steel body. The magazine is guided by a one-piece trigger guard/magazine well assembly which is made of glass-reinforced nylon. A steel, spring-loaded, paddle-style release lever is secured at the trigger guard’s front with a roll pin. Pushing it forward moves the lever’s top edge backward out of contact with a projection stamped into the magazine’s rear. Both five- and 10-round magazines stamped with the maker’s name, Accurate-Mag, and the stylized Ruger eagle on the floorplate have been available with initial production guns. Ruger is currently testing a design for a proprietary polymer magazine that will function within the AI-pattern platform.

Ergonomics
The Gunsite Scout Rifle’s stock is of black/gray laminated wood and is equipped with QD-style sling studs front and rear, bordered-point-style checkering on the fore-end and pistol grip, and no bedding compound in its interior recesses. The adjustable buttstock system that Head insisted on, based on the square-behind-the-rifle stance taught at Gunsite, was borrowed from the Mini-14 Target model and consists of a hard polymer buttplate secured to the stock with two screws and holding two threaded brass inserts. The 1-inch-thick buttpad consists of a polymer insert overmolded with soft rubber and has a ribbed face. Three 1/2-inch-thick hard polymer spacers are supplied with each rifle and can be inserted to achieve the desired length of pull before the Allen-head machine screws are used to sandwich the entire assembly to the stock.

Two crossbolts thread into steel inserts pressed into the left side of the stock. The forwardmost goes through the stock in the area that abuts the receiver’s recoil lug. The rearmost goes through a hole in a solid section of the trigger guard/magazine well assembly. Another Allen-head machine screw passes through the tang at the assembly’s rear under the stock and threads into the tang at the receiver’s rear above it. Finally, another Allen-head machine screw passes through an investment cast steel insert in front of the magazine well, angling upward to thread into the receiver’s recoil lug, which lies in a recess behind the stock’s barrel channel. The insert also clamps the front of the trigger guard/magazine well to the stock.

For reasons unknown, but possibly to prevent interference with an inserted 10-round magazine, Ruger chose not to equip the Scout with an additional sling swivel on the fore-end. Cooper had keyed on the addition of such a swivel for use with what he referred to as the CW sling, a single loop from the front swivel to the rear of the fore-end, or for the later Ching sling, named after former Gunsite instructor Eric Ching, which added a slider and a second strap for use with the rear swivel as well.

Ballistics
The Scout’s 16 1/2-inch hammer-forged barrel features a distinctive stepped profile that measures 1.160 inches for 13⁄16 inches ahead of the receiver ring, 0.943 inches for a 4 1/2-inch section thereafter, and then tapers from 0.887 inches to 0.658 inches toward a 0.760-inch-diameter shoulder behind the front sight. According to Gurney, the 16 1/2-inch length was an edict from Melcher. “Roy was a curmudgeon, and when 18 inches was suggested he insisted, ‘No it’s got to be 16 1/2 inches—the Frontier has one and it handles beautifully.’”

A 6-inch-long strip of Picatinny rail is secured with four screws to the thickest sections of the barrel for the mounting of intermediate (approximately 9 to 14 inches) eye relief riflescopes or electronic dot or reflex sights. Iron sights, adapted from the Mini-30, consist of a rear aperture resting in a base that features cast-in protective wings and is secured to the rearmost conventional scope mounting position with a single screw. It is fully adjustable for windage by way of left- and right-side set screws and for elevation by screwing the aperture itself up or down. The aperture measures 0.90 inches, which results in a “ghost ring” effect when sighting through it to the serrated front blade that is cast as one piece with its protective ears and barrel band. Another part derived from the Mini-14/30, the flash suppressor, is screwed onto the barrel’s 5/8-inch x 24 t.p.i. threads, providing ready adaptability of the rifle for use with a sound suppressor by law enforcement personnel or legally approved civilians.

Shooting results from a number of Scout Rifles indicate that the 16 1/2-inch barrel does little to adversely affect accuracy. Velocity is another matter, but the Ruger still manages around 2,600 fps with some match loads. In addition Ruger kept its standard 1:10-inch rifling twist rate, which is appropriate for stabilizing most heavy .30-cal. bullets. According to Gurney, who reports having routinely engaged steel targets as far out as 1,000 yards during testing, the .308 Win. cartridge is one of the least “sensitive” to reduced barrel length. In addition, he said engineers have experimented with other .308 Win.-based cartridges such as .243 Win. and 7 mm-08 Rem. in the Scout, and reported that they performed well although there are no immediate plans to offer additional chamberings until production can catch up with demand for .308 Win.-chambered guns.

Trials
Late last year Ruger demonstrated its confidence in the new Scout rifle by holding a formal rollout at the scout rifle’s breeding grounds: Gunsite. The event brought together more than a score of the new rifles with as many gunwriters to examine, shoot and critique them with all manner of riflescopes, of intermediate and standard eye relief, and even a few reflex sights. Shooting scenarios included short-range speed work, timed work on the Scrambler—a course in which shooters moved as rapidly as possible from firing point to firing point adopting various positions—and longer-range firing out to 300 yards.

Head and other Gunsite instructors were on-hand to teach the Gunsite way of shooting a short, light bolt-action repeater in rapid fire, stressing the importance of the rifle’s adjustable buttstock, and praising the Model 77’s action as smooth and trouble-free out of the box.

Most participants, many with military or law enforcement backgrounds, found the new rifle quick-handling, practical, accurate and generally appealing throughout the exercises, and some appeared downright convinced not only of the scout concept’s validity but that the new Ruger was the best factory scout to date, especially when price was taken into consideration. There’s no question that a full-size sporting rifle would have been heavier to carry, slower to employ and reload, and less handy to carry and maneuver. Of course a semi-automatic would have served, but with the attendant increased complexity, cost and weight that a self-loader entails. One couldn’t help but realize during the event that, like his methodology of shooting instruction, Cooper’s ideology for the scout platform still remains valid today.

In the months following the Gunsite event, shooting results in the field and on the indoor range at NRA headquarters with more than one Scout rifle have born out the anecdotal evidence observed there—the little Ruger is handy, quick to the target and accurate. With an Aimpoint Micro T-1, Harris S BRM bipod, Bownells Latigo sling with Blackhawk steel swivels and full 10-round magazine—the little Ruger weighed in at 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was still a pleasure to carry and shoot. Throughout hundreds of rounds downrange, the rifles functioned flawlessly.