I was never really comfortable with the original stock on mine. 24 years of shooting a pistol grip spoiled me. So I made some modifications! Boyds Thumbhole stock and a Witt Machine muzzle brake with muzzle rise eliminator. Ready for some range time!
Nice looking rifle. Reminds me of the day when you could buy a Fajen stock and do the refinishing yourself. I did one rifle and it took a all summer long to make it look the way I wanted it but it turned out nice! Yours is a nice looking one itself. Tommy
b5, Could you tell me more about your scope set up please? What rail, scope mount, scope model and reticle? I've got a Nikon "No Name" with a duplex reticle that I pulled off a Rem 700 on mine right now. I'm looking to replace it. Thanks
Hungry, Welcome and thank you for your first post! We like to give a proper welcome and know a little about who were talking to. Please take a minute and jump on over to the Introduction Section and introduce yourself.
The rifle is a SS Gunsite Scout in .308. The rail is from XS Sightsystems and is specific to the Gunsite. The scope is a Nikon M308. 4-16x42 with BDC 800. I used the mounts that came with the scope. If I remember correctly it is a 20 MOA mount. I got the rail because I was not happy with the "Scout" concept of having the scope so far out in front of my eyes. There have been no problems with shell ejection because of it. I plan to put the whole thing to the test with a SC hog hunt in a couple of months!
00b5, I have a question for you since you have a BCD scope. I currently have a Hi-Lux BDC scope on mine since the bullet drop was supposedly suppose to be developed based on the Ruger Scout rifle. The 300 yrd mark in the scope is a 3 MOA compensation. I find however that using Honady Whitetail 150gr. Inter SP zero'ed in at 200 yrds, I get a 15-3/4" drop at 300 yrds. This equates to just over 5 MOA in compensation. Am I missing something here? It seems to me that the BCD was developed based on the velocity of the rounds through a longer barrel than a 16in. Even with that in mind, I still think the velocity lost wouldn't equate to a 5 MOA drop at 300 yrds vs. the 3 MOA drop compensation in the scope. Seems to me that if they wanted a BDC exspecially disigned for the Ruger scout, the 300 yrds mark in the scope would not have been 3 MOA but rather 5 MOA. Your thoughts?
There are so many variables that I don't know what to tell you. My suggestion would be to get with someone who reloads on a regular basis. Factors include muzzle velocity, weight of bullet, BC of the bullet, which power (4x,5x,6x) you have set on your scope, parallax of the scope, did you change power shooting the 200 to the 300 yd, etc. But the 15.5 inch difference between 200 and 300 seems a bit too much. I am only losing about 2.5" at 200 and 5-6" at 300 with a 100 yd zero with factory load 150 grain FMJ ammo. That falls pretty close to the 3 MOA range. But I don't think the extra 2" barrel is the cause. Are you sure the scope is for the Gunsite Scout or for .308? What is the eye relief on your scope?
It's an extended eye relief scope and the BDC is suppose to be accurate when at full 7x power which I use at those distances. Your ballistic data for your 308 at zero at 100yrds really throws me for a loop. I just recently had an old Remington 760 pump 30.06 cut down to a 16in barrel and that one was giving me a 14in drop at 300 yrds with a 200 yrd zero, so I was thinking that my Ruger scout was acting normally. I lust looked at the back of the box of the 308 ammo I'm using and it says 2820fps at the muzzle. It also says that at 200 yrd zero, I should get a 8.4in drop at 300 yrds through a 24in barrel. So from that data, maybe the shorter barrel of the scout is doing what it is suppose to do for me with that ammo. What's the muzzle velocity of the 150gr ammo you are shooting to get such a straighter trajectory then mine? It must be some pretty hot stuff. Thanks
Was just on Hornady's website and the hottest 308 - 150gr stuff I saw had a muzzle velocity of 3,000 fps out of a 24in barrel. Ballistics listed said 1.5" high at 100, zero at 200, -7in at 300. I'm sitting here scratching my head on how it's possibly for you to shoot a 308 round out of a 16in barrel and get a zero at 100, -2.5" drop at 200, and -6" drop at 300. Am I totally missing something here guys? Thanks for the responses and the education as always.
Goose, I don't know if my data will help or not, but here goes. I worked up a very accurate load with: 168 gr SMK Tula LRP Fire-formed NATO case IMR 4064 It's a bit slow at 2356 fps at the muzzle, very accurate though. With a 100 yard zero, I get 6" of drop at 200 yards and 16" at 280 yards. Good Luck
That's sounds about right to me. Yeah, I think I need to hit up the shooting range again to see exactly what the drop is at 300 yrds by shooting without any hold overs or adjustment. How I came up with the 15.75 inch drop I was getting was knowing that at the 3 MOA hold over in the BDC plus 9 clicks on the scope I was hitting center on target at 300yds. You never know I guess, the clicks or BCD on the scope might not be that accurate. I did however run into a review report online on the Ruger Scout in which the author said he was getting a 15in drop at 300yds at zero at 200 so it's very possibly that there could be nothing wrong in my case at all. When I originally posted on this, I was hoping to get 300yrd drop info from others with a 200 yrd zero using the Ruger Scout. It just seemed very odd to me that my scope owner's manual could say that the BDCs should be close and was developed from velocities measure from the Ruger Scout when the 300 yrds holdover (3 MOA mark) was 9 clicks off for me at 300. If the scope manufacture truly measured velocities and if there are no problems with my rifle or ammo, it seemed to me that the first holdover mark should have been 5 MOA, not 3MOA. I just basically wasn't sure if I had a problem on my end or if the scope's manufacture just dropped the ball on the design or something. I'm actually thinking of using the 400 yrd mark in the BDC to site-in at 300 yrds now.
I finally made it to the range. 5 shot at 100 yards using Freedom Munitions 168 grain AMAX. Muzzle brake and stock worked really well for me. Feels more like an M16 than a .308. I went looking for my old targets to checkup on myself for those bullet drops and can't find them. So once I do the workups on the reloads I will go to the long range and refire the 200 and 300 yard targets. Workups will be for Barnes 168 grain TTSX. Yes I know I flinched!
Don't ya just hate it when your trying for a small group, and.....crap...you , not the gun....screw up. Jim
OK guys, I have an update for you. Note sure what happened during my range session before posting this column. I went back to the range yesterday in that I thought I better go before deer season. Using the same ammo, although a new box this time as well as the rifle suppressed, I shot at the 200 and 300 yrd range once again. At zero at 200, my BCD 300yrd mark in the scope was right on at 300 yrds. This bullet drop compensation is a 3 MOA line which equates to 9 inches of drop give or take. That's a whole lot better than over 15 inches in my book and is defiantly something I can live with considering my BCD is true. Yeah, not sure what happened the previous time I went to the range (bad day? bad ammo? rifle not broke in yet?) your guess is as good as mine. Regardless, I'm satisfied she is doing what she is suppose to be doing. One of these days, I'll have to measure the muzzle velocity of my 150gr Hornady Whitetail ammo but for now, I know where I need to aim for 50 to 300 yrd shots on deer which is the most important thing here I guess. I appreciate all the posts.
Nice grouping 00b5. Yeah, I'm a little at a disadvantage at longer distances because of the LER 2.5 to 7 magnification scope I'm using but if I ever happen to need to fire at a buck on the run, my setup should be a little easier making the shot vs. using a traditional scope mount setup. I don't really shoot at the 100 yrd much but I'll have to see one day what my Ruger Scout at 100 can do with the ammo I use.
Nice shooting, fellas. I like this thread. I recently worked up a new load using Hornady 168 HPBT. I mounted a Leupold MK 4 on-top of the XS rail. I had to add a homemade cheek riser in order to achieve an effective cheek weld. Here's a pic of a 200 yard group before adding the riser. I'd say it's approximately 1.5 MOA. When I shoot with that riser, my groups shrink significantly, I just didn't snap any pics.
