Steyr Scout .308 - Scope Suggestion?

shelby

shelby

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I am a total newby when it comes to rifles and scopes, so please forgive my ignorance.

I have a Steyr Scout rifle in .308, and want to buy a scope for it. I don't plan on doing much long range shooting. Most shots would be between 50-100 metres. I would expect that the longest range would be 200 metres. Thus, high magnification is not overly important. I am more interested in something that is quite light and of medium size and magnication, with excellent quality controls, internals and clarity. Ease of mounting and use would also be an asset.

My gun has the Stanag rail on top, and I would be mounting the scope in the normal position (i.e. not forward mounted) with a set of quick-detach medium height rings. Thus, eye relief should be between 3.5 - 5".

What good quality brand, sizes and specs can you guys recommend? I am looking to spend around $400-500, whether new or used.

I was considering buying a used Super Sniper scope in 20X42, but am beginning to think that it is overkill for my rifle.

Thanks in advance :)
 
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All I am going to say is that if most of your shots will be under a hundred meters, I wouldn't go much above about 4x!

In fact if you look at Jeff Cooper's description of the scout rifle, I think he calls for a maximum 3x scope.


At 200 yards, I think a 4x is tons of scope, personally. I shoot my M14s out to 300 yards pretty regularly. I haven't scoped it yet.
 
For any precision shooting where you want resolution of seeing the target and seeing your bullet holes 20x is about minimum @ 100 yds.

Combined with a decent spotting scope a 4x could work but will require constant switching between the two.

I suppose it depends on what you want to use the scope for. Personally, I stay away from all fixed power scopes below 16x since I prefer being able to see the detail of what I am looking at. May as well just use iron sights for general shooting if I were to use a 4x. Haven't owned one for years......
 
Why not just get a Leupold 2.5 power EER scope. They were designed to be used on rifles like this and would serve your purposes very well. Very quick and easy to use and still a light package to compliment the scout rifle.
 
I have the Leupold 2.5 and the Burris 2 3/4 power, scout scopes both.

Hands down reliability, the Leupold wins by a bit, and has better optical clarity IMHO.

It has never been in for warranty work, but the Burris has.

Both have click adjustments for movement, & the Leupold has finer crosshairs.

Same as Dan on use under 200 meteres, although Silverback did some fine 300 yard shooting once using the 2.5 on my .308 Tanker copy.
Keep in mind, these scopes are mounted on the handguard or on the barrel under the handguard(EER), hence the term scout scopes.
 
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You got very good taste picking up this rifle shelby. ;)

I would stick with the original Leupold 2.5x IER scope. It's got very nice eye relief, and you can shoot with both eyes open 100% of the time with zero problems. Get it in standard duplex because the heavy duplex crosshairs are way too thick for target shooting.

If you haven't found this site already. Check it out. :)

http://www.steyrscout.org/leupold.htm
 
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Thanks for the informative replies, guys.

Does the Leupold 2.5 IER have to be used in a forward mount position, or does it's eye relief allow it to also work when mounted in the usual position (i.e over the chamber?)
 
Not sure why you're fixated on having the scope over the receiver. These rifles were designed around the forward scope theory, which when you get used to it, is a very useful short to medium range set up. Some folks can't use the system, problems with the way they see things I guess, but from a purely technical point of view, the scout set up is fast and easy to use. Try it and see. - dan
 
I have the Leupold scout scope and a Leupold 3.5-10 Vari-X III, both sighted in and in QD Leupold mounts. Best of both worlds. Switch back and forth without significant loss of zero, and always a spare scope ready to go.

John
 
Considering your budget, you have a lot of options. If you want to mount it above the reciever, you can't go wrong with a leupold, burris fullfield II, or a Bushnell elite (3200 or 4200). Any of those scopes will give you what you want. As for power, assuming you want variable magnification, 3-9 is a good starting point. If you think you are never going to need extra magnafication you can go with a 2-7 or lower, if you are going to do some target shooting or long range shots go with a 4-12 or higher. But a basic 3-9x40 should cover the vast majority of your scope needs.

A fixed 20x scope would be useful for target or long range varmint shooting, but I can't see using it for general hunting applications. it is just too much magnification for short range hunting use.
 
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