I purchased a stainless Ruger Scout with the 16” barrel and polymer stock recently and had a chance to take it to the range today.

I took the brake off before I took it out and replaced it with a 308 A2 flash hider because I’m not a big fan of brakes. It indexed so that the closed portion of the flash hider was at the bottom without the crush washer, so I used it without the crush washer. Makes it easier to swap out for a suppressor also.

The A2 flash hider came loose half way through sighting in because I hadn’t tightened it with a wrench, which cause the POI to shift left about 6” during sight in. I tightened it properly and it didn’t cause any more trouble.

I got the irons sighted in at 100 yards in about a half a box of ammo with Armscor 147grain ammo. This is cheap blasting ammo. It shot about 2 1/2 “ with this ammo. Recoil was noticeable, but not horrible. I got rapped on the knuckle by the bolt handle once or twice, but I learned.  I was at an indoor range and the blast wasn’t bad. Way better than a 10” ar.

After I sighted it in I traded the A2 flash hider for a griffin GP7 suppressor, which decreased the recoil and blast significantly. It felt like shooting my 7.62x39 bolt gun. Very pleasant. There was no POI shift with the addition of the can.

I then put a Holosun dot on the rail and sighted that in with the can on. Took the can off and put the A2 back on…again no POI shift. I fired three rounds of 168 grain match ammo, which recoiled a bit more…I don’t think I’d enjoy shooting a whole box of that without the suppressor, but… three rounds printed at an inch and a half at 100 yards with the dot sight, which will do. :)

All in all, a fun gun so far. Can’t wait to get it on the steel range.

They’re a hoot. Accurate and handy, really exceeding expectations.

Do you plan to hunt with it? Mine likes Federal Fusion and Federal Power Shok. For extra mags, the polymer ones on ShopRuger.com are cheap and always work.

I also recommend a Ching Sling or Rhodesian from Andy’s leather. Those songs take the handiness up quite a lot. Improvised shooting with them is a breeze.

I love mine. I typically keep it irons only. But even with the little resonator k, it's pretty tame suppressed.

It's a gun i don't have much actual use for other than i really enjoy shooting it.

I used to have black and stainless versions with the laminate stock but when the newer polymer stock was released i got rid of them both and picked this one up. It feels much better.

I used a gunskins wrap on the stock.

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No plans to hunt with it right now, just enjoy shooting it. Thanks for the tip on the ammo. I’ll put it on my list of things to try. Already have a sling on order with Andy. :)
I got a 3 round Ruger mag, which works great, and 5 and 10 round pmags. I really like the 5 rounder, but the 10 rounder sticks down a long way and moves forward a lot, which makes me wonder if it’ll jam if it’s pushed forward. I’m planning on testing that theory next range trip.

Very nice set up. Thanks for sharing.

I love mine, it’s my primary hunting rifle. I just upgraded my trigger to a Timney, which is huge improvement. One thing to be careful of regarding a suppressor is, unless Ruger has changed it, the factory shoulder behind the barrel threads is inadequate for suppressor use. I sent mine to Thunderbeast for this very reason, where they machined slightly into the front sight to provide a proper square shoulder.  Otherwise you're risking misalignment, especially with a direct thread application.

I think they’ve changed it. Sounds like they backed the front sight up some to give it more clearance from the shoulder, Mine sits snug against the shoulder and I checked it with a rod and it was dead center. I put a dozen or so rounds through the can, and had no issues.

Good to know that they improved it. Here is what mine looked like before I had it machined. You can see the tiny shoulder just in front of the sight.

I had a Scout right when they came out years ago and sold it during school

I recently picked up the same model, 16", stainless, and in the polymer stock.  I put a low RMR and my YHM R9  on it and love this thing.  I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Here’s the threading and front sight on mine.  It’s a little further back. My understanding is that they modified it after some people had issues with suppressors contacting the front sight and being pushed out of alignment.

Here’s the final configuration. 7 pounds, 7 ounces with the scope and sling.

Took it to the range again today. Hornady 168 ELDs shot right at an inch at 100 yards. With the more accurate ammo I can now see it shoots about 2” higher without the suppressor. It’s a fun rifle to shoot.

Once I dialed it in I shot some drills. Got 5 rounds inside 4 inches at 50 yards from low ready in about 15 seconds on one run, off hand. It’s quickly become my favorite rifle.

One thing to check on the Ruger Scouts is the torque of the main action bolt. The diagonal one.  The spec calls for a very high torque.

Mine was less than half the spec. I tightened it, but then my laminate stock contacted the barrel in the channel. It should free float. I had to very carefully relieve the stock channel until it properly cleared under proper torque.

This dramatically improved my accuracy results.

Correct, Ruger specs 90 in-lbs for the front action screw. My accuracy also improved after I replaced the laminate stock with a polymer one, not sure if it was the stock or the proper torque that made the difference.

Correct torque value for front (angled) action screw and rear (trigger guard) action screw is in Owner's manual.  Front = 90 in/lbs; Rear = 10 in/lbs.

One small problem I noticed was the tendency of the fully opened bolt to "seize" up when applying upwards force on bolt handle while closing the bolt.

A little careful filing/sanding/polishing at rear edge of top of receiver bridge solved this problem.  While a great many openings and closings of the bolt will "wear-in" this surface, a little "helping-along" will reduce wear on the bolt body during the "wearing-in" process.

The hollow butt stock of the syn stock will accommodate all sorts of spare parts and even an emergency cleaning kit.  While this adds weight to the rifle, the rear-mounted weight reduces felt recoil to some extent, and also moves balance point of rifle rearwards, which makes rifle's muzzle feel "livelier" in the hands.

Beware of fake .308 A2 style muzzle devices.  Due to more gasses produced by the .308 ctg, the true purpose-made .308 A2 style muzzle device will always be considerably longer than its 5.56 counterpart.

Painting the rear face of the front sight with some light, non-natural color paint will help greatly in "picking-up" the front sight quickly, particularly in low light.  Luminescent front sight paint available from Brownell's; I prefer Neon Green.

Ruger syn stock is unusually well-braced inside the fore-end and has a "hidden" 3rd sling mounting point just forward of mag well.  If user uses a "Ching" sling (which is what this rifle was originally designed to use), the 3rd sling mounting point is essential.  See HERE  for examples of Ching Sling.  Also take a look at 2-point Langlois Rhodesian Sling.  Other Ching sling mfrs around, so shop around.  Andy's Leather makes a sweet leather unit of both styles, but I prefer nylon slings; YMMV.

Just for laughs, I used a GI M-7 AR-type bayonet (whose bayonet ring fits the .308 A2 style muzzle device), and carefully measured the Outside Diameter (O.D.) of the barrel where the hilt/locking mechanism of the bayonet was.  Bought the appropriate I.D. clamp-on Bayonet lug from Cogburn Arsenal and carefully fitted clamp to barrel.  Just because.

scoutrifle.org  is the best "Scout Rifle" site I know of.

I haven't tried this with the Cogburn attachment (as I made my own before I knew they existed) but the YHM QD attachments hold the front of an M7 nicely

how do you like the Cogburn mount?  I'm weirdly inclined to put one on my Scout

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Is that wood stock rifle a Ruger Ranch in 5.56?
If so where did you get that stock,?

It is, it's a Boyd stock I cut down to a 12" LOP and refinished with tung oil

300BLK technically, but same same

Does it have the wider/cheek support on the other side of the stock meant for a RH shooter?

I'm intrigued by the boyds stocks and am thinking about one for a predator in 223.

Cogburn bayo mount is as good as the time and effort taken to fit it and install it.  Assuming proper fitment, should be GTG, but I haven't tested it yet, lol.

So I got a chance to take the rifle out twice this week. Monday I went to a 200 yard outdoor range with steel targets. Got it dialed in at 200. Figured out the can (a steel suppressor that weighs about a pound) requires a 12 (1/4 minute) click adjustment up versus shooting can free. I ran some Hornady 168 ELD-M through it, and it really did well. Clocked it at 2450 fps with a magnitospeed. The rifle ran great, and once I got it sighted in I made pretty consistent hits on an 8” round at 200 off the bench and sitting with a sling.

Today I took it to the indoor 100 yard range in the villages to see if I could take the QD mounted scope off, sight in a Holosun dot sight on another QD mount for a back up, and get the scope to return to zero. It has Leupold weaver style QD mounts, which are heavy, and not cheap, but turns out they were worth it. The scope returned exactly to zero when I remounted it, and…I fired three rounds of ELD to confirm zero and when I brought the target back in all three holes were touching. 1/2” center to center at 100yards! I know…it’s only a 3 shot group, and it was probably 3/4 luck, but dang, this thing shoots! Love this rifle and this set up.

After careful consideration I have decided that my chances of initiating a bayonet charge with this rifle are enough outside my perceived level of probability that I am comfortable not pursuing the bayonet mounting option…I also think maybe some of y’all ain’t right :) …but it looks cool. Thanks for sharing.