Type General purpose rifle In service 1983–present Wars Kosovo War | Place of origin Austria Used by Kosovo Liberation Army Designed 1980s | |
The Steyr Scout is a modern scoped bolt-action rifle manufactured by Steyr Mannlicher and chambered primarily for 7.62 NATO (.308 Winchester), although other chamberings are offered commercially. It is intended to fill the role of a versatile, lightweight all-around rifle as specified in Jeff Cooper's scout rifle concept. Apart from the barrel and action, it is made primarily of polymers and is designed to be accurate to at least 300–400 meters. The Steyr Scout is also available in 5.56 NATO (.223 Remington), .243 Winchester, .376 Steyr and 7mm-08 Remington.
Contents
Overview
The Steyr Scout has the following features:
There were early reports of problems with the Steyr Scout rifle relating to breakage of the bipod pivot pin. The affected part was subsequently redesigned to improve its strength. Some shooters complained that the bipod was too tall.
The Weaver rail above the action and barrel allow either for conventional positioning of a scope with normal 1.5 in – 3.5 eye relief or for the forward placement of a "scout scope" with intermediate or long eye relief. The latter is more faithful to Cooper's Scout concept, and the Steyr-Mannlicher rifle can be ordered from the factory with a low-magnification Leupold scope with long eye relief.
Steyr Elite
A variant and effectively the successor of the Scout is the Steyr Elite (previously known as the Steyr Tactical Elite), a more robustly constructed model with many of the same features of the Scout, but designed primarily for the law enforcement market for an urban tactical role. Differences to the standard Scout include an extended STANAG type mounting rail, an enlarged bolt knob of the SSG type, an adjustable cheek piece, and a height-adjustable buttpad. It is fitted with a heavy 570 mm (22 in) barrel, and can produce high muzzle velocities due to a "fast" internal profile. The additional features of the Elite give it a weight of over 4.2 kg (9.3 lb), which makes it fall outside the definition of a scout rifle. Although intended for intermediate ranges, with match grade 7.62 mm (.308 inch) ammunition and 10.0 g (155 grain) projectiles entirely acceptable performance at up to 800 m (870 yd) has been recorded making it a good all-rounder. It is standard with a synthetic 5-round magazine, but an external adaptor kit can be attached to fit a 10-round magazine (not available on 5.56 NATO). It is normally available in two calibers; 5.56 NATO and 7.62 NATO, but can be specially ordered in 7 mm-08 Remington upon request.