Steyr Scout 223

[Murphy]

I have not contributed here before but I have to say I’ve been shooting for some time. I’m retired, 3 times now a spend my days doing what I like to do. Shoot. I’ve been a competitive shooter for a solid 50 years. 19 and 6 Navy time. 10 years FLEO. And some other journeys but I wanna talk about this little Scout rifle. I began an experiment with Sierra 80 grain MK’s this past week and tried them in 4 different rifles. One of which was the Scout (Steyr).
As you know this rifle is 223 chambered and has a 1/9” twist. I’ve been shooting 69 grain Sierra MK’s for a couple years with this rifle and all was great. Many 1/2” groups and my 400 yard line range, 8” plates are easy. I removed the scout scope a year or so back and put a Nightforce NX8 1-8 with the Mil-XT reticle. Much smaller center dot. Today with the culmination of my 80 grain testing I shot 3 shots @ 400 into about 3 1/2” group. Of the 30 or so rounds I’ve shot thru this gun all were right spot on. 400 yards is 1.9 MILS up. 300 is about .9
So to answer questions about twist rate and bullet weight, yes 1/9” will stabilize them. I also shot 80 grainers in a CZ Lux 223, 1/9” twist with the same results. It’s a toss-up which is more accurate. The load with 80’s is;
25.0 Grains Vihta N540, CCI BR-4 primers. ADI brass. Seated to a COAL of 2.440”.
It’s mild velocity in the 19” scout was 2812 fps.
I’ve shot service rifle with this load but with 1/8” twist barrel and cleaned many targets on a calm day so I knew it was good. I shot the two bolt guns and two gas guns. All seemed to love.
The 80 grain Sierra is a great bullet. Not overly long. No poly tip. Just lead and copper. BTW, I live down the road from Sierra and buy bullets from their scrap bin. I won many matches with their “scrap” bullets. I think a good shot is about 40% equipment, 60% me.
Thanks for the space.

 

[Rem2429]

There are some guys on the Jeff Cooper scout rifle Facebook page that want to hear about the rifle.
A lot of people are running LPVOs on them these days.

 

[hgr2]

Thanks for the info on your 223 Scout!
I'm a Steyr Scout lover, I have 1 in 308 and one in 376. Been pondering getting one in 223 but not a lot of good info on them that I've found.

 

[Murphy]

I have owned one in 308 and 376 also. I’ve always like the concept. The scout scope was great in 1990’s but we have very good LPVO’s today which seems better suited.
The 223 is 1/9 twist the 80 grain SMK’ are marginal. Some days stable some not. I’ve gone to 69 grain SMK’s for anywhere any time bullet.
The 223 scout uses the same length action. The bottom “metal” is the same just the mag is 2.260” length can’t seat longer. Ten round mag adapter 308 will fit. Don’t like that bottom extension. A 10 round mag won’t fit without the adapter. Everything else is same as 308. I put an AIS/UIT rail (from B&T bipods folks) on the Scout Euro rail slot so I could mount a pic rail on it. The integral bipod is a joke for shooting but looks cool just propping up your rifle. With a good bipod you can actually take advantage of this rifles accuracy. All scouts have very accurate CHF barrels. And the ideal length for the 223 is 19-20”. It is a great shooting light and handy rifle. And with a good LPVO it easily does everything you want. Given the limitations of the puny cartridge I believe I can wring out all it can do. 700 yards with the 69 SMK 25.0 N540. Easily 1 MOA 6” groups are quite easy.
That said, I’ve been shooting rifles every year since 1970. Shot many matches. Sent many rounds down range. I need good bags. Solid table. Good bipod and an 8x scope to do this. It is the limit of the cartridge with 69 SMK’s. Don’t lie and brag about how you’ve been shooting 1200 yards with your 223/556 super duper 16” carbine. The laws of physics will tell on you. I hear so much of that crap!
But I digress. The scout 223 is one of the very best light handy accurate rifles you’ll ever hold. Might be ugly to some. Functionality is there. And with that forward (weaver) rail you can stick thermals on it. Or swap to the front and use PVS-14 on the rear. The lighted reticle of the NF works perfect.

 

[Gryntch]

Enlighten me please just recently heard of steyr what is it? Also doesn't the scout have the scope mid barrel that seems awkward to me just being curious here

 

[A.sosa]

No one else made mags and I would not buy any other company's mags.

There was one mag for both .308 and .243. I would assume that those same mags might work for a .223.

You will need Steyr's extended magazine kit. At one time the kit and the mags were $75 each. They made the kits in the gray plastic of the original JC Scout and I included those with my second series .308 when I sold it. Otherwise, the kits were black plastic which seemed to go with everything. Moreover, they fit on standard Scout rifles and their Tactical Elite Scout big brothers.

These appear at irregular times on Steyr Arms website. I would recommend you buy them when available and directly from Steyr or a reputable distributor. Call Steyr in Alabama and see what they can do for you.

 

[Murphy]

Steyr is a company in Austria. Been making guns for a century or so. Very good high quality guns.
The Scout rifle was designed in the early ‘90’s and hasn’t changed. A Cooper concept to carry a longer eye relief scope farther up on the hand guard. Today we mount scopes like LPVO’s on the receiver. Much more effective than a 2x-4x intermediate eye relief “scout” scope. Extremely accurate barrels.

The extended mag kit is just made for the 308 family of cartridges but the gun, the action is 308 length. The 223 magazine will go in the 308 and vise versa. The mag latch is same on both mags it’s just that the 223 mags have a false nose to fill the 308 mag well but the 223 size magazine is to the rear and 223 length. I think max COAL is still 2.260”. The mag extension kit only takes the 10 round mags. There are 10 round 223 mags. But like finding a set hen molars.