Most people have diluted Cooper’s concept to a magazine-fed 308 Winchester bolt action rifle with a length around 40 inches and a weight below 8 pounds and that allows for a forward-mounted optic and iron backup sights. By today’s standards, it was quite light and had a number of forward-thinking features such as spare mag in the buttstock, forward-mounted optic, and integrated bipod. The rifle weighed in at only 6.6 pounds without an optic and was only 38.6” long. What matters is not what the equipment can do, but rather what it will do in the hands of its operator under field, rather than laboratory, conditions.”Ĭooper’s influenced Steyr Scout Rifle was offered in 223/5.56, 243, 7mm-08, 376 Steyr, and 308/7.62×51 NATO. To be really useful a rifle must be as short, light, and quick to use as is technically compatible with adequate power and useful accuracy. The late great Jeff Cooper was quoted as saying, “The natural habitat of the general-purpose rifle is the field, the forest, the desert, and the mountain–not the shooting shed with its bench rest. For a $818 MSRP, customers now have available an affordable scout rifle about $300 less than the competing Ruger model. Like all Savage rifles, the already-frequently-backordered Model 11 Scout Rifle delivers a lot of value and accuracy paired with Savage magazine compatibility and a proven design. Ruger’s versions are reportedly selling well and now Savage Arms has joined in with its own Model 11 Scout Rifle offering. Despite being quite old, the scout rifle concept originally developed by Jeff Cooper is still hot.