When Ruger first announced its M77 Scout rifle earlier this year, we Aussies knew it would be of immediate interest to pig hunters, and we did not need Jeff Cooper to tell us about short and powerful bolt action rifles after 50 years of exposure to .303 SMLE Jungle Carbines with their 10-shot magazines. Our US correspondent has enables GUNS to get a scoop on testing the Ruger Scout so you can read all about it as soon as it hits our shores.
Over many years, gun grandmaster guru Colonel Jeff Cooper researched and developed what he called the “Scout Rifle”: an optimal general-purpose long gun, described in detail in his book To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth. Cooper addressed the problem thusly: “A general-purpose rifle is a conveniently portable, individually operated firearm, capable of striking a single decisive blow, on a live target of up to 200 kilos in weight, at any distance at which the operator can shoot with the precision necessary to place a shot in a vital area of the target.”
Cooper traced the direct ancestors of his Scout Rifle back to the Winchester ‘94 carbine so prevalent in the American West and the fullstocked Mannlicher-Schönauer carbine which was the classic light rifle in Europe and Africa for so many years. Both were short, handy, light weight and user friendly. Cooper said “… they were superb for the individual sportsman or explorer faring far afield and depending on the ‘one shot – one kill’ principle if it could be had in the neatest possible package.”
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