"Guan Fei, this is the world's sixth best sniper rifle, the American Steyr Scout Universal Sniper Rifle (light and practical). Jeff Cooper, a retired firearms expert from the US Marine Corps, came up with an idea called the General-Purpose Rifle. In 1983, he defined the specifications of the ScoutRifle. These specifications included: a portable, personally operated weapon that could knock down a target weighing 200 kilograms. The maximum length was 1 meter (39.37 inches), and the total weight was no more than 3 kilograms (about 6.6 pounds). Other specifications included convenience, power, accuracy, durability, and beautiful appearance. Since then, some people had modified the commercial guns on the market according to the standards set by Cooper, so that the guns reached or approached the standards. Seven years later, Steyr Manlixia introduced a revolving recoil rifle designed according to these standards and named Scout.
Chinese name
American Scout General Rifle
full-length
1010mm
Barrel length
483mm
length of aiming base line
350mm
The Scout Rifle was a concept gun proposed by the famous American firearms expert, Col. J. C.Cooper. In his early years, Cooper served in the US Marine Corps and participated in the Second World War and the Korean War. After retiring, he had been committed to the promotion of shooting sports. He had once presided over the famous civilian shooting training school, GunSite, and was a respected figure in the US firearms industry.
After many years of experience, he developed some of the specifications of the ideal rifle in his mind. In addition to making his own experiments, he also wrote articles on various firearms publication. After some discussion with the crowd, they finally decided on the specifications of the ScoutRifle concept gun.
According to him, the Scout Rifle was a general-purpose rifle, and the characteristics of the general-purpose rifle were that it was easy to carry. It was a personal firearm that could give a decisive blow to a target weighing up to 200 kilograms at any distance within the shooter's precise shooting ability.
The specifications listed below were ideal for the ScoutRifle as a concept gun.
The weight with all the scope and gun strap (excluding ammunition) does not exceed 3 kg (6.6 pounds); Total weight, including ammunition, does not exceed 3.5 kg (7.6 pounds)
100 cm (39 inches)
Barrel length: 48 cm (19 inches)
The scope should be installed in front of the gun's shell. The scope body should be equipped with a low height, a long range, and a magnifying power of 2 to 3 times. There was also a traditional crosshair for emergency use.
The bolt was a lightweight manual bolt bolt
Give 5 rounds to the magazine or magazine.
Barrel made of stainless steel
Gun strap, Ching or CW-type.
The gun body is made of synthetic fiber.
Caliber.308Win(7.62x51mm) or 7mm-08(7x51mm).
The bipod was a part of the gun and could be folded. (Can be omitted)
Sight scope, long-range (eyerelief) scope, with a magnification of 2 to 3 times.
The mirror seat was located in front of the magazine so that it would not hinder the loading of the ammunition.
Accuracy: at least 2MOA(200 yards distance, three bullets in the group)
When Taiwan introduced the ScoutRifle, it was often translated as a sniper rifle, which gave people the illusion that it was a military rifle, especially a special rifle used by scouts or scouts. In fact, this was a misunderstanding of the original concept of ScoutRifle.
From Colonel Cooper's own explanation of the Scout Rifle, it was obvious that the gun was used for general purposes. He also specifically stated that the concept gun could be used for a variety of applications and was not a special purpose gun. He emphasized that the power of the gun should be able to kill a target weighing 200 kilograms. If it was for military use, when would they encounter a target weighing 200 kilograms?
After further inspection, ScoutRifle was not actually suitable for military use. Generally, the so-called scouts or scouts usually carried out missions in areas where the enemy and the enemy were unknown or behind the enemy's lines. Moreover, the number of people was not too large. Even the long-range reconnaissance (LRPR) mission was mostly less than eight people. Although they would try their best to avoid direct contact with the enemy, in such an environment, they would often encounter the enemy at a short distance, and they would often be outnumbered. At this time, using fierce and rapid automatic firepower to temporarily suppress the enemy and then quickly escape was the best policy.
The US Green Berets and the Navy Seals had developed a tactic they called HellFire during the Vietnam War. When their reconnaissance team (usually six or seven people) suddenly encountered the enemy at close range, the first member to discover the enemy immediately threw a fire in the direction of the enemy, and immediately escaped in the opposite direction after the magazine was emptied. His teammates who were closest to him faced the direction of the crossfire when he opened fire. When the first team member began to retreat, they also opened fire and ran out of a magazine. The remaining team members followed suit and left one by one. This entire process would take about 30 seconds. During this 30 seconds, the enemy would be able to maintain a continuous automatic fire in the general direction of the enemy. This speed and shock would often catch the enemy off guard and make them unable to react in time. This would allow him to gain precious time to quickly escape from the scene. According to the Green Berets, the effect of this tactic was that in the first 30 seconds, it was as if God had blessed them. No army in the world could withstand this kind of firepower and shock. 30 seconds later, God bless the side with more people and more guns. Obviously, a manual rifle with a magazine capacity of five rounds had no room to survive in this tactical situation.
What about the middle and long distance? In most cases, the reconnaissance team would try their best to avoid exposing their tracks. Even if they were unfortunately discovered, it was best to run away as soon as possible. Stopping to exchange fire with the enemy would only expose their position and attract more enemies.
Then, someone might ask,"Don't many countries use manual sniper rifles for military sniping?" That's right, there was such an equipment. However, this would be an additional sniping mission in addition to reconnaissance. The weapon used would be specifically used for special missions (sniping), not general weapons. In addition, even in a small two-man sniper team, only the sniper would carry a manual sniper rifle. His partner would at least carry an M14 semi-automatic rifle, or even an M16 assault rifle or submachine gun to provide sufficient defensive firepower.
Looking at the specifications of the ScoutRifle, it was not suitable to be used as a sniper rifle. A scope with a 2x to 3x scope made sniping more than 600 meters difficult (the M40A1 sniper rifle of the US Marine Corps was equipped with a 10x scope); Since the scope was installed at the front, the field of view of the scope was relatively limited. It could not be used to carefully observe the search target. Of course, it was not easy to estimate the distance with the scale line. Moreover, the accuracy requirement of 2MOA was too loose for a sniper rifle. Therefore, it was impossible to use it for long-range sniping, but there was not much need for short-range sniping. Snipers who were going on missions would naturally not use a gun that could only be used for short-range sniping.
Looking further, no country's military was currently developing or officially using similar weapons. On the contrary, their special forces (the forces closest to the so-called scouts and scouts) used lightweight assault rifles. For example, the M4A1 carbine gun adopted by the United States in 1994 had a range of up to 600 meters. Even with the ACOG4×32 sight, it weighed less than half a kilogram more than the SteyrScout. However, it could shoot semi-automatically or fully automatically, whether it was a single shot from a medium range or a close-range fire suppression. This was the weapon that the scouts should use.
M4A1: length 861mm, weight 3.6kg(with ACOG scope), 30-round magazine, semi-automatic/full-automatic
SteyrScout: 1005mm long, 3.2kg(with scope), 5-round magazine, manual
From the above, it could be seen that translating the ScoutRifle into a sniper rifle was completely wrong because it had nothing to do with military affairs. So, what should I translate it to? From the literal point of view, a scout was not necessarily a scout or a scout. It could also be used for people who loved outdoor activities, such as Boy Scout, Girl Scout, etc. The scout here was not a scout, right?
In fact, Colonel Cooper had always loved hunting, and the requirement of killing a target weighing 200 kilograms showed that this was a general hunting rifle, so it was better to think about it from the perspective of hunting. Whether it was in Africa, Europe, or America, hunters often hired guides to use their professional knowledge and experience to help them obtain better hunting results. These guides were usually people who loved the outdoors. Of course, they all wanted a light and easy to use shotgun to deal with all kinds of situations. The ScoutRifle was a weapon made in heaven for them. What were these people called? That's right, they were usually called gamescouts. Therefore, if the ScoutRifle was translated as a guide rifle, it would probably be more appropriate than a scout rifle.
Currently, the only mass-produced gun based on the concept of the guide rifle on the market was the ScoutRifle from the Steyr factory in Austria, which had a retail price of more than 2000 US dollars. But even so, Cooper himself believed that Steyr's gun was only 88% of the concept of a guide rifle. There were also a few other manufacturers who were eager to ride the train of the guide rifle, such as Savage's FMC10 ScoutRifle and Springfield's ScoutSquadRifle. They were basically modified from the existing mass-produced guns and were far from the concept of the guide rifle. As for Springfield's M6Scout, it could only be considered a survival gun.
In addition to the guns sold by manufacturers, many people also modified their existing guns into guided rifles. In fact, the most important thing was that the gun could meet the needs of the user. It did not necessarily have to follow the specifications of some famous person.
The position of the scope was more flexible. Generally, the scope installed in the front was a low-magnification scope. Most of the Steyr Scout used a scope with a 2 - 4x scope. It was obviously too small for sniping, but it was enough for hunting.
This is a photo of the KLA published in the October 15th, 1998 issue of America Today. Although there is a Steyr Scout in it, the militia in the war zone often use whatever they have. The hunting rifles confiscated by the peacekeepers for war also have a lot of dazzling paint. This camouflage is usually only used by hunters."
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