Monday, April 22, 2013

Choices And The Opportune Moment

I finally broke down and bought an AR-15 rifle a couple years ago (one of these) and despite Jeff Cooper's whingeing I've found it to be both an effective (I suspect that most of the good Colonels complaint was centered around the performance of the ammo available in his day as opposed to the rifle itself) and a fun rifle to shoot.  But I do take his point about the lack of oomph inherent to the caliber, so I've been thinking about getting another rifle in .308 Win as a companion piece for those occasions when you'd really be more satisfied by putting a bit more emphasis on the object of your attention.

This Saturday just past, I went to the shooting range and, along with contributing another 100 or so 9mm brass cases to the club reloading effort, I spotted one of these beautys on the "For Sale" rack (the 6803 to be precise) (oddly, the Ruger site doesn't advertise the 20 round magazines that come with the gun - ETA: that would be because it's a 10 rounder too.  Durr.) and, much fumbling about and shared if's, but's, and maybe's later, I'll be taking home my own "Gunsite Approved" Scout rifle in another couple weeks (once I have the other half of the $810 cash-in-hand).

So, what glass for .308 Win out of a carbine length barrel?  Preferably something that doesn't cost (too much) more than the gun itself does, please.  Also, any brand recommendations on a CW sling?  I expect once I've made that choice picking swivels will become obvious and, if the guy who made up the gun says that's the way to go, who am I to argue?

I first learned riflery through the adjustable rear peep/fixed front post sights on a 1903 Springfield pushing .22 LR out of a heavy target barrel that seemed to weigh a ton to my still-a-summer-shy-of-13 self.  The adjustable rear peep and front post factory-installed sights on the Ruger offer a comfortably familiar feel with a much more practical design, but I've not had good luck using elevated scope rings on other guns before this - maybe the forward mount/long eye relief design will change that.  If not, I'll have to pick one or ta'other again.  If only all of life's choices were between pleasurable options, eh?

Now, about that .308 ammo ...

1 comment:

eriko said...

Scout scopes
http://swfa.com/Search.aspx?k=scout&t= The have a couple custom Leupolds with 4x28 and 5x33. The latter having the firedot illuminated reticule. Much the Leatherwood CMR for the AR's some have had good like with their LER. I have an older Leupold 2.5x28 and am pretty happy with it.