Back in December of 2010, I reviewed the new Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle here. I was just back from a stint at Gunsite in Arizona, where several of us had the privilege of playing with the Scout for a few days. I went into the Scout concept in detail in that review, so I won’t plow the same ground again here, but instead refer the reader to that earlier piece for that information.

Since its introduction to us at Gunsite, I have been awaiting the left-handed version, and it is now in production. I was offered the opportunity to purchase the right-handed rifle that I used at Gunsite, but it wore a prototype XS Sight Systems Scout Rail, and the folks at XS Sights wanted to buy the Ruger for further development of that rail. The XS Sights Scout Rail is now also in production, and will be shown here on this left-hand Ruger, as it offers a lot of versatility to the rifle in choice of mounting scopes and other optical sights to the Ruger Scout Rifle.

Since its introduction to the public last December, the Ruger Gunsite Scout has been a great seller. Distributors tell me that they can’t keep them in stock, that the rifles are all sold before they get them. Ruger advertises the Scout as “The one rifle to own if you can only own one”, or something along that line. I do not like the thought of only owning one rifle, but I do agree with their advertising. The Gunsite Scout is a very versatile rifle, as was promoted by Jeff Cooper many years ago. It is light enough and handy enough to carry easily, quick into action, and powerful enough to handle most anything. It is a hunting rifle, as well as a fighting rifle.

In the earlier review, I had no opportunity to put the Ruger on paper from a benchrest, so I will do that here with the left-handed version.

The Ruger Gunsite Scout wears a matte blued finish on the metal parts, with a stainless bolt that is left in its natural color. The steel magazines are a satin blue. Combined with the black laminate stock, the Scout has a very good-looking, business-like appearance. The sixteen and one-half inch barrel wears a Mini-14/AC-556 style flash suppressor, which does its job well. The flash suppressor is removable, with standard 5/8x24 threads for the addition of a sound suppressor or muzzle brake, if desired. Front and rear sling studs are provided on the stock, and the butt plate has a thick, soft recoil pad with half-inch spacers to adjust the length-of-pull to suit the owner’s body size and personal preference.

Like all Ruger bolt-action rifles, the Gunsite Scout has scope bases which are integral to the receiver, making for one of the strongest scope mounting bases available on any weapon. In addition, the Gunsite Scout rifle has a forward rail for the mounting of a long eye relief scope or another optical sight, such as an electronic dot. The Scout has a very good set of mechanical sights; a protected blade front, and a protected ghost ring aperture rear, the latter being adjustable for windage and elevation correction. The sights are quick on target, and easy to use, and the rear is removable for the addition of a scope mounted atop the receiver. The rear sight need not be removed to attach a forward-mounted scope on the Picatinny rail. The Gunsite Scout comes supplied with Ruger’s proprietary scope rings for the receiver bases, and any Picatinny or Weaver compatible rings will fit the forward-mounted Scout rail, as well as the XS Sights Scout Rail.

The Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle is very handy, with an overall length of between thirty-eight and thirty-nine and one-half inches, and a length-of-pull between twelve and three-quarters and fourteen and one-quarter inches. The length is adjustable by adding or removing the provided spacers from between the stock and recoil pad. My sample Scout weighed in at seven pounds, three ounces, and the trigger pull of the LC6 trigger measured a crisp four pounds, one ounce on my scale. The rifle came supplied with Ruger scope rings, two stock spacers, a padlock, instruction manual, and one ten-round steel magazine. Ruger sells both ten-round and five-round steel magazines online at ShopRuger.com. The hammer-forged sixteen and one-half inch barrel has a medium-weight profile, is rifled one turn in ten inches, and has six grooves with a right-hand twist. The magazine release is conveniently located and easy to use, by pushing forward on the lever just in front of the trigger guard. The safety is a three-position type which Ruger has used for many years now, and allows the action to be cycled with the safety applied, or for the bolt to be locked with the safety lever in its rearward-most position. The bolt works smoothly, lifting ninety degrees. The Gunsite Scout has Ruger’s rugged and reliable Mauser-style huge claw extractor and a fixed blade ejector.

I tried the LH Scout with a variety of sights, including a Leupold Scout scope, a Trijicon ACOG, a Trijicon Reflex, and a Leupold Mark 4 target scope for accuracy evaluation. For sighting options, the Gunsite Scout is as versatile as any rifle can be, and can be set up to suit a variety of needs and applications, including hunting, target shooting, and social work.

For accuracy testing, I mounted my Leupold 8.5 to 25 power Mark 4 scope atop the XS Sight Rail, firing from the bench using a Target Shooting, Inc. Model 1000 Rifle Rest. All accuracy and velocity testing was done at an elevation of 541 feet above sea level, with an air temperature hovering on either side of the ninety degree Fahrenheit mark, with typical Tennessee Valley humidity of around ninety percent. On the earlier Scout rifle, I had fired upon targets out to 300 yards, but had not had the opportunity to do any paper-punching, so I was anxious to see what this LH Scout would do with some quality ammunition.

I was particularly interested to see how well the Scout would do with the Buffalo Bore Sniper ammunition, as well as with some custom hand loaded ammo from Set Point. Set Point is a company that will custom-load ammunition to the buyer's specifications, with a very limited number of combinations available at this time, and I had them to load up some 308 Winchester ammo using one of my favorite handloads, which consists of the Sierra 175 grain Match King bullet loaded over 45 grains of Hodgdon Varget powder. The Buffalo Bore Sniper load uses that same fine bullet, and I think, but am not certain, that the Buffalo Bore load uses Varget powder as well.

Velocity and accuracy results are listed in the chart below. Velocity readings are the average of several shots fired at twelve feet from the muzzle, so actual muzzle velocities will be slightly higher. Accuracy results are the average of five, three-shot groups fired at a distance of one hundred yards. For testing of varmint rifles, I like to use five-shot groups when possible, but on a hunting/fighting rifle such as this Gunsite Scout, three-shot groups are indicative of the weapon’s capabilities within the likely use of such a rifle. Bullet weights are listed in grains. Velocities are listed in feet-per-second (fps). Group sizes are listed in inches.