Ruger Scout Rifle

It’s pretty much understood that Jeff Cooper was first to formally define a Scout rifle. It has to weigh less than seven pounds; sight options should be forward mounted optical or open iron; magazine capacity of ten rounds; be factory prepped for mounting a center bore Picatinny rail; include a threaded barrel for adding on a flash hider/muzzle brake; and have an adjustable length of pull. So it is with the Ruger. There are some differences that could trip you up in servicing this popular hunting gun.

True, it is built on the trusted and proven Model 77 platform and retains the reliable LP6 trigger. Like the Model 77 in .357 we covered in the November 2012 issue and most other Ruger 77 rifles, its firing pin assembly is restricted. Once it has been removed from the bolt body it has to remain as removed until reassembly. Powerful springs combined with a need for unavailable and proprietary tooling make any parts replacement outside the factory off limits if not impossible. Please consider yourself advised.

Unlike other Model 77 versions the Scout Rifle has switched from a two-piece to a single piece bolt body configuration. More on how the switch alters an approach to the ejector will come later. One headache of no small proportions remains present with the Scout Rifle and common to all other Model 77-based rifles. The forward mounting screw (47) and mounting lug (29) remain unchanged. You’ll note the lug is angled.

This serves to secure the magazine and torque down the receiver into solid contact with the stock via tightening the mounting screw. The action cannot be removed from the stock as long as the mounting screw and lug remain in place. It is also available with a laminated wooden stock and meets the definitions of the concept. Current calibers are .308 Winchester and .223 Remington/5.56mm NATO.

Are you familiar with a running back wearing #24 for the Seattle Seahawks called "The Beast." When functioning in Beast Mode the entire Seahawk offense feeds on his intensity at plowing through or over all opposition. Similarly, as with all other Model 77 platforms, the forward mounting screw is installed in beast mode. About 80 to 90 inch-pounds of it. I made, or rather chose to make, a tooling investment to avoid multiple broken driver bits, loused up mounting screw heads, and badly bruised self respect.

The tool purchased appears in Brownells catalog identified as a California Torque Wrench, having a twelve-inch handle and adjusts from 30 to 200 inch-pounds. Along with the wrench I ordered in a 1/4" squareto-hex converter that snaps into the wrench to accept all 1/4" hex bits. My Magna-Tip #430-5 fit perfectly. Uncharacteristically compared to its Seattle namesake, the Beast backed off. The rear mounting screw (#46) presented no similar problem. Neither did the cross bolt nut (#7) or the cross bolt (#30).

The action is lifted straight up a little at a time to assure the barrel and receiver remain level. The magazine well (#53) is pushed straight downward along with the trigger guard. Stock and action are now separated. To remove the bolt, rotate its handle (#14) upward and pull the bolt to the rear while simultaneously swinging the bolt stop (#15) outward. The stop is located on the left side of the receiver for right handed models and on the right side of the receiver for left hand models.

Rarely will you need to go any further to provide a routine cleaning of the rifle. I’m going to consider this is one of those rare occasions. After you have cocked and opened the bolt, locate what I’ll call "the further disassembly hole" in the striker/ cocking piece. Insert a close-fitting length of drill rod or punch least two inches long through the hole. The drill rod or punch will act as a T-handle when backing out or replacing the firing pin assembly.

Do not remove the rod or punch until after the assembly has been reinstalled in the bolt. The means of extraction differs significantly between a Scout Rifle and others riding the Model 77 platform. I’ll refer you back once again to coverage in our November 2012 issue. There, the extractor was part of, meaning built in to, the bolt head. With the Scout, the extractor (#23) rides in a track milled into the bolt body and

retained by an extractor band (#16). There are similar track-mounted extractors in the world of rifles. There are special extractor pliers made for them from Brownells. They are gentle and kind when used to raise the main body of the extractor in order to rotate it out of its track, or slot as some prefer to call it. Once that is accomplished, the retainer is easily removed from the body of the extractor. Staying on the main subject of Ruger’s Scout Rifle obliges me to point to another significant difference.

Its ejector (#28) is part of the receiver, not the bolt, and retained by a pivot pin (#21). The procedure of removal/ replacement therefore bears no similarity to most other 77 Models. More precisely then, once the bolt is out of the rifle hold it with the ejector facing upward. Press inward on the ejector. Simultaneously, tap lightly but repeatedly on the front end of the receiver. The pivot pin should react to the tapping by starting to escape its Both can be indispensable when dealing with super tight screws.

The action cannot be separated from the stock with the screw in place. pivot hole. When you can help it along with tweezers or a set of smooth jaw long nose pliers please do so. Access to the pin or ejector for repair/replacement is a reality. In the "offer praise when praise is due" department, there are owner’s manuals and other manufacturer manuals not worth owning in the firearms business.

I have often huffed mightily in protest and all too frequently wasted my huffing in efforts to convince manufacturers, importers, and assorted representatives well positioned in their respective organizations of a fact I believe is absolute truth: The more information the majority of individuals serving the shooting public who purchase the products made or marketed by an organization can acquire and put into practice (meaning us) the lower the cost and risk of litigation to that organization will be.

It is with no small satisfaction I have learned the higher the head wearing the ears doing the listening, the higher may be the interest in any suggestion made. Please do not misunderstand. I take and deserve no credit for specific content of Ruger’s instruction manual.

Outside of the now out-of-print field manuals previously published to support off Apremises warranty service, such as those once published for Winchester, Browning, and Remington factory service centers, the Ruger Scout Rifle owner’s manual comes the closest I’ve been exposed to in meeting my pleas for information. Maybe, just maybe, somebody upstairs agrees with me. The manual adds nothing more than hasn’t been said here about the forbidden firing pin assembly.

Included between its pages are disassembly/reassembly of the trigger, sear, safety assembly, and reinstallation of the firing pin assembly according to factory methods. Aside from the oft-mentioned restricted nature of the ignition assembly, the only item not mentioned is the use of a plastic bag within which you can perform disassembly without risk of losing, thereby having to replace at your own expense, a fairly sizable number of little springs and other equally small parts.

Keeping that potential loss of profit in mind, I advise with no small urgency you place a call to Ruger Customer Service for a free copy of the Scout Rifle Instruction Manual. Of course, you can also download a copy of it at ruger.com. The instruction manual for this Ruger sets a much higher standard for providing more meaningful gun-

smithing information than the majority of owner’s manuals. Having one on hand in your tech file is recommended as a sound, advanced planning step to take. It will contain the complete parts list.

Have the serial number of the rifle involved at hand Ruger Scout Rifle (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 1 Barrel 2 Receiver 3 Front Sight Cross Pin 4 Front Sight 5 Butt Pad Holder 6 Butt Plate Screw 7 Stock Cross Bolt Nut 8 Rear Sling Swivel Stud 9 Sling Swivel Front Screw 10 Recoil Pad Screws, 2 Req’d 11 Butt Pad Spacer 12 Recoil Pad 13 Stock 14 Bolt and use the sometimes lengthy part number when placing the order.

They have been dictated by technicians of 15 Bolt Stop 16 Extractor 17 Safety 18 Safety Selector Retainer 19 Magazine Latch 20 Flash Suppressor 21 Ejector Pivot Pin 22 Sear 23 Extractor Band 24 Safety Selector Detent Spring 25 Safety Selector Detent 26 Rear Sight Base 27 Sear Pivot Pin 28 Ejector 29 Front Mounting Lug 30 Stock Cross Bolt 31 Bolt Stop Plunger Spring Retaining 32 Bolt Stop Plunger 33 Bolt Stop Stud Bushing 34 Bolt Stop Screw Stud 35 Flash Suppressor Washer 36 Dovetail Slide (Rear Sight) 37 Rear Sight Windage Screw 38 Rear Sight Apeture 39 Trigger 40 Ejector Spring 41 Trigger/Sear Spring 42 Magazine the manufacturer of the firearm featured and must not be revealed to non- AGA members/American Gunsmith readers.

AG 43 Rear Sight Screw 44 Picatinny Rail Screw, 4 Req’d 45 Picatinny Rail 46 Rear Mounting Screw 47 Front Mounting Screw 48 Magazine Latch Pin 49 Magazine Latch Spring 50 Trigger Pivot Pin 51 Firing Pin Spring 52 Firing Pin 53 Trigger Guard/Magazine Well 54 Bolt Stop Plunger Spring 55 Scope Ring, High 56 Scope Ring, Medium