In late December I picked up my new Scout in 7mm-08. Upon opening the box the stainless fluted barrel and lightweight feel of the rifle struck me as features that clinched the deal on purchasing the rifle in the first place. Looking into the box a Dead On one piece scope base/intregal mount was supplied with the rifle a $40 retail item. The supplied base is rock steady on the rifle and is secured with four torx bit fasteners. The lower part of the base is one piece and includes the lower part of the scope rings. The upper scope rings are fastened to the lower part of the rings with torx bit screws. These were very solid as well.
The receiver is noticeably "missing" any spline pins that are standard on my Handi's and Toppers and is smooth from the buttstock to forend. The word Scout is also etched in each side of the receiver. The caliber designation and CVA Scout logo are lazer etched into the barrel in a black color writing. The 22" barrel has 9 inches of fluting begining near the end of the forend and extend down toward the muzzle of barrel ending about 2 1/2" from the muzzle. The forend is approxiamately 10" long and is square shaped and lightly checkered to supply a good hand grip. Two standard screws attach the forend to the barrel and the forend is supplied with a swivel stud about 3/4" from the end of the forend itself.
The ambidextrous buttstock is a black composite along with the forend being black composite. Overall length of the buttstock is 15" and a swivel stud is molded into the buttstock as well. The Crush Zone recoil pad is similar to the cushy Limbsaver and increases the ease to shoulder of this rifle.
The trigger guard houses the breeching lever and is made out of some type of metal alloy. The trigger breaks easily at 3.1lbs measured with a RCBS trigger pull guage. An ambidextrous hammer extension is supplied with the rifle and is easily switched from side to side because the end of the hammer is threaded for quick switching.
The barrel is an extractor type and the barrel breech and the standing receiver breech are nicely finished. Lock up is 100% positive with no side wobble and no visible light detected between breech and barrel face.
I installed the scope mount system and mounted a Redfield Revolution 2-7x33mm scope on this rifle and as soon as the weather permits here in the frozen tundra, I'll post a range report. I purchased a box of factory WW 140 grain ammo and will use these to check for fit and function. After that I plan to handload some Hornady 139 grain SP Interlocks and some Speer 145 grain Hot-Cor bullets. As soon as I can test I'll post a part 2 with some pics.
More Later...................
