The folks on scoutrifle.org are very interesting, and seem to fall into two groups. The first group loves any factory production rifle that has SCOUT in its name, and seems to buy them all, with members always listing all of the others that they own.
The second group is extremely detailied in their analysis, assessing each rifle on a point by point by point basis. Many in this second group see the stubbie 16.5 inch barrel as a major drawback.
Personally, I think Ruger should have just named it the Ruger "Jungle Carbine", because that's all it really is.
It seems as if the only reason they put the stubbie barrel on it was so that when a full magazine of ammunition is inserted, the overall weight of the rifle will stay under the exact weight limit specified by Cooper. What they have done, though, is to throw the baby out with the bath, and created an impractical mish-mash, that is far removed from an all around rifle.
I also think that the overly long, square edged 10 round magazine is a clumbsy mess. They should have gone with an 8 round magazine, with rounded bottom edges, like the bottom of the Enfield Mags.
I predict that Ruger won't be selling many of these "scouts" and will discontinue them in a couple of years.
Mannyrock
