A great scout platform - Winchester 54 carbine

[mannyrock]

Hey Guys,
 
   Just wanted to pass this info along.   I have never been very interested in the Scout concept, but I know that alot of folks are. 
 
    The predecessor to the Winchester Model 70 was the Winchester model 54.  No they are not as perfect as the Model 70, but they are still very nice rifles.  I think they were made from 1925 to 1935.
 
   Anyway, they came in both sporter and carbine models, in .30-06, and both rifles have the built in "stripper clip" cut in the rear of the receiver.  The metal is very rugged.
 
  The carbine has a 20 inch barrel, and a military style stock.  The original configuration has a steel buttplate.  The actions are as smooth as glass.
 
  These rifles have never achieved the collectible status of the pre-64 Model 70s, and are pretty easy to find on gun boards.   The carbines in pristine condition, of course, bear a collector's premium, but the ones that have been altered in any manner (stock cut for pad, extra d/t holes in receiver,  safety lever changed out to a buehler safety, etc.), are in the $400 to $600 area.   The sporter versions came with a really great factory-installed Lyman receiver sight, but the carbines did not.  (The carbines do have the two holes in the side to install a receiver site.)
 
  Just thought I would pass this info along.  Were I to build a scout, this is where I would start.  You could leave it in .30-06, or convert it to .308.
 
Regards, Mannyrock
 
 

[Mikey]

Manny:  I had one of those, but the target model.  It was no less solid or heavy than a 98 Mauser and to be honest I thought/think it would be too heavy for a scout rifle application. 
Honestly, I think if I were to build a scout rifle application I might go with a 5.5 lb Savage with the accutrigger.  If I was going for mil-spec compatability I would choose the 308, otherwise it would be the 260. 

[D Fischer]

Wellm I can't recommend using the "spell check". All it's done for me both times I used it is to erase my post.
I have been reading about this thing called a scout rifle for a long time, have no clue what makes a scout rifle or what advantages it may have. I susp[ect it may be what we used to call a carbine. Short action and barrel 20" or less. If that is what it is, what was the need to rename it? Ah! sales!

[mannyrock]

Mr. Fischer,
 
  Google the phrase "Jeff Cooper Scout Rifle Specifications" and you will learn all that you would ever want to know about the scout rifle concept.  It's not just a catch phrase for a carbine.  There are "rules" for defining it. :-)
 
Best regards, Mannyrock
 

[D Fischer]

Mr. Fischer,
 
  Google the phrase "Jeff Cooper Scout Rifle Specifications" and you will learn all that you would ever want to know about the scout rifle concept.  It's not just a catch phrase for a carbine.  There are "rules" for defining it. :-)
 
Best regards, Mannyrock

Thank you. I just looked and it appears to me that the big difference is how the scope is mounted. I sat a Rem 721 a gunsmith in Alaska put together just like that many years ago. He took a long eye relief handgun scope and mounted it out on the barrel. Was really fast to just throw up and shoot. Don't recall what he called it though, wasn't scout rifle. Trying to remember when that was, around 1984r I think.

[smokehouserex]

 
  No disrespect to Mr. Cooper or anyone else but wasn't the forward mounted scope used by some military forces for sniper rifles in WWII?
  I know someone used this configuration on some Mauser Rifles by removing the rear sight and spring and machining a piece to fit into the base for a scopebase and use a EER Scope.
 IIRC I used to see mod. 94Win. with this also.
  Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
  HM

[ScoutMan]

For a complete story on the scout rifle, go here:
 
http://www.scoutrifle.org/

[Swampman]

I'd rather have a .30-06.

[ScoutMan]

To each his own