Saturday, June 7, 2014

Things Called Scouts Which Aren't

I just found me a genuine Thompson/Center Scout Pistol! 


One of Jeff Cooper's pet peeves was a gun given the same moniker as his pet project, the Scout Rifle.  All sorts of gunmakers didn't know this bothered Jeff, so you got your M6 survival gun, you got your M1A variant, your got your CZ452 youth model, you got your Parker Hale Mauser, and so forth.

My non-scout Thompson/Center Scout is a single-shot muzzle loading black powder hunting pistol.  I've been looking for one of these since the late 1990s. It and many other Thompson Center products were discontinued after the fire at the T/C factory in 1996. I promised myself I'd buy the next one I saw. Since then I've seen only one in person. It was only a .45 caliber and it sights had been discarded when the owner put a scope mount on it. Moving on. Mine is new in the box, showing no sign of having been fired since it left the factory years ago. 

Once offered in .45 and .50 caliber as well, mine is the romping stomping .54 caliber version, the largest they made. It'll start a .54 caliber 540 grain lead bullet at 1100 feet per secondThink of it as a 1873 Springfield Trapdoor 45/70/500 a fella can shoot with one hand - except the bullet is a little heavier and much wider. On the Cooper Short Form it rates a 96. A 454 Casull is a 80. The 45 ACP rates a 29. There is nothing I can afford to hunt that it will not utterly smash...if only I can get within 50 yards of my prey. No, it's not a scout rifle but it's a mighty hunting implement!