John Taffin is a gun writer who has cost me a lot of time and money chasing the “perfect packin’ pistol”, a concept he has written about extensively over the years. I think I have all of his books and have enjoyed all of my time reading and experimenting with his concept. To add to his excellent idea, I will discuss rifles that I have used over the years or rifles that I want to use that fit the bill as the “perfect” packin’ rifle (PPR). It may not roll off the tongue as easily as the perfect packin’ pistol, but it makes up for that with real performance. Kind of like the difference between packing a pistol around vs. packing a rifle around.
The first rifle I ever used that might be in contention for the title of perfect packin’ rifle was the old Remington 600 in 308. Mine was a Gunsite Gunsmithy creation that turned the already trim little carbine into a scout rifle. Not an exact copy of Col. Cooper’s #1 Scout, but close enough for my use. I lucked into the gun through a friend of mine who had taken a scout rifle class at Gunsite and then bought the rifle. When I knew him, he lived in NYC, and as he got older, decided that he didn’t have as much use for a gun designed for scouting on two continents. He sold me the gun at a great price, even if it was a lot of money back then for a recent college grad. The only mistake I made was not also buying his 350 RM version which he offered me as well. Still kicking myself about that, but it was just too much money for me back then.
Like a good Scout rifle, it had a Leupold M8 2.5X scope attached forward of the action. That scope was a little dated by the time I started using it, but it worked out ok anyway. A slightly bigger issue was the hard buttplate, as the guns never came with a rubber recoil pad and its factory stock was untouched. I always wondered why the ‘smithy didn’t rectify that, but the gun worked and shot just fine anyway. 308 doesn’t have a lot of recoil, but when shot out of your first 308 that weighs around 6.5#, a rubber recoil pad is a good thing.
That rifle taught me a lot about shooting, as well as a lot about the scout rifle concept. Eventually, I moved it on as I just never used it much. One thing that always nagged me about the 600 was the safety recall from Remington. Mine did not undergo that particular indignity, allowing it to retain the bolt lock feature that I prefer. However, I refused to field the gun as intended, just in case taking the safety off led to an AD.
Shortly after acquiring the 600, my next PPR showed up. It was the JC version of the Steyr Scout. I ditched the cheap Galco Ching Sling and replaced it with a really nice leather Ching sling from Andy’s Leather. Other than that, it remained stock for the rest of my time with it. It shot really well, and the Steyr Scout stock design is still one of the best ever…from the pistol grip back. Forward of the pistol grip, it is less than the best ever, between the cheap folding bipod and the boxy wide forend.
That gun served me very well on the range where I learned to take advantage of the Scout rifles’ inherent qualities. Once I took it in the field for some deer hunting out west, I realized the shortcomings of the Scout scope, and that gun, lamentably, moved on to a friend’s armory. It was a fairly expensive gun back then, and as I was getting into custom long-range rifles, that money went in another direction.
Since then, I’ve had many other “perfect” packin’ rifles, some of which we will talk about another time. Right now, my PPR is a Tikka T3X in 308. with a 20″ barrel. It is almost as light and handy as the 19″ Scout and retains the bolt lock feature I prefer. It has about the smoothest bolt throw there is, and the detachable magazines are high quality, trim, and lightweight. Of course, the gun shoots better than MOA as well. It has a slim forend and an adjustable pistol grip. For an inexpensive gun, it is very ergonomic, very accurate, very packable, and surprisingly adaptable to different shooters’ hand size preferences. At some point we will visit that gun in more detail.