Skout .25 Skout Epoch

[AirRanger]

That thing is a beast, I love the way that looks, it’s just different but futuristic!!! Very cool and congrats.

 

[Scotty1]

I broke down and put my RMAC raffle scope on mine. A bit overkill perhaps, but what the hey…

 

[Centercut]

I broke down and put my RMAC raffle scope on mine. A bit overkill perhaps, but what the hey…View attachment 406592

Vortex Razor HD Gen3? Now your gun is REALLY heavy!

 

[Scotty1]

Vortex Razor HD Gen3? Now your gun is REALLY heavy!

It sure IS heavy …my wife helps me get it out to the garage every morning!

 

[Centercut]

It sure IS heavy …my wife helps me get it out to the garage every morning!

Thats what SHE said...!

 

[lbc_PSI]

That thing would look really wicked with a reflex stripper/moderator that butted up against the barrel nut.

 

[Bigragu]

That’s a handsome set up of a gun you got, Scotty. That scope looks at home on that Epoch.

I mounted a vector optics Sentinel on mine for now, and if the epoch proves itself, it’ll get the delta Stryker on it

 

[Smok3y]

I broke down and put my RMAC raffle scope on mine. A bit overkill perhaps, but what the hey…View attachment 406592

I would have done the same if I hadn’t just sold it a couple weeks ago. I wanted to pick up a Zeiss 6-36, but I am gun poor right now. I am going to have to borrow a Falcon from another rifle to help for now.

 

[Bigragu]

In the spirit of continuing our Skout megathread, I thought I would chip in with a small update and thoughts after unboxing my new Skout 25.

1. This thing is a beast! I didn’t weigh it, but it is easily the heaviest rifle I have owned without a scope. That is a good thing to me, because I always add weight anyway. I still might add some weight (why not) to the MLOK rails, and of course a 3+lb scope.
2. I went with .25, because I wanted something different and have only briefly owned a 25. I also have the 25” barrel. It came with all 3 of the original liner inserts from before they changed. Says it was tuned for 920 with 25gr pellets, so I already see I will need to do some tuning later for 34gr.
3. I do have the extended bipod rail. I wish all the manufacturers would include these, but all the major ones don’t.
4. I was surprised with a DonnyFL adapter that I wasn’t expecting. It does screw all the way in, so score!
5. It didn’t include the new barrel lock, as the dealer forgot to include it with the older stock rifle, but Skout responded to my query for a free one really quickly and is sending me one.
6. This case is heavy duty. I never use the cases, so we will see if this is a good thing or something they could have saved on. The tool case appears to be made by the same company that makes them for Eagle Vision. I like these and use my Eagle Vision ones for other things. I also like the nice set of Allen keys.
7. I do have a new enough version that includes the on/off switch on the bottle, so that is good. So many dials everywhere!

I looked through the included manual, but I look through the online version as well. Very detailed with real pictures.

Biggest problem I have is no spare scope! Looks like I’ll be taking my Falcon off my FT rig until I can pick one up. Also picked up a Ghost off a friend, so I have some work cut out for me trying 2 completely new platforms to me.

View attachment 406336

SMOKEY3Y- did that new Skout come with a DFL adapter? Or did you order that separately?

 

[Bigragu]

Went back a couple of pages and looked over the two color tone guns, and you know what would’ve given them more bling blang eye candy, is to have had the reg adjustment knobs under the front of the gun anodized the same colors!!

Hmmm…..

 

[Scotty1]

Went back a couple of pages and looked over the two color tone guns, and you know what would’ve given them more bling blang eye candy, is to have had the reg adjustment knobs under the front of the gun anodized the same colors!!

Hmmm…..

Time to break out the red Sharpie!

 

[Smok3y]

SMOKEY3Y- did that new Skout come with a DFL adapter? Or did you order that separately?

I picked it up used from Utah Air. Checked in to see what they had and this was mentioned as well. So I looked around another week or two and decided to go with this one at a discount with extra barrels and the rail. (I meant to put all that in the original post, but it got so long I forgot all I wanted to say!)

I didn’t order the adapter because I was going to wait and see how loud it is. It wasn’t listed in their listing, so it was either included from the previous owner and not mentioned or they threw it in there for me. Either way it was surprise!

 

[Motorhead]

Went back a couple of pages and looked over the two color tone guns, and you know what would’ve given them more bling blang eye candy, is to have had the reg adjustment knobs under the front of the gun anodized the same colors!!

Hmmm…..

Knobs are STAINLESS STEEL ..... Silver they will always be

 

[inverted]

@Centercut
could you, please, share the size of the x-rings that you've used for sealing digital pressure gauges
I'm waiting for mine to arrive so I would like to prepare correct size orings

Thnx!
Walt

 

[Centercut]

3.63 x 2.62 mm. Although that will work on the Skout gauge ports with BSP threaded gauges, the factory is 1/8 NPT that does not use an oring. Those seal on the threads with Teflon tape, no oring. In my post above with the digital gauges those are 1/8 NPT.

 

[Smok3y]

Small update after a quick shooting session today. Many more likes than dislikes today. I pulled a Falcon off my FT rifle to quickly shoot the Ghost and the Skout today. With all that shooting, there was not any prep time, just shooting time!

Started off, and I must have done something extremely goofy with my scope setup, because I had to dial right 16MOA! When I threw it on the Ghost first without changing rings (high riser and low rings) I barely had to adjust at all. Then I quickly swapped rings (no riser so needed high rings) on the scope and put it on the Skout without any alignment besides the level that is already attached to the scope. I’m not sure what I did there, and I can’t imagine it was the Skout. Never had that happen before. I’ll take it off and remount it properly next time then report back.

Dislikes:

1. Grip - I wish we could swap grips, but I see the obvious reason we can’t with the electronics inside. I might swap out the palm swells and see if I like it better. I like a large grip to fill my hands. Part of this is also the trigger length (is that the right term?). The trigger feels too close to the grip, so I’ll check and see if that is adjustable.
2. ARCA rail - Picatinny rail didn’t fit, and I don’t have any ARCA attachments. I couldn’t fit any of my Picatinny rails in the MLOK on the bottom. Couldn’t attach my bipod today. I can also try longer screws, but there isn’t much room between it and the bottle, so not sure if it will work. There looks to be a standard lip on this rail. I checked these pic attachments on another rifle and I couldn’t get the pic rails to go either, so I think it is just because of the specs on the cheap pic rails I have. Picking up longer screws today. This may not be Skouts fault except that I am invested in pic bipods and can’t get mine to adapt today.

Likes:

1. Skout sent me a barrel lock quickly and it was here before I took it out today. The video online was quick and easy.
2. Trigger - So sweet! I forgot to check the trigger pull weight, but it is the nicest I’ve had on an air rifle since the Red Wolf and Thomas. Just need to see if I can adjust the trigger length to be further out and not so close to the grip.
3. Accurate - The tune is set up for the 25gr pellets, so I left it for now to see how it would do. The groups were consistently inside 1/2” (outside edge). Pleasantly surprised, even this is would I would have expected.
4. Consistent Tune at 110/1200. Filled it up to somewhere around 3800-4000 PSI (didn’t confirm but I know my fill bottle was only around 4k). Stopped at 75 shots and I think still had 100-200 PSI to go. ES = 26, SD 3.6, 912-928. First shot and last shot were both 919, so no falloff at all along the spread. I was shooting pretty fast for testing, not for competition.
5. Big mag - I was really nice having that big magazine and not having to reload every 8 rounds. It worked well. After the last shot, you can sort of hear it make a different noise when you cock it again with no pellet, so you know you are out. I still fired off another shot both times to be sure and it was empty both times. The bad is that it doesn’t lock the cocking hammer to make it blatantly obvious.
6. Cocking handle - so nice not having tension, but it isn’t as smooth as a Red Wolf!

I rather enjoyed it. I am extremely glad I bought this and can’t wait to shoot it more. I don’t think it will be too loud with just the factory moderator. I think comparing it to the Ghost 30 powerhouse with no moderator made the Skout seem quieter. I will still probably pick up an aftermarket mod anyway.

 

[inverted]

3.63 x 2.62 mm. Although that will work on the Skout gauge ports with BSP threaded gauges, the factory is 1/8 NPT that does not use an oring. Those seal on the threads with Teflon tape, no oring. In my post above with the digital gauges those are 1/8 NPT.

Thank you for the info!

 

[Centercut]

I took the Skout to 100Y BR at Rio Salado this morning (local competition). Wanted to decide once and for all which pellets it likes best under tournament conditions.

My .25 Skout on left (with Vortex Golden Eagle 15-60x scope) and Scott’s @Scotchmo .30 Skout on right.

I decided to shoot the five 5 shot targets on the left column with JTS 33.8, and the five 5 shot targets on the right column with 33.95 RangeMaster (like JSB MK2 Heavy). The middle three targets are for sighters. The Gold Skout shot REALLY well, the average of those 5 groups in the right column is less than MOA.

My left score was 225, my right score was 241. These are straight scores, no plugging. It’s pretty obvious which ones performed best., -9 to -25. Anyone want to buy some JTS 33.8 grain pellets?
Both were shooting about 950 fps. Both have a BC of 0.055. Wind conditions were actually slightly worse when I shot the right column.

These targets are slightly larger than the EBR targets (about 9%), but they are not plugged to .35 caliber… That 241 would convert to a 226 if shot at an EBR target plugged - very good, but not great.
PS., Scott's .30 Skout shot really well also, as he shot a 464 with 12-x. Nice shooting Scott!

 

[LukeSowinski]

I took the Scout to 100Y BR at Rio Salado this morning. Wanted to decide once and for all which pellets it likes best under competition conditions.

My .25 Skout on left and Scott’s @Scotchmo .30 Skout on right.

View attachment 407979

I decided to shoot the five 5 shot targets on the left column with JTS 33.8, and the five 5 shot targets on the right column with 33.95 RangeMaster (like JSB MK2 Heavy). The middle three targets are for sighters. The Gold Skout shot REALLY well, the average of those 5 groups in the right column is less than MOA.

My left score was 225, my right score was 241. These are straight scores, no plugging. It’s pretty obvious which ones performed best., -9 to -25. Anyone want to buy some JTS 33.8 grain pellets?
Both were shooting about 950 fps. Both have a BC of 0.055. Wind conditions were actually slightly worse when I shot the right column.

View attachment 407984

These targets are slightly larger than the EBR targets (about 9%), but they are not plugged to .35 caliber…

Great shooting! Looks like you’ve really got
It dialed in!

 

[Centercut]

I think by this thread having over 5,000 views, you can see that I do like the .25 Skout Epoch that I won in a raffle at EBR 2023 very much, and that its accuracy is right there with any other high-end airgun on the market (Daystate, FX, RAW, etc.).
There is one MINOR issue that I feel could be fixed easily, and one issue that I would call MEDIUM that will need some engineering...

First, the minor issue. When cocking the gun, the cocking handle is not held back by either a ball detent or a magnet. Scott S. @Motorhead posted his solution to this and has done it on his Skout.

Second, the "medium" issue. The HP reg pressure varies with bottle pressure. In a conventional PCP with a knock open valve (not a balanced valve) tuned on the "knee", 150 to 200 psi (10 to 13 bar) isn't that big of a deal. However, the Skout uses a different kind of valve (spool valve?) that is very sensitive to plenum pressure.

So, shooting at 100Y BR yesterday at Rio, I filled my gun to 3700 to 3750 psi, and HP reg pressure was 1900+ psi at the start. As I shot, the bottle pressure of course decreased, and the HP reg (plenum) pressure dropped correspondingly. In this case from about 1925 to 1745 ish. What I saw was a gradual drop in POI as I shot a couple of magazines. Now, I shoot lots of sighters, so it was easy to compensate for this throughout the match. There is a decrease in speed of the pellet from around 965 to about 940 fps from 3700 to 2500 psi. I refilled at 2500 a couple of times but going down closer to 2000 psi would have resulted in a further pressure drop and lowering pellet speed.

Shooting like this in an EFT event could cause problems. Most EFT events are 40 shots, and the gun can give 40 shots from a single fill, but having the POI drop over the course of the match is unacceptable and "could" result in misses at the longer KZs in later stages. What I'll have to do is fill to 3600 ish and shoot to 2900 ish, then refill. Not a big deal, but just one more thing to think of while competing.

Some owners have added an inline Huma bottle reg to address this issue @stoti, but that's a band aid for the real issue. I'd like to see Skout upgrade the HP reg to fix this issue - they may already be working on it, I'm just not aware of it... Other than that issue, the gun is sold competition ready. Look at that target above in a previous post with the Daystate Rangemaster .25 Heavy pellets (right column). Those targets are competitive at any Pro level 100Y benchrest event. I have not shot this gun one on one against my .25 Daystate Red Wolf yet, so I don't know which one I'll compete with in 2024 at the "majors"...

I'll be shooting my Skout at the EFT GP event in Florida in two weeks and let you know how it does at that type of competition. I'll need to get the gun set up for that this coming weekend, since I haven't shot it at an EFT event and don't even have the correct dope for 20 to 100 yards... More to follow.