Those that follow my posts know how anal I can be about accuracy. Back on June 8th of this year, I purchased one of the earlier .25 Skout rifles released, from Bin at the Pellet Shop. The purchase transaction, receipt, and packaging were perfect, as is typical with Bin.
Everything about the rifle was and is absolutely terrific and the obvious effort into the thought, engineering, and design of the rifle is evident. The only problem is that I just could not get it to shoot accurately and consistently. I tried all of the three liners. The best performance came from the oversize +1 liner even though I was informed by Skout at the PA Cup that only the standard liner should be used with pellets. I achieved one group of about 1.25 inches at 84 yards, but the typical groups were more like 1/2" at 18 yards, +/- 1.5 inches at 50 yards, and two to three inches at 84 yards.
I sorted literally thousands of .25 caliber MKI and MK2 pellets for weight and head size in an effort to find something this rifle liked. I didn't gain much performance advantage. In short, I tried everything I knew to try, over four months, and just wasn't making any progress. All of my FX, Daystate, Brocock, and RAW rifles easily outperformed the Skout in terms of accuracy.
The one thing I did notice was with the two liners of smaller bore size, when I went to close the side lever, it took considerable force the last third of the stroke to seat the pellet. I began to think that I was getting pellet distortion and/or damage due to an alignment issue.
Once I had finally had enough, exhausting everything I knew to try, I called Bin and explained what was going on. I sent him photos of the groups I was getting at various yardages, not only with the Skout but also with my other rifles, so that he could establish perhaps that it just wasn't my shooting ability.
To Bin's credit he took charge from there, and within a couple of days I had a return label to send my rifle back to Skout. Within about three days of Skout receiving the rifle, I had a call from Keith and he indicated they had been totally through the rifle, that it was now shooting sub moa at 100 yards, was cocking perfectly smooth, and that three different Skout personnel had shot and handled the rifle and all deemed it was now as good as it gets.
Within less than two weeks from the original call to Bin, I had the rifle back in my hands and it is now a totally different animal. I can verify that it cocks effortlessly. Yesterday, in a fairly stiff wind, I shot a 1/2" ten shot group at 84 yards with every pellet touching each other, shooting JSB King Heavy MK1 pellets, hand sorted to a head size of 6.37MM and a weight range of 34.21 to 34.3 gr. At this point in time, I couldn't be more pleased with the rifle, the service I received from Bin at the Pellet Shop, from Keith at Skout, and the entire Skout team for standing behind their product.
Though there was no paperwork included with the return, from my conversation with Keith, they replaced the barrel liner and believe the original standard liner I had exhibited a burr or other issue, deteriorating even more with each use and the loading of pellets. My understanding is that they went completely through the rifle, tweaking it as they would do for themselves, which is exactly what I asked for.
Bin at the Pellet Shop, and the entire Skout team have my full endorsement as people that you can trust in every regard.
Everything about the rifle was and is absolutely terrific and the obvious effort into the thought, engineering, and design of the rifle is evident. The only problem is that I just could not get it to shoot accurately and consistently. I tried all of the three liners. The best performance came from the oversize +1 liner even though I was informed by Skout at the PA Cup that only the standard liner should be used with pellets. I achieved one group of about 1.25 inches at 84 yards, but the typical groups were more like 1/2" at 18 yards, +/- 1.5 inches at 50 yards, and two to three inches at 84 yards.
I sorted literally thousands of .25 caliber MKI and MK2 pellets for weight and head size in an effort to find something this rifle liked. I didn't gain much performance advantage. In short, I tried everything I knew to try, over four months, and just wasn't making any progress. All of my FX, Daystate, Brocock, and RAW rifles easily outperformed the Skout in terms of accuracy.
The one thing I did notice was with the two liners of smaller bore size, when I went to close the side lever, it took considerable force the last third of the stroke to seat the pellet. I began to think that I was getting pellet distortion and/or damage due to an alignment issue.
Once I had finally had enough, exhausting everything I knew to try, I called Bin and explained what was going on. I sent him photos of the groups I was getting at various yardages, not only with the Skout but also with my other rifles, so that he could establish perhaps that it just wasn't my shooting ability.
To Bin's credit he took charge from there, and within a couple of days I had a return label to send my rifle back to Skout. Within about three days of Skout receiving the rifle, I had a call from Keith and he indicated they had been totally through the rifle, that it was now shooting sub moa at 100 yards, was cocking perfectly smooth, and that three different Skout personnel had shot and handled the rifle and all deemed it was now as good as it gets.
Within less than two weeks from the original call to Bin, I had the rifle back in my hands and it is now a totally different animal. I can verify that it cocks effortlessly. Yesterday, in a fairly stiff wind, I shot a 1/2" ten shot group at 84 yards with every pellet touching each other, shooting JSB King Heavy MK1 pellets, hand sorted to a head size of 6.37MM and a weight range of 34.21 to 34.3 gr. At this point in time, I couldn't be more pleased with the rifle, the service I received from Bin at the Pellet Shop, from Keith at Skout, and the entire Skout team for standing behind their product.
Though there was no paperwork included with the return, from my conversation with Keith, they replaced the barrel liner and believe the original standard liner I had exhibited a burr or other issue, deteriorating even more with each use and the loading of pellets. My understanding is that they went completely through the rifle, tweaking it as they would do for themselves, which is exactly what I asked for.
Bin at the Pellet Shop, and the entire Skout team have my full endorsement as people that you can trust in every regard.
