Guns I Wish I Had - Part 4 - Steyr Scout 7.62 NATO

The Steyr Scout is unconventional-looking like most other Steyr weapons. And like them, it owes many of its strengths to the that type of "outside the box" thinking. Based on Jeff Cooper's Scout Rifle concept, it is intended to be a medium weight weapon able to take on several different types of tasks.

The Scout is a bolt action rifle, most often chambered in 7.62x51 NATO (.308 Winchester) although it is also available in the .243 Winchester, 5.56NATO, 7mm-08 and .376 Steyr. It is fed from a detachable box magazine with a capacity of five rounds, although a kit exists to boost that to ten. It features a heavy 20 inch barrel for accuracy and flutes cut into the barrel to make it as light as possible. It is known for having a fairly stiff bolt action. Steyr made the stock out of durable polymers to make the weapon light, strong, and impervious to the elements. The Scout also has an integral folding bipod. The Scout features an user-adjustable trigger that is factory set to 3.5lbs.


The Scout also has Picatinny mounts for optics forward of the action. This type of long eye relief, far forward mounting of a scope is known as "scout" mounting and is usually used with a low power scope that can be used for many applications. The rifle also has flip up ghost ring sights and a slot in the buttstock for an extra magazine. The Scout is also a very safe weapon featuring a Roller tang safety and bolt handle that locks into the receiver when in "locked safe" mode.

Note the heavy fluted barrel and integral bipod

The extra magazine slot in the stock

In recent years Steyr has released an updated version called the Steyr Elite that features an
extended STANAG optics rail, an adjustable cheek rest, and an enlarged bolt knob. Most impressively, the Elite has a heavy 22.4" barrel with a "fast" rifling that allows it to achieve a higher velocity and increased effective range.

Steyr AMR / IWS 2000

Steyr AMR prototype

A concept from WWI, the heavy anti-material rifle, which used to be called the anti-tank rifle , but following WWI, tank armor became thick enough where the only areas on most tanks that could be reliably damaged with a rifle were the tracks and the vision blocks or periscopes. With the change in tank design, the heavy ( and I mean heavy, like around 40 pounds) rifles evolved to slightly different purpose.

Anti material rifles are intended for long range destruction of light armored vehicles, soft skinned vehicles, missile launchers, aircraft (on the ground) and other high value targets. They are not intended for use against enemy personnel, however the lighter AMRs like the .50BMG have often been used as sniper rifles, especially in a counter-sniper role.

Steyr IWS 2000

The Steyr AMR/IWS 2000 (Infantry Weapon System) is chambered in a 15.2mm cartridge, which is fired from a smooth bore barrel, like a modern tank round. The rifle operates on a long recoil concept, in where the barrel recoils along with the bolt, allowing for the felt recoil to be reduced by spreading it out over a longer period of time. The barrel is also able to be quickly detached to allow the weapon to be broken down and carried by a two man team. The ammunition is an armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot, of tungsten alloy or depleted uranium. Notice the massive, multi baffled muzzle brake on the IWS version for reducing the recoil of the massive round. The recoil has been reported to be similar to a big game rifle. Tungsten and Depleted uranium are used because they have a density much greater than steel and can therefore be driven into armor in much the same way as a galvanized steel nail is driven into a soft pine board.

Discarding Sabot Cartridge

Right after the projectile leaves the barrel, the walls of the sabot break away as seen above, releasing the rod-shaped, sub-caliber penetrator. The fins at the rear of the penetrator spin to give it stabilization in flight. The small diameter of the projectile versus the cartridge and powder charge gives it truly astonishing velocity,somewhere around 4750 feet per second, combining with the super dense construction of the "bullet" to make the capable of penetrating 40mm of rolled homogeneous steel armor at a range of 1000m. Very few weapons can achieve that type of penetration and almost none at that range. Another advantage of a weapon system like this is that it would likely cost less than a Javelin missle system or other ATGMs that might be used to fill its role. A top quality AMR like the Steyr would be very useful for smaller armed forces that do not have the massive air wings and precision munitions that would be used for many anti- materiel missions in the US Armed Forces.

STEYR AMR/IWS 2000 Austria

CALIBER: 15.2mm Steyr APFSDS
Operation: long recoil,semi-automatic
Barrel: 1200mm
weight: 18kg
Length: 1800mm