MODIFY-TECH / ASG STEYR SCOUT REVIEW

STEYR SCOUT INTRODUCTION

The ASG / Modify-Tech Steyr Scout Rifle is a licenced Airsoft Rifle, coming from Modify-Tech and being distributed under licence via Action Sport Games.

Modify-tech are well known in the Airsoft world, they are people behind the Mod24/SSG24 rifle which gained popularity through Novritsch and also some of their newer gas replicas like the PP-2K. They’ve been in the market for a long time and over the years have made some great parts.

The Modify-Tech Steyr Scour rifle comes in at around £400 and is fully licenced with correct trades marks.

Here’s some brief history of the rifle according to Wikipedia:

“The Steyr Scout is an Austrian bolt-action rifle manufactured by Steyr Mannlicher, and chambered primarily for 7.62 NATO (.308 Winchester), although other caliber options in 5.56 NATO (.223 Remington), .243 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, .376 Steyr and 7mm-08 Remington are also offered commercially.

It is intended to fill the role of a versatile, lightweight all-around rifle as specified in Jeff Cooper’s scout rifle concept. Apart from the barrel and action, the gun is made primarily of polymers and is designed to be accurate to at least 300–400 m (330–440 yd)“

MODIFY-TECH STEYR SCOUT FIRsT IMPRESSIONS

When you get your Modify-Tech Steyr Scout Rifle, you’ll be greeted by a simple black box with some logos and trademarks from ASG/Steyr and Modify-Tech

The replica comes well packaged, being very secure in the foam. Which at this price point is nice, last thing you want is an expensive replica is just a cardboard box with no support.

In the box itself, you’ll obviously have the rifle, a magazine, patch and a manual. Pretty much standard.

As soon as I took the Steyr Scout out the box, I was immediately impressed with how the replica felt, it’s was comfortable, ergonomic and the weight felt great. it’s didn’t feel cheap, flimsy or hollow.

A nice little addition I quite liked was the flip up iron sight, which are adjustable.

Cockling the rifle for the first time was great, the bolt pull is smooth, quiet, no grating or scratching of any kind. Firing the Scout, I did notice there’s a tiny little twang sound, the same thing you get on the SSG24/Mod24, easily remedied with grease or by doing the can mod on the guide/piston.

Inserting the magazine was nice and easy, the magazines are very similar the other APS2 style magazines where they are spring loaded, while I’m a huge VSR fan, I do like the APS2 style mags and how they are much easier to load/unload.

Accessing the built in bipod just requires a button to be pushed on the underside of the stock, which then allows the legs to be folded out, with a prominent click sound, though I’m not going to lie, the first time I heard it, I genuinely thought I’d broken it!

Adjusting the hop can be done 2 ways, firstly with the bipod legs open (can just be one) you have a slide lever on either side of the receiver which can be used. From testing this is stable and licks in place nicely. Alternatively, there is actually a small TDC on the top rail too.

Another nice little feature is the spare mag placement in the rear of the stock, an additional magazine can be hidden in here (or some treats)

The safety is located behind the bolt and is readily accessible with your thumb, it’s a roller style safety and works well.

TAKEDOWN

Stripping the Steyr Scout rifle is similar to the SSG24/Mod24 based rifles, so it’s not difficult, but a smidge more involved than a typical VSR.

First thing is obviously to make sure the mag is out and replica is empty. Next up, is 2 x screws on the underside of the receiver.

Next up, you ned to unfold the bipod and tap out a pin.

After the pin is gently tapped out, the bipod slides out the front.

After that’s done, you can pop the receiver up and out of the stock.

With the receiver now free of the stock, we can move onto splitting the receiver down into 3 bits. Firstly, there is a small screw on the top on the rail, then a larger screw on the underside.

With the top and bottom screws removed, you can go ahead and unscrew the outer barrel, then gentle pull of the front section.

With the front section removed, you can flip the rifle over and remove 2 screws holding the magwell into the receiver, then the 2 small silver screws holding the hop adjuster onto the arms.

To remove the last receiver segment, there is a screw on the top rail, then 1 on either side of the receiver.

With the 3 screws removed you can now take this section off and slide the hop unit out from the rear.

Getting to the internals of the cylinder is the same as other platforms, simply unscrew to cylinder head, either using a dedicated tool or just needle nose pliers, then you can slip the spring guide, piston and spring out. the cylinder is high quality and I don’t see any reason to change it. There is a “C” shaped extended guide ring that sits in the front of the receiver, so be mindful of it when you reassemble.

You can see here the cylinder head as a form of damper pad on it and the piston cup has a nipple on it. This sadly does nothing in terms of sound dampening, the pad works but the brake does nothing. Quality wise though, all of the internals are of a high quality and fit well.

A tip at this stage would be to do the can mod on both the piston and spring guide, as this will eliminate the “twang” I mentioned earlier. The mod is as simple as using can from a coke/beer etc, cutting it into a cylinder and sliding it over the spring guide before the spring and inside the piston. Doing this removes any excess space and helps reduce the twang resonance you get. It’s a very old VSR trick.

Next up, we’ll look at the hop unit setup.

The chamber quality is brilliant, the way it adjust via the arm or TDC both work well, hold their position and simply work. Internally the chamber comes with the new Modify Predator bucking and a fanged hop arm (you can add h plate style nubs too).

The barrel is VSR/GBB like, however it has different cuts in the chamber. bucking wise, some VSR might fit and work, but the nozzle is smaller than VSR/GBB, so you may struggle for seal.

Access the hop unit is similar to the VSR or SSG24 chamber, you have 2 x screws on the arms and 3 screws on the body itself, there is also a nut that sits inside the bottom of the hop unit which the mag catch screws into, do not lose it!

Barrel wise, it’s the standard coated aluminium barrels that modify use in a lot of their builds. I’d like to say I’d want to see a steel barrel inside, but, based on the performance, I can’t see a reason to change, which is a surprise to me.

The window on these barrels is huge which is great for Rhop/Flat hop style buckings.

As for the trigger it’s decent high quality steel, 90 degree and I don’t see it breaking. I haven’t got any picture of the trigger apart, as I forgot to take them as the trigger removal was a bit “£involved”. Unless something in your trigger is broken, I’d avoid the headache of stripping it as it’s a bit fiddly.

ASG STEYR SCOUT UPGRADES / ACCESSORIES

At the moment there isn’t a huge amount of aftermarket parts of accessories, you can purchased small nubs for the hop arm, which give the hop rubber different profiles and can be used for heavier ammo.

As the outer barrel of the ASG Steyr Scout has a normal 14mm CCW thread, you can ago ahead and attached muzzle brakes and suppressors etc, with the top rail also being a standard rail, any sight and optic mounts will also be fine.

I do believe that here will be a “deluxe” version of the rifle, with a possibility that some of the parts can be added to the standard version.

Spring wise the Modify Steyr Scout uses 13mm APS2 springs. Personally I like the modify APS2 springs, I’ve always found them to be consistent and an easy bolt pull.

I saw recently that the genuine slings for the Steyr Scout also fit, which is pretty cool!

Yes….there is a W.A.S.P coming and I’m already testing 🙂

MODIFY-TECH STEYR SCOUT RIFLE FINAL THOUGHTS

Having had the Modify-Tech Steyr Scout Rifle for a few weeks now, I have to say it is one of the best quality rifles out of the box. The externals are brilliant, all the polymers used are strong, with next to no flex, creaking or mould seams.

The performance for a stock rifle is exceptional, dare I say……the best I’ve come across.

This rifle could literally be out the box and on a field ready to shoot in seconds, the range and accuracy are good for a stock rifle. Especially at it’s price point (Circa £400).

Some of the parts I’m a huge fan of are the hop unit, the way they’ve allowed it to be adjusted either side (though I have a slight niggle as mentioned above), alongside the ability to TDC it.

The new bucking that’s pre-installed is great and works well, seals and has good range and accuracy.

The overall weight and feel of the Steyr Scout is well balanced and feels like a rifle should feel, not to light, comfortable, solid.

Overall, the Modify-Tech Steyr Scout Rifle is certainly one of the best Airsoft Rifles out the box, it simply works and feels great, the price point isn’t that bad either when you consider the competition and the fact it’ a licenced replica.

I genuinely tip my hat to the guys over at Modify-Tech, for one of their first licenced Airsoft Replicas, they have done an outstanding job! If this is the quality that they will be aiming for going forward, other suppliers are going to have to up their game.

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