I've mentioned on here my overlanding hobby in the past, but I go on several long camping trips a year to get out of cities and into nature. I almost always have a firearm in the truck with me on these trips because 1. people suck, and 2. there are in fact aggressive animals in the woods. Since I'm based in FL, I stay in the eastern US, and most of the time I just throw an AR in the truck's rifle rack, and bring whatever carry pistol I'm favoring at the time, and some extra mags. I'm not trying to rig for a war, just be safe at interstates and in the middle of nowhere. No biggie.
But, a couple of my trips have, and some I have planned take me to states where that is not doable. New York, New Jersey, and Maryland being the most "go *expletive deleted*ck yourself" states, with Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware close behind. None of them accept my permit to CCW, some of them don't even allow possession of a pistol, AR's are almost universally a no-go (at least mine are) So just in general not friendly or easy to navigate with the firearms I tend to have with me. In the past I've just crossed my fingers and left everything at home, and we're all still here so I survived (Although my dog did try to pick a fight with a moose in Maine that was concerning). But Hope is not a plan, and I'd like at least some way to have a weapon in the woods without risking multiple decades in prison from the state gestapo.
This semi narrow use case has led me to consider the famed "scout rifle" concept. Which is a reasonably handy and versatile firearm, and in my use case the "bolt action rifle without pistol grip" part neatly sidesteps almost all regulations that are hampering me. It seems as if I can even have the dreaded threaded barrel on a bolt action, and as long as I don't have any normal mags *with me* even the detachable mags seem OK. So Cool.
Due respect to Col. Cooper, I'm not a purist, and don't love the forward scope concept. I think it was a great idea in the '80s to facilitate two eyes open shooting and maintain situational awareness, but it's 45 years later and good LPVO's are a thing. Other than that, I think the concept is still pretty relevant, especially if you are, like I am, playing chicken with a A LOT of different laws and jurisdictions.
Which brings me to my request of the hive mind:
I'm looking for a .308 caliber,
left-handed bolt action rifle that accepts detachable mags, has a solid scope mounting option over the receiver for an LPVO, 16"-18" threaded barrel (I'm going to hang a can on it at home), that is reasonably light and handy and costs like $600-$850 or so. Using AR-10 pattern mags instead of something proprietary is a huge plus.
Something kinda like this:
So what does the hive-mind have for suggestions of a starting rifle?
