I think the manufacturer Daryl was trying to remember is B-Square but I think the mounts made by S&K are better.

An easy to build and useful scout rifle can be had from just about any military bolt rifle, including 1903 Springfield, M91-M98 Mausers, SMLE, etc. Of course those will only give you a rifle in the calibers those were issued in. I know people do it but I wouldn't recommend boring out an old military barrel to a larger caliber. If you want a bigger caliber in a military rifle it's best to rebarrel.

For something both fun and on the cheap why not a Mosin-Nagant?

For a real hoot, you could send a Garand to Shuff's Parkerizing and get a mini-G with an Ultimak rail installed. You can keep the original .30-06 barrel, rebarrel in .308, or even have him make one in .35 Whelen! I have one of his mini-Gs and I love it but I'm a rear scope kind of guy so I didn't go with the Ultimak rail.

Imagine an 8-round .35 Whelen semi-auto scout with a 16.1" barrel. How cool is that?