Fired my new rifle! Really like my .308 POF

[anthony-white]

This is my POF 14.5" 308. I purchased this rifle about two weeks ago from Cabelas. Out of the box I noticed a few scratches and dings on the rifle. Not a big deal to me but to some this may be an upsetting thing on a rifle at this price. This was possibly at the blame of Cabelas so I am not saying this rifle left POF with those flaws. I performed an initial cleaning on this rifle, which had some carbon and crud, I am assuming from test firing. Nothing horrendous but it was dirty. I applied light lube on the typical points as I couldn't bring myself to run it dry for initial break in.
I made some changes to the rifle, nothing was wrong with the factory setup, I just changed it to my preferences. I swapped out the brake for my suppressor adapter, put my favorite grip on it (CAA interchangeable), added an AFG from Magpul, and mounted a TA33R-9 ACOG and set of Magpul MBUS. I picked up Magpul pmags on the EE. The brake was mounted very smartly, it is first threaded then pinned and welded into a groove that is in the barrel, then snugged with a jamb nut making for a salvaged brake.
Took it to a local range and put 100 rds through it for function using the Pmags. I ran it on the suppressed setting with my YHM QD 7.62 Phantom attached. I put 100 rounds through this rifle: 80 rounds Venezuelan Cavim surplus and 20 M118LR, all of which were fired suppressed. I had a failure to extract on round 3 with the Cavim, and that was the last sign of problems that the rifle gave me. The round that failed to extract did in fact sound different than the others, I performed sports and commenced firing. The range I was at had a 64 yard line for the furthest shot so I really didn't shoot it on paper for accuracy. I didn't even sight it in the Acog, I was just blasting and having fun listening to the suppressed rifle. All the shots were repeatable using Kentucky windage and holdover in the Acog.

Overall I am very impressed. The rifle functioned great on the suppressed setting with the exception of the one failure to extract which I think was the ammo. I will shoot this rifle at a different range at the 100 yard line for groups, suppressed and not, and post back with an update and grouping pics. I also posted this review in the POF forum here on AR15.com.

Cleaning after 100 suppressed rounds:

I broke the rifle down for cleaning. there was a bit if carbon in the bolt and carrier, and on the piston and op rod. I was shooting suppressed, which creates more carbon inside than unsuppressed. The carbon wiped off with ease and was more evident in the places where I applied lube. If I had to estimate I would say it looked like I fired 40rds unsuppressed in a Direct Impingement system, Definitely less dirty than my other AR systems.

 

[MCMXI]

Good report there anthony!! I have the 20" barrel version of your rifle and really like it. What are your thoughts on the PMAG 20LR magazines? I noticed with both of my POF ARs that it took a few rounds to get the NP3 coating on the bolt and carrier to "wear in". I had some initial feeding issues with my P415 so I used a single load approach for the P308 for the first 20 or so rounds. I took a class last year and one of the students was shooting a POF P308 and getting consistent sub MOA groups at 100 yards with Hornady 168gr factory ammunition.

I sold the 4lb Timney trigger that came in my P308 and replaced it with a Geissele SSA trigger (2-stage) which I much prefer. What trigger came in yours? I would love to have a suppressor on mine but I'd need to change my address (state) for that to happen!!

 

[W.E.G.]

That there is a whole lotta rifle.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

That rifle will seduce me in my dreams until I own one.

What type of suppressor did you use? I'm considering a .308 can myself. Did you permanently attach the suppressor adapter or SBR it?

 

[anthony-white]

I love the Pmags, they worked great and have never caused issues in any other rifle I've used them in. I have the timney 4lb trigger (the gold one) that came with the rifle still, it feels really good for this rifle. I did in fact permanently mount the adapter and the can is a YHM Phantom QD in 7.62. Thanks for the comments!

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

the can is a YHM Phantom QD in 7.62

That's what I'm considering for my 16" RRA LAR-8. Are you happy with the performance of the can and mount? I have heard (word of mouth) that the cans reduce the report to about that of an unsuppressed .22 rifle? Or maybe that was on a 5.56
Is that the factory trigger guard? Looks like it would be fine with gloves.

 

[anthony-white]

The trigger guard is part of the receiver. I would say the comparison of the 22lr is accurate. I found that what I was hearing was much louder than standing 3 ft away. I am thrilled with this can and its mounts, gotta appreciate the modularity. I have this adapter mounted to my FN SPR A3G and some 223 guns as well and it suppresses just fine.

 

[stubbicatt]

There is a fella in our group of gun nutz who had one of these rifles. He sold it when it wouldn't fire surplus ammo. According to him, he called POF and complained of it not setting off surplus rounds. They told him that it will only shoot match ammo.

Seems yours shoots surplus just fine.

 

[Justin]

If you dump the money into buying a top-of-the-line setup like that, and then proceed to shoot the crappiest, 3rd world surplus that you can find, there is something deeply wrong with you.

That's like putting 85 Octane into a Hemi Cuda.

 

[anthony-white]

I have plenty of match ammo but I wasn't shooting for groups. Cavim is good surplus and for my purpose of running a 100 rd break in, it worked just fine. If that rifle didn't shoot Nato spec 7.62x51, I wouldn't want it.

 

[MCMXI]

There is a fella in our group of gun nutz who had one of these rifles. He sold it when it wouldn't fire surplus ammo. According to him, he called POF and complained of it not setting off surplus rounds. They told him that it will only shoot match ammo.

If you dump the money into buying a top-of-the-line setup like that, and then proceed to shoot the crappiest, 3rd world surplus that you can find, there is something deeply wrong with you.

So now he knows that his "match ammo" POF will in fact do just fine with "the crappiest, 3rd world surplus" ammunition. For the record, I haven't put a single round of "match ammo" through mine and it works perfectly.

anthony, I can see the logic of using lower end ammunition for the break-in period. Why spend twice or three times the money if you're not shooting for groups, for dinner or for your life?!!