marksman13
Member
I’ve been on Coronatine all week from work, so I finally got a chance to zero and hunt with my new POF Rogue. I’ve shot a lot of pigs with everything from 223/5.56 to 458 SOCOM. I finally settled on 6.8 SPC as the ideal pig hunting cartridge, but I’ve always wanted a lightweight 308 AR for pigs at longer ranges and mostly because it was an excuse to buy a new rifle.
I got out of the truck a little late this evening and didn’t get set up until it was almost dark. I had a couple hundred head of cattle milling around directly in front of me and I was situated in a cluster of cedar trees which have been heavily rooted around and rubbed. I had just gotten my shooting sticks set up when I noticed something moving amongst the cows. My first thought was coyotes because the cows got pretty upset about it. As I watched them file out of the herd I realized it was a sounder of 10-15 small pigs.
I had to get off my butt and hurry up a hill to my left to cut them off. The field they were crossing is about six hundred yards wide and they were about a third of the way across it headed towards a swampy area. I got set up on top of the hill and realized they had moved slower than anticipated and I’d put the pigs between myself and the cattle, so that gave me time to catch my breath and get in a more steady position with my shooting sticks.
As soon as the last pig was clear of the cows I swung up to the farthest, biggest pig and shot her in the shoulder. Bang! Flop! Down! Before they could really get themselves in motion I knocked down the next biggest pig. Two down. As I set up to shoot the third pig I had a double feed. Damn the luck. Dropped the Mag, yanked the charging handle back, reinserted the mag and sent the bolt home. They were fully on the move at this point, but I managed to hit a third and fourth pig as they ran across the field. Lining up for the fifth and realized I had another double feed. Same drill.
Sent the bolt home and realized one last pig was walking his way down the fence line between the field and the swamp. Figured he was around 250 yards, so I held a touch high and let ‘er fly! Obvious hit, but the pig didn’t go straight down. Tried to fire a second round and realized I had a fail to feed. Same drill as before. First shot had broken that boar’s front leg, so I managed a follow up shot on him to anchor him in place. Finished the night with three dead, two wounded and 8-10 educated. Maybe they’ll screw up tomorrow night and come back.
The pros on the Rogue:
-It is an extremely lightweight 308 AR tipping the scales at less than 6 lbs naked.
-Accuracy is more than adequate with groups hovering between 1 and 1 1/2 MOA with the cheap PPU 165 gr soft points I reserve for pig hunting duty.
-308 is just different than the smaller rounds normally found in the AR-15 platform and POF markets this rifle as an AR-15 instead of an AR-10 sized rifle. A 165 grain .308 caliber bullet launched at 308 Win velocities just crushes pigs compared to my beloved 6.8 SPC and even the 458 SOCOM. Didn’t matter as much with the 50-70 lb pigs I shot tonight, but the difference is still pretty obvious.
The cons:
-Obviously 3 malfunctions in 11 rounds is a problem. I’m not ruling out a magazine issue yet. The mag I used tonight was not the mag I used when zeroing the rifle and there were no malfunctions during range time. Also, the rifle still has less than thirty rounds through it. I expect some teething issues with most 308 ARs, so I’m not sweating it yet.
-Even as the lightest 308 AR I’ve ever handled, it’s still heavier than my 6.8 when loaded, so it will probably remain regulated to it’s original role which was longer range use when we have disabled veterans in for hunts with limited mobility.
Overall, I’m giving the rifle a C- as a pig hunting rifle and I’m willing to push it up to a B+ if I can get the reliability worked out. Hard to argue with three dead pigs.
I got out of the truck a little late this evening and didn’t get set up until it was almost dark. I had a couple hundred head of cattle milling around directly in front of me and I was situated in a cluster of cedar trees which have been heavily rooted around and rubbed. I had just gotten my shooting sticks set up when I noticed something moving amongst the cows. My first thought was coyotes because the cows got pretty upset about it. As I watched them file out of the herd I realized it was a sounder of 10-15 small pigs.
I had to get off my butt and hurry up a hill to my left to cut them off. The field they were crossing is about six hundred yards wide and they were about a third of the way across it headed towards a swampy area. I got set up on top of the hill and realized they had moved slower than anticipated and I’d put the pigs between myself and the cattle, so that gave me time to catch my breath and get in a more steady position with my shooting sticks.
As soon as the last pig was clear of the cows I swung up to the farthest, biggest pig and shot her in the shoulder. Bang! Flop! Down! Before they could really get themselves in motion I knocked down the next biggest pig. Two down. As I set up to shoot the third pig I had a double feed. Damn the luck. Dropped the Mag, yanked the charging handle back, reinserted the mag and sent the bolt home. They were fully on the move at this point, but I managed to hit a third and fourth pig as they ran across the field. Lining up for the fifth and realized I had another double feed. Same drill.
Sent the bolt home and realized one last pig was walking his way down the fence line between the field and the swamp. Figured he was around 250 yards, so I held a touch high and let ‘er fly! Obvious hit, but the pig didn’t go straight down. Tried to fire a second round and realized I had a fail to feed. Same drill as before. First shot had broken that boar’s front leg, so I managed a follow up shot on him to anchor him in place. Finished the night with three dead, two wounded and 8-10 educated. Maybe they’ll screw up tomorrow night and come back.
The pros on the Rogue:
-It is an extremely lightweight 308 AR tipping the scales at less than 6 lbs naked.
-Accuracy is more than adequate with groups hovering between 1 and 1 1/2 MOA with the cheap PPU 165 gr soft points I reserve for pig hunting duty.
-308 is just different than the smaller rounds normally found in the AR-15 platform and POF markets this rifle as an AR-15 instead of an AR-10 sized rifle. A 165 grain .308 caliber bullet launched at 308 Win velocities just crushes pigs compared to my beloved 6.8 SPC and even the 458 SOCOM. Didn’t matter as much with the 50-70 lb pigs I shot tonight, but the difference is still pretty obvious.
The cons:
-Obviously 3 malfunctions in 11 rounds is a problem. I’m not ruling out a magazine issue yet. The mag I used tonight was not the mag I used when zeroing the rifle and there were no malfunctions during range time. Also, the rifle still has less than thirty rounds through it. I expect some teething issues with most 308 ARs, so I’m not sweating it yet.
-Even as the lightest 308 AR I’ve ever handled, it’s still heavier than my 6.8 when loaded, so it will probably remain regulated to it’s original role which was longer range use when we have disabled veterans in for hunts with limited mobility.
Overall, I’m giving the rifle a C- as a pig hunting rifle and I’m willing to push it up to a B+ if I can get the reliability worked out. Hard to argue with three dead pigs.
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