.308 Win Sporter (POF) Finally reviewed

[Jibz]

It was almost 10 months back in December 2014, when a breaking news echoed at PG that Pakistan Ordinance Factory (POF) Wah has launched its first semi auto 308 rifle for the civilian market. It was named 308 Win Sporter. It was indeed something very exciting for which many gun enthusiasts, including myself were quite anxious to get their hands on. Now the issue was that the rules and regulations of Punjab Government barred the sale of the 308 Win Sporter (due to its calibre) in the jurisdiction of Punjab Province. So with a wait of more than 10 months, finally it was delivered to some dealer in Quetta, Baluchistan and then it reached me with a lot of twists and turns in the story.
Its basic specs are:
Calibre: 308 Winchester/ 7.62x51 NATO
Action: Semi-Auto (Irreversible)
Picatinny Rail Mount above the receiver.
Came with 2 (5-round) Mags.
Warranty: Repair and Parts (Covered by POF)
Barrel Length: 20.5 inches
Overall Length: 42 inches
Weight: 8.7 pounds


NOTE:
All pictures are courtesy of my dear friend & PG member “Fraz”. I sincerely believe I couldn’t have done a better job in photography than how he did it. Many thanks Roor, very much appreciated. Cheers







The 308 Sporter is based on the design and mechanism of POF produced Amy’s primary battle rifle G3; initially made by Heckler & Koch, which is without question one of the most renowned battle rifles in the world and remains in service today with quite a few operational forces. I read somewhere that one of the main reasons why this design has remained in service for all these years is that it delivers stunningly reliable functionality attributed to its rolling lock design, which keeps working even in the most opposing environments. Unlike some would expect; in the rolling lock delayed blowback system, there is neither a gas tube, nor a gas system and accordingly no piston, no operating rod etc.



Packaging:
The packaging includes the rifle; 2 (5 round) magazines; a sling and a cleaning kit. The gun is not packed in anything except a long polythene bag locally known as “Lifafa”. I strongly feel that POF being a very reputable local manufacturer in Pakistan and with such a hefty price tag on their civilian products could do much better than this polythene bag. It wouldn’t have cost that much if they had made cardboard boxes for their civilian products and delivered the rifle in a presentable manner. My rifle had to travel a great deal from the manufacturer to the seller and then to me. So I think that the scratches I found on the receiver, magwell and the pistol grip trigger pack area could have been avoided if it were packed in a somewhat safe cardboard box.
The good thing is that the internals as well as externals of the rifle and the magazines are heftily drenched in oil so there can’t be any possibility of rust anywhere.

Barrel
The barrel is almost 20.5 inches, which is expected to ensure a complete powder burn and would theoretically reduce noise levels as well for the shooter. The barrel of the Sporter has 4 grooves with right hand twist and is chrome lined. To keep the rifle as Civilian/Hunting profiled as possible, POF has ensured that there is no threading on the barrel, so eventually no muzzle break/ flash hider etc can be installed on the barrel. A very dear friend of mine has suggested to get the barrel threaded and install an IGF 53 style flash hider. Well! All in good time. InshAllah.




Stock, Pistol Grip and the front Handguard
The stock of the Sporter is made of synthetic polymer material and is the typical classic HK91/G3 fixed stock design. The Pistol grip is also made of polymer with one screw on its right side. The pistol grip has a grove for the right hand thumb and also for the rest of the fingers. The front handguard is of the Wide Forearm style and it too is made out of polymer. Underneath the handguard, on both sides, there are channels where the legs of the Classic Army G3 style bipod gets seated when folded. I don’t have any complaints regarding the polymer furniture, rather I have to praise it for its good quality and near to perfect fit. As I have a tendency of frequently knocking my rifles here and there so it is a plus point to have these parts of the Sporter in polymer finish. Having said that, even if it were in wood, I would have made it as a standing protocol to play around with the finish from time to time; not something I am proud of.
The rifle shoulders nicely and I don’t have to densely press my cheek with the stock. Being a fixed stock, no adjustment can be made to the pull length or cheek height. Because of the stock being of a standard size, it is supposed to be a fit for most of the shooters. Let me add, that if needed, the Magpul PRS or HK PSG stocks can be installed on the rifle without any alteration.

[Jibz]

Review Part 2


Sling
The sling that came with the rifle is the same military grade sling that we normally see with our soldiers on their G3s. There are two sling swivel studs on the rifle. One is at the left side of the stock right in its centre and the other is at the junction point where the handguard starts right under the front sight tip. The sling is in two pieces and I have no idea at all, which end goes where. (Will have to ask someone for help in installing it). Nowadays, Chinese copies of the Magpul two-point slings are available in the market and they can be installed on the Sporter. From “Shashka” and style point of view, it may seem like a good idea, however, being a very long rifle, there is no practicality in carrying it in the assault rifle style with one end of the strap over one shoulder and the other end slipping under the other armpit.





Trigger
If the reader has had the opportunity of using a G3, he would get the idea that the trigger pull and feel of the Sporter is not much different than its parent rifle. Yes, it’s a combat trigger. To me, the first stage was almost NIL as the trigger traveled hardly for a millimetre. It was absolutely smooth without any halting or gluey like feeling. But then as soon as the trigger reached the sear, there was a minutely slight creep with a somewhat long travel and then it broke crisply. I also noticed that the trigger doesn’t need to be released all the way forward for it to reset and its likably short.
Anyways, I have yet to minutely study the internals of the trigger mechanism but I can fairly say that some polishing here and there may make it much much better for precision target shooting. In short, on first try, the Sporter’s trigger felt awkward but the clean break was like a symphony. I am sure I will be able to make a better comparisons and respond to further questions once I have used it at the range.




Iron Sights
The front sights of the Sporter is hooded and the rear one is rotary dioptre. The front hooded sight appears to be nearly identical as the HK91. The rotary rear sight has 4 adjustments i.e. 100m 'V' sight and then 200, 300 & 400m aperture sights. The rear sights are adjustable for windage and elevation. As most of the people in Pakistan have comparatively more frequent exposure to the AK type sights, it would require some getting used to the dioptre sights. I noticed that the V style 100 m notch has a very light coloured Grey finish and due to that it enhances the glare making it difficult for the shooter to focus on it properly. I plan to give it a dark black matte finish which will solve this issue.

[Jibz]

Review Part 3

Picatinny Rail
Another interesting feature on Sporter is the welded optic rail that is designed as such that it does not restrict the usage of iron sights. Due to this rail, now the users won’t have to put those claw like mounts on their rifles which in fact look quite awkward. The user can just install an optic or a holographic sight on the rifle without additional cost of the mount. This setup is surely more dependable than any other mount system which we see for the HKs. So with its Picatinny rail on the receiver, the Sporter can be equipped with a good quality optic and thus the true essence of long distance shooting can be enjoyed with it. About a year back, I got my hands on a Leupold Mark 4 M3-10X with elevation turrets calibrated specifically for 308 Calibre so I am all set to test the rifle’s precision with a sufficiently good quality optic. However, when installing the scope, I noticed that the rings that came with the optic were not high enough and the eye piece side of the scope was restricted by the iron sights. Now I am on a hunt for at-least 1.5 inch high rings for a 30 mm tube.




Safety/Fire Select Lever
The safety lever is on the left side of the rifle and can be easily accessed with the thumb of the right hand while keep the palm and fingers on the pistol grip. Right in front of the safety lever, there is “S” and “E” embossed/printed on the receiver, indicating Safety and Semi auto Fire, respectively. On the right side of the receiver, there is only an indicator which shows the status of the weapon i.e. whether it’s in safe or in fire mode.










Magazines
The quality of the two (5 Round) magazines that came with the rifle is just OK. I plan to get them re-blued after sometime as they have been heavily painted/coated. Like many other battle rifles, the magazines need to be inserted in the magwell and then seated with a firm slap to ensure it’s locked in its place. I noticed that inserting these mags in to the magwell is only possible with a more-than-firm slap underneath it. I am not sure if the usual 20 round G3 magazines will fit in the Sporter or not; as I have yet to test any. I sincerely hope that to make this rifle “completely civilian” in all respects, the POF would not have altered the magazine seating mechanism and the 20 round mag will fit in it. After inserting it with a slap, the magazine sits very tightly in its place and is barely distinguishable from the side with the magwell owing to its small size and capacity. The Sporter has two type of mechanisms for mag-release. One is the lever which is in its typical place like the AKs and the other is a push button (Like the ARs) and is on the right side of the receiver.
An interesting find was that the 5 round magazine actually accepts 6 rounds. lol.







Charging Handle
Typical of the HK family, the Sporter has the same design and placement of the folding bolt charging handle just like its parent rifle which is located above the left hand side of the handguard. The thing I like the most about the HK charging handles is their non-reciprocating movement i.e. once cocked, the charging handle will not move (unlike the AK) and will remain stationary. Similar to the AR platform, this gives the shooter a sense of safety as no moving parts are open. The bolt charging handle locks back once the magazine goes empty. After feeding in a fresh mag, the charging handle can be pulled back to cock the rifle.
The folding non-reciprocating charging handle can be used to lock the bolt to the rear by lifting it up into a notch. So for loading the rifle, the user will have to pull back the folding charging handle with strength and then lock it at the back in the notch. With a firm slap from the palm heel, the bolt is released which ensures the feeding of the round in the chamber; this is certainly a fun and fulfilling way to charge a gun. I am afraid, some softies will have a hard time loading this beast. I am over 6 feet tall and for me reaching the charging handle while keeping the rifle shouldered was a serious task as it required complete extension of my left arm and shoulder to reach the handle.

[Jibz]

Review Part 4


Cleaning Kit
The cleaning kit that came with the Sporter in in a plastic box 4x6 inches. It comprises of three different types of brushes, a weighted chord and bore cleaning rags. In the old designs of HK91 and G3, the cleaning kit used to be in the shape of a tube which was inserted in another tube right under the front sight tip above the muzzle.

Weight Consideration
The POF’s website doesn’t state the weight of the Sporter, however based on the weighing scale which I have at home, it was slightly more than 8.7 pounds. So with this empty weight (more with scope, sling, magazine and ammo), the Sporter isn’t exactly something which you would want to carry while hunting in woods or in a mountainous area. With this much weight, I am not sure if hunting was a primary consideration in designing and launch of this rifle, however, it would certainly work well when reliability and ruggedness is a greater requirement than weight.

Field Stripping & Disassembly:
For field stripping the Sporter, the two pins at the rear of the receiver (near the buttstock) have to be pushed out and then the butt can then be extracted to the rear. The operating spring and guide rod would come out with it. The pistol grip and trigger pack is attached with the receiver through another pin which when removed, the trigger pack should be easily removed. After that once the muzzle end is raised, a slight backward jerk on the charging handle would send the bolt and bolt carrier group out the rear of the receiver. The field tripping of the Sporter is quite quick and simple.

Pictured below, the two pins above and behind the pistol grip and a single pin right above the magazine release lever need to be removed to disassemble the rifle.


Fit, Appearance & Finesse
The fit between the metal parts and polymer (stock, front handguard and pistol grip) is very good. I didn’t observe any uneven gaps or flimsiness as far as the fit is concerned. However, and that’s a big HOWEVER, the finish of the Sporter is poor. Many would term it as crappy, yes you heard me right; it’s crappy. Let me explain it in detail; the surface finish of the metal is perfectly fine, no doubt about that. It looks quite obvious that for the workmanship on the metal parts, POF utilized the services of the best there is. But after that, it seems as if POF lost all interest in this project and they gave the Sporter to a roadside Truck-Art painter and asked him to paint it black with a 4 inch wide brush. It would have been OK if that Truck-Art painter had given it a coat or two at max, but it seems that the guy was adamant on giving it at-least a dozen coats. The paint is rough at places and can be scratched off even with a finger nail. Now to be honest, for me that’s not a big issue as I can play miracles with its finish. Fortunately, the people I know can beautify the Sporter in a way that even Daniel Defence will be head over heels to see it. (No I am not joking at all). But this good fortune is not enjoyed by many. So POF needs to keep this in consideration that their 308 Win Sporter is a civilian product and Finesse is an integral part of any merchandise intended for the general public i.e. gun enthusiasts.
My overall verdict about the fit is that the rifle is solid and a very tight gun, but a lot needs to be desired in Finesse department.



Final Thoughts
Along with hunters, another breed of shooters who might want to get hold of the Sporter could be those who are kicking off with newly entering the sport of long distance shooting competitions. In many movies we have seen those long distance snipers equipped with HK91 based platform rifles so with a proven record of accuracy and reliability, Sporter is also expected to do good for these shooters.

[Mastermind]

sir shoot it and then tell us about the accuracy with the local pof made ammo

[Naveed_pk]

Awesome Review Jibz bro Excellent write up and with Amazing Pics . Now waiting for the shooting review with a clip of video

@ Fraz Nice clicks bro

Thanks for Sharing :P

Regards

[dragunov]

excellent addition brother, love to see the range results and ................... 'PRICE' too, if possible

[Abbasp07]

Wow bro very nice indeed!!! Glad to see you got it in the end after much waiting. It takes some will to keep going when the odds are stacked against you. Really happy you got it in the end bro. And very nice review and write up of it. I think were all eager to see how this beautiful beast performs bro.

[Asif Ali]

Jibz bro: Thanks for a detailed review

[D3AD!]

Excellent, detailed and very well explained sir.
thanks a lot for sharing............

[ajmal virk]

Very nicely explained nice rifle however i have seen POF 9mm in MP5 design and their Finish is also very poor.

[FA226]

Nice review Bro, I am getting in love this beauty I will have to save some money.

[Enigmatic Desires]

That.. Jibz sir, is an excellent review..Truly excellent. Now just waiting breathlessly for a test in the field.

[Ameer]

After long time I logged in at PG, and first thing I see is an excellent review by our dear JIBZ. Beautifully written, trade mark of Jibz, for his way of coming up n presenting the review with his musical words.

Excellent clicks too, i have to learn some shooting skills from you.

Can't wait to shoot this mouth watering gun.

[FA226]

@Ameer
Good to see you back after long time.

[Guns_N_Roses]

Congratulations on this acquisition. A beautiful and very candid review. Bravo!

[Jibz]

sir shoot it and then tell us about the accuracy with the local pof made ammo

I am on it dear. Will surely share the range review soon after Eid. InshAllah. Anyways, any particular reason why the accuracy should be checked with the local POF ammo?

excellent addition brother, love to see the range results and ................... 'PRICE' too, if possible

Manana Roor. As stated earlier, it was a gift so unaware about price.

Awesome Review Jibz bro Excellent write up and with Amazing Pics . Now waiting for the shooting review with a clip of video
@ Fraz Nice clicks bro
Thanks for Sharing :P
Regards

Exactly brother Naveed, video clips are a must. No doubt, Fraz's photography made it look much better than it actual is. lol

Wow bro very nice indeed!!! Glad to see you got it in the end after much waiting. It takes some will to keep going when the odds are stacked against you. Really happy you got it in the end bro. And very nice review and write up of it. I think were all eager to see how this beautiful beast performs bro.

Nice review Bro, I am getting in love this beauty I will have to save some money.

Congratulations on this acquisition. A beautiful and very candid review. Bravo!

Jibz bro: Thanks for a detailed review

Excellent, detailed and very well explained sir.
thanks a lot for sharing............

Thank you gentlemen. Very much appreciated.

Very nicely explained nice rifle however i have seen POF 9mm in MP5 design and their Finish is also very poor.

Yes AV dear. It is. I am sure you will love it when I am done working it. InshAllah

That.. Jibz sir, is an excellent review..Truly excellent. Now just waiting breathlessly for a test in the field.

Thanks my dear ED. Glad to have you around.

After long time I logged in at PG, and first thing I see is an excellent review by our dear JIBZ. Beautifully written, trade mark of Jibz, for his way of coming up n presenting the review with his musical words.
Excellent clicks too, i have to learn some shooting skills from you.
Can't wait to shoot this mouth watering gun.

Dera Manana Ameer Roor. Reference to your text the other day, I wonder if I will get a chance to shoot it at the range as I am afraid you wont let anyone else even touch it.

[Mastermind]

sir only reason is the ammo cost is low and made for that rifle

[colt 1911]

Great gun and great review. Jibz bhai umbarak sha

[Aebak]

excellent addition brother, love to see the range results and ................... 'PRICE' too, if possible

Price is 199,000 pk rps with two 5 rd mags, its fixed price by POF.
Many congrats Jibz bro, This model does infact fit the 20 rd G3 mags
A reluctant question is if its bought on a KPK license or a Balochistan license since Sindh and Punjab home depts are not giving permission for the 308 to be purchased on a NPB license yet. I hope i did not ask an inappropriate question