Alright everyone, I have been looking for an ar-10 chambered in .308 and have came across the Patriot Firearms P308 gen4 with 16.5 barrel and 14.5 rail. I'm a lefty so I really like the ambi controls but what worries me is all the negatives I have heard and read about from mostly the past of POF's firearms. Does anyone have any experience with the new gen4 rifles? I have looked around at a few other brands but really haven't found everything I want in any other rifle around the same price point. Looking to spend about $3k. Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys.

I have a relatively new POF P415 in 5.56 (February 2016 purchase). I chose the 14.5 in barrel and the 11.5 in rail so it's small, light and easy to handle. I have just over 3000 round through it now. It's worked perfectly so far. Zero failures. It's eaten every kind of ammo I've tried and never failed. It has been totally reliable. I run it with a Trijicon MRO and a Leopold VX6 2-12x scope. The only thing I changed was to add a lager/ambi charging handle and replaced the ejection port cover. Now that it's pretty much broken in, it seems to have settled down at right around 1 MOA even with the short barrel.  I really like the piston system - no more gas in the eyes. It's pretty easy to clean, looks good and works perfectly. I traded up from a LWRC and I totally prefer the POF now.

The only downside is cost, I spent over $2k which is pretty steep for an AR. But I learned long ago that cheap prices and cheap quality often go hand in hand. I'm totally happy with my POF and look forward to another trip to the range soon.

Like the other person who responded, I also have a G4 556 rifle. Mine is a 10.5" barrel, NP3 model. Oh and I shoot it suppressed almost 100% of the time. I also have several thousand rounds through mine and given that it's suppressed, that's a hard several thousand rounds. I haven't had any problems with mine. The only issues I had was with less expensive reloaded ammo. You have to make sure you use good quality ammo that's in spec. Because it's a billet upper, the tolerances are extremely tight and non-SAMMI rounds don't do well.

As far as the 308 rifle, I'm thinking of getting one soon myself. I believe there were issues when the 308s were first released but those were fixed long ago. I also get the feeling there was some bad blood from years ago. About what I don't know it seems to color a lot of opinions.

POF's support has been very good as far as I'm concerned.

The ambi controls are nice but even more important is the NP3 coating. Yes it's a little more expensive but worth every penny from a maintenance and cleanup perspective. With the G4 new E2 extraction and the suppressor I get a fair amount of carbon in the upper. The NP3 makes cleanup a breeze.

Whenever someone asks for opinions on POF rifles I like to drop this little link...

https://pof-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AfterActionReport_addendum12-14.pdf

I spent awhile waffling on whether or not to buy a SCAR17. I picked up a gen3 p308 14.5" and was in love. (I've since sold it because I picked up a gen3 16.5"). Honestly, POF rifles are ugly (to me) but they're built to withstand a bomb blast and are dead-nuts accurate to boot. Perfect SHTF or "just one rifle" rifle.

A couple things about POF rifles:
1. The top rail is (I think) .375" taller than a standard AR rail. You'll want to keep this in mind when selecting optics. My P308 wears a Leupold in 1.06" tall rings (measured from top of rail to scope center line.) Typical AR-height optics and mounts sit about 1.5" high and will sit too high for comfort or optimal cheek weld.
2. Even though there isn't technically a "break-in period" for POF rifles, a lot of people report FTE/FTF after the first couple boxes of ammo. This is remedied with a chamber/bore brush and a power drill. Just trust me.
3. The gas plug is a little loose and wiggles in the block. This is intentional.
4. Gas piston/rod requires no spring (hurray for fewer parts to fail/wear out!) but this means you'll hear that rod clicking as the rifle shakes. It's not loud, but the first time I experienced it I thought a small part had broken or come loose in the rifle. Nope, just the piston rod floating around.