POF P415 . Are these reliable? Are they GTG?

I had one P415 and it was 100% reliable.  I've had a half dozen piston Puritan and Minutemen.  All 100% reliable.

POF is pretty hated here, but their piston design is really simple.  Some people have definitely received lemons and poor customer service from them.  I have the world's worst "gun luck" but all of the POF products I've owned have been 100% functional.

FWIW I have also owned the following piston ARs: Adams Arms (factory ... not a kit), HK MR556 and MR762, Caracal CAR816A2, Colt Piston Carbine, LMT Estonian and Standard Piston, LWRC (M6A1, M6A2, M6A3, M6SL, M6IC, M6IC-E, M6IC-SP), PWS Mk116 Mod-1M.  Probably forgetting a few.

This is how I would range piston AR15s....

1st Place = PWS
2nd Place = HK, Caracal, LMT, Colt
3rd Third = POF, LWRC
Last Place = Adams

PWS's long stroke system is amazing.  Their QC is also exceptional.

HK & Caracal's short stroke system is a close second.  HK's QC and materials are bombproof.

LMT and Colt's system are 100% reliable and functional. Colt is very accurate.

POF is lacking in materials / manufacturing and QC.  I also don't like their rail system.

LWRC (and this will draw the most anger from readers) is like a faux Mustang GT500. Picture a car that LOOKS like a GT500 but has a 6 cylinder engine.  LWRC's lower design is AWESOME.  The rest of their execution left me very disappointed.  All told I've owned about a dozen of them (various models, barrel lengths, twist fluting, factory cerakote finishes, etc).  They were the LEAST reliable especially with steel case.  The design "feature" where you have to remove the top rail to maintenance the gas is lame.  HK's system the entire rail system comes off and is "keyed" to the upper wherein you can't loose zero.  In my experience you WILL lose iron zero if you remove the rail enough times (again, required for maintenance).

Adam's makes an entry level budget gun.

I posted in the industry about eleven years ago about the 415 issue I had.

Had a bent barrel right from the POF assembly floor which they fought tooth and nail to not replace. Instead they shaved a front sight post down to a nub and advised they corrected the issue.

Received the upper back from them after weeks of going back and forth only for the issue to still be the same. Bent barrel and now a  damaged front sight post.


Long story short, sold the entire rifle with full disclosure to buyer as he could also see the barrel off center inside the rail.



Im currently giving POF a second chance and recently purchased one off the EE here. haven't fired this one yet but we shall see.

Mine was phenomenal.  I only sold it to fund a PWS, because I liked the PWS mechanism better and more accessories fit the PWS than the POF.  But I've thought about buying another POF in the future.

They are. Lots of good info on them out there. Good design and solid rifle.


If it’s what you want, get it.

POF, LWRC, H&K, PWS, etc all make a good piston rifle.

POF been making the 415 for a while. It sells. Is in use with LE and stuff with good success.

I’ve seen less POFs running correctly right out of the box than I’ve seen them with issues.

They were making a play into 3-Gun not to long ago and know several people who tried them and will never touch them again.

Yeah, That's what im seeing . They seem to be a hit or miss if they run good.

Yeah. I’ve had a sample size of 3 and the owners were all happy with them.

TBH most people don’t report properly working stuff. Only when crap don’t work.

I’d think most POF stuff works. They’ve been really successful and have been selling current p415 design for years now with little change.

I’m guilty of this as well. But if you google any mfg out there you’ll find folks with major issues. I had them with beretta at one point with my 1301. Beretta bought it back from me after a year of them not fixing it.

The big thing I guess should be customer support. I personally had an issue with my LWRC not working with p mags when I got it. Contacted LWRC. They sent me an overnight slip. Had lower back fixed and working within a week and a half. They also sell most of the parts for their rifles on their website short of stripped uppers and barrels. I have extra piston parts and an extra bcg.

I’d look into POF’s customer support record some if I were buying their rifle myself.

I Can say Daniel Defense, Wilson Combat, LWRC and Sig have all been good for me.

I have 3 AA uppers but they're all custom the 2 11.5s have CHF CL barrels from Daniel Defense and Centurion Arms. The 16 mid has a new barrel as the OEM one had a bad head space so AA replaced it for free with a new barrel that's made for them by BA which is what the tech guy said. The 11.5s have been 100% reliable for me as has my gen1 POF P415 and my SIG 516 gen2. I have many thousands or rounds through the 11.5s as I primarily run them in classes. when I 1st got into AA I purchased a kit from them that I ran for over 18k rds before the Del-Ton barrel was shot out. All of them have ran many types of cans from LBP to low DB to K variants. So far the 516 behaves the best with a muffler with the POF being a close 2nd. the AAs are snappy but easy to run fast strings if you run them a lot. I'm a heavier guy so I don't mind the added weight. Happy shooting!