Gun Tech - POF Puritan piston-driven uppers now sold separately :: 08/19/2014

Recently, the Patriot Ordnance Factory introduced the Puritan series piston-driven AR-15 rifles. The Puritan is a features-light take on its high-end P416 rifles designed to deliver the same quality and function at a reduced price.

The Puritan is at heart, the same as the P416 upper. It uses the same short-stroke gas piston system and the same unique chamber profile that makes the original design so reliable. The Patriot uses the same forged MIL-SPEC upper receiver and is built with all the same expertise.

What makes it so much less expensive than the standard POF rifles is a standard-profile barrel, traditional A2-style flash hider, receiver-height railed gas block and two-piece drop-in Magpul MOE handguards.

The original rifles have fluted barrels, custom muzzle breaks, a low-profile gas block and a monolithic receiver-length handguard that provides a single railed surface out beyond the barrel nut for mounting optics directly to the handguard. These features add up, which is why the Puritan, like its namesake, eschews them.

Everything else is made to the same proven standards as other POF rifles. The company isn't cutting corners to make the Puritan more wallet-friendly.

That being said POF doesn't make entry-level rifles and even its budget option is another company's flagship offering. Complete Puritan rifles retail for around $1,400, where the standalone uppers are listed at $999. But for now POF is selling them for $899, which is even more appealing.

http://www.guns.com/2014/08/19/pof-puritan-piston-driven-uppers-now-sold-separately/