Gun Of The Week: POF USA P-15 Base

Headquartered in Pheonix, Arizona, Patriot Ordnance Factory (POF) is a family-owned gunmaker that started in 2002 by veteran aerospace engineer Frank DeSomma. Despite the tragic loss of Mr. DeSomma in 2020, POF USA has continued to manufacture and innovate, with models such as the lever-action Tombstone rifle announced in 2023 and the P-15 Base as seen here. Even though the POF P-15 Base is a price-point product for the brand, the gun has a lot going for it. Watch our video above to see the POF P-15 Base in use on the range.

Starting with the receiver set, POF builds its P-15 Base upper and lower receiver out of aluminum forgings for strength and consistency and features a hardcoat anodized flat black finish for wear protection. The upper is also forged with a shell deflector and forward-assist button. You’ll find a Picatinny rail stretching the full length of the upper and across the top of the 15” M-Lok handguard. It is here you’ll notice at the 3, 6 and 9 o’clock position is where accessories can be fitted. Inside of the aluminum handguard is where things get more interesting.

The P-15 Base comes with a 16.5” chrome-moly steel barrel that has a robust black nitride treatment on the outside and 5R rifling inside with a 1:8 twist. The barrel comes with POF’s proprietary E2 chamber for improved extraction of spent cases. The barrel is also threaded and capped with an A2-style flash hider.

Attached to the barrel is a mid-length gas system and nitride-treated low-profile gas block to send expanding propellant gases back to the action to operate the nickel-boron-finished mil-spec bolt carrier group, which leads us to the next upgrade: a patented roller cam pin to reduce friction and damage to the upper receiver’s internals. One of the other unique features of the P-15 Base is an anti-tilt mil-spec buffer tube, which is designed improve the gun’s overall reliability. That tube, threaded to the back of the lower receiver, also has six positions for the included Mission First Tactical Minimalist stock, which we found to be a handy lightweight upgrade over many of the standard adjustable stocks on the market.

Although floating in a sea of AR-15 variants, we found the P-15 Base to be a worthwhile option that offers up proprietary technologies at modest price. Our testers appreciate POF leaving a few areas up for modification, too, such as the mil-spec trigger and simple A2-style grip. We found that the gun shoots smoothly and reliably while offering up some good accuracy potential, which is a testament to its build quality. POF’s P-15 Base gives you everything need and nothing you don’t.

POF USA P-15 Base Specifications
Manufacturer: Patriot Ordnance Factory
Action Type: direct-gas-impingement-operated, centerfire, repeating rifle
Chambering: 5.56 NATO
Receivers: forged aluminum
Barrel: 16.5" chrome-moly steel; black nitride treated finish
Handguard: 15" M-Lok
Stock: Mission First Tactical, six-position-adjustable
Trigger: mil-spec single-stage
Overall Length: 34" (collapsed)
Weight: 6 lbs., 4.8 ozs.
MSRP: $999