The APC 308 is probably best considered to be a Swiss SCAR equivalent. It is a full-sized Battle Rifle (in 18.5" Canadian NR configuration), with the weight to match. Some might consider it a DMR, although I am not convinced that the accuracy potential of the APC 308 is fully deserving of the DMR descriptor (more on accuracy in a minute). The quality of manufacture is superb in every regard as you would expect of the Swiss and the prices that they charge. The fit and finish of both external and internal parts and surfaces is flawless in terms of appearance and durability, with appropriate hard-coat anodizing of the Aluminum components and nitriding of steel such as the Barrel. The APC 308 is truly a thing of beauty to those with a discerning eye for modern military-style firearms.
Reliability has been superb with brass-cased .308 and 7.62x51mm ammo ranging from 40-year old IVI military ball to Federal Gold Medal Match and everything in between (South African battle-pack surplus, PMC XTac Match, etc, etc). I cannot speak to reliability with steel-cased ammo as I refuse to feed my premium rifles sh#t fuel that is known to be hard on them. I have witnessed another owner firing Norinco .308 copper-washed bulk ammo with no apparent stoppages, but that was the extent of my experience with steel-cased ammo. YMMV. I have fired approximately 700 rounds with no stoppages except for the time that a dumbass buddy of mine fired some 6.5 CM through my .308 rifle. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the rifle suddenly wasn't extracting and ejecting. Then I looked at the head-stamp and saw the calibre! Those bullets must have rattled down the barrel at just above escape-velocity! Good thing it wasn't the other way around. But I digress...
Accuracy is right around 1.5 MOA with Federal 168 or 175gr Gold Medal Match and right at 2 MOA with bulk PMC .308, South African Battle Pack, etc. While that is certainly acceptable performance for a Battle Rifle, I am less enthused with the idea of the APC 308 as a DMR. My rack-grade Colt LE-901 for instance (which has no sporting purpose, mind you), consistently groups sub-MOA with the same match ammo as witnessed by Ben Klick, a local retired Master Sniper and proprietor of Sierra 64 Riflecraft Ltd. So, suffice it to say that while the APC 308's accuracy is acceptable, it is not stellar and I was quite frankly disappointed that sub-MOA groups were not the norm. That said, "practical accuracy" is very good, with easy head-shots on an IPSC target out to 500m and center-of-mass hits out to 800m using a 6-24x Arken optic. Again, all witnessed.
It is worth noting that the APC 308's stock trigger is nothing special and is certainly not "match" quality. It is rather the standard, stock APC trigger found in the APC 223 and (I think) in the APC 9 PCC. I own all three, and the trigger feels the same in all of them - at least to me. Now here is the important part - the APC 308 only accepts Elftman Triggers. Anything else is liable to be a waste of time and money. I tried Geiselle, Timney, and several others. None worked except for those with a standard mil-spec Hammer profile. The distance between the bottom of the Bolt Carrier and the top of the cocked Hammer is smaller than on a standard AR, such that the use of most after-market triggers will result in binding between the Bolt Carrier and the Hammer, slowing or entirely preventing travel of the Bolt and Carrier within the Upper Receiver. It was trial and error until I stumbled across a reference to the Elftman triggers in a US discussion thread. Problem solved, but not until after a bunch of disappointing and frustrating failed experiments. Benefit from my learning on this one...
The weight of the APC 308 is its major downfall IMHO. In this regard it is very much like the otherwise excellent 5,56mm SAI R18, which suffers from excessive weight for the calibre. I just had to slip in the R18 mention for the benefit of those whom it apparently drives crazy! With that out of the way, the APC 208 really is too heavy for what it is. With a bare weight in the realm of 4.8 kg, it is a bit of a pig by the time you add an appropriate optic. I carried a 10.5 lb FNC1A1 for the first 6 years of my infantry service and I can tell you that I would not want to lug the APC 308 around over hill and dale. As a bench-rest rifle, it is great - the weight really tames the already moderate .308 recoil. Add a brake, and the "kick" dimishes to .223-type recoil.
The APC 308 comes with B+T's "enhanced" folding Buttstock, which is also retractable with 4 Length of Pull settings IIRC. Personally, I found the cheek-weld to be too low with the provided Buttstock. I opted to go with the Bushmaster ACR Buttstock in a Dan Haga Defense Aluminum Adapter on my APC 308 as it is both retractable and Folding, but also features a 2-position adjustable Cheek Riser. The switch to the Magpul Buttstock solved the cheek-weld problem perfectly, as though the Rifle and Buttstock were actually were designed for one another.
The APC 308 costs a very hefty $5620 CAD, plus HST for a total of at least (in AB) $5900. Add the (IMHO) mandatory Elftman Trigger upgrade for $260 USD / $360 CAD along with the Magpul ACR Buttstock at $250 USD / $360 CAD and the Haga Defense Adapter for $144 USD / $200 CAD and the "Ptre-Optic" price starts to grow exponentially by another $920. As if it needed reinforcing, the APC 308 requires deep pockets and you are going to have to budget another grand on top of tax to wring the most out of the platform.
Comparisons between the APC 308 and the Tavor 7 are inevitable, despite the fact that they are very different platforms. I get it - not counting converted Garands, there aren't too many other semi-auto .308 options on the Canadian market. Perhaps the K+M M17 rework in .308? In any case, I owned a Tavor 7 for a month before reselling it as I could not adjust to the weird (to me) recoil impulse. As a result of the recoil, my groups were horrible and my shots were all over the place. I could not get even 3 MOA out of the Tavor, so it simply had to go. YMMV, but I don't see the Tavor 7 in the DMR role, whereas the APC 308 can do the job in a pinch. Not a knock against the Tavor 7, which I am sure is a very competent Battle Rifle. It just did not work for me the same way that my X95 does....
That's about all that I can think of regarding the ACP 308 at this point. Expensive, heavy and not necessarily DMR-ready out of the box, the APC 308 is a bit of a mixed bag. I love mine now that it has a decent Trigger and Buttstock, but YMMV. My final advice would be to buy one used (if possible), in an effort to save some $$. They do pop up on the EE from time to time...
Reliability has been superb with brass-cased .308 and 7.62x51mm ammo ranging from 40-year old IVI military ball to Federal Gold Medal Match and everything in between (South African battle-pack surplus, PMC XTac Match, etc, etc). I cannot speak to reliability with steel-cased ammo as I refuse to feed my premium rifles sh#t fuel that is known to be hard on them. I have witnessed another owner firing Norinco .308 copper-washed bulk ammo with no apparent stoppages, but that was the extent of my experience with steel-cased ammo. YMMV. I have fired approximately 700 rounds with no stoppages except for the time that a dumbass buddy of mine fired some 6.5 CM through my .308 rifle. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the rifle suddenly wasn't extracting and ejecting. Then I looked at the head-stamp and saw the calibre! Those bullets must have rattled down the barrel at just above escape-velocity! Good thing it wasn't the other way around. But I digress...
Accuracy is right around 1.5 MOA with Federal 168 or 175gr Gold Medal Match and right at 2 MOA with bulk PMC .308, South African Battle Pack, etc. While that is certainly acceptable performance for a Battle Rifle, I am less enthused with the idea of the APC 308 as a DMR. My rack-grade Colt LE-901 for instance (which has no sporting purpose, mind you), consistently groups sub-MOA with the same match ammo as witnessed by Ben Klick, a local retired Master Sniper and proprietor of Sierra 64 Riflecraft Ltd. So, suffice it to say that while the APC 308's accuracy is acceptable, it is not stellar and I was quite frankly disappointed that sub-MOA groups were not the norm. That said, "practical accuracy" is very good, with easy head-shots on an IPSC target out to 500m and center-of-mass hits out to 800m using a 6-24x Arken optic. Again, all witnessed.
It is worth noting that the APC 308's stock trigger is nothing special and is certainly not "match" quality. It is rather the standard, stock APC trigger found in the APC 223 and (I think) in the APC 9 PCC. I own all three, and the trigger feels the same in all of them - at least to me. Now here is the important part - the APC 308 only accepts Elftman Triggers. Anything else is liable to be a waste of time and money. I tried Geiselle, Timney, and several others. None worked except for those with a standard mil-spec Hammer profile. The distance between the bottom of the Bolt Carrier and the top of the cocked Hammer is smaller than on a standard AR, such that the use of most after-market triggers will result in binding between the Bolt Carrier and the Hammer, slowing or entirely preventing travel of the Bolt and Carrier within the Upper Receiver. It was trial and error until I stumbled across a reference to the Elftman triggers in a US discussion thread. Problem solved, but not until after a bunch of disappointing and frustrating failed experiments. Benefit from my learning on this one...
The weight of the APC 308 is its major downfall IMHO. In this regard it is very much like the otherwise excellent 5,56mm SAI R18, which suffers from excessive weight for the calibre. I just had to slip in the R18 mention for the benefit of those whom it apparently drives crazy! With that out of the way, the APC 208 really is too heavy for what it is. With a bare weight in the realm of 4.8 kg, it is a bit of a pig by the time you add an appropriate optic. I carried a 10.5 lb FNC1A1 for the first 6 years of my infantry service and I can tell you that I would not want to lug the APC 308 around over hill and dale. As a bench-rest rifle, it is great - the weight really tames the already moderate .308 recoil. Add a brake, and the "kick" dimishes to .223-type recoil.
The APC 308 comes with B+T's "enhanced" folding Buttstock, which is also retractable with 4 Length of Pull settings IIRC. Personally, I found the cheek-weld to be too low with the provided Buttstock. I opted to go with the Bushmaster ACR Buttstock in a Dan Haga Defense Aluminum Adapter on my APC 308 as it is both retractable and Folding, but also features a 2-position adjustable Cheek Riser. The switch to the Magpul Buttstock solved the cheek-weld problem perfectly, as though the Rifle and Buttstock were actually were designed for one another.
The APC 308 costs a very hefty $5620 CAD, plus HST for a total of at least (in AB) $5900. Add the (IMHO) mandatory Elftman Trigger upgrade for $260 USD / $360 CAD along with the Magpul ACR Buttstock at $250 USD / $360 CAD and the Haga Defense Adapter for $144 USD / $200 CAD and the "Ptre-Optic" price starts to grow exponentially by another $920. As if it needed reinforcing, the APC 308 requires deep pockets and you are going to have to budget another grand on top of tax to wring the most out of the platform.
Comparisons between the APC 308 and the Tavor 7 are inevitable, despite the fact that they are very different platforms. I get it - not counting converted Garands, there aren't too many other semi-auto .308 options on the Canadian market. Perhaps the K+M M17 rework in .308? In any case, I owned a Tavor 7 for a month before reselling it as I could not adjust to the weird (to me) recoil impulse. As a result of the recoil, my groups were horrible and my shots were all over the place. I could not get even 3 MOA out of the Tavor, so it simply had to go. YMMV, but I don't see the Tavor 7 in the DMR role, whereas the APC 308 can do the job in a pinch. Not a knock against the Tavor 7, which I am sure is a very competent Battle Rifle. It just did not work for me the same way that my X95 does....
That's about all that I can think of regarding the ACP 308 at this point. Expensive, heavy and not necessarily DMR-ready out of the box, the APC 308 is a bit of a mixed bag. I love mine now that it has a decent Trigger and Buttstock, but YMMV. My final advice would be to buy one used (if possible), in an effort to save some $$. They do pop up on the EE from time to time...
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