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A couple months ago I received the SAINT VICTOR from Springfield Armory for review. I am a fan of the AR10 platform, own a couple so, I was ready to put it through the “TFB wringer”. As all in the Saint line do, the Victor arrived in a case with two magazines and a “SAINT” morale patch. My last rifle arrived in a cardboard box with no magazine. Although they’re small details, it does give it a cool factor you do not always get these days
Out of the case, the SAINT VICTOR .308 is impressive. Very nicely balanced with an ergonomic handguard that is a natural comfortable weld. Most of all, it is light! 7.8 pounds and with an excellent balance it does not even feel that heavy. It certainly feels more like a heavier 5.56 than a .308. Light and well balanced, but how does it shoot? That is the coolest part of this rifle, but first, let’s go over the makeup of it.
My Victor arrived with soft case, two magazines and mounted flip-up sights.
UPPER
The first thing that grabbed my attention on the upper half was the handguard. 15″ M-Lok aluminum free float is a comfortable grip, that helps with the great balance. Moreover, the handguard was snug, and all the bolts were uniformly torqued. Bellow the handguard is the pinned adjustable gas block. The rifle comes with a key and five gas plugs. Different plugs allow different gas pressure allowed through the block. Simple, easy adjustments to fine-tune the system.
The gas block plugs are easily inserted without removing the handguard. The long Allen wrench is included with your SAINT VICTOR
The barrel is a 16″ lightweight profile with CMV Melonite® finish. At the end of the barrel is the brake. It is a beast. I found it a well-tuned addition to the rifle. With the standard gas plug, the recoil was easily handled. It was not easily handled by those around me. This .308 roars when fired. (I love the sound of freedom).
The brake is a part of this well-tuned platform. It roars with freedom.
Bolt and charging handle. (I forgot to clean)
The Melonite® finished steel bolt is nice. The charging handle is standard. I wish they put a little more detail into that. Overall, the charging handle is the only thing I found that I would change.
LOWER
Much of the lower is what you would expect. What I found different all stood out in a positive way. First of all, the grip is a Bravo Company Mod.3 that seems a little fatter in the middle. This provides a little more to grip, helpful when firing an AR in .308. I like the Bravo Company 6-Position stock. It is easy to adjust and positively locks in place.
Being a trigger snob, this trigger was a big deal in my world. This SAINT comes with an enhanced Nickel Boron coated single-stage flat-faced trigger. Initially, out of the box, I found some grittiness that created a bad creep. I had coworkers dry fire it and they all agreed. I broke it down and found the trigger clean and without debris. The “happy ending” is that the creep was gone after the first 40 rounds. After that no creep, and nice crisp break.
A stock flat-faced trigger is a nice touch
The entire assembly is evenly coated.
Firing
Springfield put proper effort into this rifle. The brake and the trigger make this rifle easy to shoot therefore a lot of fun. I mounted a scope and took it to 500 yards. It was consistent at 500 yards on a 12″x12″ steel target. (All those pics were horrible, sorry). Scoped or with iron sights, I went through ammo without tiring. Did I mention the brake is a BEAST?
CONCLUSION
Overall the SAINT VICTOR in .308 was an impressively designed AR10. That beast of a brake makes it very enjoyable to fire, without even changing out the gas block plugs. I found the rifle well-assembled with everything evenly torqued within spec and without marks.
As I said, it is a very comfortable .308 AR platform with a great trigger, (after brake-in) and only weighs 7.8 pounds! I think there was witchcraft involved! My single complaint was the boring standard charging handle. With an MSRP of 1,399$, I think they are a good buy.
Any of our reader pick one up, or get to fire one? What say you?
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