Holy crap, .308 has become expensive. I realized this after receiving the JAKL .308 and starting to shoot it. I didn’t hear a “bang” with every trigger pull; I heard “kaching, kaching.” With the price of .308 out of the way, let’s leap into the new JAKL-10 .308 from Palmetto State Armory (PSA). PSA provided me with the JAKL for test and review. If you’re not familiar, the JAKL series is one of PSA’s original rifles with a novel design.
The JAKL uses a long-stroke gas piston system, much like an M1 Garand. The gun-designing public has largely ignored this system in recent decades. Look at any newish rifle, and you’ll likely find it uses a short-stroke gas piston system—everything from the SCAR to the Bren and back again utilizes an AR-18-derived system.
The long-stroke gas piston design has largely been confined to the AK series of rifles. It’s a bit foreign these days, but it’s still a viable means of building a rifle. The average semi-auto .308 will typically fall into one of two categories: a battle rifle or a designated marksman rifle.
Palmetto State Armory JAKL-10 .308
Live Inventory Price Checker
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PSA JAKL 14.5" Rifle Length .308 1:10 Nitride KeyMo MOE EPT B&T Stock Rifle, FDE | Palmetto State Armory | $ 1499.99 |
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PSA JAKL 14.5" Rifle Length .308 1:10 Nitride KeyMo MOE EPT F5 Stock Rifle | Palmetto State Armory | $ 1499.99 |
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PSA JAKL 14.5" Rifle Length .308 1:10 Nitride ASR Flash Hider MOE EPT B&T Stock Rifle | Palmetto State Armory | $ 1499.99 |
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PSA JAKL 14.5" Rifle Length .308 1:10 Nitride ASR Flash Hider MOE EPT F5 Stock Rifle, FDE | Palmetto State Armory | $ 1499.99 |
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What’s The Difference?
A battle rifle is a full-powered semi-automatic rifle designed to deliver powerful projectiles rapidly and effectively. Guns like the FN FAL, G3, and M14 are classic examples of battle rifles. A DMR, or designated marksman rifle, isn’t always chambered in .308 but is a very accurate semi-automatic rifle designed to provide more range than the average service rifle with enhanced precision.
Accurized battle rifles often serve as DMRs, but plenty of intermediate-caliber rifles have also worked as DMRs. While battle rifles inherently require a full-powered round, a DMR does not. The JAKL-10 .308 doesn’t explicitly claim to be one or the other, but through testing, I wanted to determine if it leaned in one direction.
The JAKL-10 .308 in Hand
Much like the original JAKL, the JAKL-10 .308 takes some cues from the AR series. The lower receiver is very AR-like. According to PSA, the JAKL uppers are only compatible with PSA’s JAKL lowers and PSA’s PA-10 Gen 3 lowers when using the JAKL lower build kit. Remember this if you’re planning to build a JAKL on any other AR-10 lower.
The JAKL-10 .308 uses SR-25 magazines, and it comes with one. Thanks to Magpul, SR-25 magazines are affordable and widely available in varying capacities—they even make a drum for them! The JAKL-10 series comes in various barrel lengths, including 14.5 inches. I have a 16-inch model, but I personally would prefer a 20-inch model.
Although the 20-inch model might get awfully heavy. The JAKL-10 makes everything bigger, and that includes some of the issues I had with the original JAKL. The gun is very front-heavy and unbalanced. This is due to the use of a long-stroke gas piston, the .308-sized barrel, and PSA’s own ultra-hefty handguard.
That handguard could probably double as a pry tool because it’s “dummy-thick.” The handguard’s substantial thickness allows it to act as an effective heat sink. Long-stroke gas piston guns tend to get hot, so a thick handguard provides a good bit of protection for your hands during extended firing sessions. The downside, of course, is a front-heavy rifle.
The top portion of the handguard is monolithic with the receiver, which is incredibly handy when mounting optics. You can place your optic anywhere you want. I mounted a Maven CRS.3 4-20×50 FFP scope on the gun, and having that extra rail space allowed me to achieve a perfect eye relief setup.
Ergonomics And Design
Using the AR-10 style lower makes the gun exceptionally ergonomic. AR lowers have long set the standard for good ergonomics. The safety, magazine release, bolt release, and pistol grip are all perfectly placed for easy access. The magazine well is precisely where I want it to be, and magazines slide perfectly into the gun for quick reloads.
Up top, we have a non-reciprocating charging handle that can be swapped from left to right. What I particularly appreciate about this charging handle is that my knuckles don’t slap the optics mount when working the action; it’s thoughtfully placed fairly low to avoid this. As mentioned, the JAKL-10 is front-heavy, and you’ll feel that significantly while shooting off-hand.
The stock design clearly took inspiration from the ACR, which was a smart move, as the ACR stock was always brilliant. The JAKL-10 features a stock that accomplishes three things: it collapses and expands to allow for length of pull adjustments, it folds to create a more compact rifle for storage or transport, and it offers a cheek riser for improved comfort. It’s not a bad design. However, on the already hefty JAKL-10, the stock feels very light, which doesn’t help alleviate the balance issues.
Shooting the JAKL-10
Is it accurate enough to be a DMR? Or should it stick to the battle rifle role? That depends heavily on your needs and your ammunition. I bought a mix of Winchester 7.62x51mm M80 loads and basic 150-grain Remington ammo. Neither is match-grade, but there was a huge accuracy difference. Perhaps Winchester White Box simply isn’t what it used to be, because, holy crap, the groups were five MOA at times.
I was genuinely worried about the JAKL’s accuracy initially. That’s absurd. I swapped to the 150-grain Remington, fired a few groups, and was instantly relieved. The groups became much tighter. I zeroed the optic for the Remington ammo and reserved the Winchester for close-range use only. With the 150-grain Remington FMJs, my best group was around 2.25 inches. I measured with a tape measure, so it was plus or minus â…› of an inch.
Good open-tip match-grade ammo would undoubtedly tighten those groups further, but even a 2.25 MOA group isn’t bad at all. I think you could run it as a DMR, but it would probably function best as a battle rifle. This isn’t due to inherent accuracy limitations, but rather to the inherent characteristics of the long-stroke gas piston system, which is where the gun truly excels.
The JAKL-10 and The Long Stroke System
The challenge with a long-stroke gas system in a DMR application is the movement created by the large piston and bolt moving back and forth. While it does help reduce overall recoil, there is a distinct forward movement when the action returns to battery. You can feel it, and you can visually observe it at long ranges through an optic. The reticle goes up, comes down, and then slightly “bounces” forward from your original point of aim. Is that a major deal? Not really, but it’s worth noting that a PA-10 (an AR-10 platform) would likely be a better dedicated DMR for this reason.
There is something addictively fun about consistently hitting small steel gongs at 200 yards with an improvised rest. The .308 wallops steel with authority, and the sound delivers an audible pleasure to my ears. I was able to take it out to 500 yards at a range, but due to range rules, I couldn’t do anything interesting or fast at that distance. At 500 yards, the .308 is still pretty flat—flat enough for my unskilled self to hit some steel IPSC targets and some 20-inch steel plates from a rested position.
The JAKL-10 .308 isn’t a battle rifle because it can’t be a DMR. Rather, it excels as a battle rifle. Remember how the gun is front-heavy? That characteristic becomes a benefit when you start shooting fast and up close. Muzzle rise is significantly mitigated by the front-heavy nature of the gun, which makes shooting it quickly fairly easy. The back-and-forth impulse of the long-stroke system isn’t a significant issue at 100 yards and in.
Going Fast
Shooting failure-to-stop drills, Bill Drills, and rapid strings doesn’t feel difficult with the JAKL-10. It’s slower than a 5.56 JAKL but still rapid and surprisingly accurate for its power. This makes me consider swapping the 4-20X scope for a 1-8X LPVO or a prism sight with an offset dot. There’s something incredibly satisfying about shooting a .308 rapidly, even if all I can hear is the sound of my wallet draining.
The long-stroke gas piston absorbs a good bit of rearward recoil, and the overall weight absorbs muzzle rise, making this thing a smooth shooter when firing rapidly. I need to shoot it side-by-side with an AR-10, but I feel like it has less perceived recoil than a typical AR-10. The hefty handguard that doubles as a heat sink does a fantastic job. I shot 200 rounds in a relatively short time period, and while the handguard was warm, it never got too hot to handle.
This is why I think it makes a better battle rifle than a DMR.Â
Going Live
I shot 300 rounds of .308 through the JAKL-10 in a couple of range sessions, and there were no malfunctions whatsoever. While it’s not an exceptionally long reliability test, the price of .308 ammo makes it tough to shoot this thing without going broke. I plan to continue shooting the gun and will update on the total round count and any flaws found.
The JAKL-10 in .308 offers a battle rifle that’s a little different from the standard fare, and it does so at a decent price point. It’s the cheapest .308 non-AR, semi-automatic, magazine-fed rifle on the market. The JAKL-10 is fun to shoot, especially up close. It’s genuinely a moderate and close-range hammer that delivers its power effectively in one direction.
About Travis Pike
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearms instructor.
