My friend wants to sell me his Olympic arms 20" plinker plus AR. I'm wanting to know if this AR Is compatible with all of the AR accessories. I know some versions of the AR can only accept a few of the accessories. I'm mainly interested in the Magul BAD lever, and and upgraded charging handle. Other than that, it doesn't really matter. Second question, he wants to sell it to me for $450, it comes with an upgraded forend, and a few magazines and a sling. It has around 1000 rounds through it. Is this a good gun? A good deal?
Olympic arms AR questions
- Thread starter bjones870
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It's a good deal. Some of the oly's depending on the year had some issues but if it's a plinker as you said in your post then who cares if it's a mil spec super operator whammy 3000.
1k rounds is a drop in the bucket for an ar, I did that many in my very first range trip with mine!
It will be compatible with all of the ar do-dads you could ever want. Buy it and enjoy a good deal an a good gun.
Oh btw, if it's a "pre-ban" gun it's quite a bit more valuable then that price
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1k rounds is a drop in the bucket for an ar, I did that many in my very first range trip with mine!
It will be compatible with all of the ar do-dads you could ever want. Buy it and enjoy a good deal an a good gun.
Oh btw, if it's a "pre-ban" gun it's quite a bit more valuable then that price
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RCPractitioner
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I have one with a 16" stainless barrel that has been flawless. I've always been told or read that Olys were junk but after 4 years and a few thousand rounds mine still hasn't gotten the memo.
I just bought an Oly from a person who said he did not like it because it would not feed the first round off the mag and would jam. I got two Mag-pul P mags to replace the crappy one that came with it and with the advice from an AR Guru who said to break it down remove the spring and buffer,clean all the dust rust and crud then gun lube and oil the S%*# out of it. ARs love to run wet. Since then I have run a cupla hundert .223 thru it with no malfunctions......BTW it discovered that this is a post ban model and does not have a .556 chamber this might be something to keep an eye out for.
I do not believe any OLY is milspec. The one I have I will use to train(read play) and plink but I am in the market for a tier 1 AR.... LMT,Spikes Tactical,Colt ect.... they charge a lot more for them, but there is a reason. PS..do some research go to some AR and M4 forums and do a search. I used to think an AR was a AR.. not so no mo
Oly has been around alot longer and is alot better than most and certainly than its Colt contemporaries. It and Bushmaster were the only options for years. Lotta johny-come-latelys that sold for less and folks defended the cheaper stuff they bought and whined about Olympic Arms.
$450? A bargain whatever model it is. A STEAL on some. Grab it!
$450? A bargain whatever model it is. A STEAL on some. Grab it!
Here, I must respectfully disagree.
Olympic Arms does a decent job with its rifles...but as far as being better than its Colt contemporaries...well, I'm waiting to see ONE Olympic Arms rifle in the hands of a soldier. You won't find it.
Without going into a lot of detail, and a lot of stuff which will produce the inevitable replies, I'll simply say this:
My background with the M16 platform includes 15 years active Federal service, most of which was spent as a military armorer.
I also ran my own gunsmithing business for around 6 years.
I am currently a law enforcement armorer with my Department.
I set forth a few years back, and evaluated a LOT of AR pattern carbines and rifles. I shot a bunch of them from every manufacturer you could think of.
I had a list of specifications that I wanted in my duty carbine:
Chrome lined barrel and chamber;
Properly cut and aligned feed ramps;
MPI testing and inspection process;
Properly mounted, aligned and staked carrier key;
Carrier and bolt shot-peened and stress relieved;
Proper springs and inserts;
Lower receiver holes and pins properly located, within spec;
Buffer weight correctly matched for the carbine;
Able to stabilize correctly ALL commercially available ammunition;
Detachable carry handle with properly measured and spec'd M1913 Picatinny rail attachment point;
Properly staked and installed castle nut for the stock;
Mil-spec 6 position adjustable buffer tube and stock;
Handguards that were durable, with proper heat shielding, and finally:
Able to hold a maximum of 1 minute of angle (MOA) at 100 yards, both from initial cold-barrel firing, and then after heating the barrel up with 90 rounds, fired rapid fire.
I had enough money to buy any rifle on the market.
This is what I settled on, and this is what I trust my life to when I'm on duty:
This is the Colt LE6920, with an Aimpoint CompM2; Fenix TK11 weapon light and bipod. (Disregard the pup in the background; he's a photo hog.
)Correct me if I'm wrong but Colt lost its contracts to make military arms. Bushmaster. FN. No Colts. That's the same period I'm talking about. About the time the Accu-Wedge was invented to keep Colt uppers and lowers from rattling they were so loose! I know, I still have one of that era's! This was all pre-ban. I'm going back to the time Olympic was premier. That's the point. Soon after is when the nonsense started. "I got the cheapest so it must be the best and Olympic can't be."
Glad you tried many of the other firms' products, companies with almost a decades' history. But I've got underwear older than that (and it is really soft).
Now the Mosin-Nagant or the Makarov -- those are the best guns ever made. LOL
Glad you tried many of the other firms' products, companies with almost a decades' history. But I've got underwear older than that (and it is really soft).
Now the Mosin-Nagant or the Makarov -- those are the best guns ever made. LOL
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Colt has held an almost exclusive primary source contract for the M16 family of firearms for our military branches for a long time. There are other contractors who hold contracts to provide parts and support items for the military; however, only Bushmaster amd FN (to my knowledge) produce full on rifles that are type classified within the Gov't as standard purchase/procurement items under the MTOE (Military Tables of Organization and Equipment).
And the Accu-Wedge was NEVER produced to stop "Colt" rifles from rattling. I repeatedly qualified expert while on active duty with an M16A1 produced by the Hydra-Matic division of General Motors that was so rattly you could actually see daylight between the upper and lower receivers while it was fully assembled.
And the Accu-Wedge was NEVER produced to stop "Colt" rifles from rattling. I repeatedly qualified expert while on active duty with an M16A1 produced by the Hydra-Matic division of General Motors that was so rattly you could actually see daylight between the upper and lower receivers while it was fully assembled.
I'd go for the PSA. Chrome lined bore, 4150 chrome moly steel barrel, chrome lined bolt carrier, you won't get any of that with the Plinker or any Oly for that matter.
Colt lost it's contract to build the M16 to FN but Colt has always had a sole source contract for the M4 carbine which is the Army's main battle rifle.
Olympic Arms only started building an AR clone in 1982 and they don't even come close to Colt and their contemporaries. Bushmaster has been making them since 1972. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Arms
Olympic Arms uses 4140 steel in their barrels where Bushmaster uses 4150 steel as does Colt, PSA, BCM Daniel Defence, etc, etc.
http://olyarms.com/index.php?page=s...&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=5
4150 has a higher carbon content as required by Mil-specs
Olympic Arms doesn't use chrome lined bores in their rifles, Bushmaster uses chrome lined bores in all their rifles as does Colt, PSA, BCM Daniel Defence, etc, etc.
Oly makes a fairly decent cheap AR, if you can get if for $450 you wont be getting hurt but for just a little more money you can have a lot better rifle.
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870, at that price you won't hurt yourself at all. It is a good deal. Some people poo poo Olympic but they will run. The Olympic barrel is probably going to shoot better than the other run of the mill AR. Lets not forget Mil Spec means lowest bidder unless you arebuying a hammer or a aircraft ashtray.
That is one of how many? There is always going to be something that slips the GC. The same person you are speaking of bought two and only had problems with one of them.
Not really true, the mil spec barrel is 4150 chrome moly steel compared to 4140. That means a higher carbon content in the steel. It is also chrome lined where the Olympic Arms is not. That may not ever become an issue but if you can get the better parts at a comparable price then why buy something that you know is inferior?
AND FWIW, Mil-spec has nothing to do with lowest bidder. It is a standard set by years of testing and the minimum requirements that the military will accept.
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I have been around OLy AR's for about oh 14 years or so. You have to remember, I don't care how many rounds you can put through a barrel, but rather how many bullets can you put in the same hole.
Milspec has nothing to do with the lowest bidder? BALONEY! You haven't been around supply much have you. I've seen some "mil spec" 45 parts which were pretty sad. Many years of testing? What makes you think the military have a requirement for a superior part? They don’t. My guess would be if a part were made for the civilian world, tolerances might be tighter with a better finish. Mil Spec means you can pretty much pull a part out of the parts bin and it will fit. Years of testing? We know this is wrong too. Why? The M-16 was tested allot before forced on the GI's now wasn't it.
Let’s take a look at war time Winchester M-1 Garand’s. Did you know the Winchesters were the worst of the Garand’s? Some of their mil spec machining would not have made past civilian customers for very long. I’m not saying they were not good rifles but Springfield did much better.
My personal AR's have stainless steel barrels which were made by Kreiger. Tell me those are not as good as a GI barrel. Oh yeah, a chromed lined barrel might get more rounds through it but nowhere close to to the accuracy potential of the cut rifling barrel. We won’t go into the erosion difference between ball and most comm ammo.
I also know Vietnam era M-16’s were good shooters. At least until the wind came along.
Mil Spec might mean something if we are talking about parachutes but we’re talking about a rifle. I also know there are allot of junk parts out there but being mil spec is not some magic answer to everything when it comes to a AR.
The question was is $450.00 bucks a good deal on a OLY AR. Yes it is a good deal.
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