Who Buys Olympic Arms Rifles?

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leathermarshmallow

New member
I have an AR15 that was made by Olympic Arms. It has performed flawlessly for me. My question is that if everyone on the internet poops on Olympic Arms, who is buying them? They sell tons of them and I cannot imagine them all being POS rifles.

I for one really like my Oly Arms rifle. I will buy another.
 
I have one, a "Plinker" model and it has been every bit as reliable as my LMT and Bravo Company branded rifles.

I stated this on <an unnamed> forum and was called an liar by the immature crybabies over there.

Talk about insecure and snobbish kids.
 
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If you are happy with it that's what counts.

I did look at them, they did not have a setup and the accuracy guaranteed I wanted. That was what drove my decision as I was after something special they did not offer.

Reputed to make some good guns so worth a look if you are interested in an AR.
 
They must sell quite a few of them, Olympic Arms just expanded their manufacturing facility a few years ago.
 
I haven't bought one complete, it's still cheaper to build your own, but I have handled a bunch having lived damn near next door to their factory for years.

When my buddy had it bolt break in two at the camming pin his wife took the rifle into their shop and they replaced the bolt and verified headspace right there for free. I used to think that was a sign of poor manufacturing until I'd spent enough time in charge of a Stryker Company Arms Room. Even "milspec" Colt M4's have bolts break in two or bolt lugs break off after a while.

And if you are looking for an inexpensive match barrel, they are a great way to get into high power/EIC shooting without paying the White Oak or CLE price tag.

Jimro
 
Everything is going to break... EVEN Colts BCM, and LMT.... the theoretical difference is after how long/how many rounds will it fail.

I do not own a Oly but I have shot them... I would say that for what its worth.. it will stand up to what 95% of people would do with an AR.
 
I haven't bought one complete, it's still cheaper to build your own, but I have handled a bunch having lived damn near next door to their factory for years.

When my buddy had it bolt break in two at the camming pin his wife took the rifle into their shop and they replaced the bolt and verified headspace right there for free. I used to think that was a sign of poor manufacturing until I'd spent enough time in charge of a Stryker Company Arms Room. Even "milspec" Colt M4's have bolts break in two or bolt lugs break off after a while.

And if you are looking for an inexpensive match barrel, they are a great way to get into high power/EIC shooting without paying the White Oak or CLE price tag.

Jimro

A friend of a friends wife had one where the bolt broke in half...LOL I found a picture of that exact bolt too.

url
 
I have an Olympic Arms AR-15 K16 Carbine that I purchased several years ago. I don’t shoot it as often as I would like given that the closest outdoor range is a good distance from our home. I had an initial cosmetic issue with the Carbine that I felt OA customer service handled poorly, but it has been trouble-free otherwise and I’ve been pleased with its accuracy.

olyk16_13.jpg


olyk16_16.jpg
 
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Oly's bad rep comes from the entry level rifles they marketed years ago. I recall these had cast receivers and other corners were cut to keep cost low, including quality control. These had problems and Oly stopped production after a few years. It's these rifles that have given Oly a undeserved poor reputation. You well see a lot of Oly uppers on match rifles. Oly makes a great line of pistol caliber AR's.

You well continue to hear this from internet parrots because they read a post by a internet expert.;) Take everything you read on the net with a grain of salt, in some cases a hole bag.

Some time with Google and you can find horror stories about every brand of AR that has hit the market.
 
Madcratebuilder,
I would also add that at the time, 98 thru 2000 They had Poor if any customer support.
You could not get them to honer a warranty or even answer the phone.
 
I'd rather have a Century than the 2 really unreliable defects that S&W sold me. Their warranty wasn't worth squat, either. Just my luck. But I can't be the only one.
 
My first AR was an Olympic it did what i wanted it to do, and it was a good first AR. Leaned a lot of stuff about ARs on that rifle.
 
I have one that I bought new and a couple that came to me as either an upper or a lower and have no problems with any of them. At one time, they sold a lower cost rifle using a cast lower which some found sub par.
 
The bolt breaking at the cam pin hole is generally where it fails. Low or high quality, that's where they will let go.

The difference is in the round count. If one lets go at a couple thousand rounds, I'll hazard a guess that it was a lower quality one. The better ones seem to be going 10K rounds or so before breaking, but bolt replacement is simple and relatively inexpensive, even when buying quality.

As for Olympic, I see reports from folks who say theirs are great and accurate and others who claim theirs just don't work and are out of spec. Seems like when they work right, they drive tacks.
 
Complaints.

Usually the people you hear from are the complainers. The happy folks are out shooting. I shoot 3 different Taurus handguns and know several other people that do and I can't find an actual owner in person that has a problem with them, yet when I look on the handgun forum it is full of bashers. Maybe you just know how to operate and maintain your firearms. BTW, I don't own any Olympic firearms. This is just an observation about products in general.
 
I had an Olympic AR with a 20" heavy stainless barrel. The only problem I had with it is my friend liked it so much and bugged me so much I sold it to him. Every time we would go to the range he would beg me to bring it so he could shoot it. He has it now. I had purchased an M4 style carbine AR since I am older and that thing was getting too heavy to tote around.
 
OLY arms 45 acp carbine

I was wondering if anyone had experience with this model. truth be told i have never owned anything Oly made.
 
I've had two of the Oly .45 ACP uppers. Both worked fine; i.e., no malfunctions I could blame on the manufacturing.

For most alternate caliber ARs the critical question is what kind of magazine arrangement do you need. I understand Oly now has magazines made for this application, but I don't know how well they work.

Mine used Uzi mags with a mag block welded on them. Those are expensive and hard to find. I also had a lower (BAZ45) that took 30 round grease gun magazines.
 
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