lets talk Olympic Arms for a minute.

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I tend to not bad mouth local companies, but Olympic sometimes just doesn't have their logistics act together. Honestly they could be a star company, so much promise. The products are so-so. The rest not so good. Let me just say this: I've tried to order from them, they apparently don't actually want to deliver.
 
If it makes her happy, go for it. It sounds like it'll perform for what she plans on doing with it, informal plinking and fun, why not. And she wants it, and I know it's easier to get the wife what she wants.
 
If it makes her happy, go for it. It sounds like it'll perform for what she plans on doing with it, informal plinking and fun, why not. And she wants it, and I know it's easier to get the wife what she wants.
I probably will drop down and haggle it for her. The opinion train seems to be just that, opinion. Haven't seen anything of substance pointing the other direction.

She didn't like the S&W carbines for no dust cover. She choose this one over PSA's, DPMS, and others they have there.
 
The opinion train seems to be just that, opinion. Haven't seen anything of substance pointing the other direction.

Then why not do some research then? If you dont like the opinions folks are giving you when you asked for them, then do a simple Google search. You will find thousands of discussions about why other brands/models are better than Olympic. If you dont want to listen to informed opinions or facts, then why even post the question?:banghead:
 

Because I believe that if I am buying something for another person I should not be buying junk. And that is exactly what Olympic arms is. They are a company that takes no pride in the product they put out. They only take pride in their marketing.

AR15s of any type operate at high pressures and usually get abused. This is one of the reasons you hear people like myself talk about the importance of the TDP. Now of course the rifle you are looking at is not an M4 so many of those things do not apply. However some of the basics still do. A properly tested Bolt and Barrel, etc. And Oly does not even bother with that. On top of that when you have problems (When not if) their CS is second to just about everyone else.

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Then why not do some research then? If you dont like the opinions folks are giving you when you asked for them, then do a simple Google search. You will find thousands of discussions about why other brands/models are better than Olympic. If you dont want to listen to informed opinions or facts, then why even post the question?:banghead:

Sadly this is not uncommon on gun forums. People post looking for confirmation of their own personally held ideals. If they do not get it then they will dismiss those experiences that do not line up with their beliefs or desires. It is why we see posts like "Well mine has been flawless for 1000 rounds over the past 2 years" given more weight than a post that says. "I had a failure at 900 rounds in the first month" The person will take the first and use that as confirmation of their opinion while ignoring the second.

Human nature is a strange thing.
 
I have heard good things on olympic accuracy. If its got m4 ramps I would buy one. I have also had very good luck with del-ton uppers.
 
ID-shooting said:
know Oly Arms has a rather poor reputation. History of cast parts, shoddy construction, poor service, and such.

Did they go through a change recently?

It appears from looking through the responses here that Olympic has a hit-and-miss reputation right now at best.

As I said, my experience was that the Olympic I owned had a couple issues. To be fair, once I got the castle nut loctited, the rifle ran fine and I did enjoy it. I shot it quite a bit and it was a lot of fun at the range. As I recall, it did puff a bit of gas back through by the charging handle until it was a little dirty. I thought about buying a PRI gasbuster charging handle at the time, but sold the rifle instead. As I compared the rifle I had with other brands and saw the rough finishing marks, metal shavings present on the FSB and other places where holes were drilled, stuff like that... it became apparent that someone hadn't put much care into the rifle's assembly. Things that could have been smoothed out with a file in five minutes weren't addressed. If that was the QC they put into the parts I could see, how much went into the parts I couldn't see? I did peen the gas key before I sold it though. I think the buyer got a better rifle when I sold it than I got when I bought it, but I only paid $499 at the time, so it wasn't too costly of a learning experience.

Knowing what I know now, I know which brands turn out better products and which brands/models are pretty good products at lower prices. And I know which rifles are gambles. A gamble is still OK if you can get it cheap enough. I'd still consider Olympic Arms a gamble.
I'd consider PSA and S&W M&P Sport decent rifles at lower prices (with a few cost cutting measures that make them not the equal of a Colt or BCM). I'm not an expert or a gun writer - just a guy who likes guns.

If you were standing next to me at the LGS looking over AR's and you were holding an Olympic, I'd politely (and out of earshot of the employees) suggest you look at the PSA and the M&P Sport on the rack before you spent money. I try to tell it like it is, online or in person.
Sorry you were offended.
 
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I have an SGW A2, the predecessor to Olympic Arms. It has a milled billet aluminum receiver, and was manufactured in about 1979. (Olympic lost some records in a fire many years ago and can only provide a range of dates.)

It is a great shooting rifle. The barrel is stainless steel, 1:9 and very accurate for what it is. I've had no problems with it and have replaced numerous parts over the years from other manufacturers and they all seem to fit fine so far. Of course this is a much older rifle... but I would not let a very old reputation stand forever... give them a chance if you like what you see. That's what I think.
 
Low rep(undeserved IMO), middle of the road quality,iffy resale and that takes away from the value.

I wouldn't buy one new but would take advantage of a used deal on an upper by them.
 
Olympic Arms

This is my personal experience with Olympic as a LE firearms instructor. I am not bashing any brands and this is not a brand X vs brand y thing but it is hard to define differences without specific examples. We had two brands of ARs in my 25 years of training firearms, Colt and Olympic. The Olympics did slightly better than the Colts in actual experience. I am not talking a big difference and we are talking a small sample of rifles, probably 40 give or take with at least 25 of them Colts. We sent at least two Colts back for service where none of the Olympics had to be returned. Most of the Olympic problems were various bent/broken pins and bad springs. All of the rifles got a hard workout as they were department rifles and got as much care as a rental car. Now the Olympics did have parkerized, stainless steel barrels that Olympic makes themselves. I will say one thing about the Olympics, those dang things were accurate.

We can do a search on anything on the internet and get at least some information to support any position you want to take. I hope this helps 'cause I gotta go and read these internet articles how 9/11 was an inside job, we never landed a man on the moon and Obama was the greatest president ever. :rolleyes:
 
Id, nobody is trying to insult anyone. Members are just giving you their opinions. Oly rifles are less expensive than other brands, and for a reason. Some of those reasons may not matter to you (especially if you're gonna use it for informal plinking at the range). So if the wife is set on it, I get that. Make her happy. We are just trying to make some pointers, that's all.

And if you get the oly, let us know how she shoots!
 
That is one thing I did not mention in my post, above. After researching, it seems that the original SGW (Scheutzen Gun Works), predecessor to Olympic, was well known initially for their excellent quality barrels. Perhaps that is why my early SGW is as accurate as it is. As for the quality of the rest of the rifles... I can only speak from experience regarding my SGW. It has functioned well. There are scary stories out there about newer rifles though.

The one thing that did catch eye that was mentioned - resale value. Not that I'd sell any rifle these days, but resale value sort of reflects the gun public's view of a particular manufacturer.
 
What better quality/components? I hear this a lot regarding these discussions but no empirical data to go along with it. Are we talking pot metal? heat treated? Stuff made from tin?
Well here's what I wrote back in post 17
It's a plain 4140 bbl that may or may not have a properly cut and / or finished chamber. Olympic's bolt carrier group assembly is hit or miss. They use the cheapest receiver extensions (AKA buffer tubes) they can find, and they cant be bothered to stake the castle nuts on those. Their finish machining on the forged receivers is mediocre at best.
For the same $650 price tag you can get a S&W M&P-15 Sport with a Melonite bbl of the same steel vs. a plain 4140 bbl on the Oly. S&W's bbls are made in house by T/C Arms, and their chambers are always properly sized & finished. Oly frequently sends out rifles with tight chambers, and you occasionally get a rough chamber from them too. Finish machining on the S&W receivers is better, and you get a proper type III hard anodize instead of whatever spray and bake finish Oly is using now. You get an HPT/MPI bolt in a properly assembled carrier from S&W, while you get an untested bolt from Oly in a carrier that may or may not be assembled properly. S&W uses a mil diameter receiver extension and stakes the castle nut properly. Oly uses cheap commercial diameter extensions and they don't bother staking the castle nuts. Pinned on gas blocks are also far more secure than those secured with set screws.
Are we talking assembled by drunken monkeys vs. hand fit parts?
I'd say it's more assembly by complacent people than drunken monkeys.
She she likes it so much, I am inclined to support her unless there is something that just screams "NO!" So far I haven't seen anything.
The biggest NO! for me is Olympic's inconsistent overall build quality, and consistent use of low end components. For the exact same price you can get a S&W (or PSA, or Del-Ton) with better components and better build quality. It's not 1991 anymore when your options were a $1200 Colt, $800-$900 Bushmaster or Armalite, and a $600 Olympic.

The opinion train seems to be just that, opinion. Haven't seen anything of substance pointing the other direction.
No, you either don't understand the differences of the components, or you simply refuse to accept it. The 34 Ways to Cut Corners on Manufacturing an AR15 thread is something you'd do well to read.
 
For the exact same price you can get a S&W (or PSA, or Del-Ton) with better components and better build quality. It's not 1991 anymore when your options were a $1200 Colt, $800-$900 Bushmaster or Armalite, and a $600 Olympic.

This, x2.
 
I probably will drop down and haggle it for her. The opinion train seems to be just that, opinion. Haven't seen anything of substance pointing the other direction.

She didn't like the S&W carbines for no dust cover. She choose this one over PSA's, DPMS, and others they have there.
What's a dust cover going to do for a range toy? The lack of a forward assist is the bigger(still small/nonexistent for your intended usage) deal.

You seem to be choosing guns based solely on appearance and arguing with us when we start talking about useless stuff like quality. :rolleyes:
 
Nothing wrong with the two Oly's I bought

I have a 16" heavy barreled model that I bought for $600 at least 10 years ago and I had a 20" heavy barreled rifle that I owned for at least eight years. The only problem that I ever had with either was after about 300 or so rounds they needed to be cleaned. Either gun would consistantly shoot 1/2" or better groups at 100 yards. They were and stil are the mnost accurate of all the AR's that I own including a Bushmaster, Windham and, a S&W M&P all of which cost considerably more. The only reason I sold the longer rifle was because I didn't need the extra length and weight.
 
You can (and IMO should) get better quality for the same expense.

I would (and do) avoid buying an Olympic.
 
I don't understand the objection of any AR based on appearance. Most look similar and if you don't like how they look, it's easy enough to change.
Rather than looking at appearance, you need to look at the parts that went into building the rifle.

As for the Olympic barrels, I didn't know that they had a reputation for such good quality. Too bad the rifles themselves have such a shakey rep - if they'd have just stuck to barrels or outsourced for the major components and assembled rifles with good barrels, they'd probably be a well-loved company.

FWIW, Olympic isn't the only brand I'd avoid. And I've even had issues with a BCM - but BCM did make the issue right. Their customer service treated me well and that, combined with the fact that they generally know what they're doing, is enough to keep me buying their rifles... even when they do cost more.
 
I have a 16" heavy barreled model that I bought for $600 at least 10 years ago and I had a 20" heavy barreled rifle that I owned for at least eight years. The only problem that I ever had with either was after about 300 or so rounds they needed to be cleaned.
That's indicative of a tight or rough chamber, or other components that are out of spec. That's a big problem for an AR based carbine.
 
Does anybody know where to get loader for Oly 9mm original mag?
I looked all over for several days and got no info.
 
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I have a 16" heavy barreled model that I bought for $600 at least 10 years ago and I had a 20" heavy barreled rifle that I owned for at least eight years. The only problem that I ever had with either was after about 300 or so rounds they needed to be cleaned.

Any decent ar should be able to shoot at least 10x that many rounds before cleaning.

I'm with the others that suggest spending essentially the same amount and getting a better gun. As others have said all the info on why is readily available with a modicum of research. Nothing I've seen indicates oly has made a recent dramatic improvement. In the end it's your money and your gun but there is no chance I'd buy it for the price being discussed.
 
I have a 16" heavy barreled model that I bought for $600 at least 10 years ago and I had a 20" heavy barreled rifle that I owned for at least eight years. The only problem that I ever had with either was after about 300 or so rounds they needed to be cleaned.

That's no good.

Why did they need to be cleaned so often?
 
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