Olympic Arms AR’s, where do they stand in AR World?

[22/17 SHOOTER]

Gentleman.
I have an Olympic Arms K16 in my sights. Very nice looking setup, flat top, 16 inch bull barrel, nice scope, iron sights plus other bells and whistles. All brand new, never fired, in the factory case.
Now, I don’t know much about AR’s, hence the question.
How is Olympic Arms stacking up in AR World ? Dependability, quality etc. Better than DPMS ? Any known issues or problems ? Compatible with other makers as I’m thinking about getting different top in the future ?
TIA,
Cezar.

 

[carbine85]

They are not top shelve rifles. The real question is how much is it and what's on it?

 

[Broken Anvil]

Where do they stand....on the bottom. You can do much better for a little more.

 

[MrCleanOK]

They're mid-to-low on the AR quality scale. But, if this is just going to be a plinker/target rifle (which it sounds like, with a bull barrel) then go for it if the price is right and it makes you happy.

 

[christcorp]

Excellent advise. Good to hear honest opinions. Usually, there's someone telling the interested person that they just have to get a colt, daniel, BCM, etc... They push the whole "Mil-Spec" argument. Glad to see real opinions based on truth and not hype.

AR use basically falls into 3 categories:

1. Shooting paper/plinking/fun varmiting
2. Shooting paper/plinking/fun varmiting + Defense/hunting
3. Shooting paper/plinking/fun varmiting + Defense/hunting + Competition/High Rounds.

There are definitely some in category 3 that you would want to spend $1000+ on. Competition accuracy, especially at long rang is very important. 6000+ rounds a year may command higher quality parts. May justify $500 optics. etc... Category 1 can definitely justify a $600 Olympics arm or similar.

The one thing I always recommend, if to not NEED TO BUY an AR; but WANT TO BUY an AR. If you can do that, then you can hold out for the right sale or deal of a lifetime. E.g. At christmas time, Sportsman's Warehouse had great sales. I picked up my S&W M&P15 (Normal $1069) for $649 after sales and S&W rebates. They had a Bushmaster Poly AR for $599. So even if you're just in category 1, and can easily justify the $500-$600 AR; if you don't buy impulsively, you can find a great deal on a "Better Quality" rifle, but at the same price as the lower models. This is just being a smart consumer. You might not need to extra quality; but if you can get the extra quality for the same price, then that's a great financial purchase for resale value if needed.

Anyway; for punching paper and having fun, there is nothing wrong with an Olympic Arms. Just be honest with yourself on your needs and purpose. Don't let price alone dictate which one you get. Good luck and have fun.

 

[MutinousDoug]

I shot an Oly upper in NRA high power until the barrel crapped out at the 5K round count. It took me from abject novice to Master class before that occurred. It was a 3/4 MoA set-up. The Krieger barrel now on the upper cost as much as the entire Oly upper cost me in about 2001.
The Oly is not a top tier product but mine was accurate, reliable and economical. HTH

 

[Mags]

If it's less tha 550 I would get it. When you get around 650 there ar better options. (not much better)

 

[christcorp]

If it's less tha 550 I would get it. When you get around 650 there ar better options. (not much better)

Depends on sales/rebates at that time. I've seen $1200 Colts on sale for $950. I've seen $1000 M&P on sale for $750. I've seen $900 Poly Bush on sale for $599. DPMS for $650. I've also seen BCM complete uppers on sale for $400 and good lowers for $200-$250. So you can definitely get into the $600-$800 range. But you have to be willing to shop around and be patient. If you aren't patient, and you don't research, and you are an "Impulse Buyer", then you're always going to pay more than you have to; OR you will be forced to buy lower quality. Again; the Olympic Arm isn't low quality for what you say you want to do with it. Simply; if you're patient and shop around, you can many times buy a much higher quality AR for the same or slightly higher price.

 

[Z-Michigan]

OA doesn't really "Stand" in the AR world, it's more like lying down, sometimes dead, sometimes playing dead, and occasionally it will roll over and beg. OA was considered mediocre at best back when Bushmaster was considered terrific.

 

[TheGewehrGuy]

Olympic arms has improved in quality lately, but I have no experience to speak of other than my friends rifle being a tack-driver, which has only an Olympic Barrel and a Free-floating hand guard.

Honestly if I were you, I would build your own rifle, exactly to the specs you want. Or you could even buy a bushmaster upper from MidwayUSA, and buy a bushmaster lower and assemble a parts kit. You'll be able to get a guaranteed quality rifle for about the same price.

And I would highly suggest joining MidwayUSA, read their emails for a couple months, don't buy anything from them, then unsubscribe from the newletters, and they send you a message telling you that they are going to give you special pricing. You can get the Bushmaster upper that is normally $550 for $490 with the special pricing, this is what I am getting right now.

 

[Wolfgang2000]

I had a Olympic CAR 15 in the 80's and the 90's. I also had a Cold SP1 CAR. I preferred the Olympic. If I every had a question I could call Olympic and get someone on the shop floor to talk to me.

The only reason I don't still have my Olympic is because I got out of AR's. The Olympic was the last one I sold. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Olympic.

 

[kwelz]

They are laying face down somewhere between junk and the stuff you find in the sewer.

 

[snakeman]

I have had several ar's and my k16 is the most accurate rifle i have ever shot

 

[W L Johnson]

I have had several ar's and my k16 is the most accurate rifle i have ever shot

Picked up a K16 about 4 months ago, and yes it it darn accurate and so far has been running without the slightest hiccup. I did change out the trigger for a two stage. For the record I have 7 other ARs.

 

[HorseSoldier]

They're okay for plinking and getting familiar with the controls and running an AR if you don't have any experience along those lines. Should be fine for hunting, but not suitable for any serious sort of usage as a patrol carbine or high round count training/competition rifle.

(My personal experience with Oly Arms is that the worst AR failure I've had with a personally owned, non-USGI weapon, was with an Olympic Arms 16" upper that had the bolt break in half at the cam pin. The rifle had some rounds through it, but wasn't a 100,000 round beater, and the failure occurred at a civilian range from the bench under very modest shooting conditions. That did nothing to inspire to rush out and buy anything else from them.)

 

[22/17 SHOOTER]

Gentleman.
As expected, lots of responses from both ends of the spectrum. Some of you like them, some hate them. All in all, i find them very helpful. Thanks.
I think i'll buy the gun. I'll never use it for "serious" shooting as i'm not a "serious" shooter. All i want is the AR style gun that i'll take to the range few times per year, if i hit pop can at 100 yards or man size target at 300 i'll be happy.
What is pulling me into it is simple fact that it is a full package. Brand new gun, iron "match" sights, AR dedicated scope with bullet drop compensator, also some kind of cheap Red Dot device that i don't see myself using. 5 brand new mags, 500 rounds of ammo, papers, gun case. All slightly under $800.00
Well, thank you all for the input, much appreciated.
Cezar.

 

[kaferhaus]

Nothing wrong with them. There's more misinformation running around on the web about ARs than there is politics.

Everyone puts out a lemon now and again, including Colt and the rest of them. I've owned dozens of ARs made by just about every maker out there and for the most part other than a few upgrades from one maker to the other they all were exactly the same.

Yes company A may particle test every bolt, where company B only batch tests but the ugly truth is most of them are buying the bolts from the same couple of vendors.... Same with lower receivers. Many do not make their own, they're "name branded" during manufacture.

You would likely be surprised to find out how many of these companies are using the exact same parts with different markings on them yet charging you wildly different prices.

Although there are some real differences of value, the difference in quality from a Noveske to a Oly or whatever else someone wants to declare "bottom of the heap" is mostly hype and good marketing.

There's the ugly truth.

Now the guys that have 1500-2K tied up in their AR are going to scream bloody murder. Those are the facts.

99% of the ARs out there run just fine and will give you many thousands of rounds of enjoyment before needing any serious attention IF you take care of it and run it wet.

 

[kwelz]

There's more misinformation running around on the web about ARs than there is politics.

And then you go on to say.

Yes company A may particle test every bolt, where company B only batch tests but the ugly truth is most of them are buying the bolts from the same couple of vendors.... Same with lower receivers. Many do not make their own, they're "name branded" during manufacture.

I guess you probed your own point but not in the way you intended.

Yes many companies get the Raw forgings for lowers from a limited number of providers. However the raw forging doesn't mean much when it comes to the spec of a part. How is it finished is more important for the lower.

As for your other point, some companies get parts from the same provider as other companies. However what you fail to take into account is the requirements each company has. Company A will ask for a higher level of QC while company B will accept whatever they are sent.

Your "facts" and "truth" are anything but honest and full.

 

[kwelz]

Back to the OP.. It is your money, spend it how you want. But Oly has a reputation for putting out junk for a reason. They do put out junk.

 

[mshootnit]

Sounds like it will be a good shooter!

 

[sansone]

I shot an Oly upper in NRA high power until the barrel crapped out at the 5K round count. It took me from abject novice to Master class before that occurred. It was a 3/4 MoA set-up. The Krieger barrel now on the upper cost as much as the entire Oly upper cost me in about 2001.
The Oly is not a top tier product but mine was accurate, reliable and economical. HTH

my experiences with oly match this opinion

 

[kaferhaus]

Yes many companies get the Raw forgings for lowers from a limited number of providers. However the raw forging doesn't mean much when it comes to the spec of a part. How is it finished is more important for the lower.

As for your other point, some companies get parts from the same provider as other companies. However what you fail to take into account is the requirements each company has. Company A will ask for a higher level of QC while company B will accept whatever they are sent.

You obviously have little knowledge of manufacturing processes. The same vendor is not going to make a run of just a few hundred or thousand of the same part to one quality level and then make another run of the same part to a different one when starting with the same forging. It would actually cost them more money to do it that way.

The final milling of these parts are all done by CNC machines and it takes no longer to produce the part to this minor spec than another. However changing the setups is a very time consuming process that means you're making nothing during that time. Thus losing money.

Were there any differences in the forgings to begin with, then you'd have a issue.

And as far as the "small parts", springs, plungers, detents, hammers, triggers etc... Most of those are made offshore. And I mean the vast majority of them... That doesn't mean they're bad parts by any means. The same with stocks and fore ends... very few of them are true "mil-spec". Does it matter? So long as they're of good quality, NO.

And most of the time the difference between "mil-spec" and not means nothing more than the same testing procedures were not followed. Per unit testing is required for most mil-spec parts, whereas "batch testing" has been the world wide manufacturing standard for many many decades. It's less expensive, the customer reaps the benefits of those savings. Uncle sam is spending YOUR money, they don't much give a crap how much extra it costs.

I won't argue the point any further. You think you know what you're talking about because you've read it somewhere. I've been in the supplier end of this business (manufacturing) and I'm well aware of what's what and who's buying what parts from whom.

 

[kwelz]

If by read somewhere you mean actually spoken to the people involved in these processes then sure you are correct.

So you are claiming that you provide parts for ARs and other firearms? Or are you just saying that you work in the distribution of various manufactured parts.

SO where do these magical overseas parts come from? I assume you are going to say that DD and Colt use the same parts as DPMS and Oly?

 

[Quentin]

How is Olympic Arms stacking up in AR World ? Dependability, quality etc. Better than DPMS ? Any known issues or problems ? Compatible with other makers as I’m thinking about getting different top in the future ?

Probably about equal to DPMS which is a low end AR. If you're not going to shoot it much it'll work out. But odds are you'll contract the EBR disease and down the road wish you'd aimed your sights higher now. I'd get something better.

Oly should be compatible with other brands so you could add a different upper later.

 

[22/17 SHOOTER]

Well, like it or not, here it, just picked it up 20 minutes ago.
Little nose heavy thanks to the bull barrel but it feels so good when shouldered.
It takes 2 minutes to change the scope to iron sights, i wonder how bad will point of impact move.
Funny, the seller read this tread, wasn't trilled with some comments