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olympic arms review

61K views 22 replies 14 participants last post by  mriddick 
#1 ·
I'm planning on buying my first ar, the one I'm looking at is olympic arms m4 with the flat top reciever. anyone have one, I would like a review of quality and reliability. I find mixed reviews on the net what do you guys think about.
 
#2 ·
one of mine is the lowly "plinker"...... i love it. only believe about a quarter of what you hear about olympic ar's. they're not as bad as many like to make out. i'd compare prices, if the one you are looking at is within a hundred or so of a RRA, Bushy, etc, i'd go with those first.
 
#8 ·
Originally it was an A1 upper, with the cheesy original purpleish phosphate finnish, I found a nice flattop and swapped it. Then the lower didn't match, it was the same cast purpleish finnish so I found a forged Oly lower at a gunshow and swapped it. Everything else is from the original Plinker, except the FS, I had a friend machine some threads on it and installed it.
 
#7 ·
I passed on an Oly after reading the complaints on AR15.com

Best I could tell they may or may not be poorer quality than others but the attitude of customer service at Olympic was really turning off the customers.
 
#9 ·
My 1st AR was a 16" A2 hbar Oly. I never had an issue with it. I think a lot of the stigma that Oly has is BS perpetuated by internet myth. Yes, they did have some QC problems in the 90's, but if you look at the time frame, IIRC it was all right before the '94 ban as they were trying to crank out as many as possible.

I would buy another.
 
#10 ·
UNK-you're right on-pretty much BS considering how many Olys have been made and being shot.they cranked out a bunch of cast lowers before the AWB -but I view it as necessary at the time so folks could at least get a lower-and the company would be able to sell them to the public a little longer.But it did hurt their rep .My 2004 Oly works perfect with all of the 223 I run through it-steel cased etc. .Never a single problem with it-ever.HB 16".
I believe the purplish tinge on the oly lowers are likely one of the cast ones.
Last week had several different people shooting mine with eight different brands of ammo and we were pleased with ac at 100m/open sights. Like you-I would have no problem buying another.
 
#11 ·
There is a dealer at all the local gunshows that sells Olympic Ars. When anyone says they've heard alot negative about Olympic, this is what i hear him telling everyone. " There is only one company that makes all the receivers. On Monday they stamp Olympic on it, Tuesday, Rock River, Wednesday, Stag Arms, Thursday, DPMS , etc". I don't believe the sales pitch but he sells a ton of guns.
 
#12 ·
Growlers are magic



You are wise not to believe that vendor.Better to believe what one shoots.If you shoot an Oly you will see it's pretty much all BS.I flush 99.9% of what I hear anymore-especially if it's about firearms.
Next time you see this dealer please ask which company makes them all .Bet he don't know..
:D
I interchange sets of upper/lowers from Oly,DPMS and Doublestar and they all interchange and function just fine.
 
#13 ·
I have an Oly CAR16 Plinker, that I bought a couple of years ago for $680 NIB. I'd buy another. I have AR's built on a Frankford Arsenal, DPMS, Eagle Arms and Stag lowers. I like them all....
 
#14 ·
Oly's have a excellent reputation for accurate bores of their barrels, I mean, everyone knows that from some years back.
I just put about another hundred rounds through my 5.45 upper 16" a2 stainless 1x8" twist today, so far now about 225 bulgy 5.45 70's rounds through the upper and it still looks new inside the receiver area, and no failures to run at all, not a big deal really, especially a company that's been in business for awhile you'd expect something good enough.
A friend of mine has a 16" style a2 .223 all olympic arms(I believe its a "plinker"), and its run great with many hundreds of rounds and it was even used, very accurate at 300 yards, not an expensive gun two years ago for him.

Supposedly the only downside is that oly bores are generally not chromed if I remember rightly, depending if you want to spend more money.
 
#17 · (Edited)
stick powder make clean bang


They do not chrome their bores at all -at least I haven't seen one they have done .i suppose if one is using ball powder or the like chrome lined is good but I thought they went back to stick quite some time ago..even with a shorter tube there is likely very little fouling unless you are shooting a lot of full auto.
 
#16 ·
I own two Olympic's, one in an A2 config and the other in an A1 config. I was issued M-16A1's and A2's the majority of my time in the Corps. When I shoot either one I can't tell the difference between that and the Colt's I was issued. Now I haven't shot farther than a 100 yards with either one, but the both put them where I aimed.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Yeah, chromed bores aint important anymore, and its been found by target shooters that chromed bores are in some ways slightly less accurate than non chrome lined bores, I can imagine why in some laymans' way of figuring, but that is what is supposed to be true for some reason or another.
Stainless is supposedly a little harder than regular moly steel, so one could say that for my a2 stainless 5.45 upper that its good enough if I worried about wear resistance.
Besides, the way I see it, I believe most regular shooters don't wear out their bores merely shooting sheer numbers of rounds, chromed or otherwise, but damage them due to poor cleaning techniques damaging the rifling fore or aft, faulty ammunition that was either reloaded or loaded impoperly, lack of cleaning that collects damaging moisture, etc all long before any wear is noticeable, especially on the smaller calibers like .22 and 5.56 due to the size of the cleaning rods. I've even noticed one dealer giving away a free military surplus steel section cleaning rod/kit with every purchase of an ar15, which is why I noticed a damaged muzzle crown with a powerful bore light on at least three of his used ar15's he got back from customers on trade ins, that's the voice of experience there from when I was in the army years ago where we were made to clean our rifles too much and I watched the accuracy of my ma16a1 dwindle more everytime the commander wanted to instill rifle care with overcleaning of the bores, I swear my m16 got rebuilt twice, maybe three times, within a two year period, and I'd go from expert to basic marksman then get one of the new loaner rifles to qualify when I couldn't even make marksman, only to qualify with the newish loaner that was cleaned only by the armoror. I don't use bore guides still, but I do use brass cleaning rods "with care" generally from the breech end only.

You know, I've even thrown away m16 surplus "bore brushes", the ones with the steel wire locking lug brush mixed with bronze bore brush, thats a little too harsh for civilian locking lug use, if you really think about it for awhile, I mean, nobody would want to take a steel wire brush to their fine bolt hunting rifle locking lugs, etc, and maybe if someone has an accuracy issue with their ar15 then I wonder if they also have religiously scratched up/worn their chamber area or locking lug recesses over time with these surplus or otherwise ar15 bore/chamber brushes, save those for a combat situation, now shooting a rifle you had to buy yourself and not issued to you by the military for instance. I KNOW a friend did wear his bushmaster this way, he'd practically white glove his own chamber even if he only shot one mag full, ending up with strange bolt sticking/headspace like malfunctions, that area looked "wire brushed" and worn.
 
#20 ·
East of Rockies always better?



They aren't the only company with an attitude -there are others.The original post wasn't inquiring about the discontinued cast receivers and old plinker models but the subject always comes up about Olympic arms' cast receivers.A rep-once earned is obviously hard to shake.So what manufacturer/supplier do you suggest we prefer?-none are perfect in my opinion.In my area Olympic is the most reasonably priced and just about the only manufacturer of any size.Nothing about Olympic Arms discourages me from buying from them.I don't believe they were the only ones to make cast receivers for ARs but they are competition for back east bizinesses-which I also patronize.
 
#21 ·
Anybody look at Olympic arms Warranty? Pretty much say's it all. NO OTHER AR maker will do this for you...

Olympic arms is the ONLY AR Maker/Builder who MAKES all their own parts.
...Including the receivers.
Look for yourself, you might be a bit surprised.


"Beyond warranty, Olympic Arms, Inc. ("OAI", "we" and "us") guarantees complete customer satisfaction. If you are not completely satisfied with the purchase of any OAI product based on any product or warranty related reason, simply return it to us within sixty (60) days along with a copy of the original invoice and we will replace the item, or credit or refund the original purchase price (to be decided by OAI). Restrictions apply, see below.

Product or warranty related reason is defined as any warranty or service/repair issue, or deficiency in the advertised performance of the product in question. It does not apply to dealers and/or individual who, after having received the product feel as though a different product would be better suited for their needs. In cases such as this, exchanges can be made on new, unfired, products returned in their original packaging along with a copy of the original sales invoice. A restocking fee (currently 15%) may apply.

Refunds are made on returns based on our advertised Lifetime Warranty and/or Satisfaction Guarantee. All credit card purchases will be refunded directly to the credit card on which the original purchase was made. Cash purchases, or COD orders will be refunded via an Olympic Arms company check to be issued no earlier than five (5) business days after the returned product has been received. Shipping and handling charges are not refunded unless the product returned is determined to have been defective from the time it left OAI and are not refunded or credited on non-warranty related exchanges. No exceptions.

If your purchase was made through an OAI retailer/dealer, then they (the retailer/dealer) have the option to return the product to OAI for a replacement, credit, or refund as well. OAI does not dictate the in-store policies of OAI retailers/dealers. Check with your retailer/dealer for their policy before purchasing.

usrifle
 
#22 ·
Time to move on

I believe the steel core ban Riddick refers to Olympic's intrduction(none ever sold) of the OA93 AK pistol.Century requested they not attempt to market it Olympic they pushed it at the Dallas Shot Show and supposedly were taking orders.Mars/Bwest actually sold them and I have seen some of these.As to whether the steelcore would penetrate police body armour I have no idea.
The only OA 93 I ever saw was in a picture.Olympic Arms was blamed by many.BATF also jumped the gun but that can usually be expected;especially when political objectives are obtained.others were probably also making them.Looks like Century got over it as they have marketed AK pistols since ;along with a host of others.Olympic never cut any deals with politicians like Ruger that I know of; so I still can buy from them without much ill feeling-and I loved the steelcore Chinese-cheap and accurate. I am sure all Chinese ammo was high on the list to be banned from import and the gov did it- and likely would have done it anyhow.I guess one goat is just as good as another and a 2fer when you get fireams enthusiasts pitted against each other.Ruger has been patching things up lately and it's time to sign up with your 2nd amendment defender and support each other as best we can.
 
#23 ·
http://www.recguns.com/Sources/IIL3.html

Olympic has been caught up in so many lies about their role in the steel core ban it's not funny, I too talked to olympic before the ban so I can say 100% their claim of not being aware is a bold face lie. Sure the BATF was probably looking to ban steel core ammo and olympic accepted the offer IMO, it has killed any desire I have to own of their weapons since.
 
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