olympic arms
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gary paugh
New member
Is it the model you want?
Oly makes a good rifle their ultra match barreled guns will hold their own against most any other ar15 out there.
Gary
Oly makes a good rifle their ultra match barreled guns will hold their own against most any other ar15 out there.
Gary
hickerx2
Member
If you're asking for opinions, here's mine.....
Don't waste your money. There are many good AR builders out there. Look at:
Bushmaster
Rock River Arms
Stag
CMMG
Double Star
Armalite
To name a few, and in no particular order. If you're looking for a rifle that will last for thousands of rounds and doesn't need about every internal part replaced eventually...stay away from Olympic.
They do make an accurate barrel but so does RRA, WOA, BM, Armalite, and Stag. Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. There's a reason that the dealer can sell the Oly for $650 and still make money /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Don't waste your money. There are many good AR builders out there. Look at:
Bushmaster
Rock River Arms
Stag
CMMG
Double Star
Armalite
To name a few, and in no particular order. If you're looking for a rifle that will last for thousands of rounds and doesn't need about every internal part replaced eventually...stay away from Olympic.
They do make an accurate barrel but so does RRA, WOA, BM, Armalite, and Stag. Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. There's a reason that the dealer can sell the Oly for $650 and still make money /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
CWeeks
New member
In my opinion I agree and disagree with hicker...
Don't waste your money... by buying the more expensive AR's. As I found out while I was wanted to buy my first AR lots of guys on the forum have problems with Oly for one reason or another. But there are a couple of guys on here that have the K16 and they are very very happy with them.
Now I went with the Oly despite what lots of guys said on here and have been very happy with mine. Now I have a semi custom AR from Dtech but it is still made from all those Oly parts.
IMO it is no more or less accurate than everyone elses low end stock AR's but you pay much less for it. It is true though that any button rifled barrel has a small chance to be a little less accurate regardless of manufacturer. And with every line of rifles some are more accurate than others when it comes to stock rifles.
Just my opinion.
Don't waste your money... by buying the more expensive AR's. As I found out while I was wanted to buy my first AR lots of guys on the forum have problems with Oly for one reason or another. But there are a couple of guys on here that have the K16 and they are very very happy with them.
Now I went with the Oly despite what lots of guys said on here and have been very happy with mine. Now I have a semi custom AR from Dtech but it is still made from all those Oly parts.
IMO it is no more or less accurate than everyone elses low end stock AR's but you pay much less for it. It is true though that any button rifled barrel has a small chance to be a little less accurate regardless of manufacturer. And with every line of rifles some are more accurate than others when it comes to stock rifles.
Just my opinion.
stormking
New member
For that price, it's probably an Oly "Plinker". Do some research, I'm pretty sure the upper/lower are inferior to their higher grade weapons. Maybe one of the OLY guys can expand on this a little more. If not check on their website and look specifically at the lower/upper (means and/or materials of construction) on the plinker vs their other rifles.
Geeze, where are all the complaints about Bushmasters. I've read tons of complaints of new Bushys not working properly. I've read where guy's have had problems with DPMS rifles, lots of them but no mention here about those. How about Colts, did anyone mention Colt AR's, those crappy Colts. My Colts have performed perfectly from day one, which was many years ago about 15 years actually.
Olympic Arms had a bad rap for years but that was a long time ago and since, has significantly improved their product lines but they still tend to get hammered by some over on AR15.com. The problem with some guys is they listen to too much of that kind of talk and never have owned an Oly product. Mine works perfectly, don't be afraid of Oly Arms, they do in fact build a good quality gun and they have a lifetime warranty. Most problems associated with AR's is magazines and those poor quality mags can make any AR malfunction.
Olympic Arms had a bad rap for years but that was a long time ago and since, has significantly improved their product lines but they still tend to get hammered by some over on AR15.com. The problem with some guys is they listen to too much of that kind of talk and never have owned an Oly product. Mine works perfectly, don't be afraid of Oly Arms, they do in fact build a good quality gun and they have a lifetime warranty. Most problems associated with AR's is magazines and those poor quality mags can make any AR malfunction.
Quote:
For that price, it's probably an Oly "Plinker". Do some research, I'm pretty sure the upper/lower are inferior to their higher grade weapons. Maybe one of the OLY guys can expand on this a little more. If not check on their website and look specifically at the lower/upper (means and/or materials of construction) on the plinker vs their other rifles.
The Plinker was at one time a cast upper and lower. They have since changed that due to problems with the receivers breaking. Now all Plinker models are made of a forged aluminum upper and lower receivers and come with a full lifetime warranty. Oly makes a bunch of parts that are supplied to other AR builders so their reputation is on the line. They also had and may still have a US military contract with the Air Force. If you happen to stumble onto a cast Plinker model and it breaks Oly will more than likely replace the receiver at no cost but call them first.
They make bolt carriers, bolts, barrels and float tubes. They don't actually cast the receivers they purchase those, but they do all of the machining from start to finish. The barrels they make are from barrel stock and they drill, cut the rifling, chamber and finish all in house. It's pretty cool to watch them do everything.
For that price, it's probably an Oly "Plinker". Do some research, I'm pretty sure the upper/lower are inferior to their higher grade weapons. Maybe one of the OLY guys can expand on this a little more. If not check on their website and look specifically at the lower/upper (means and/or materials of construction) on the plinker vs their other rifles.
The Plinker was at one time a cast upper and lower. They have since changed that due to problems with the receivers breaking. Now all Plinker models are made of a forged aluminum upper and lower receivers and come with a full lifetime warranty. Oly makes a bunch of parts that are supplied to other AR builders so their reputation is on the line. They also had and may still have a US military contract with the Air Force. If you happen to stumble onto a cast Plinker model and it breaks Oly will more than likely replace the receiver at no cost but call them first.
They make bolt carriers, bolts, barrels and float tubes. They don't actually cast the receivers they purchase those, but they do all of the machining from start to finish. The barrels they make are from barrel stock and they drill, cut the rifling, chamber and finish all in house. It's pretty cool to watch them do everything.
dhull
New member
id say go for it, dont listen to all the rumors about olympic quality. i love my k16, ive got close to 600 rounds through mine so far and ive yet to have a single malfunciton. it holds under an inch on a regular basis. you dont have to pay 1000 plus for an ar, your usually just paying for a name, theyre all the same. my oly cost me 700 even and i had money left for a good larue spr mount and a nikon monarch. id put it against any of my hunting partners bolt rifles. if olympic is so bad as some say, why does dtech use them?
just my opinion here, get what you want, but from what ive learned you dont need a big name rifle to get quality and accuracy.
just my opinion here, get what you want, but from what ive learned you dont need a big name rifle to get quality and accuracy.
hickerx2
Member
The problem with Oly is not their barrels. They make very accurate barrels. The problem is low quality parts. I would suppose that for most guys, and a rifle that will only see a couple thousand rounds in it's lifetime, that's not a problem.
I guess they've even improved the QC on their receivers now so even that's not a huge issue any more. Now only 1/2 of the receivers have bad mag wells.
But when you have to replace a broken bolt or FCG parts, the cheap price isn't so cheap any more.
And if you want a service rifle, forget it. You can't even buy a chrome-lined barrel from Oly.
But like I said, for a rifle that will be very lightly used, I suppose they would be OK /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
As in anything else, it's your money. Nobody can tell you what to spend it on. If a guy is happy with his Oly....so be it.
I guess they've even improved the QC on their receivers now so even that's not a huge issue any more. Now only 1/2 of the receivers have bad mag wells.
But when you have to replace a broken bolt or FCG parts, the cheap price isn't so cheap any more.
And if you want a service rifle, forget it. You can't even buy a chrome-lined barrel from Oly.
But like I said, for a rifle that will be very lightly used, I suppose they would be OK /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
As in anything else, it's your money. Nobody can tell you what to spend it on. If a guy is happy with his Oly....so be it.
264WSM
New member
I have an Oly. I would never buy another Oly. The two issues I have so far are 1) Mag well not to spec. It will not take a Thermold mag where all other AR's and the Sig will. 2) When my Oly lower is mated to my Colt upper, it's almost impossible to push in the two take down pins, meaning the lower is not exactly to spec either. That's my experience with Oly.
CWeeks
New member
Well it sounds like Oly's have bad lowers from the experiences that hicker and 264wsm are saying. So buy a different lower to put onto the AR and you should be set. That is the only part on my AR that is not Oly and has worked flawlessly with around 1000 rounds down the tube in nine months.
Evil_Lurker
New member
Quote:
You can't even buy a chrome-lined barrel from Oly.
True, but who wants a chrome-lined barrel on a hunting rifle? My SUM barrel won't rust and a chrome-lined barrel is less accurate. I see a lot of Oly's that shoot sub-MOA groups and very few horror stories on their quality.
You can't even buy a chrome-lined barrel from Oly.
True, but who wants a chrome-lined barrel on a hunting rifle? My SUM barrel won't rust and a chrome-lined barrel is less accurate. I see a lot of Oly's that shoot sub-MOA groups and very few horror stories on their quality.
Predator Strikeforce
New member
I agree with timb. I've owned two Olys now and never had a single problem with either of them. Never even a misfire. I've had a K-16 and now a semi-custom Dedicated Technologies K-8 Targetmatch. If Mike at D-Tech promotes them, you can't go wrong. Nice AR's.
blinddog
New member
Since all the internal parts from most of the other makers are pretty much mix and match and since OLY is mil spec any thing that may break can easily be replaced. and I am sure parts breakage is not really any worse from OLY as it is from Bushmaster or any other of the "BIG NAME" AR suppliers. The fact that OLY makes most if not all the parts in an OLY rilfe in house is the reason for the lower price when you do not have a middle man finding the best job lot price on things like Bolts, extractors ect. the price per unit or the finished piece goes down
Okay, if he wants to purchase this particular rifle then to me, he should be able to have the sales guru slip any assortment of mags into it to see if they will indeed fit properly prior to making the purchase.
Lots of guys buy gun show parts and pieces then when they don't fit right they bark up a tree at anyone that will listen to them. Oly has one of the best warranties in the industry, they can get the thing working. Lots of companies try to do the best job they can to fill orders, hell the AR industry is going full steam ahead and has been that way for several years now. It seems no one can stay ahead of the game. So wouldn't you think that filling orders is more important than test firing each and every AR that is produced. Geeze guys a mag don't work, this ain't right and that is wrong.
Guy's like Dan Carey and Mike Milli have the time to hand pick each and every part when building a gun. Still, something, somewhere is not going to be right every single time. For every 1000 AR's that are built every day, you are bound to have a few problems.
Thermold mags have had issues in several uppers and lowers. How do I know this, well after coming from a nearly 700 man sheriffs dept, we had our share of junk mags. I handled and tested lots of AR's and truck loads of mags with thousands of rounds of ammo. My money is on GI issue mags and the newer Magpul products, those are all I use and I seldom ever have problems with my AR's malfunctioning.
Bushmaster sold tons of AR's and many came with garbage mags, never heard a good word about Bushmaster for a long time. I'm still not sure if they have a fix. Armalite AR10's had the worst mags in the industry but now they figured out what was causing the problem, they changed their mag design and now they work great...well better anyway.
Lots of guys buy gun show parts and pieces then when they don't fit right they bark up a tree at anyone that will listen to them. Oly has one of the best warranties in the industry, they can get the thing working. Lots of companies try to do the best job they can to fill orders, hell the AR industry is going full steam ahead and has been that way for several years now. It seems no one can stay ahead of the game. So wouldn't you think that filling orders is more important than test firing each and every AR that is produced. Geeze guys a mag don't work, this ain't right and that is wrong.
Guy's like Dan Carey and Mike Milli have the time to hand pick each and every part when building a gun. Still, something, somewhere is not going to be right every single time. For every 1000 AR's that are built every day, you are bound to have a few problems.
Thermold mags have had issues in several uppers and lowers. How do I know this, well after coming from a nearly 700 man sheriffs dept, we had our share of junk mags. I handled and tested lots of AR's and truck loads of mags with thousands of rounds of ammo. My money is on GI issue mags and the newer Magpul products, those are all I use and I seldom ever have problems with my AR's malfunctioning.
Bushmaster sold tons of AR's and many came with garbage mags, never heard a good word about Bushmaster for a long time. I'm still not sure if they have a fix. Armalite AR10's had the worst mags in the industry but now they figured out what was causing the problem, they changed their mag design and now they work great...well better anyway.
264WSM
New member
Quote:
Okay, if he wants to purchase this particular rifle then to me, he should be able to have the sales guru slip any assortment of mags into it to see if they will indeed fit properly prior to making the purchase.
Lots of guys buy gun show parts and pieces then when they don't fit right they bark up a tree at anyone that will listen to them. Oly has one of the best warranties in the industry, they can get the thing working. Lots of companies try to do the best job they can to fill orders, hell the AR industry is going full steam ahead and has been that way for several years now. It seems no one can stay ahead of the game. So wouldn't you think that filling orders is more important than test firing each and every AR that is produced. Geeze guys a mag don't work, this ain't right and that is wrong.
Guy's like Dan Carey and Mike Milli have the time to hand pick each and every part when building a gun. Still, something, somewhere is not going to be right every single time. For every 1000 AR's that are built every day, you are bound to have a few problems.
Thermold mags have had issues in several uppers and lowers. How do I know this, well after coming from a nearly 700 man sheriffs dept, we had our share of junk mags. I handled and tested lots of AR's and truck loads of mags with thousands of rounds of ammo. My money is on GI issue mags and the newer Magpul products, those are all I use and I seldom ever have problems with my AR's malfunctioning.
Bushmaster sold tons of AR's and many came with garbage mags, never heard a good word about Bushmaster for a long time. I'm still not sure if they have a fix. Armalite AR10's had the worst mags in the industry but now they figured out what was causing the problem, they changed their mag design and now they work great...well better anyway.
Please re=read my post. My Thermolds works fine. They just don't fit in the Oly magwell. That tells me the magwell is NOT machined to spec. The issue is NOT the mag in this particular case. I am just relating my experience with my one and only Oly.
Okay, if he wants to purchase this particular rifle then to me, he should be able to have the sales guru slip any assortment of mags into it to see if they will indeed fit properly prior to making the purchase.
Lots of guys buy gun show parts and pieces then when they don't fit right they bark up a tree at anyone that will listen to them. Oly has one of the best warranties in the industry, they can get the thing working. Lots of companies try to do the best job they can to fill orders, hell the AR industry is going full steam ahead and has been that way for several years now. It seems no one can stay ahead of the game. So wouldn't you think that filling orders is more important than test firing each and every AR that is produced. Geeze guys a mag don't work, this ain't right and that is wrong.
Guy's like Dan Carey and Mike Milli have the time to hand pick each and every part when building a gun. Still, something, somewhere is not going to be right every single time. For every 1000 AR's that are built every day, you are bound to have a few problems.
Thermold mags have had issues in several uppers and lowers. How do I know this, well after coming from a nearly 700 man sheriffs dept, we had our share of junk mags. I handled and tested lots of AR's and truck loads of mags with thousands of rounds of ammo. My money is on GI issue mags and the newer Magpul products, those are all I use and I seldom ever have problems with my AR's malfunctioning.
Bushmaster sold tons of AR's and many came with garbage mags, never heard a good word about Bushmaster for a long time. I'm still not sure if they have a fix. Armalite AR10's had the worst mags in the industry but now they figured out what was causing the problem, they changed their mag design and now they work great...well better anyway.
Please re=read my post. My Thermolds works fine. They just don't fit in the Oly magwell. That tells me the magwell is NOT machined to spec. The issue is NOT the mag in this particular case. I am just relating my experience with my one and only Oly.
Please re=read my post. My Thermolds works fine. They just don't fit in the Oly magwell. That tells me the magwell is NOT machined to spec. The issue is NOT the mag in this particular case. I am just relating my experience with my one and only Oly.
Here's a thought, call Oly and tell them of the problem, maybe they will fix it or replace it but I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to that one though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
I'm just relating my experience with several Thermold magazines.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif