Got a catalog from Federal Arms (763-780-8780) today and they are offering a Olympic Arms 16" "Plinker model" with A1 sights for $499!

They also have a CAR-97 which looks a lot like the RRA group deal rifle which has a 16" barrel,short hand guards,muzzle brake,fixed tele-stock and A2 sights for $619.

They also are selling receivers for $79-89 from Olympic.

A Kevlar receiver is $149 from Hesse.


Any comments on Olympic Arms???

[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=18900[/url]

The Olympic Arms Plinker hasn't exactly been gaining a very favorable reputation around here. The $499 gets you a cast lower receiver and most likely a host of crudely produced parts.  

Oly is pretty much one of the bottom feeders of the AR manufacturers, in my opinion. They may turn out one or two pretty good products like their SUM target barrel, but for the most part their quality is well below that of Colt, Bushmaster, ArmaLite, etc. New Bushmasters can be found online for less than $700. I would personally feel much more comfortable coughing up a few extra bucks for one of them as opposed to taking a big chance on the lowest quality Oly Plinker.

i think the oly pliker is the 'cheauchat' (sp?) of the ar world

steve

moe times than not you get what you pay for

I don't know about their Plinker, but their regular and competition grade guns are definetly good quality guns.  I own Colt, Bushmaster, and Olympic Arms AR-15's, so I can definetly speak from experience on how one compares with the another.  All are fine weapons.  Olympic is right there with Colt and Bushmaster in quality and accuracy.  In my opinion Colt is overpriced for what you are getting.  For investment purposes Colt is the way to go because too many people buy into the lie that it's high price tag makes it the best gun.  For a shooter Bushmaster or Olympic is the way to go.  If you're on a budget go with an Oly.

If you like the "plinker" then you will love the Lorcin 9mm.

I just happen to have recently bought one of these myself. I was at the gun show at came across a dealer I know who told me he was getting some of the new plinkers in. The price was right ($530) so I left a deposit and waited for it to come in. It was in within a week as promised and so far I have to say I'm not dissapointed. Its a present for my wife (bless her heart) and is intended for "plinking". I haven't been able to test fire it yet as I sent the upper to Wilson for a muzzle brake and it just came back today.
The fit and finish are "servicable" dull black matte.The upper / lower fit is tight and it seems to function OK except for releasing magazines. The well is tight and I believe probably a couples thousandths under the lower spec limit. a little bit of file work by the dealer took care of most of the problem but we'll probably hit it again if it does't loosen up after some use.
I'm going to replace the pistol grip (looks like something from Ruger) with a standard one and change to a postban non collapsible stock for better weight distribution.
All in all it seems like a fairly reasonable deal to me. You get a decent base gun to start with and put a little into it slowly.
Hope this helps,
Muz          (?)