I own a recently remanufactured Oly Arms pre ban lower receiver. The other day I was separating it from it's Bushmaster upper, and as I was pushing out the front pivot pin (with a soft plastic punch, I might add), a very small piece of the receiver's black finish flaked or chipped off around the pivot pin hole, exposing the Aluminum underneath.

Now this is not my first or only AR by a long shot, but this is my first Olympic Arms product. I am use to incurring the occasional scratch, scuff & nick to the finish of my weapons, but the way the finish on this one simply chipped off seems odd to me.  

I don't care that my new lower is marred (it was bound to happen eventually & the mark is very small). What does concern me is way it happened.

Does it seem odd to you?  Does the finish on your Oly Arms receivers seem slightly thicker & more textured that the finish on a Colt or Bushmaster?  Have you experienced similar chipping of your weapon's finish?

Thanks.



 

I've got one that was made in 1994 and the finish is really nice. I have not noticed any chipping like you say but I'm pretty sure if you tell Oly they will take action.

I'm thinking of sending mine back soon too. Can you tell me how much it cost you and the turn around time?

Glockdog

Airborne!!

Haven't has any problems with mine yet, have 2 Olys and a DPMS.

My Oly is a postban circa 1998. Aside from some dimensions being out of tolerance, no chipping yet.

Mine doesn't seem to have that problem.

Hoppy

got my preban oly lower this spring.  it had bare aluminum all over.  i had Lauer refinish it.  looks new now.

J3_,  I agree with your statement... it appears that what actually chipped may be a coating, and not a dyed anodized finish (though I have been assured that Oly has been hard coat anodizing  their stuff for about 4 years now).  

The finish on my OLY seems thicker & more textured that the finish on my Colts & Bushmasters. This lends credence to the "coating" theory as well.

Anyway, I've E-mailed Oly Arms about this subject & I will post their reply.

NYpatriot,
I would recommend calling them directly.  I wuld also suggest that you ask to speak with
Skip Fletcher, (800) 228-3471.  Skip is one of the builders that now works in the front office and will give you the customer support and guidance that you deserve.  Skip is a good friend of mine and will treat you right.

Scorpion34 OUT!

Scorpion34, Skip is who I E-mailed.

Good to know that I contacted the right guy!

Thanks.

Mine is forged PCR-16, less than a year old.

No flaking at all, just a few love scratches around the mag well and similar abrasive surfaces.

My lower started its life as a PCR-16, though it is something entirely different, now.  It does not have any flaking, just idiot scratches, scrapes, and some file marks from the time I thought my lower was to blame for some crappy mag issues.  

Ghost

Check out:

[url]
http://www.triplebreakproducts.com/Olympic/upgrade_receiver.htm[/url]

I have sold/used a lot of Olympic forged lowers and have not seen this happen before.  Youhave me itching my head how it happened.

Contacting Oly is the right way to go and work with them on this.  It sounds like a flukee situation.

I've had my Oly since 1994.  Matched upper and lower, the works.  The finish is still perfect.

My first Oly had a REAL tight fit between the upper and lower, so in order to get the takedown pin out, I required a punch and ball-peen hammer.  Not having a plastic punch, i decided in my infinite wisdom to use a steel punch.  One off center whack was all it took and the very edge of the hole was now exposed metal.  This was a new lower as well.  However, I think it was only because of my idiocy in the use of the steel punch on the extreme edge of the hole that it chipped off a little.  I now have an additional Oly and I love them both.  ( By the way, the new upper and lower fit together perfectly but DON'T require me to use a punch to open them. )

 - Nw -

WITH NOMEX SUIT ON-I bought my first SGW stop sign A1-Ar In the early Eighties. It has a strange finish on it and has held up very well. Bought two other SGW rifles in 88, or 89?-the finish looks like it was slathered on by an angry beaver. These lowers are also out of spec and the uppers are just as bad. No other of my uppers will interchange with them. I then acquired two other lowers made by Oly in 91, or 92, the finish is different and has not given me any problems-they must have fired the angry beaver. A friend turned me on to BM products which cost a little more, I have never looked back. I called OLY back in the late eighties about the poor workmanship and got the "we don't give a Sh!!" attitude. I would have never bought another product from them if it was not for their cheap 9 mm kit. But since then I have bought BM or RRA products as they have never given me "we don't give a sh!!" attitude. Their A2 upper that came on my CAR upper in late eighties has the worst tolerance between the rear sight and carry handle that I have ever seen! This along with slathered finish on both the upper and lower no doubt has turned me against Oly. Oh I forgot to tell you, Oly told me that I should have bought a "match set of a lower and upper." I thought I had a matched set as the finish matched. I have only shot about a 100 rounds through the CAR 15 (only after having to ream the chamber out- did I mention this was the worst experience with an AR that I ever had?) as I know my thick finish would surely chip if it saw much use. No way would I spend 150 bucks more on this rifle just to get the lower replaced. I feel  as I did in 89 that it is their f up on the finish and out of spec upper and lower and I refuse to spend any more money with them. Competition and the lack of customer service has no doubt caused them some major setbacks. I hope you have better luck getting something done on your finish than I did. BTW, I share my bad experience with Oly products every chance I get. I have tried to be fair and always tell how great my OLY 9 mm CAR upper and my very first Oly AR-A1 are. But on the downside I tell how I was treated back in 89 and NO DOUBT I have cost them some customers all over something that they should have made right back in 89.

Update...

I spoke to Skip Fletcher today (he is a very friendly & helpful guy, BTW) and he said that the only explanation that he could come up with was that something got screwed up during the initial anodizing process.

He felt that either the surface of the bare aluminum was not roughed up enough to properly "take" the anodizing, or that impurities may have been present on the receiver or in the anodizing solution.

Anyway, Skip offered to have the receiver re-anodized for me if I was not happy with just touching up the effected area with "aluma-black" or "aluma-hyde".

I though it over & just sent him an E-mail telling him that I would like to take him up on his offer.

To be continued...

AMOS,

So you are still upset over something that happened 15 years ago?  Did you ever stop to think that a lot has probably changed in 15 years?  Heck it is your opinion, and you are entitled to it, but it would seem to be an outdated and poorly informed one today.

I own 2, an SUM and M4. Both have an excellent finish but have experienced nothing like that. There is some finish worn/knocked off right at the edge of the case deflector, but its such a sharp edge that I'm surprised not more has come off. I would let Oly fix it, they will more than likely refinish your whole lower than try to touch up.

STICKMAN, At my age and experience, life is too short to get upset over the firearm purchase. I traded for the other two  lowers after seeing them and making sure they were in spec. The only reason I ended up with them was that I got a hell of a deal as I did with the 9 mm upper! As I stated earlier these lowers were much better than the ones I purchased in 89. Maybe you need to read my post again, I never said there new products were crap, they would have been out of business by now if they had not changed there quality control and customer service. You may not remember, but Oly use to have a forum over in the Industry section until everybody bitched about the rifles they had bought from Oly and there "great" customer service. At that time, I believe Oly had to take a step back and looked at how they were doing business. Now they give a lifetime warranty on all new rifles they sell as an effort to regain some sells which were being lost to new companies just starting to sell ARs. I really did not tell the whole story about the two rifle kits I purchased, the fire  control parts received with the two 88-89 models were used, out of spec and reject parts. After several attempts to trying to get this resolved, I just moved on, never to forget this treatment or attitude I received. I read later here on this board from a post from an ex-employee of oly  who said that you should never buy a rifle kit from them. And when people ask me about Oly rifles, I tell them the truth about my experience AND show them my nugget of a CAR 15. Seeing this rifle in person is better than a thousand words or two thousand pictures. I have changed a lot of peoples mind on buying an Oly. You may suck it up and still do business with a company after they  sell you a piece of crap  and refuse to stand behind it. I on the other hand refuse to do business with them just like others here on this board. Maybe you are the one misinformed about there earlier customer service practices and products. BTW you never mentioned how many Oly rifles you own, nor any experiences you have had with there customer service. Thanks for letting me voice my opinion and my experience however out dated it maybe. I sent there moderator an email about my 88-89 rifle kit purchase-his reply was that they would replace the crappie out of spec lower for 150 bucks and they would sell me another upper and make me like it. I don't reward companies for crappie products and poor customer service. Stickman, my opinion will not change until they replace the piece of crap they sold me 15 years ago, you may turn the other cheek when someone slips you a "Mickey". There are too many other companies selling better products than them-they are by NO means the only game in town. I can buy a RRA lower for 90 bucks delivered or purchase a Oly one to replace mine for 150 bucks-they are really doing me a favor?

Stickman, things have changed in the last in the last 15 years! I have lost a lot of hair, a lot more companies are manufacturing quality AR clones-competion is fierce, anything you need to know about AR-15s can be found on AR15.COM and yes Oly has changed the way they do business with there new customers. None of this means I will forgive them nor do business them until they replace the defective piece of crap they sold me.