I decided to join the ranks of the poodle shooters at the highpower matches and give my M1A a rest. I was all set to purchase a Bushmaster CMP gun when one of my local dealers got in a brand new Olympic Arms Service Match rifle. It looked and felt great and the price was right so I bought it.

It has a 4 groove, broach cut 1/8" twist stainless barrel, 1/4" match sights, CMP legal free floating handguards, and a 4.5lb trigger.

The fit between the upper and lower receivers is as tight as I've ever seen on an AR. It is tighter than my Bushmaster M4. The Rock River that I carry at work is close. The Colts don't even come close!
The finish is a dark black oxide over the entire rifle. It is evenly applied and everything matches in color.
The trigger is a tuned standard trigger. It has a tiny bit of creep and a very crisp 4.5lb let off.
The rifle looks and feels like a quality piece.

I started it's break in yesterday with a mixed lot of UMC 55gr ball, Remington 55gr Powerlocked HP, Federal Premium 55gr HP and 1 handload consisting of RP cases, CCI Benchrest primers, 25.3 gr. of Varget and an old (pre J4) Nosler 68 gr. BTHP match bullet.

The UMC and Remington hovered around 1.5" at 100 yds. off of the bench. The Federal was closer to 1.25". My handload put 10 rounds into just over 1" with 6 of them going into .80". Again, this is with iron sights off of a bench rest. This is also during the rifle's break in regimen.

The sight adjustments seemed to track very close to 1/4" at 100.

The rifle holds and handles extremely well with the buttstock weight installed. I wouldn't want to carry it far with the weights in it but for match shooting it is perfect.

So far I am highly impressed with this rifle. Olympic seems to be putting out a very high quality product.

The dealer also got in some Plinkers as well as a PCR1 Ultramatch as well as a few other PCR varients. The Ultramatch looks phenominal. The plinker, even with it's supposedly imferior cast receiver looks to be solid and well made. These are just observations from handling them in the shop so take it for what it's worth.

Good info, thanks.

Come back after a couple matches with it and than give a review .
A working/ reliable Oly on a HP firing line is an extremely rare sight BTW ! :)

Thats strange.  I have only been to one highpower match, but the guys there seemed to hold the olympic barells in high regard.  They suggested I shoot mine out and then replace it with an olympic.

And once again the Oly bashing begins.....

What is the threashold for Oly bashing these days ??
The truth sometimes hurts, Oly is not a popular rifle with the HP crowd for very good reasons and you rarely see them used at matches.....

That may be so, but there is hardly a problem with Olympic's accuracy/reliability these days.
As the article in SWAT magazine reports, several LE SWAT teams use the Olympic PCR-1P BECAUSE of it's 1/4 to 1/2 MOA accuracy and reliability.

Oly had problems in the past, but their new stuff is good to go.  I like the fit and finish on them. As I said before if I did not have 3 already, I would buy another.

Max

Still gonna outshoot Ya soon :-)

Keep dreaming Ichabod! :)

I will definitely follow up with further reports as I shoot the rifle. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to make another match until September. I do intend to put in some serious range time though so I'll let you know how it goes.

Tangent, exactly what problems do you think I should expect?