I dont see much info on here about Oly Arms why not. Are they a sponser ? I would hope so. I like thair AR's.
Was just woundering what was up with them.
Gator

In before

Quoted:   I dont see much info on here about Oly Arms why not. Are they a sponser ? I would hope so. I like thair AR's. Was just woundering what was up with them. Gator

Their Quality sucks nut

  I picked up one of thair pistols the K23P and it seames to be built well except the front take down pin seames a little sloppy. Other than that all's good with it. It's a keeper to me. I have Bushes and Colts and DPMS's. I dont see a hole lot differance in them. Front sight base looks smoother. Is it cast or what?

Gator

Quoted: Quoted:   I dont see much info on here about Oly Arms why not. Are they a sponser ? I would hope so. I like thair AR's. Was just woundering what was up with them. Gator Their Quality sucks nut

....and so does their customer service.

I purchased a pre-ban SGW lower that was a little beat up and had a tight magwell causing most of my mags to hang up.  I mailed it back to OLY to be destroyed and rebuilt for $150.  After waiting several weeks longer than I was told my new lower arrived in the mail.

I quickly installed my LPK, completed the build and rushed off to the range to sadly find that my mags would still NOT drop free of the lower.  Keep in mind that all of my mags work perfectly in my STAG & BM rifles.

I return home and call OLY only to be given several excuses when they found out that a qualified gunsmith didn't install the LPK.  It was my fault that the mags didn't drop free.  After persisting I was told to mail the lower back to OLY along with some of the mags that hung up.

Fast forward 4 weeks-I call OLY for an update and I get the run around on the phone with no information.  They are back logged with repairs...be patient I am told.

Fast forward to week 6-I call OLY again for an update only to be told they don't have my lower.  They never recieved it they said.  I give them the tracking number that says it was recieved by them nealry 6 weeks ago and I am told to wait while they look for it.  The next day I get a call telling me they found my lower sitting on the "wrong shelf" and will look at it ASAP.

About 2 weeks later my lower arrives unexpectedly in the mail.  I exciteldly open the box to find my lower and mags in the box with no paper work explaining what was done to repair my lower.  I test fit my mags again only to find the same problem.

I called OLY back and was told "Our lower recievers are built to exact military spec.  If you are having a problem with your mags they must be out of spec.  As far as the mags working in your STAG & BM rifles...well theose manufactures don't always build to exact military spec like we do so they must have some really loose tolerances in regards to their magwells."

So after wasting almost $200 and several months trying to repair OLY's problem I still don't have a quality lower.

  Wow glad mine drops free. I would hate to go through that . Might had been better to keep the old one hu?

Oly doesn't have a real good rep around here... some of it is earned and some is just bashing.

I have had quite a bit of dealings with Oly... I used to be a registered dealer, and I utilized several of their component parts for AR's.

In my opinion, they are a mixed bag:

- I REALLY like some of their barrels.  Accurate and affordable.

- Some of their stuff (like stocks, handguards, some small parts) aren't bad, but better can be had for cheaper prices.

- IMHO, they are probably the way to go with a pistol caliber AR, especially 9mm

- The FIRSH system, although heavy, is pretty damn stout.

- Have never had luck with their bolts and bolt carriers.

- When I was doing business with them, they always seemed very slow to ship... always back-ordered.

- Their wholesale pricing was often lousy, I could often get things like barrels faster and cheaper from Brownells (using business/ffl pricing) than I could directly from Olympic.

Just my $.02

- AG

Havent had a problem with mine.... yet

*knocks furiously on all of the wood that can be found*

Quoted: Havent had a problem with mine.... yet *knocks furiously on all of the wood that can be found*

Thats funny !!

Quoted:   Wow glad mine drops free. I would hate to go through that . Might had been better to keep the old one hu?

Yup...the money would have bought a case of ammo back then or I could have bought a bunch more out of spec mags.

I am looking for a 308 upper for my oly  post ban. any ideas on what will work on mine
thanks jt

Quoted: I am looking for a 308 upper for my oly  post ban. any ideas on what will work on mine thanks jt

A member since 2001 and this is your first post?

btw, .308 is a completely different platform from .223/5.56 and you can't swap uppers between them...

- AG

Thanks , my first because I can always find answers in the forums this site is the best

I have a pre-ban Oly (SGW Stopsign) lower and it is perfectly within spec, mags frop free, and has perfect lockup with my Vltor VIS upper.  

Of course, n=1, and YMMV.

Quoted: Thanks , my first because I can always find answers in the forums this site is the best

I didn't mean to sound derogatory in my post, jtmemt, I was just surprised...

BTW... congratulations on popping your posting cherry!

- AG

Got two of their receivers (built up with Bushy parts) and no problems.

Guess I must of got a good one. No problems with any of my mags hanging up. Barrel is super accurate. Never had any problems. The stock trigger sucks, but most do. I'll count myself fortunate for not having to deal with their customer service. I just prefer to build my own mutts anymore.  

I had a post ban OLY 20" rifle that had never been shot that i bought about 3 years ago and the front sight base was canted real bad. I sent it back to them  and they installed an 16" M4 type barrel with hand guards for me at no extra charge.
I could not have been happier with that.
I then had an 9MM 16" rifle of theirs that would go full auto on its own every once and a while i sent it back and they fixed it after about 7 weeks it has worked fine ever since.

So i have had two Oly. rifles and both had to be sent back for repairs.
So i will not buy anymore of their products
Nor will i buy DPMS stuff ethier they screwed me over on a bolt /carrier about 8 years ago. But that is a differnt story for a later time.

E3

Opps sorry double post

Quoted: Thanks , my first because I can always find answers in the forums this site is the best

Now dont go all post whore on us





Little first hand experence here with oly. I built two AR's on their stripped lowers, and still have one. I think the lion looks cool, the mag well is a little on the tight side but it doesnt bother me, and I think the holes for the hammer pin are not drilled exact. The wear on the top of the hammer is a little more on one side from contacting the bottom of the bolt carrier than the other, but you have to look real close to notice.

Olympic Arms is just not a wise investment. If you have one and you are happy, good for you. But if you are in the market and of a demanding pedigree, you will not be very happy with it.

I have had my Oly K3B for over 2 years now and it has run flawlessly.  Well over 2,000 rounds and not a single malfunction.  hock.gif

Over on the Predator Masters forum, you will get much different opinions.  The Olympic Stainless Ultra Match upper that Dtech does for those guys over there are supposed to be the cat's ass.

Since Olympic Arms is local, I see them at the gun show quite often.  I get to check out the piles of parts that they have, and overall, I'm not impressed.  Everything is kinda rough and I noticed non standard stuff on their rifles.  Like weird cast front sight blocks (Which I'm pretty sure was held on by roll pins.) Or goofy looking grips with long vertical grooves cut in them.  Or trigger groups that don't have the engagement surfaces ground.

Nearly every time I've helped someone at the range with a messed up AR, it's been an Oly.  One guy was having a terrible time adjusting his front sights.  It looked like the hole that the front sight threaded into was too big and the detent wasn't properly made.  I could literally grab the front sight and wiggle it.

Also, the majority of ammo wasting, bump firing dorks that I've met, own Oly's....

Quoted: Over on the Predator Masters forum, you will get much different opinions.  The Olympic Stainless Ultra Match upper that Dtech does for those guys over there are supposed to be the cat's ass.

My K23P has a 6 1/2" Barrel and it's SS allso just painted black.
I would have never thought they would use stainless for such a small barrel.

I have a 10" heavy m-16 barrel on mine paid  the dollars for SBR gunsmith put it together for me. shoots nice

Quoted: Quoted: I USED TO SELL OLYMPICS.   I also stock Colts, BM, RRA, and AR.   Wanna know what the #1 most repaired AR15 in my shop is?  OLYMPIC.   I don't sell them anymore.   Wanna know what the most repaired AR15 in my store is now?  Still the OLYMPIC.   Wanna know what I've had to send Olys back for?  You name it.   Wanna know how hard it is to get repair parts/replacement parts/financial reimbursement for shipping NEW guns back to OLY for warranty work as a gun dealer?  IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!! Several distributors have even stopped carrying Olympic rifles because of the high reject rate once they get to the dealers. They might, sometimes, take care of the individual owner, but as a dealer, I believe that they have a black list, and if you're on it, you're screwed.   I've actually had OLY on the phone with a customer in my shop, and they have actually told the guy that there was nothing wrong, and if he shipped it back, they would not fix it.  The rifle had a broken bolt.  Sheared off 2 lugs, broke at the cam pin hole, and damaged the bolt carrier. I fixed it, with BM parts that were available to me at the time.  I sent the bill to OLY, never got a response.  Sold the debt off to a collection agency, along with all the other repairs that I had to do on OLY guns.  Now, if an OLY comes in for repair, I advise the individual that it will cost them an open ended amount and get them to sign the estimate before I'll even touch it. SHOT show 2002 I took them a box of the parts that I had replaced from their guns that I could not get reimbursement for. I'll guarntee I've owned/handled/shot more OLYs since 1999 than you ever will, unless you work at Oly or a gun store. There is, at best 15% profit in retail guns.  Olys eat up my 15% on repair parts/shipping/gunsmith time almost as soon as they get unpacked.  No more! Now, about their issues, still "Pretty sure they have been resolved by now" ????? Or is my post worthless, too? Tom   And…. Quoted: ...With my Oly lower, that jerk blamed the magazines even though my cast Oly lower was so out of spec that the back of an inserted magazine hits the bolt and keeps the bolt from closing.  This was after trying about 30 different magazines at a gun show.  None of them worked.  Tom called me lazy since I was unwilling to modify all of the magazines I own rather than asking for an RMA #.  I modified a couple of magazines anyway, but while shooting they'd still work their way upward to block the bolt.  I've had that piece of junk for over five years, and I have never gotten anywhere towards getting them to honor their warranty.  They just don't give a damn.z and.. Quoted: WEeused to be a Oly dealer used to be the operative word We had to send probably 25% of the cast  plinkers we sold back for repair  and probably 10% of the regular Olys had about the same luck with DPMS probably sold about 50 plinkers The failure rate of the other better ( A ,B ,C ,RRA)  brands is probably about 1% in my experence and this guy .. Quoted: My first AR was a CAR15 Oly kit.  The bolt carrier was tight in the upper until I honed the upper.  I figured it was a kit so I should not be upset about some fitting. And.. Quoted: I bought an Oly Arms 15 years ago and after using it on 5 different occasions the bolt catch broke. The part looked like broken pot metal. Any way, Mine was bought 15 years ago at a gun show, perhaps the newer modles are of better quality forged uppers and lowers, where mine is clearly cast. My next one might be a stag, but not sure. My Oly arms looks great and shoots very well, but I often wonder what is the next part that is going to bust. And my good man, Hellhound… Quoted: I bought a NEW FACTORY 16" Oly CAR back in 1993-1994, with a non-chrome barrel---I bought their marketing BS.... The barrel was shit. Would jam (feeding and extraction) about 5 rounds into a mag and then jam about every 2. Went through new springs for the extractor, the little o ring thingie, chamber brushing, new mags (USGI), everything imaginable.... I sold the barrel to someone who was going to use it for a .22 conversion, great idea for them. I bought a chrome-lined RRA middie barrel, installed it on my Oly and have had 0 problems. The other components of the gun are just fine, no problems there. Spend a little more money and get a better barrel, it will save you a lot of aggravation. Please don't make the same mistake I made. another satisfied customer... Quoted: I loved them so much I made an active effort to get rid of mine. Like a relationship with a crazy woman, I could tolerate the flaws at first.  Mostly because I got the results I was looking for, then the flaws became un-freaking-bearable. I found out I could do a lot better... Oly got kicked to the curb. and this... Quoted: I used to live in Olympia WA...and after calling Oly Arms, drove out to check out their facility. When I got there, a few things became rather clear. 1) Their "factory" looked like the set of Sanford & Son. (Absolutely NOT kidding) 2) Despite being told "Sure, come on down!" on the phone, when I got there, I was dealt with like I was Diane Feinstein by EVERYONE. One guy was pleasant and answered my questions...so not a total disaster, but the rest were pricks in general. 3) There was nothing and I mean NOTHING about their "facility" that looked suitable for manufacturing dog toys, let alone firearms. If you never get a 2nd chance to make 1st impressions, Oly lost me COMPLETELY with that one.   and this sad tale... Quoted: I bought a new plinker back in '04 since it was cheap and new. I also bought some Black Hills ammo and shot the first box of 20 fine the second box didn't go as fine. On my 32nd round I heard a loud "clank" inside of the plinker and so I pulled the mag, emptied the chamber, well, I tried to empty the chamber but couldn't. I tried to engage the safety and couldn't. I tried to break the rifle apart and couldn't. I eventually had to take off the stock and buffer tube. When I took the tube off, I found that the buffer and spring were inside the upper receiver. I took them out then was able to open the gun to see what was going on. The lower receiver broke right in front of the buffer retaining pin, throwing the retaining pin into the trigger grouping. I called Olympic and wanted to see what could be done and they say I would have to pay for shipping both ways and the armorers hourly rate was $55/hr. I told them that I wasn't happy and offered some stickers for my inconvenience. I have since parted the gun and washed my hands of the worst experience I've ever had with a firearm. I've then since owned RRA, Bushmaster, Armalite, DPMS, even Colt and would go back to them again and again. Learn from our COSTLY mistakes and be happier! we're on a roll here: Quoted: I sent a lower in to them for repair. Pin holes so mis aligned it wasnt even funny. Took them  3 MONTHS to tell me there was nothing wrong with it . But they replaced it anyway. Different serial #.. Same exact problem. My dog...Can build a better gun. pictures are worth 1000 words... Quoted: img329.imageshack.us/img329/3096/olyrcvryi3.jpg img329.imageshack.us/img329/843/olybarldi7.jpg Tales of woe... Quoted: I had one KABOOM on me with less then 300 rounds through it. And then Oly lied about what caused the problem. I will never own another one again. Phessor More... Quoted: OlY has been around for a long time, I used their receivers in the 80's to build machine guns. I can't tell you the amount of brand new rejected parts that were returned to OLY for replacement. They are still in business!!! I think there is a saying, kinda like. There's a fool born every minute of the day. So if you are one. More... Quoted: I've shopped at Prairie Arms.  The owner recommended an Oly saying they " make best AR-15 on the market".  Haven't been back, and I would not call them a reliable source of information. Pick up an Oly he had on the shelf and hand cycled it.  Felt like the inner workings were lined with sand paper (not typical pre-break in either).  Needless to say, I didn't buy it. Jesus... Quoted: I owned one and never again a total pos and even worst service. These guys are scum in my opinion and will never get another dollar from me. Pat More... Quoted: Yes, they are that bad. How they stay in business is beyond comprehension. I have one. The only part left original OLY is the lower and even the parts kit has been changed out to a RRA match kit. Therefore the only part left original OLY is the stripped lower, which is the part that matters the least. OLY = Caveat Emptor. AR15fan shares his wisdom... Quoted: Ive broke an oly forward assist, several bolt catches, a mag catch, wore out hammer springs, disconnector springs, extractor spring, dimpled firing pins, handguard that fitr with gaps, receiver end plates had the finish flake off and rust, frozen bolt catch detents, frozen safety detents. I wont buy anotrher Oly product, ever.  For budget parts i go with DPMS, Bushmaster  & CMT.  If i need better quality then that i buy Colt from Brownells or SAW. MauserMark checks in... Quoted: I saw at a shoot here a bolt seperate.  Don't remember which arfcom member's it was, but it seperated in use, and it was an Oly bolt. More... Quoted: Yes, I do have the unfortunate experience of having owned some Oly products and did try to assemble a couple of their lowers for a friend once. I learned the lesson. The horror… Quoted: My Buddy bought one over my protest. On it's second outing with Winchester White box, the barrel seperated from the receiver. And… Quoted: Blech, the one I saw broke it's bolt the first day it was fired. You won't find a reputable gunsmith who works on ARs or an experienced carbine instructor who would recommend an Oly. Quoted: Had (past tense) an Oly stripped cast lower that I was going to use for my first build.  Had to take a file to the magazine well before it would accept USGI magazines.  As in they had to be crammed and beaten into a stripped lower, not that they just wouldn't drop free.  Offloaded that thing PDQ.  Tried again with an A1 upper.  Bushmaster and Colt bolt carriers bound up in the receiver.  Could see the bright shiny marks in the upper where the carriers were rubbing.  Also the takedown/pivot pin holes were mis-aligned (badly).  That was the last time I ever even considered Oly as a source for AR15 parts of any kind.  I stay far away now.