Hi so I was thinking about buying an Olympic Arms AR off of a friend of mine. I have done some research on the company and have found mixed reviews. What do you all think about this brand of ARs?
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You probably won’t find any mixed reviews on here. They are generally considered bottom of the barrel in the world of AR-15’s.
I think you should definitely buy that Olympic off your friend.
Post a review here with your thoughts and opinions after you get some trigger time.
Looking forward to hearing what you think of it.
Is your friend selling his AR because he needs the cash? Loan him some $$$ and have him sell the Olympic to someone else.
If you need an AR there are better guns out there. (Colt, BCM, FN, ect…)
I would only own an Olympic Arms/SGW rifle if I lived in a communist state and it were my only pre-ban option.
Otherwise, no.
Before I go on my rants as to why to avoid said rifle/company let me ask a few questions. Do you own an AR currently? If so what do you own? Second, what is your friend selling his for?
If yes to question one, and you own a quality rifle, then maybe the Oly is worth it as a beater/range toy. MAYBE. If no, then buy something that is going to be of quality and not a roll of the dice. Now, if your friend is selling the Oly cheap, and by cheap I am talking in the sub $500 range, preferably sub $400 then it might be worth buying, again as a beater, or as something to hold onto to sell at a markup during the next election cycle. If it is over $500 then I would just spend a few hundred more and buy a new rifle that is of better quality. Or add a hundred or so and buy cheap AR, a la a bushy, new since they are running in the $650 or so range last time I checked.
I had one years ago, shot a few hundred rounds through it and ended up selling it to a gun dealer in CT, where it was still technically pre-ban. Never gave me a problem. Still though, there are other brands I prefer at any price point. Obviously we don’t know any of the dynamics between you and your friend, or the proposed deal. If I were you, I’d recommend you telling your friend to hold on to it until there is a panic, and sell it quickly for a reasonable price. As the ATF ammo ban proved, a panic can happen at any time and for any reason.
The thing with Olympic is, and having lived in WA state for years I probably have seen more Oly rifles than most, is that they are a beast unto themselves. While so many companies buy generic parts, assemble them and sell them for whatever the market will allow, Olympic actually made almost all of their own parts. That means there really isn’t an honest way to say they are about the same as all the other ARs floating around. They put out more functional rifles than clunkers, but they did put out more than their fair share of clunkers too. Plus as people discovered, swapping original parts with replacements wasn’t always possible, as dimensions were different than industry standards.
Yeah, this is good. Just hope you get it for cheap, really cheap I wouldn’t spend more than $500
I bought one last year, K16. Anywhere a roll pin or other went they the receiver the finish was chipping, charging handle latch was broken and overall fit and finish was absolute shit and I went against everyone who said don’t do it. That gun was shit. Literally, shit. You want to get in a cheap ar? Do a palmetto state or a dpms ap4, nothing less.
The nicest thing about the Olympic was the hard case. I’m running a palmetto state premium carbine upper and an Anderson lower. Bottom barrel for me. 1k rounds, 500 wolf still going and hasn’t been cleaned. Oops.
I would like to add that here are a lot of nice guns out there ie Colt, DD, Larue, LMT, BCM and many like that. T6 7075 is the same, and many of the forged parts come from the same machine shops with different roll marks in addition to that most barrels come from a handful of manufacturers as well so a lot of variation is in the actual hard coating quality, how crisp the roll marks are.
Some parts are different. I’d put a new Anderson lower against a new spikes as far as quality goes. I’m not much for 15" keymod a but at the same time I can’t afford a setup like that so I’ve been choosy how I’ve spent my money to find the bottom of the barrel that’s reliable.
Keep in mind that Olympic isn’t bottom of the barrel, it’s under the barrel.
Don’t pay more than $500, and don’t rely on it for duty/HD.
You can build a chrome lined psa for a few bucks more that’s chrome lined if you don’t mind waiting for shipping and blemished sales.
I just bought an upper from PSA, First time PSA buyer here and always heard of people saying that PSA shipping times are the worst out there.
So I was like ok Ill get this upper in a month, Nope just got a email that it will be delivered on the 8th. I ordered it on the 2nd!!!
That’s surprising. Their customer service is good but they get a high volume of sales all the time. My lower took forever on a full psa blemished build. Sorry for the derailment, Oly Arms sucks!
Pretty much this.
Bottom of the barrel?
I actually almost started a thread the other day to figure out who was making the actual WORST AR in the world. I can’t think of anybody worse than Oly. Anybody got anything better?
Made or makes? Hesse Arms/Vulcan takes the cake.
That’s what I was thinking, but haven’t they been defunct for a minute?
Also, I’m not sure what they’re like now, but Battle Rifle Company had some stuff up on their website for a while that was completely laughable, especially for how much money they were asking.
I’m pretty sure at maybe 2014 SHOT show their offerings were retarded. Like mid length has system micro block and a carbine length rail because it looked cool…
Hahahaha YES!!! That’s exactly what I was thinking of