While I am seeing chatter on the board as to the quality of Olympic Arms, here is my personal and professional opinion on their rifles;
First off by let me state in that in my experience that 98% of all problem rifles are from end user modifications and lack of proper maintenance. I in the past have built and maintained hundred of rifles and very few of them have ever been "finicky", unreliable, or just didn't work. That being said....
Olympic Arms in my opinion builds an excellent rifle for the money. While their product line included models and products I may not care as much for, a majority of their rifles are indeed great. (BTW, every company has products I don't care for) I have noticed that the fit and finish of their rifles is inline with the price and for the money paid meets the expectations of the said price point. Sometimes I shake my head and have to send a rifle back to them, but they've always made it right or I have taken my own time to do so.
A few things I will say about Olympic Arms;
They brought the A3 flattop and free float tubes to market before anyone else, and at a time at a price no one expected them to be at. So with out their innovative nature the features that are so much a part of the platform today, we owe to them.
Their Stainless Steel barrels are accurate! I will not go out to say that they are more accurate than a "Boutique" builder in any sense, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them hang in there at a much lower cost to the consumer. They make good barrels plain and simple.
They guys at Olympic are level headed, they know their place in the market and have never tried to be something they are not. They know they are not some multimillion dollar company they spends countless dollars on sponsoring MMA fighters, plastering giant logo's on banners, and what not. I praise them that during the Obama hype for just doing what they always did and not d*cking with their dealers like just about everyone else did.
In my time working here, I've had 4 of their Plinker Plus rifles come back in the shop. We've sold hundreds of them. I am not all to bent out of shape about this. For the money, usually less than 650.00, the rifles preform pretty good. Like everything mechanical a few tweaks might be in order to make it run flawless.
Their M4 rifles, the K8's and K16's are awesome. The K8 (I've seen these shoot dime sized groups all day long at 100 with handloads) and K16 (mine shoots quarters if I do my part with off the shelf Hornady 55gr. V-Max) are shooters, just bonkers how accurate those guns are. Out post sample M4 is probably the most neglected and abused rifle I've ever seen, and it works. I am continually surprised by that gun.
The Plinker series of guns are hit and miss, more hits by far though. It kills me when a customer comes in and wants the absolute cheapest AR and flat out expects it to run like a Daniel Defense (I've had DDM4 that literally had more rounds get stuck in the chamber than it ever shot by the way, they still make a darn fine rifle, but Sh*t happens, I understand that). My Chevy Cobalt is cheap, it runs, and does a good job, but it is no way a Aston Martin so have the same expectation when it comes to your guns for crying out loud.
I've owned a Smith M&P 15 and a Bushmaster M4, and those to shot side by side to an Olympic M4 were exactly the same. They all had their flaws, but one of the 3 was a tad cheaper, if pick I was picking something off the shelf in the sub-900 range, I'd take the Olympic. I only had the Smith and Bushy cause I got them for insane prices. I see no benefit at all to the other two in the way of features and price. I will and can say since the Remington buy out, Bushmaster is only a logo and nothing more.
If my budget only allowed me 700 bucks, I'd just save my money for a few more weeks and get something else. but that me and I am pretty serious about my rifles. On the other hand will I ever again pay 2k for an M4, NO! I did that once and was pissed when a rifle I bought for 1/2 worked better in the aspects that are important. Keep in mind as well, anytime a product is brought to market in an effort to save money and keep the price point down, corners are cut. It doesn't matter what product we are talking about. So keep this in mind. S&W did this with the Sport by using some crazy method to make the upper, I've even had one of their Armorers Course Instructors tell me that MIM parts are stronger and more durable then CNC parts made from billet.
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If you just want a backyard plinker or a gun to goof around with. The Plinker's will fill that role. If you come to me asking for a fighting rifle I won't sell you a Plinker, I'll show you of one their M4's if that is all your budget allowed. If you ask if an Olympic is more accurate than a Noveske, I'd shrug and ask how good of a shot you are first. If it was a K8, I'd tell you it'd probably be close and that the K8 is a heck of a lot cheaper so I'd be willing to lose .1" if it meant I could spend 600.00 dollars extra on ammo. if accuracy is that important to you, I honestly tell to go find one of those barrels makers who treat barrels like 50,000.00 samurai swords, and make like 10 a year cause they are that friggin good.
Disclaimer;
I am not the average consumer. I will do my best to get you what you need in the budget you have.
First off by let me state in that in my experience that 98% of all problem rifles are from end user modifications and lack of proper maintenance. I in the past have built and maintained hundred of rifles and very few of them have ever been "finicky", unreliable, or just didn't work. That being said....
Olympic Arms in my opinion builds an excellent rifle for the money. While their product line included models and products I may not care as much for, a majority of their rifles are indeed great. (BTW, every company has products I don't care for) I have noticed that the fit and finish of their rifles is inline with the price and for the money paid meets the expectations of the said price point. Sometimes I shake my head and have to send a rifle back to them, but they've always made it right or I have taken my own time to do so.
A few things I will say about Olympic Arms;
They brought the A3 flattop and free float tubes to market before anyone else, and at a time at a price no one expected them to be at. So with out their innovative nature the features that are so much a part of the platform today, we owe to them.
Their Stainless Steel barrels are accurate! I will not go out to say that they are more accurate than a "Boutique" builder in any sense, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them hang in there at a much lower cost to the consumer. They make good barrels plain and simple.
They guys at Olympic are level headed, they know their place in the market and have never tried to be something they are not. They know they are not some multimillion dollar company they spends countless dollars on sponsoring MMA fighters, plastering giant logo's on banners, and what not. I praise them that during the Obama hype for just doing what they always did and not d*cking with their dealers like just about everyone else did.
In my time working here, I've had 4 of their Plinker Plus rifles come back in the shop. We've sold hundreds of them. I am not all to bent out of shape about this. For the money, usually less than 650.00, the rifles preform pretty good. Like everything mechanical a few tweaks might be in order to make it run flawless.
Their M4 rifles, the K8's and K16's are awesome. The K8 (I've seen these shoot dime sized groups all day long at 100 with handloads) and K16 (mine shoots quarters if I do my part with off the shelf Hornady 55gr. V-Max) are shooters, just bonkers how accurate those guns are. Out post sample M4 is probably the most neglected and abused rifle I've ever seen, and it works. I am continually surprised by that gun.
The Plinker series of guns are hit and miss, more hits by far though. It kills me when a customer comes in and wants the absolute cheapest AR and flat out expects it to run like a Daniel Defense (I've had DDM4 that literally had more rounds get stuck in the chamber than it ever shot by the way, they still make a darn fine rifle, but Sh*t happens, I understand that). My Chevy Cobalt is cheap, it runs, and does a good job, but it is no way a Aston Martin so have the same expectation when it comes to your guns for crying out loud.
I've owned a Smith M&P 15 and a Bushmaster M4, and those to shot side by side to an Olympic M4 were exactly the same. They all had their flaws, but one of the 3 was a tad cheaper, if pick I was picking something off the shelf in the sub-900 range, I'd take the Olympic. I only had the Smith and Bushy cause I got them for insane prices. I see no benefit at all to the other two in the way of features and price. I will and can say since the Remington buy out, Bushmaster is only a logo and nothing more.
If my budget only allowed me 700 bucks, I'd just save my money for a few more weeks and get something else. but that me and I am pretty serious about my rifles. On the other hand will I ever again pay 2k for an M4, NO! I did that once and was pissed when a rifle I bought for 1/2 worked better in the aspects that are important. Keep in mind as well, anytime a product is brought to market in an effort to save money and keep the price point down, corners are cut. It doesn't matter what product we are talking about. So keep this in mind. S&W did this with the Sport by using some crazy method to make the upper, I've even had one of their Armorers Course Instructors tell me that MIM parts are stronger and more durable then CNC parts made from billet.
_________________
If you just want a backyard plinker or a gun to goof around with. The Plinker's will fill that role. If you come to me asking for a fighting rifle I won't sell you a Plinker, I'll show you of one their M4's if that is all your budget allowed. If you ask if an Olympic is more accurate than a Noveske, I'd shrug and ask how good of a shot you are first. If it was a K8, I'd tell you it'd probably be close and that the K8 is a heck of a lot cheaper so I'd be willing to lose .1" if it meant I could spend 600.00 dollars extra on ammo. if accuracy is that important to you, I honestly tell to go find one of those barrels makers who treat barrels like 50,000.00 samurai swords, and make like 10 a year cause they are that friggin good.
Disclaimer;
I am not the average consumer. I will do my best to get you what you need in the budget you have.
Seriously though, good rant. You know I value your opinion.
