[97powerstroke]

Could somebody please tell me why any time I am having a conversation with another shooter and I mention that my AR is an Olympic arms I get this look of discust as if they just stepped in something discusting. I don't get it, whats so bad about Olympic arms that would cause that kind of reaction. I don't seem to have any trouble with the gun at all. It goes bang every time I pull the trigger and never had a hiccup in the 3 or 4 years that Iv'e had it. What gives??

[bkt]

Oly Arms rifles used to be pretty questionable on meeting their MILSPEC. Trying to fit a non-Oly upper to an Oly lower (or vice versa) often resulted in people around you learning a bunch of new ways to creatively curse.

From what I understand, these days they're fine and meet MILSPEC.

[EagleSix]

Originally Posted by bkt

Oly Arms rifles used to be pretty questionable on meeting their MILSPEC. Trying to fit a non-Oly upper to an Oly lower (or vice versa) often resulted in people around you learning a bunch of new ways to creatively curse.

From what I understand, these days they're fine and meet MILSPEC.

as bkt has pointed out....in addition from the time they started up and for many years they had many problems associated with their firearms. From mismatched parts, to poor customer service, to failure to deliver, to a lot of frustrated owners.....failure to feed, failure to extract, outside of milspec accuracy.......it was a long list of problems and issues. Folks remember and if they are making a quality product now.....it will be a long time before the sour taste diminishes, if ever.

Most I have seen are junk, but there were a few which worked. You obviously have a good one and will unfortunately continue to receive the same response in the future are are experiencing now. Hopefully they have improved, and if so, will eventually gain back a following.

.

[Nathantc]

this rifle has an olimpic lower and it works with my ASA and my Colt upper just fine, as well as what ever upper that came on it (used build) this is the father inlaw's X-Mass gift he he he

[Jeepergeo]

...one that does what the owner wants it to do when the owner needs it to do it. If you like pretty guns, then it has got to be pretty. If it needs to shoot tight groups, then it must be capable of doing so.

One person's treasure might just be another person's trash. At our local range, you can freely talk up or down anything you own, but it highly looked down upon to talk down about another person's wears.

Sounds like your olympic does what you want...I'd just ignore the comments.

[rjd3282]

Try owning a Taurus.

[Dillinger]

Olympic is a local company to me, and the shop I go to knows a couple of people who have worked there for years, so I feel I can shed a little light on what bkt touched on.

Olympic went through a period where tolerances were "subjective", shall we say, in direct relation to the amount of rifles that were needed to meet quotas.

As such, quality suffered and as a by product, customer service went straight to hell. To make matters worse Olympic tried to "spin" the events and take to the media with excuses that were immediately lambasted by those in the know.

Olympic has never really embraced the Internet, in aspects of joining forums and discussing issues. I have personally contacted them on behalf of this forum to help get their current state of production, which has greatly improved, out to the masses and was politely told that Olympic will no longer "be burned" by any media outlet, especially the Internet.

Olympic cleaned house a few years back, probably 10 or more, and really made some changes for the positive. The folks that worked there on the machines got parts replaced that were needed and new machines were brought in, including some CNC stuff.

These days Olympic is putting out a good product for the money. It's not cutting edge, but neither is the price tag. It's a good, stable product that is cross compatible with every platform that isn't the large pin Colt.

People that still poo-poo them have probably been bitten, or know someone who was allegedly done wrong, so they think Olympic is a sub-standard product, which it isn't.

When you get those responses, I would ask them when was the last time they shot, held or "heard the tale of woe" that is Olympic. That will tell you a lot about the person with the grudge.

Today's Olympic is a good quality piece for the money. It's not a Ferrari, but it's not the AMC Pacer either.

JD

[JonM]

current olympic isnt bad pretty much on the level of bushmaster and Smith Wesson.

dillinger is spot on. they were pretty craptastic in the past. takes a long long long time to overcome a bad product and ignoring the problem only makes it worse. couple that with a desire to foolishly keep silent and you end up with a company that prolly will continue to struggle until they start talking to their customers.

kimber is pretty much the olympic of 1911s and glock is another type like kimber--- they build a so-so product like oly does but unlike olympic they talk their asses off to anyone who will listen. they even try talking to those that dont!! so their so-so products get a huge following through the sheer power of self promotion. its amazing what a little yacking will do for a product that really has no right to be as popular as it is heh.

[AndyRexia]

Are you saying that Kimber makes a so so product?

[Dillinger]

Originally Posted by AndyRexia

Are you saying that Kimber makes a so so product?

I kind of doubt that knowing Jon as I have over the years.

He is pointing to the very well documented drop off in quality between the years of the "Kimber 1" and the later "Kimber II" editions.

Kimber exploded on the scene, grew too big, too fast and had massive quality control issues. That plagued them for a few years as well. There are those that will claim it still does, but Kimber did own up to some of their problems and incorporated a much higher QC policy.

Kimber has excellent models and sub par models, all that come with the Kimber name and price.

JD