Olympic arms "stop sign" AR15s

2112Lifeson

2112Lifeson

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Just wondering some people's opinions on these guns. I'm in the market for an AR but i dont want an M4 style, i want a classic looking one (20" barrel, fixed stock, fixed rail, ect.). I've found an olympic arms one available to buy but i keep seeing a split opinion on them based on forums i have read. Can anyone else give their opinion on this?

thank you
 
Olympic doesn't have any standards. However they have a long track record of broken lower receivers...

Whatever floats your boat, it might be hard to find a 20" AR for quite some time.
 
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I have one, picked it up second hand. The owner told me he had bought it as a kit in 1988-89 and had a Calgary gunsmith assemble it. Serial T43xx.

The rifle has generally worked okay, though the extractor stopped working within 1000 rounds. Put in a new Bushmaster assembly and it has been mostly fine since. About once every 300 rounds or so I still get a failure to extract, with the case stuck firmly in the chamber. Most Olympic chambers are cut tight.

The biggest problem is parts compatibility. The takedown pin had to be installed with a great force. It took a hammer and punch to get it open again. This is with the upper and lower that were paired together from the factory. I never found another lower that would fit that upper, and one of my 3 Colt uppers would not fit on the lower. These parts were just plain out of spec. I oblonged the hole on the upper so that it fits properly now. The lower was close enough I just left it alone. There have been several internet tales of Olympic rails not fitting standard accessories. Owners of Olympic rifles should not be surprised to find they must custom fit any standard parts or accessories they buy for their rifle.
 
I've owned two. Both very reliable. I think a lot of the Olympic Arms bad publicity comes from the 80's right up through the 90's. During that time Olympic Arms took a nose dive to the point that a lot of people didn't trust them. Remember, Olympic Arms was a barrel manufacturer, a good one, and didn't start making AR's until 1982.

A lot of these older receivers are still floating around. They pop up from time to time, give someone a bunch of grief, and spark all the hatred again. That person sells the receiver and then the next person has the problems and starts all over again.

If you buy a brand new Olympic Arms receiver you should have no problems at all. In fact I have my third one on the way.

The STOP sign lowers were stopped though in 1993 from my understand. Some swear by them, others hate them. In the US they are known as "Pre-Ban" lowers and can sell for around $300-400 for the bare lower.

I think though a lot of the bad hype came from the "Plinker" series of rifles. These were extremely cheaply cast lowers. Once again this was back in the late 80's and 90's.
 
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2112Lifeson said:
Just wondering some people's opinions on these guns. I'm in the market for an AR but i dont want an M4 style, i want a classic looking one (20" barrel, fixed stock, fixed rail, ect.). I've found an olympic arms one available to buy but i keep seeing a split opinion on them based on forums i have read. Can anyone else give their opinion on this?

thank you
Click to expand...

I just picked up a Stag Arms model just like you described but with a slightly shorter barrel. I am happy I went with a name I can trust.
 
Poor quality control. Half my uppers wouldn't match up to the Oly lowers I had. Back in the day they were one of only a few that made parts so there was really no one else to gauge them against. Today I would say they are the bottom of the barrel. Excuse the pun.
 
I tied the BC provincial record in 2011 shooting one of Arms Easts Stag Government 4Rs that I borrowed from a friend. I currently have 15600 rnds though my Hbar 4R with only 2 stoppages to date.
 
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