According to their website, after 40 years of being in business, Olympic Arms is closing its doors at the end of February. No reason given.
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According to their website, after 40 years of being in business, Olympic Arms is closing its doors at the end of February. No reason given.
Sad, there's a lot of property out there and the buildings...underground range, the machines, this should be interesting.
So much for the lifetime warranty :-(
4 All Warranty service ceases 1-25-2017. Warranty work and repairs currently in-house will be serviced and returned.
Olympic Arms
The AR-15 market has exploded. There are AR-15 builders under every rock now. Oly were a niche builder who took an "accuracy over feed reliability" stance with tight chambers that admittedly prevented owners from using junk ammo. They were excoriated by many forum warriors, probably lowering their market share even further.
I say this even though I own a very nice Olympic Arms AR-15 that has served my family well and has been a great value. RIP Oly.
Bob
May just be me,
but love the PPFT I bought 5 years ago.
Have never had a issue, but do stick with good factory or my best I can produce reloads.
To be honest don't recall any type of fail.
Eats all I can throw at it.
Spent more on options than the boxed PPFT cost out the door.
I hate to see them end.
But do recall the BEATING they took years ago.
For me.......... It looks like hello Ruger.
The first of many I suspect.. I feel a lot of companies were sustained by high sales in recent years are now in bad shape, even moreso if they bought their way into the market place on borrowed money. Stuff is just not moving right now, there is no sense of "better get it now for US buyers". The market place for AR stuff is saturated and you're now in the phase where a lot of companies and products are probably going to die off or get bought out as the market narrows itself down. Plus it has reached rock bottom price wise. I can get a good quality kit from PSA for $400 that is turn key, just supply the lower (another $60), and is good enough for what I am using it for. The companies that supply the low end with decent stuff like PSA and the name brands with a respected premium product probably won't have to worry... it's those in the middle that may feel the hurt.
I just repaired a new in the box Ruger AR556 that managed to get out of the factory without the two roll pins that hold the front sight base on installed. The happy new owner who bought it at Gander Mountain in Augusta, Georgia fired it one time and the front sight base moved forward just enough to cover the gas port and effectively turn it into a single shot rifle. The gas tube was properluy pinned in. It was an easy fix once I discovered the missing pins with two 1/8" x 5/8" roll pins. How on earth did it ever get past quality control at a reputable factory like Ruger? Friday night, Monday morning? who knows!
I built an Oly from an upper and lower years back using Canadian parts complete, including barrel. I used it in service, believe it or not, until I sold it in Gagetown NB. Shot weapons test and patrol competitions...battle drills...
Not the first time this has happened with a Ruger. Two months ago a man brought in a Ruger AR556 to my local gun store. He had just purchased it on sale at Cabelas. When he fired it, the front sight moved forward. Yep, you guessed it, no front sight roll pins. When he called Cabelas he was told to contact Ruger for warranty repair. Needless to say, he was a little hot under the collar when he came in. But 5 minutes later he was out the door, a happy camper.
Someone needs to tell Ruger to get their act together. Unfortunately, most repairs are being done in house so there is no feed back to Ruger.
BEAR
I'll be danged. I would have though it to be a fluke. It sounds like their out inspector needs to be fired. It's disappointing considering Ruger is one of the last surviving old line American firearms manufacturers. I was a great fan of Bushmaster too until they were purchased by Remington. The quality control went out the window when that happened and given the very poor factory service, I won't be buying any Remington/Bushmaster products unless they get their act together.