What's wrong with Olympic Arms???

[Bill Hollinger]

Another great range day today. Here is the skinny on this rifle.

Olympic Arms
Model CAR-AR SUM
20" Olympic Arms Super Ultra Match stainless barrel
Custom made free float barrel shroud and stock hand guards
Custom made Match rear sight
Custom made front sight post ground to a wedge
There is nothing special about the lower receiver. No trigger work other that one leg of the hammer spring being cut off.
Lead added to the butt stock for weight and balance.
Overall weight of this AR is about 16 pounds.
Some may say that so much has been altered that it is no longer Olympic Arms but all the major parts are Oly.

[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300011.jpg[/imgw]
Barrel is free floating, note the gap between the gas block and sling swivel mount. Also, the allen head set screws used to adjust the gas block for sight alignment.
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300012.jpg[/imgw]
Barrel shroud made from steel tubing and silver soldered at the swivel end and barrel nut end.
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300013.jpg[/imgw]
Front sight ground.
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300015.jpg[/imgw]
Custom made barrel shroud and barrel nut set up.
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300016.jpg[/imgw]
Top of the barrel shroud where the gas tube passes through.
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300017.jpg[/imgw]
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300018.jpg[/imgw]
Rear sight was machined down and a sleeve fitted to re-thread the post for elevation as well as the windage adjustment.
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300021.jpg[/imgw]
Notice on the underside of the rear sight and the sleeve used to re-thread to a finer thread to get 1/4" clicks of elevation.
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300023.jpg[/imgw]
Lead wedge in the butt stock to increase weight for better balance.
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300024.jpg[/imgw]
Today's target shot from a bench at 100 yards, no sand bags or sighting rests. I knew when I threw the two fliers!
[imgw]http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/BillHollinger/Lola/PB300010.jpg[/imgw]

All the work done on the AR was done by me with the help of the instructors at Lassen College about eight years ago.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[browningautorifle]

I'm sorry Bill but we went through this whole thread a month past. I'm sure you were involved. I've had Oly rifles and carbines and parts and...I'm sure you get the idea. I have NO problem with them. Now stand by for the flood.

[Bill Hollinger]

Yes I was a part of that thread. Folks can say whatever they feel they need to say. My main idea here was to show a great day at the range and give a little history behind the rifle and what work can be done to the AR platform.

[browningautorifle]

I went to the factory(if you could call it that) in about '89. I was acting as an envoy for a dealer here in Victoria. I happened to be in uniform due to training requirements in Ft Lewis so I got the royal tour. The manager showed me everything exept the underground 100 yd range because there was patterning going on. The whole affair was set up on an old farm outside Ft Lewis on the old Olympic highway. The machines they had lacked nothing. The rifling machines were there, both cut and broach. All the barrel blanks one could imagine. The lathes, the computer milling machines and especially the assembly rooms had everything one could look for. The pistol shop was set up in the old harness room of the back barn. The assembly rooms had stuff you would want to fill your pockets with. All parts for M14, M4 carbine, full size rifle, special match rifles and sub guns including the law enforcement stuff. I was standing there with a dealers licence in hand and a clean credit card. It was hard not to fill the truck to the top. Now, with the way things have gone I maybe should have!

[bd1]

Bill, you have an accurate rifle like any DCM-type AR 15 should be. That's all I know to say about it.

[DaveHH]

I've had an SGW Palmetto Arms AR since the 80s it is machined from a solid billet and is just a great lower. Using an old GI Colt 1-12 thin chrome lined barrel and 52 gr Sierra match this thing holds maybe 2 1/2" groups at 100 yds. It would do much better with a good barrel. Nothing is free floating, it is just a stocker with A2 sights.

[jmoore]

I had an OLD (1982-4?) SGW that had the mag well too far forward by about 0.020". Had to make a beveled relief cut on the upper so that mags wouldn't hang up during rapid reloads. Since I'm prone to changes uppers quite a bit, it was less than satisfactory. The bolt release pivot pin location was a bit off too, but fitting the bolt stop itself fixed that drama. Haven't had another since.
Anyway, I reckon w/ a good FCG and bolt carrier assembly, most any AR can be made to run fine, regardless of make.

[JBS]

Nothing wrong with Olympic Arms. I built a NM service rifle with OA upper and lower and a Spacegun ( unlimited class AR ) on a Olympic lower. They took me to Master before I quite shooting competition.