Olympic Arms

I wonder if this is going to be a trend in 2017. I can see a lot of mid level brands like Olympic closing due to saturation in the market.

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Use should dictate gear!

Sorry to hear this...I always thought they made some fine products.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

You make garbage for long enough and this is what happens... surprised it took this long frankly

While I am not an owner or enthusiast of ARs I have seen what appears to be a saturation of the market, less interest and a Lot of used ones For sale nearly evewhere. I also read and hear what seems to a lessening of quality with some manufacturers and poor customer service. Also I have been seeing a resurgence of interest in more 'traditional' firearm patterns lately. Also the cost of ammo I think has put the 'brakes' on the days of slinging a 1000+ rounds out there.

ARs have become very much a commodity with so many makers now in the market, all with relatively equivalent products. The only survivors will be those who have the lowest manufacturing costs. Companies with weak bottom lines are not survivors. I think with the threat of oppressive gun legislation diminished under the new administration, I expect to see many more used ARs come on on the market and fewer new gun sales. But I haven't seen much evidence of that yet. That will also depress the remaining AR manufacturers.

I have a buddy who shoots Olympic lowers on a couple
of his AR's.
Well made with nary a problem.

Sorry to hear about them going under as well.

Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

It seems like Olympic Arms was the first manufacturer to make a line of really accurate ARs with heavy barrels and flat top receivers to take scopes. Back in the late 1970s most people didn't think very highly of AR's or their accuracy and I remember one gunshop owner telling me most ARs he sold were less accurate than Mini-14s. Colt only made the Sp-01 back then, as used in Vietnam and I had one and it wasn't too impressive. I have since owned several AR's including Del-ton, Palmetto State Armory, Olympic Arms, and Colt and I couldn't tell any real difference in quality between any of them.

Always a bit sad for me to see something like this. I had call to contact them only once but they took good care of me and seemed like decent folks on the phone. As has been said, lots of competition these days in their market, and no doubt some cooling of that market, too.

I fully expect to see some new ARs selling in the sub-$400 price range in the near future, given the competitive environment. You can already build your own for less than that. Not too much profit left at that price. Wonder what will happen if Chinese guns are allowed to be imported again? No reason the Chinese couldn't flood the market with AR components.

It would be interesting to know how many AR type rifles have been sold the last few years,even the anti-gunners I know have one it seems. Many people bought multiples just in case and now find they don't really need 3 or 4 of them and these are now coming on the market so I think it will be hard to get high prices for new ones for quite a some time.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

Yep I agree but I'll bet none of us would ever come close to guessing the number. Regardless, from those I have talked to in the 'biz' and other informal sources sales have come to a screeching halt and nothing to suggest they will ever approach previous levels. Actual Colt collectible ARs are few in scope and there is nothing particularly 'rare' about most aftermarket ARs to create a collector market so ARs may become a 'White Elephant' in the gun world.

Olympic Arms is the only firearms manufacturer I've ever personally toured, so I feel bad. Seems like everyone who was into budget ARs during the AWB either got a Bushmaster or Olympic.

They just couldn't find a good niche since the sunset of the ban. Too much weird and proprietary stuff that never caught on.

In a broader sense, while it sucks for the individual companies and employees, this retraction is healthy in the long run. Look at all the clowns spooling up to make/assemble AR parts after Sandy Hook. Quality sucked and prices were sky high. More than one friend of mine got hosed on uppers that didn't work well or at all. The great ones will survive.

Sucks to see any firearms manufacturer close its doors

And I hope it isn't catchy.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

After 40 years in business, is it possible that they are just plain retiring?
I haven't read their releases on the closing, other than the above so I don't know the reason.
I'm sure the market helped drive the decision but it also could be that they want to retire.
I don't see the demise of the AR anytime soon. Thankfully, I am seeing the demise of high prices for them.

It seems I remember during the big Obama rush to buy ARs that Olympic Arms had a fire. After that I heard of people on AR15.com complaining of bad customer service and bad quality parts. That was a time period when AR15 companies should have been making a fortune because there was such high demand and people didn't care about pricing. I think Olympic Arms also made Safari Arms 1911s that had one finger groove on the front strap, and I never cared much for the look, but the 1911 market is also saturated and very competitive. Maybe they should have tried to specialize more.

I still have a Colt Match Target H-Bar I bought back in the mid 90's, Im sure that one still has some value to it.

I hear a lot of people bashing Olympic Arms quality, but I've always held a different opinion.

After I transitioned from the M1A to the AR-15 for service rifle competition, my first AR-15 service rifle was built on an Oly At-15 and it was no less accurate or reliable than any other Service Rifle I've owned since. In the off season, I added a cheek rest, mounted a scope on the carry handle and used it as a varmint rifle. It was a solid MOA all day rifle.

The flat topped AR-15 got it's start when people like me took an A1 style AR-15 upper, milled the carry handle off and added a one piece weaver rail on top to accommodate scope rings. As you note, Oly was one of the first companies to bring a flat topped AR-15 to market.

I suspect much of the Oly hate came from what I consider to be the mil-spec AR-15 snobs who seem to think that a pony on the side automatically made it a better AR-15, or that "mil-spec" parts have any relevance to the effectiveness of a civilian AR-15. That kind of marketing sells an awful lot of AR-15s - usually to shooters who don't really understand what really matters in an AR-15.

Now..to be fair, I can't speak to Oly quality after about 1995, but I do no that Oly made some great AR-15s back then.

I hope not as well

I agree the new administration could spell the end of some companies.

The fact remains that democratic presidents and democratic wins in mid term elections have always been some of the best marketing the gun industry has ever had, particularly when it comes to handguns and, after the 1994 AWB, evil black rifles.

I know most of the local shops stocked up heavily on firearms that thought would be in great demand after the expected HRC presidential win. I am not seeing those firearms move off those shelves at all.

Sooner or later in order to stay in business, they are going to have to cut prices and profits to move them out the door in order to turn them back into money they can re-invest in what ever might be selling. It's clear that orders for AR-15s are going to be way down for at least the next four years.

Absolutely. I believe there will be some far better buys in AR-type rifles before the end of this year for those who want one. I have a friend who bought two ARs last year (one Armalite, one S&W) because of the prospect of an HRC victory, and he's not even what most would call a shooter or a gun enthusiast. His interest was more on making money on a panic turnover. He's now thinking about getting rid of at least one of them, maybe both. He also bought an AK and an SKS, ditto on selling those. Dealers who stocked up on ARs for the prospect of an HRC victory made a bad bet.

I am in no way a fancier of either the AR or the AK platforms, and own neither. But if (and when) the prices tank, I will probably buy one or the other.

Trying to make bank on a crisis is not a long-term business plan.

There will be more consolidation in the AR world before the end of the year.

I'm with DWalt...look for some bargains to come available in the next few quarters.

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- Post No Bills -

Perhaps, but it was Olympic Arms that caused the ammo ban when they chambered an AR pistol for 7.62 x 39 and immediately got all 7.62 x 39 steel core ammo banned from importation as "armor piercing."

This resulted in immediate ban of all of the inexpensive ammo that was imported. This caused widespread hatred of the company and many refused then and still refuse to buy products from Olympic Arms.

The same thing happened to Bill Ruger when he said magazines with over 15 rounds (coincidentally, the number his 9mm pistol carried) should be banned, and many people only went back to Ruger after Bill Ruger died, the Ruger family was out of the business, and Ruger began to be more responsive to the 2nd Amendment by finally making high capacity magazines available for the Mini-14.

As to Olympic Arms, this from http://www.thegunzone.com/762x39.html:

". . . .

An extensive investigation behind ATF's action revealed that the balloon went up in December 1993 when The Shotgun News ran Olympic Arms' advertising to promote their model OA-93 ("a true AR-15 pistol") chambered in 7.62 X 39mm, the announcement of which sent at least two importers scrambling to "buy" the rights to any such handgun to protect their future ammo market. Only the Washington-based gun-maker seemed not to have understood the far-reaching implications of their controversial product or anticipated any negative reaction.

After The Shotgun News advertisement, Robert C. Schuetz, President of Olympic Arms, was warned by both J.D. Jones and Century International Arms1 (importer of large quantities of the cheap, steel core 7.62 X 39mm ammo) that his promotion of a 7.62 X 39mm "pistol" would probably bring the ATF down on the Chinese steel-core rounds. Schuetz, however, went forward with his OA-93.

"I'm not in the ammunition business," Olympic Arms' Schuetz told the author in one of two interviews at that time. "I wasn't aware that there was a problem. Nobody told me that this was a situation, and by the time I found out, it was too late. I'm 65 years old, I go to church every Sunday, and I feel good about myself. If people are so ignorant as to blame me for what's happened, that's asinine and there's nothing I can do about it. Now when people send me letters on this I just ignore it. What do you want me to do?"

As stated, however, two different concerns had contacted Olympic Arms about the potential problem 1½ months before ATF issued its infamous memo.

Additionally, the author had discussed the matter with Schuetz in a face-to-face at SHOT Show '94.

. . . ."

So, while I hate to see anyone go out of business, I have a number of friends who do not feel sorry for Olympic.

Given what is involved in making them, under $400 is what they should always sell for.

I don't think they'll be that cheap. We'll wait & see who wins. In the meantime, I'd never be happy with any AR, using components for less than $400. Difference here, is that I'm a very active AR user. I had no interest in them, until I was around 63. I now enjoy putting together high end ARs with much better accuracy (as well as looks) than cheap components. Kind of like reloading. We either like it or we don't. I do.

I have had an Olympic AR for many years. It is a fine weapon.

You guys didn't have to wait long. Grabagun has $399 Del-Ton ARs up on their website.

Mourning the death of firearms companies is a waste of tears. If they had good salable parts and product, someone will buy the pieces and continue to produce. Colt went bankrupt after bringing out the Paterson and was liquidated by a receiver. Sam Colt was selling "laughing gas" when Army captain Walker found him and they made history. Colt has been bankrupt innumerable times since including 2015. The currently named Springfield Inc. was run into the ground in the early 1990s when creditors stepped in and straightened it out.

I've been expecting a blowup in the AR business for awhile now. It's just too easy to buy parts and make ARs. I figured the end was near when OEM parts guys decided to sell complete guns.

The gun industry might have been silently praying for a Democrat victory in 2016.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I doubt it. I could really see the possible future, in which gun companies could be held liable for someones actions, using their products. I was around the small aircraft industry, when they went through the same problem. Large lawsuits, and closing of production. Laws (mostly limitations of time) were changed, to protect these companies from deep pocket lawsuits. The same would happen with the gun industry.