I am new to the gun hobby and till now have been relying on the advice of others locally already in the hobby. Now I am digging a little deeper trying to learn about things and ran into a safety question about my AR-15.
I am hoping someone out there is an expert on Olympic Arms AR-15s and can help me determine what mine is chambered for. I bought it barely used from someone who had 2 of them and after reading articles recently about .223 vs 5.56 chamberings, I am not sure whether it is safe to fire M855 or M193 5.56 in this gun, since it may be chambered in .223.
The articles I have read recently said Olympic Arms uppers made after 2001 should be chambered for 5.56. Unfortunately I don't know when this upper was made. The serial number on the lower is in a range that the Olympic Arms site says was made between 07/20/2001 and 04/03/2002, so I am not sure what to make of that.
The manual says "Owner's Manual for AR-15 CAR-15" (not sure if that means I have a CAR-15, or whether the same manual is used for more than one model of AR-15).
On the lower receiver it has three lines:
CAL. .223 5.56
MOD. P.C.R. 01
KX 8589
I e-mailed Olympic Arms with my question, describing everything it says on the lower, and asking whether it was chambered for .223 or 5.56. The response:
"We are out of 2004 catalogs.our 2005 should be available soon.Please use the web sight to view current Olympic arms products.thanks for your entrust in Olympic arms.[Name withheld to protect the guilty] Sales Rep"
Something tells me I won't be buying any more Oly Arms products.
I hope someone can help me. Otherwise I guess I will sell this gun and buy a new one from a more customer-friendly manufacturer, and find out exactly what I am getting to make sure I can get one that can shoot 5.56. When I bought my AR I had no idea there was such a thing as ARs that are not built to fire 5.56 ammo but only .223. Could be an expensive lesson but it is better than the gun blowing up or something when I use ammo it is not chambered for. I actually have a bunch of Lake City Federal 5.56 with the NATO stamp in my closet, I was saving it for special occasions since it is more expensive than than the Wolf I have been practicing with - maybe I am lucky I never tried to fire it.
Thanks in advance for your help.
I am hoping someone out there is an expert on Olympic Arms AR-15s and can help me determine what mine is chambered for. I bought it barely used from someone who had 2 of them and after reading articles recently about .223 vs 5.56 chamberings, I am not sure whether it is safe to fire M855 or M193 5.56 in this gun, since it may be chambered in .223.
The articles I have read recently said Olympic Arms uppers made after 2001 should be chambered for 5.56. Unfortunately I don't know when this upper was made. The serial number on the lower is in a range that the Olympic Arms site says was made between 07/20/2001 and 04/03/2002, so I am not sure what to make of that.
The manual says "Owner's Manual for AR-15 CAR-15" (not sure if that means I have a CAR-15, or whether the same manual is used for more than one model of AR-15).
On the lower receiver it has three lines:
CAL. .223 5.56
MOD. P.C.R. 01
KX 8589
I e-mailed Olympic Arms with my question, describing everything it says on the lower, and asking whether it was chambered for .223 or 5.56. The response:
"We are out of 2004 catalogs.our 2005 should be available soon.Please use the web sight to view current Olympic arms products.thanks for your entrust in Olympic arms.[Name withheld to protect the guilty] Sales Rep"
Something tells me I won't be buying any more Oly Arms products.
I hope someone can help me. Otherwise I guess I will sell this gun and buy a new one from a more customer-friendly manufacturer, and find out exactly what I am getting to make sure I can get one that can shoot 5.56. When I bought my AR I had no idea there was such a thing as ARs that are not built to fire 5.56 ammo but only .223. Could be an expensive lesson but it is better than the gun blowing up or something when I use ammo it is not chambered for. I actually have a bunch of Lake City Federal 5.56 with the NATO stamp in my closet, I was saving it for special occasions since it is more expensive than than the Wolf I have been practicing with - maybe I am lucky I never tried to fire it.
Thanks in advance for your help.