Lemme tell ya 'bout my Oly...
I purchased a new, complete Olympic Arms AR-15 in the early 2000's. I believe it was called an "Eliminator"; it had a flat top, a carbine length barrel, and a rifle length handguard. It was my second AR type rifle, having owned a Colt HBAR during most of the 1990's.
On picking it up from my FFL, the first thing I noticed was the was the gas block did not have provisions for a clamp on front sight contrary to what I had been told over the phone by Oly. Since I was going to mount a red dot on it, I let this pass figuring I could correct it later.
[Lesson learned: If a product isn't what you expected, especially when a company offers a return policy... pay the shipping to return it and re-evaluate your decision.]
First trip out I discovered two things: perfect reliability over 500ish rounds... but the trigger pins would walk out of the receiver. I figured a call to Oly would get me the correct sized pins sent out quickly. Except it turns out the pins were the right size, it was the holes in the receiver that were out of spec. They ended up sending me longer pins cut for circlips, which they charged me for, in addition to shipping.
[2nd lesson learned: If a product fails during a company's return window (Oly's was 60 days at the time)... SEND IT BACK!]
Over the next two years:
The bolt release broke/cracked.
The charging handle also cracked.
A screw attaching the muzzle brake cracked (seeing a pattern here), resulting in a bullet strike on the next round.
I had a machinist friend fix the muzzle brake (bored hole slightly larger to clean it up and re-threaded all holes/new hardware).
He also made me an offer on it which I accepted. Good Riddance!
2 months later he showed up to show me the bolt from it, which was cracked... but he was laughing about it.
Kind of a shame, in between breakages it was a very accurate little gun.
Ask me about my Dillon experiences... go ahead I dare you
