Olympic Arms 1911 Matchmaster

billdeserthills · Apr 2, 2011

Well, as negative as I can be on the topic of Olympic Arms when I did finally receive the Match gun from them, it was beautiful. Fit & Finish was Fantastic. I just wish the customer would come back & tell me how it shoots

Nova guy · Apr 2, 2011

The fit and finish on mine is great, also it shoots a tight group. The only problem I have is with the magazine. The reason I bought an Olympic Arms 1911 was you don't see alot of them around. From what I understand the head pistol smith was with Detonics when they were in Washington State. I also bought one due to them being a NW company and from what I understand they build everything in house,I could be wrong. I see some of the Springfield 1911 and others are made out of the country. I like to buy American built when ever I can. The the lifetime warranty iis a plus as some only offer one year. I am very happy with my purchase. Thanks for your comments

22many · Apr 3, 2011

I had a safari arms cohort up until about a year ago. That was my biggest regret selling that gun.

Don't let yfzsandrider discourage you, there are a lot of people that are happy with their oly rifles and pistols.

YFZsandrider · Apr 3, 2011

I wasn't trying to discourage anyone... I just stay away from brands that I hear enough bad about. The general concensus on Oly Arms, with regard to their rifles anyway, seems to be fairly negative.

Also, there are many 1911s that are all American made. Springfields are assembled in the US, although some of their frames are made in South America. Why is having all their parts made in-house of importance to you?

Take Dan Wesson as an example... All American Made. They use many Ed Brown internals, which are also Ameican made. Rather than make these parts in-house, they choose to use one some of the best parts available. Is it the shipping trip that takes away from the quality of an Ed Brown part?

I'm not trying to give you a bad time, I just see alot of people coming up with odd reasons to justify whatever purchase they made, or want to make. They use in-house parts... so what? They are a local NW company... Thats nice, I guess, but I would rather deal with someone with an awesome warranty service and turn around time. If anything goes wrong with, say, your Kimber or Dan Wesson(using these examples because I've owned both, and cannot speak for other makers like Springer or Colt), they send you a pre-paid UPS label, and cover the cost both ways.

Oly Arms on the other hand...

Nova guy · Apr 3, 2011

Let me correct my statement.In house parts,How about quality parts I feel some import parts not all of them are junk in my opinion.And I see your Opinion is you don't like Olympic Arms and that is your right.I never started this post to compare brands just see if anyone else owned one.I feel we import to many goods that we could make here,I forgot company's can make more money that way labor is cheaper in other countrys not all of them but some,again my opinion not ment to start a fight.Thanks for everyones comments

Nova guy · Apr 3, 2011

I took my Olympic Arms 1911 out today and it work great.The pistol smith told me to leave the magazine load with 8 rounds and it would take some of the spring tension away, I loaded and put it in the safe all week and it worked fine today.I also used the colt magazine that was given to me by the Gun Shop owner it work also.So I think my problem is solved,I am still going to pickup some Wilson combat magazine as you can never have to many.
Thanks everyone for your comments.

DamonK · Apr 13, 2012

I've read a bunch of the reasons folks dont like the Oly stuff, and for the most part it's all a bunch of hoowie. First off, it's mostly aimed at the ARs. Those complaints dont really apply here since that isnt what is being discussed. Second, the AR croud generally has their heads so far up their 4th point of contact that you really cant tell their heads from their tails. Not all of you, but the haters and brand snobs, I'm talking about you.

As far as their 1911s go, they are made by The Schuetzen Pistol Works shop that is owned by Oly arms. Their pistols are built extremely well. Any complaint that you'll see about them is generally based on break in issues. The worst thing about them is their steep feed ramp. But, that is a break in issue. If you're impatient, you can have them smooth it up for you. I have owned and fired just about every make of 1911 out there, and these deffinately have a place among the top. Yup, they do take some beak in. And yes, if you want a fancy IPSC gun you'll need a couple upgrades. The same is true for any comparable 1911. But I dare any of you to find a 1911 of similar quality for a similar price. I carry my Oly over my Springfield just about every day.

Overall, my opinion is that they make a high quality firearm for a very reasonable price.

humdrum · Apr 13, 2012

I actually have/or had a long-term relationship with O.A. and have had both good and bad experiences through the years. It started for me with one of their 1911's. Try and try I did to make that pistol shoot with nothing but problems, and I actually thought the frame may have been out of spec. A buddy of my dad's wanted it to tinker with and off it went in trade. Wouldn't you know it he put a Wilson rebuild kit in it and has been reliably banging steel with it since... go figure, lemon for me but great shooter for him. As far as customer service goes I thought it could have been better in their showroom. To make up for any long waits they have always compensated me with swag and logo'd doo-dads; so at least they tried to make it right. Alot of the negative remarks they have gotten on the product was back when they were still selling cast recievers. That has since been remedied as they no longer produce them as cast. And last, Oly match barrels are very good from what i've seen, and I have yet to find another 1911 bbl that would out-shoot my OlyArms "match" barrel in .45acp. Congratulations on the new pistol!