Other Calibers

[Rucker61]

What was the first "other caliber" offered in a complete rifle? When did the "other caliber" craze start to take off?

[Hoser]

Other than 308?

I am going to guess the 6.8 was one of the first. 15-20 years ago.

[Wulf202]

9mm then 7.62x39 were the first. The 9mm was relatively popular

[jreifsch80]

Remember thos old ar ak hybrid mags from way back,in,tje day? I wish they still made them though they probably came from china.

[Little Dutch]

Remember thos old ar ak hybrid mags from way back,in,tje day? I wish they still made them though they probably came from china.

Franken mags. They were steel, AR topped AK mags. I had a set of them for a while, but the springs were weak. I ended up with AR/AK PMags.

[Hoser]

9mm then 7.62x39 were the first. The 9mm was relatively popular

Forgot about them. Good call.

[Circuits]

The first was actually .222. For export.

[whitewalrus]

9mm then 7.62x39 were the first. The 9mm was relatively popular

Think Olympic Arms was one of, if not the, first to offer the pistol and 7.62x39. Haven't really seen their name around much anymore, guess that happens when the market becomes so crowded.

[Little Dutch]

Think Olympic Arms was one of, if not the, first to offer the pistol and 7.62x39. Haven't really seen their name around much anymore, guess that happens when the market becomes so crowded.

I have one of Oly Arms .45 ACP AR carbines. I bought it back before Glock mag lowers were popular (I don't think I had even seen one on the market yet) and the only other option was a submachine gun magazine conversion with a custom upper. It works well and was an excellent choice for a complete kit given the other options at the time. It fits on an M16 lower since the magazines fit the standard AR mag-well, which is cool. I just with they offered larger capacity magazines for it.

[MrAK]

My first AR was an Olympic Arms 9mm

[Colorado Osprey]

Olympic arms was the 1st ar-15 chambered in 9mm, 45acp, 10mm, 7.62x39 and WSSM calibers. When Olympic Arms was here in Colorado Springs The pistol cal and 7.62x39 were first released in 1982.
In the 1994 catalog there were no less than 10 calibers that the could be factory ordered in AR-15's including 30 carbine.
Olympic was also the 1st to offer a flat top upper receiver. Olympic was the original manufacturer of Simunitions (live fire training) weapons and barrels/actions.
Olympic was trashed for making cast receivers. Only 689 were ever made in 6 months of 1994 and again 1044 were made in 11 months of 2001. In 40 years there were hundreds of thousands of forged lower receivers made.
Olympic made contract full auto military weapons for the USAF, US Marines and Italian Military.
Another interesting fact- although Olympic Arms is generally trashed in most AR forums most do not realize that Olympic has or continued up until recently to supply parts for most of the known manufacturers from receivers, bolts as well as lower and upper parts. Yes they even supplied Colt, Bushmaster, RRA, Palmetto, PAWS, etc, etc. The S.U.M. (Stainless Ultra Match) Broach cut barrels were a standard in which other AR barrels were judged for accuracy potential.
Sad to see them closing their doors with the amount of innovation they have brought to the AR chassis.

History lesson over...

[JohnnyDrama]

I always wondered why they had such a bad reputation. In the days of the '94 ban Olympic was able to compete toe to toe with the Armalites, Bushmasters, and Colts out there. I second the sorry....