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Thought's on the Olympic Arms 22-250 UMAR

SouthPawShooter

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 12, 2010
51
0
50
Kansas
First off I am no editor or writer of any sort. These are my personal opinions and thought's
Took my new Olympic Arms UMAR 22-250 (#88 off the production line) out Friday and Saturday and got a couple coyote's with it. It has been fired about 30-40 rounds and I really think it is a keeper.
First off here are the spec's. from Olympic Arms web site
MSRP: $1428.70
Receiver Material- 7075 T6 Aluminum Forged Receivers Machined By Olympic Arms
Receiver- Finish Black Matte Anodized Receivers, Parkerized Steel Parts
Action- Gas Operated Semi-automatic Action
Upper Type-Gas block w/ picatinny rails
Handguard-Predator FIRSH
Barrel- 24” Heavy match grade bull barrel, 416 stainless steel
Chambering .22-250 REM;.223 WSSM, .243 WSSM, .25 WSSM, .300 OSSM
Bore Long-life non-chromed bore
Twist Rate-.22-250 REM (1x14) .223 WSSM (1x14) .243 WSSM (1x10) .25 WSSM (1x10) .300 OSSM (1x12)
Muzzle- Crown
Stanard Features include:
24" SS Bull Barrel*
Fluting available for additional cost(This will shave off about 1 1/2 lbs off total weight of
Picatinny flat-top upper
Olympic Arms Predator Style handguard
A2 buttstock
Optional ACE skeleton stock
Your choice of side-sling mount or bi-pod mount
5 round billet aluminum magazine
*Bull barrel standard on the UMAR for the WSSM & OSSM cartridges are 416 SS precision broach-cut barrels. All .22-250 caliber UMAR rifles use 416 SS button rifled barrels.

Trigger- Standard trigger is around 4-7 lbs however there are a few options for the trigger. You can go with a lighter 2 stage or a full custom from CMMG I believe as an option.

Now my thought's
Goods-
Accuracy- Very accurate I am shooting under 1/2" group at 200yds (now these were reloads I have not fired any factory loads yet).
Comfort- This gun is well balanced,comfortable.

As far as Col in the mag well, The 22-250 UMAR magazine is able to seat out to 2.42" which is plenty for the 64gr Berger I plan on trying out.
You can put any mill-Spec upper on this lower however you will have to change the bolt release out with a regular mil-spec release off of a mill spec AR-15 to be able to use regular AR-15 magazine's. This is very easy though.

Barrel- Fluting available for additional cost about $90(This will shave off about 1 1/2 lbs off total weight of

Not so good-
Barrel twist rate - 1-14 ROT was hoping for a faster twist so to utilize the opened up mag well.

Weight- It is a little heavy @ 9.4lbs but well balanced though. But easy to carry and shoot off stick's or by-pod.
As far as ready to go out hunting weight it is probably @ 11 lbs I am using a Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20X50mm LR/T and it weighs in at 22oz so this would be under 10 lbs total, I have the fluted barrel,which is not bad.

It come's with only (1)5rnd mag. The magazine is a proprietary magazine meaning it will only work in the Olympic Arms AMAR lower and at $100.00 per mag that is a little steep.

Now with the Feeding issue, It does great the only issue I had was when loading the clip, when I got to the 5th round it was VERY tight it almost felt like it did not belong or there were 5 rounds in it already. Then when loading one in the chamber with a full magazine the bolt did not want to close all the way due to such a tight round in the clip.

Remedy- I filed the clip on the top back side there are 2 edges that seem to be hanging up the round and were causing it to feel real tight and did not want to chamber. I filed them down very faintly and it cured that problem the rounds are still real tight in the magazine but they feed just fine now.

I did go to the range yesterday to put a new Burris PEPR mount on and site her in again with some 55gr Noslers BT But this time I sighted it in at 100yds. instead of 200yds like before. Well it shot pretty good I was able to shoot a .245"group of 3 and called it good. While I was out there I went ahead and tried out the 64gr Bergers loads I worked up.
They will shoot but the best group I got was just a hair over 1" at 100yds using 36gr of Hodgdon CFR223 and CCI2 primer. I started at 35.5gr and loaded up to 37.3gr but stopped at 36.5gr. I will try the 37gr and depending on if there is any pressure. I will try the 37.3gr but we will have to see. I will add more info as I learn it.

With that said I really like the gun and I highly doubt you guy's will see mine in the classified's any time soon.

I am sure I am forgetting a lot of stuff. If your think of anything let me know. This is the first time I have ever done a gun review hope you all like it. Right now turnaround is 60-90 days as of 5 min ago I just called them to get some of this info verified for sure.I am trying to post some picks but cant seem to get it done.
 
Re: Thought's on the Olympic Arms 22-250 UMAR

Nice work thanks for the time reporting to us. PG
 
Re: Thought's on the Olympic Arms 22-250 UMAR

Well I have really enjoyed this rifle. It is a little front heavy so far I added a Magpul PRS stock wich helped counter balance it and have another Leupold scope on it's way. However with the load previously mentioned I am having an issue were my brass and gun get's extremely dirty while using the new Hodgdon CFE223 powder at 38.2 gr behind a 55 gr NBT now that said it is very easy to clean up though especially the barrel it wipe clean very easily but it seams to get dirtier as far as powder residue is concerned. I am going to try out some big game. I just loaded up 5 rounds per charge on a ladder test and will try to get it shot to see how it does for accuracy and to see if the brass come's out the same as before.I was wandering if my brass work was the issue but my brass prep consists of F/L sizing trimming, squaring and cleaning the primer pocket, annealing, sizing again then cleaning and finally loading. It take me a while but I am pretty consistent my neck tension when seating bullets feels real smooth and consistent it all feels the same. As far as the 64gr Berger's go I am still working on that load as well but hopefully have you guy's more info by the end of the week. But the gun is a joy to shoot I have had NO feeding issue's however the magazine is a pain in the but when loading the 5th round is extremely tight and tough to load. The gun is a little heavier now that I have been hunting with it and doing quite a bit of hunting lately I have found my self wishing it were a little lighter.
Another thing is it has some serious muzzle jump and kick from this rifle as well which has me stumped considering the weight and caliber. But she is accurate.
 
Re: Thought's on the Olympic Arms 22-250 UMAR

I have been shooting my umar for about a year now and love it. I installed a wolf extra power buffer spring and that seemed to help with the sharpness of the recoil but every once in awhile I get get a FTE on the last round. I normally only load 4 rounds due to the tightness of the magazine. The fte always leaves the case perpendicular to the action hanging half in half out. I just ordered the wssm magazine in case I get a wssm upper in the future and these are not available.
 
Re: Thought's on the Olympic Arms 22-250 UMAR

Here is a review Skinney did last year, the audio gets a little sketchy somewhere, but the over all accuracy as seen at the end is SUPERB for any production AR, not to mention on built on a modified platform with a non-traditional caliber.

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