This is one fun rifle! Everyone needs one like this in their collection. It's built on an Al Weber custom bolt action, with an untapered 1.2 inch stainless Hart barrel, super-sized walnut benchrest stock, and a 2 ounce competition trigger. It's commonly mistaken for a 50 BMG at the gun range, due to it's extremely large size. I topped it off with a Redfield 16 power 40mm fine crosshair AO scope, although it still has the original old style Unertle scope mounts (I also have the 8 power 15mm Lyman scope to go with it). Sure it weighs in around twenty pounds, and it won't fit inside any gun case ever made, making it most unsuitable for general field use, but it's a terrific bench gun. It can literally hit flies at 100 yards with no problem. The cartridge is based on the 30-30 case, trimmed about 1/8 inch and necked down to .22 caliber, giving it ballistics very close to the 22-250. Between the small caliber and massive size and weight, it has less recoil that a .22LR. The only downside is that you won't ever find ammunition for it anywhere, so you have to make your own. Fortunately, a certain gun owning arachnid is an avid reloader.
When you get into the world of hand cannons, three cartridges stand out (there are some rifle cartridges and a few specialty cartidges available, but they're basically exotics, either not real handguns or not regular production guns). The .50 Action express, the .454 Casull, and the 445 Supermag all claim near or above 1500 foot-pounds of energy out the muzzle, but the Wesson .445 was the only one available in a double action revolver, although Taurus and Ruger have come out with 454 Casulls in their Raging Bull and Super Redhawk guns. The .445 is essentially a .44 caliber version of the .357 Maximum - the .357/.44 case stretched out from 1.285 to 1.6 inches length. The additional case capacity allows much hotter loads than are possible with standard magnums. The Supermag will spit out a 240 grain jacketed bullet at 1800 feet per second, netting over 1700 foot-pounds of energy. My Wesson is blued finished, with a B-Square Weaver base mount and a Burris 2 power scope. Don't mind the wrist crunching recoil or the fireball muzzleblast, this is fun shooting!
The Winchester Model 70 is a classic rifle, with the Pre '64 models being one of the most fondly remembered guns of all time. Well, a few years ago, Winchester finally brought back the Pre '64 Controlled Round Feeding (CRF) with the Model 70 Classic. If anything, the new edition is supposedly even better than the original (although purists will probably never agree), smoother and more reliable. I have two of the beauties. One is a Super Express Magnum in 375 H&H Mag, with a fine Black Walnut stock. The other is in the works, but it should be a real work of art when finished. It's a 7mm Rem Mag, stainless steel with the Browning BOSS system. I have an exhibition grade White Quilted Maple stock from Richards Microfit of California, in the "Wildcat" thumbhole configuration. When topped with a Leopold 40mm scope, this will be a showstopper both in the field and in the display case.
The Lemat was a unique piece when it came out in the 1860's. A nine shot .44 caliber revolver, it had more firepower than nearly anything else yet created. But just for kicks, located below the 6 inch .44 barrel was a 5 inch 16 gauge smoothbore, giving the Lemat 10 shots of large caliber fury. The smoothbore could be used as a shotgun, or to fire a .69 caliber roundball. The Confederacy ordered and used a handful of these during the Civil War, supplanting some of the more common Colts and Remingtons of the era. The Navy Arms replica is a true one, and great fun for anyone who enjoys the dirty world of black powder shooting. And the 16 gauge makes you a shoo-in in any can or bottle shooting contest!
Every avid shooter needs a few .22's in his collection. They're cheap to shoot, they're accurate within their range, they don't pound your shoulder with recoil, and they're just plain fun. The Ruger 10/22T has only been out for a few months, but it's already developing quite a following. It is Ruger's factory version of the wildly popular customized 10/22. It has a heavy .920 barrel with the twisted forging marks left on, giving it a unique look. The trigger has been worked, probably as good as you can hope to get from a factory semi-auto rifle in today's lawsuit-happy world. And the stock - which is pretty sorry on a plain 10/22 - has been replaced with a nice laminated sporter stock - which even has a rubber recoil pad instead of that hard slippery plastic nonsense. I've topped mine off with a Simmons Ruby lens 3x9x40mm scope, which was all I happened to have laying around. The extra weight of the barrel helps to eliminate the irritating little side-kick that the 10/22's have, and really tightens up groups. If I could only have one .22 rifle - and had to pay for it myself - this would be it.
Remington went through a period of decline back in the 70's and 80's, and their products (and sales) steadily worsened, due primarily to new ownership that had no experience - or heart - in the firearms business. That's all changed now - Remington has once again become a top notch firearms producer, and the newest Model 700's are excellent rifles. The Sendero is a heavy target rifle, with a thick mottled composite stock and a heavy 26" barrel. Like all 700's today, it comes out of the box with a Shilen style 3-screw adjustable trigger, and let me tell you, this rifle will just plain shoot. Mine has a Burris 8x36x45mm Signature scope mounted on top, and with the Harris bipod attached is quite capable of sending those pesky little critters to varmint heaven at 250-300 yards.
This is a well made semi-automatic variant of the U.S. military's M16 rifle, commonly refered to as an AR-15. There about as many variations of this rifle as you'd ever want - barrel short or long, heavy or light, collapsing or solid buttstock, carry handle or flattop, and so on. Mine has a 26 inch heavy barrel, standard stock and grip, flattop A2 upper receiver, and sports an AK47 style muzzle brake. This muzzle brake reduces the already light recoil of this .223 rifle to practically nothing, making it pleasant to shoot all afternoon. Bushmaster makes excellent uppers for AR-15 type rifles - mine has experienced no feeding problems, and is extremely accurate. Of course, liberals tend to scream "ASSAULT WEAPON" at this type of firearm, but since die hard liberal and gun ban advocate Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) owns one, I guess it's okay for me to own one too.
Oh no - another "ASSAULT WEAPON"! The Chinese SKS rifle is simply incredible in terms of value and reliability. For under $100 you get the ballistic equivalent of a 30-30 in a semi-auto rifle, that will shoot reliably, clean or dirty, with any ammo out there. The accuracy is surprisingly good for a $100 dollar rifle too! Just be careful what you dress it up with (there all sorts of silly rules about what you can do to imported weapons) and you'll have a great multi-purpose rifle that can be used for hunting or just having semi-auto fun on the weekends!
The Challenger II is essentially the ancestor of Browning's Buckmark pistol. The Challenger II is a little lighter, having a lean 5" barrel, with basically the same grip and sights as the Buckmark. This is the gun my kids enjoy shooting, since the weight and recoil are both within their ability to handle. I like to shoot it too - good accuracy, cheap ammo, doesn't pound your hands - what else could you ask for?
The classic auto-pistol, Colt's Government Model, virtually unchanged since 1911, is still the closest thing to perfect to be found in the world of handgunning. Classic looks, reliable action, .45 caliber stopping power - what more do you want? An excellent defensive choice, nearly every top rated stopping bullet design is available in .45 ACP, from Hydra-Shoks to Glaser Safety Slugs. My two Govt's are Series 70, one satin nickle and one polished nickle with custom sights, match-grade barrel, and full length recoil spring insert. Both have Pachmeyer wrap-around grips (which I highly recommend), and are joys to shoot.
Another classic. The single action Rugers are probably the strongest handguns made today, and the Super Blackhawk is the king of them all. The Super Blackhawk has the look and feel of the timeless "old west" six-shooters, the major difference being the adjustable sights - well worth cheating history. The swept back grip helps to alleviate felt recoil, which can be pretty fierce with hot magnum loads. And of course, being Ruger firearms, they're inexpensive, reliable, and backed by one of the best customer service companies in the nation. My own SBH is a blued .44 Magnum with a 10-1/2" barrel, great for 50 yard target shooting, steel targets, and almost any game on the North American continent.
I never could figure out why Wesson firearms weren't too popular. I bought my Wesson .357 as my second handgun many years ago, and found it to be an excellent firearm. The interchangable barrel system works flawlessly, making the Wesson several guns in one. The kit I bought contained 2", 4", 6", and 8" barrels, which can be swapped out in minutes. The 6" and 8" are excellent and accurate for target shooting, while the 2" and 4" are better for combat style shooting and defensive use. The gun is well designed, comfortable, reasonably light (my barrel shrouds are the lightweight style), and will handle heavy magnum loads easily. I generally prefer to shoot light to medium load .38 specials while just "plinking", and have found garden variety 158 grain semi-wadcutters shoot very well in this gun, particularly with the 8" barrel.
Is it a handgun, or isn't it? Only your BATF agents knows for sure. Actually, it can be either, as the Contender is available as either a handgun or carbine rifle configuration. Mine is technically a handgun, but along with Remington's XP-100 and McMillan's Signature Series, really stretches that definition. It's really a sort of mini-rifle, pretty far removed from revolvers or auto-pistols. But, a handgun it is, and what a handgun! Accuracy and power out the wazoo! With proper load development, the Contender is capable of MOA accuracy, and is available in calibers that hurt your wrist just to think about. My barrels are 14" .223 and 7x30 Waters, a 12" .445 Supermag, and a 10" .22 LR. I'll pass on the 30-06 for now.
This one I bought for looks alone, but got a whole lot more. FN's production of the classic Mauser action, nicely blued, extremely smooth and reliable, mated with a heavy 24 inch stainless Shilen barrel, some nice work on the factory trigger, and let me not forget to mention the beautifully figured English Walnut varmint style stock. It is now topped off with a mammoth Bausch and Lomb 3x9x50 Elite 3000 matte finished scope. While a bought it for it's beauty, this is one of the best shooters I own, capable of 3" groups at 300 yards. A great adaptation of a classic piece.
The original .44 mag, Dirty Harry's favorite, the Model 29 is a great piece of work. Built on S&W's large "N" frame, it is a comfortable handful, especially with some nice aftermarket rubber grips like Hogue or Pachmeyer (the factory "goncalo alves" grips just don't suit my hand too well). My M-29 has handled full power magnum loads with no problem, although I prefer shooting it with either light magnums or even medium to heavy .44 Special loads. I had to go old Harry a little better though - my M-29 has a brilliant nickle finish and a 8-3/8" barrel. Easy to see why this was the first handgun I ever owned.
When S&W decided to get out of the rifle business several years back, my local gunsmith decided to help them out by buying up a lot of their inventory. Now he builds custom rifles on the 1500 actions. I picked up two of these custom rifles. Both are fitted with Douglas "air gauge" 24" barrels and factory S&W stocks (identical to the Weatherby Vanguard stock). The first is a 30-06, which I've found shoots extremely well, fitted with a Simmons Aetec 3.5x10x44 scope. The second is a strange one - a 35 W/A/LS, which is basically a 30-06 necked up to 35 caliber. I haven't had time to work this one up yet, but it should be quite a shooter - with a lot of punch. It's also supposed to be able to shoot 158 grain .357 bullets quite well, for a relaxing and non-thumping day at the range.
Just lo and behold, I walked into a local gunshop and what did I see? Several nice Beretta's, and at unbelievably low prices. Seems the travelling Beretta salesman finally finished his circuit and was selling off some surplus inventory. Not being able to make up my mind between the best two guns there, I took the only option available - I bought both. The first is an "America's Defender" limited edition, with gold lettering to comemorate the first 10 years on the Model 92's service in America's military, along with gold seals of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. The second is a 92EL, with a nice polished blue finish, gold enscriptions, and gold accents (hammer, trigger, safety switch, grip screws). Nice guns.
Another Dan Wesson gun? I just can't help it - I love the Wesson revolvers. The action on this Wesson is the smoothest double action I own, better than my Python. What makes this one sooooooo special though is that I developed a perfect load for it - .44 mag case with a 215gr semi wadcutter using 18.0 gr of Hercules (now Alliant) 2400 powder. I estimate this load at 1090 fps, a very light magnum, and in this big revlover the recoil is very mild - you can shoot this load all day and your hands won't object. The best thing though is that this gun really likes that load, and I do my very best shooting with it.
What I know about the Omega III
The first I ever heard of the Omega III was an article in Guns&Ammo several years ago. The High Shear company, known mostly for aerospace parts like explosive bolts for the space shuttle, was looking to branch out into civilian areas. They somehow hooked up with a man named Homer Koon who had designed a rather unique rifle. The receiver is large and heavily machined on the inside, surrounded by a two piece stock. The bolt face is square, giving it a very short throw. The most innovative part is the firing pin spring, which is made up of seven belville washers. The firing pin travel is only 1/8 inch, which gives it a very fast lock time. Altogether it was a pretty expensive rifle made for the higher end market, about $2500 in today's dollars. But after a hundred or so rifles were built, the bean counters at High Shear decided that profits would never amount to much, and liability might be a problem in our lawsuit happy world. It was decided to not only stop production, but to try and buy back all the rifles they had sold. From what I can tell they were pretty successful. I have seen a claim that only three rifles remain, but I have seen one for sale and talked to the owner of another, so I think there are probably a good deal more than three. Two owners I talked to have tried to contact Hi-Sheer about the rifles, but one got no response and the other couldn't find anyone at Hi-Sheer who knew anything about them. I guess that's to be expected, seeing how the Omega division at Hi-Sheer was torpedoed so quickly, and this happened back I believe in the mid 70's.
Before Hi-Sheer, Homer Koon ran the Omega Arms company in Flower Mound Texas to produce these rifles. From what I can gather about 1000 or so rifles were built there in the 60's and early 70's before Koon sold the rights to Hi-Sheer. I have talked to two people who worked at Omega Arms, one of them owns a gun shop today. I own two of the Omega Arms rifles, serial numbers 6xx and 9xx. One is a 7mm Rem Mag and the other a 338 Win Mag. Both are near perfect.
The Hi-Sheer built rifles were marked "HI-SHEER CORP" and "TORRENCE CALIF" on the receiver, and "OMEGA III" on both the receiver and buttpad. The owner of one told me that the crown at the end of the barrel is recessed nearly half an inch. I know that stocks came in either nice walnut or laminates. The only calibers I have heard of in the Hi-Sheer Omega's in 270 Win and 30-06.
The Omega Arms built rifles are marked "OMEGA III" on the receiver top, "BY H KOON" on the receiver side, and "OMEGA ARMS INC, FLOWER MOUND, TX" on the left side of the barrel. There is a nice recess at the muzzle, but not half an inch. Stocks came in many varieties and grades of wood and laminates. It came in a variety of calibers as well. I have also seen a left handed rifle for sale.
One owner I emailed with claimed that his Omega III rifle had no markings at all, no Hi-Sheer, no Omega Arms, nothing, but I don't think that was accurate.
Both rifles have silver grip caps (both of mine are initialed) and nice butt pads. There may be slight differences in the shape of the bolt handles and stock forends that differentiates between the Hi-Sheer and Omage Arms built rifles.
That's about all I know about the Omega III rifle. I understand that Homer Koon died around 1997 or so. If anyone has any additional information or corrections, please email me at spider44@airmail.net. I'm very interested in finding out all I can about these rifles, and I'll update this site with that info, since people keep finding me when searching the web for Omega III. Also, if anyone is looking to buy or sell, let me know. I'll try to hook you up.
When I first bought my Python, I wasn't overly impressed. Nice polished stainless finish, six inch barrel, good action, but I loved my Wesson 15V and the Python was more of a "just to have one" gun. But the more I shot it, the more I liked the Python. The action isn't just good - it's very good, and the gun is quite accurate. But the best thing about it is the feel of it. The gun seems quite light, even with the full underlug, but it doesn't shoot that way. With the Pachmayr grip I have installed, it handles heavy magnum loads quite nicely. The gun just feels great to shoot. I now take my "Cadillac of handguns" with me every trip to the range.
It's strange no one came up with this idea before. Start with a large .44 caliber revolver frame, rebarrel to .357, and add a couple extra holes in the cylinder - and presto! You have an 8 shot .357 Magnum revolver! So far I like this gun - 8 inch barrel with full underlug so it's kind of heavy, but it seems to be the best revolver I own for heavy .357 magnum loads. It comes ported from the factory, although I'm not sure that makes too much difference here. I'm curious to see how this gun holds up. I'm not completely sold on Taurus, their more interesting offerings like the Raging Bull and their Titanium line don't have the best reputations, but I expect a large frame .357 should hold up ok. We'll see.
I first bought this gun because it looked unique, and the first time I took it to the range I thought I had made a big mistake. I bought 5 different types of .22 ammo, and 4 of them wouldn't feed more than a round or two without jamming up one way or another, and the fifth couldn't make it through a whole clip. I've never come closer to setting a gun down in the parking lot and running it over with my car. But I didn't give up - I took it a few more times, kept giving a good cleaning, and it "broke in", for lack of a better term. Now it feeds flawlessly, and is actually a pretty good little shooter, maybe even taking the top spot in my favorite .22 pistol category. I like the gun's sights, and it doesn't weigh it down to add a ProPoint scope onto the Weaver rail that's built on. The large, fat grip fits my hand well even though I don't have large hands. This gun is going to get a lot of range time.
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