I have a simple rule, and I’ll likely repeat it more than once as I write here at Shooting News Weekly. If I see a gun that is priced less than $100 and is functional, I purchase it. I don’t really care about the caliber, the design, or anything else. If it works and costs less than a Benjamin, I buy it. That’s how I got a flare gun that was turned into a .22LR. And that’s how I got what is easily the ugliest gun in my collection, the Omega .22LR revolver.
The Omega seems to fall into the cheap Saturday Night Special genre that was massively imported before the Gun Control Act of 1968. Like many of those guns, this one came from Germany. A number of companies used the Omega brand, but the most prevalent was Arminius.
A conglomerate named Weihrauch & Weihrauch GmbH & Co. KG owned Arminius. Weihrauch is still around and produces various air guns and small-bore rifles. The Omega brand had a range of models, including an HS400 and HS300, but I can’t seem to find a model number for this specific gun.
This revolver has hardly any markings. There’s Omega, .22LR, and Made in Germany. Other models I’ve seen across have model numbers and proof markings, but this gun lacks those. I would assume it’s an early import and one that’s been banging around for quite some time. While the gun is uglier than most of the members of Congress, these types of revolvers have an interesting history.
Omega, Arminius, and the Wirtschaftswunder
The Wirtschaftswunder, also known as the Miracle of the Rhine or the German economic miracle, occurred in post-war Germany. The country has been bombed into oblivion, hundreds of thousands of young men were dead, the government had been utterly defeated, and it was occupied. Yet Germany recovered fairly quickly, led by rapid industrialization.
Most of Europe was busy rebuilding. Of the Allies, the United States didn’t have to rebuild itself. We entered a golden age of prosperity following the war. If you were a European country, namely Germany, trying to recover from getting your ass kicked from all sides, who did you export to? The country with the money. And what does the country with money like? Guns.
From my understanding, Germany’s recovery plan included a fairly free market. The Germany of today gets their panties in a bunch about exporting firearms. These post-war small gun makers started by producing very cheap, affordable guns and exporting them en masse to the United States. Germany must have also made a big investment in pot metal because that’s what guns like the Omega are made from.
Guns like the Rohm were famed for being made of thin pot metal that would quickly wear away, and the revolvers would fail and break. They were basically disposable. However, guns like the Omega are dense. It’s pot metal, but it’s thick pot metal. I own a Rohm — or maybe two — and it feels like it’s going to fall apart. The beefier Omega doesn’t have that rackety, crappy feel to it like a Rohm.
Breaking the Ugly Omega Down
The Omega is a double action revolver with an exposed hammer. The cylinder holds eight rounds. The ejection rod doubles as your means of opening the cylinder. The grips appear to be made of some cheap bakelite material trying to pretend it’s wood. The barrel is 3.5 inches long. There’s a front sight and a rear sight that’s built into the frame. It’s an actual rear sight and not just a trench.
The gun feels solid and it’s heavy. The grips fill your hand nicely. The ergonomics are better than you’d expect. It’s butt-ugly, but the Omega doesn’t feel like a piece of crap. It’s solid and steady. Little things that impress me include the knurling on the hammer and ejection rod. The grips are nice, too, but they’re also ugly. I purchased the gun for $70 so my expectations were rock-bottom, but I’m pleasantly surprised by it.
Shooting This Thing
The Omega holds eight rounds, but it doesn’t want to. One of the chambers is extremely tight. You have to press the cartridge into that chamber with some force to get it to fully seat. I was annoyed enough that I preferred just to leave that cylinder empty when shooting. The other seven rounds weren’t a problem. Surprisingly, it was easy to eject cases from that eighth, super-tight chamber.
With the gun loaded, I let loose with eight (or mostly seven) rounds throughout an afternoon. The fat, ugly Omega actually handles fairly nicely. As you’d expect, recoil is not a problem. It barely moves between shots and is fun to shoot. Rimfire guns always bring a smile to my face, and even the ugly Omega gets a nod.
The sights work well. Adjustable sights would be better, but these are fine. Shots tend to hit a little high, but not enough to decrease accuracy too much. I just need to lollipop the sights. It’s surprisingly accurate. Don’t expect Ruger Mark series accuracy, but it’s definitely minute of soda can at fifteen yards.
At 25 yards, I can keep shots on a 10-inch gong, so it isn’t terrible, but I won’t be punching twenty tiny groups with it. The Omega’s trigger is surprisingly smooth, but very heavy in double action. Single action is fine…not impressive, but very workable.
The Omega is also reliable. Heavy triggers mean heavy hammer strikes, which translate into reliable rimfire performance. I had no reliability problems at all, even with the cheapest .22LR I have, Remington Golden Bullet.
Seventy bucks is dinner for two at a mid restaurant, so I think I got my money’s worth.
It’s Worth the 70 Bucks
These Omega guns were likely often beaten and abused by kids, shoved into tackle boxes, and beaten to hell and back. They aren’t collectible, but they aren’t common. While a lot of people would dismiss one outright for understandable reasons, I think guns like the Omega are a worthy part of American firearms history. Anything that draws the ire of anti-gunners is worth owning to me, especially when it costs you less than a Benjamin.
” While the gun is uglier than most of the members of Congress,”
A fit description.
I have an omega marked .38 special. Somewhat a copy of a SW mod 10.
2in. barrel got it in a trade years ago for I don’t remember what? Used to shoot it occasionally but now the timing is worse than a broken clock
There are 7 CHAMBERS in its CYLINDER.
Been seeing them used interchangeably in several articles/videos lately.
According to the 8th pic down in the article, There are 8, not 7.
Yes. My mistake.
My comment was about calling a chamber a “cylinder”. I have seen this a good bit in articles and videos lately. Just a bit of mis-speak.
This revolver looks like a semi copy of a High Standard Sentinel.
May be a little better built than the Arminius revolvers sold in the 60s and 70s (absolute POS construction).
Same basic design as the modern Windicator from Weirach. At least they are made from steel.
“minute of soda can”
Real-world units of measurement rock.
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