Omark sniper rifle

[newcastle]

So tje question here, for Enfield enthusiasts, is : was the Omark rifke developed / manufactured at Lithgow and what is it's link to enfield mythology / history?

[trooper554877]

So tje question here, for Enfield enthusiasts, is : was the Omark rifke developed / manufactured at lithgow and what is it's link to enfield mythology / history?

it wasn't and it is only been used or evaluated to Australian forces as a sniper rifle. No other real links to lee enfields.
I had often thought that it was wrong to start it here but I supposed because of the link in history of the aussie sniper rifle and the fact that it was probably used alongside a HT for a little while, that it would have been accepted. I would not know of any other place to discuss it.

As for the scopes 3-9 x40 vx-1 leupold is the only scope that i have seen concrete proof of it being used.
The SSAA website under the CSD rule book has a table which lists the Omark and 2 scope models.
If you have a 4-12 on it wind it back to 9 and you have an idea of what it wa slike.
Interestingly enough the M82 that was later adopted used a Kahles used a fixed 6 power scope. Everyone seemed to do OK. I think we like to "overpower" our rifles today with big magnification. All they do is exacerbate the wobble area!! Now if your talking clarity of optics, that where the money is better spent.

Cheers
Ned

[Son]

Hey all,

Been reading this thread and found it interesting as the Omark is my favorite shooter..

I have a question and hope its ok to tack it here rather than make a new thread.

Does anyone know or preferably have documents of scopes issed with the trial Omarks.??

I did have some paperwork showing 3-9x and 4-12x scopes were issued, after the paperwork mysteriously migrated to beside the rubbish twice it dissapeared altogether and my wonderful wife claims she has never touched it..

I have since been told the highest mag scope issued was 3-10x, I already have a 4-12x attached..

Would anyone here have any info on this, I have been looking around lots of internet site on and off for months..

Cheers,

David..

Welcome aboard David. As I posted above, the only written info I have found was in Ian Skennerton's books.
I have discussed the Omarks with several people who were about at the time or are linked to the history side of things, and the word was a couple were set up at Lithgow with Leupold and Redfield sights... Now, we have pics of two with Leupold variables on them, so take from that what you can. They were never issued in the true sense of the word, only used as a learning tool when the doctrine was being developed, until the M82 was adopted...

The main reason for this seems to be the fact that the battalions used to own a few that were utilised by their best marksmen in competition with civilian rifle clubs. Such things were encouraged back then to the extent they were even supplied with ammunition. It seems that because they were on hand at the time, and many of the army's best shooters were familiar with them, it was a natural step to put them to practical use to help develop the training package for snipers... I am not even sure (and really do doubt) that they were used by trainees at all. The training was done with the Lee Enfield No1 MkIII* HT sniper until the M82 was in service.

Now, to back my thoughts on events, here are two messages I received in a conversation with a gent a while back. I have not included his name, and have removed the messages I wrote to him...

Hi Mate,
I did my Snipers course back in 1978 (this being the third course run, first course was in 1976). When we started the course we were each given a rifle, mine was a new one that was made in 1916, they were not fitted with the tele sights at the time. The sight were bought out later in the day in a box, and everyone just grabbed a scope for their rifle, I cannot remember if anyone ended up with matching #'s. I was lucky in picking a low mount type as my rifle had the scollop in the wood work for the scope to clear when mounting in on the rifle. I know that some had high mount scopes on low mount rifles etc. I remember grabbing half a dozen of the screw on check pieces and put one on my low mount.


Hi Brad,
Correct, did the course in Singleton (April-May 1978). On my course we had 30 starters, but only 5 of us passed the course. The rifle that I was issued with on the course was sent back to my Bn (6RAR), that was the standard practice if you passed the course. When it got back to the Bn it came with the muzzle cover, breech cover (all WW1 dated and brand new), Scout Regiment Telescope, sling. I remember that when one of the guys who did the first course in 1976 took his discharge (XXXXXXXXXX) we had a spare rifle to play with. We removed a lot of wood from the barrel knox to the muzzle to make the barrel free floating, drilled out the end cap and machined some of the foresight protector so it would not interfere with the barrel and bedded the front part of the action into the stock. Shot some beautiful groups with the inon sights, but only average with the telescopic. We did the conversion course for the Parker Hale Type 82's in Oct 79 and the were taken off us. I use to have some good photos of the 3 o's but they disappear somewhere over the years.
Cheers

[Lithy]

From information I have recieved in the last couple of months the Omarks were simply used in limited numbers by qualified snipers as a more appropriate and sexier training aid than the HT. The user could whip the 'scope off on weekends and shoot fullbore competitions and come Monday drop the 'scope back on to go to work. Makes a deal of sense to me.

In my quest to find out more information about the use of the Omark I have allowed myself to be roped into assisting an author writing a book on the history of sniping in the Oz Army and subsuqently have had first hand access to the first two OCs of Sniper Wing who have stated that their training until 1978 was conducted with HTs. I am still trying to track down the bloke who was the boss in '78-'79 to confirm what was used in Sniper Wing just prior to the M82 but I suspect it will be HTs as well.

I have also conversed with the gent who's family business made the 'scope mounts in Adelade and supplied them to Sportco Omark and from what I can glean from him the rifles were supplied complete to the Army and were only proofed at Lithgow.

In all fairness, calling the Omark a sniper rifle is drawing a bit of a long bow. The only upside is I have one and Son doesn't

[trooper554877]

Thanks lithy,
look forward to the book, much to cover there.
All this info is great but it cannot get away from the simple fact that they where played with, used, abused used as a training aid or otherwise but they where fired by the Army.
Too me it's much the same as the training rifles used or the enforced handing in of many different models of firearms that where used for training and most never handed back. Things like the 1892 model lever action winchester in 32-20 calibre. Under some association rules they can be used in service rifle class.

So all in all it's great we get some info on these things but I am ratified by that to include it in post 75 or S2 class.