hey blokes

[lonerider43]

in the last 5 yrs,have any of you heard of or know of an omark bolt or action letting go ?
anywhere in this country....
ive found no info on the qra,nraa or ssaa web sites..

regards

sean.

[Barry Davies]

Never heard of one but that does not mean it has not happened. Pretty much unlikely providing users stick to manufacturers recommendations re loads and type of powder, but then everybody does not do that.
Heard of a few mishaps ( not omarks ) but that can usually be traced back to user error or just plain carelessness.
Barry

[John23]

I learned a Omark lesson when making and setting up my 700 2oz trigger for my Omark .
The continued dry firing broke the bolt head pin .

This was whilst still setting up the trigger so did not pose a threat ,
Plus the bolt immediately felt very different .


Interesting question given the time line .
Why do you ask?

[lonerider43]

i club mate purchased an omark barreled action from me recently.
he then purchased an adapter and went to get a new 308 barrel put on.
hes told me that the smith he took it to said he wont do the job because of recent bolt or action failures .
this is in central qld.but i am asking the whole country if anything has been heard.
seems there is a group of smiths that refuse to barrel these actions.[.308 barrels]
also seems a bit weird to me...

[sungazer]

You cant dispute that there has been issues in the past. Two guys at the club have eye injury's or only one eye due to failed omark bolts. I think the smiths are just protecting themselves to future possible injury claims.

[lonerider43]

dunno mate,there is no written reports of problems after the bolt pin upgrade [that i can find]
one of these smiths [i hear] wont work on old bangers preferring to work on new guns only [their prerogative and right]
they will however put 223 barrels on them.
surely if a rifle had failed,it would be all over social media and the news ?..
would this be a case of bs reports ? can anyone n here [smiths,friends of smiths or those in the know] find any info on this ??

[KHGS]

I have been smithing Omark/Sportco rifles for the best part of 40 years. I have not found them to be any more prone to "miss-adventures" than any other action. The only "problems" I am aware of was with the old style bolthead retaining pin which broke often. I know of at least one case where the bolthead retaining pin had been inadvertently left out on reassembly. I inspected one Omark that had been fired with faulty factory ammunition which resulted in the action being wrecked, but no injury to the user. I have struck a number of cases of substandard gunsmithing creating all sorts of problems, which of course are not the fault of the action. Omarks have poor primary extraction & poor extraction generally, so yes they do have issues, but if correctly maintained, correctly smithed & ammunition properly prepared for them they are perfectly safe to use. If they were to be unsafe as a .308, they would be unsafe as a .223.
Keith H.

[lonerider43]

thanks keith,i guess its just a smith [or couple] drumming up sales of newer actions.

[sungazer]

I have seen the photo of one of the guys face. its a nasty mess. The bolt failure was real.

[KHGS]

I have seen the photo of one of the guys face. its a nasty mess. The bolt failure was real.

So have I, if the bolt head retaining pin is left out, the bolt will come back. This happened on my home range several years ago. The bolt ended up 15 yards behind the rifle narrowly missing 2 people behind the firing point. But this was caused by human error, not the fault of the action. In my career I have seen many unintentional action "dissembles" with various actions ranging from Remington to Mauser 98's, every one was traced back to human error in one form or another. The exception is faulty ammunition, either factory or incorrectly assembled handloads, the latter also comes under human error.
Keith H.

[Cutanything]

I think you would more failures with rem 700 action more than Omark’s from what I have told of around the ranges . I have included sample of small cross which is not promited on ranges and one of large pin which displayed in bolt assembly

[KHGS]

I think you would more failures with rem 700 action more than Omark’s from what I have told of around the ranges . I have included sample of small cross which is not promited on ranges and one of large pin which displayed in bolt assembly

Totally incorrect!!!!! Remington 700 actions love em or hate em, are one of the most reliable modern actions that has been made to date. Just remember, add human error & you can unintentionally disassemble any action!!!! Remington 700 actions are the most copied action in existence. Any inference that Omark actions are somehow superior to Remington 700 actions is completely false.
Keith H.

[Mick_762]

Remington 700 actions are the most copied action in existence.
Keith H.

Mauser must be a bloody close second then.