6:50 Thanks to one of our fantastic viewers it is important to note that the barrel replacement is not as accurate as we could have been. The lugs are on the bolt. The recesses are machined directly into the barrel. Therefore to machine new mortise into a new barrel blank is MAJOR complex machining to exactly match the lugs on the bolt. Well beyond the machine shops of old, (pre CNC era) Thus to replace the barrel it was far more efficient to turn the section of old.barrel containing the locking recesses into an adapter, in which the new tube would.be screwed in the traditional manner.
only other thing missed was the size of the bolthead retaining pin changed as the early small ones had a habit of shearing off and L/H variants .I used one as my everything rifle for a number of years, scoped, Nielson stock, MAD SS fluted barrel, i should not have sold it like some many other rifles
@@ADVtheMISSIONARY my white whale was norinco mak90 but i came in to a early 90s era a2 carbine ar15 and it does everything i dreamed it could and im really lucky i got it they hard to get
I have a Sportco 44 that I purchased in England in the late 60s. In 1974, I brought the latter to Canada and used it a little on ground hogs. The last time I shot my rifle was probably 50 years ago.
Back in the day 1970/3 I bought one...but special order..LH Acton...wasn't popular on the mound..RH shooters hated it. But after bedding it in with basically pink Plastibond, there was hardly any kick back, and a lot quieter. Did a Queens prize shoot at Swanbourne WA. C grader.... Was a member of the Coolgardie club. That's the time I peed off the RH shooters, but we had to rotate mound positions. Stock sights. Exceptional accuracy for the day. Thx for the vid too👌
@@dsar9489 I forgot to mention, 1 week after Plastibond set, out with a light coating of prussion blue and hand scrape off the high spots. And always stored with a support underneath the forstock to keep it horizontal and vertical.
Just today I fitted a weaver rail to one of these that was identical to the one in this video. The one I worked on was even in near mint condition as this one is. Very nice rifle with a solid pedigree. The owner want's to shoot from his quad out to loonngg distances. Doubt he'll be disappointed. Good steel, machined beautifully.
A couple of things : The bolt head pin was prone to cracking so all target rifles needed to be retrofitted with a thicker diameter pin for competition use, you can see if it has been done because the pin was noticably thicker than factory. The other common modification was to mill a bolt removal groove at the bolt head end of the bolt. This way you pulled the bolt to the rearmost position and then rotated the handle up to the vertical position and you could remove the bolt.
Ive got one like the one you show. Uncle gave it to me 35 years ago. Shoots 1/4 MOA at 100. No gunsmithing whatsoever after original production. I have one in 260 made by Allan Murray and stocked with a thumbhole and designed for silhouette. Again a one hole shooter at 100. And one in 223 that is a work iin progress qith a 1:7 Black Mountain.. Thanks for the vid..
Odd to have this come up in my TH-cam feed this evening. I competed with an Omark 44 and aperture sight at the Belmomt range in Brisbane back in the 1970s. While cleaning my current M98 actioned scoped .308 this afternoon I had a few memories of V Bulls at the longer ranges and had serious thoughts of trying to find one.
Miss my 44D, was my first target rifle, Koala tunnel, Central 1/3 click rear, Weekes wide body stock, Davies 2 stage ( tuned down to a single stage 1.5# pull after i left Fullbore for IPSC), squared off sears and safety removed ( better trigger feel ) and a notched bolt for ease of removal. Absolutely wonderful rifle to learn fullbore. Very underrated by many, particularly those who think $ spent replaces ability/fundamentals/practice.
I had a Sportco 44 years ago here in Canada when I shot with the Ontario Rifle Association - Dominion of Canada Rifle Association. Sold them off and moved on as you would say. Along comes 2023 and I'm right back to owning a Omark Sportco 44 with the top wood. I guess more or less for nostalgic reasons, but what a beauty.
Was given an old Omark44 with a good barrel but crappy stock, so cut the stock profile to copy that of the latest alloy Oryx chassis by planing the wood at an angle from the chamber forward to free-float the barrel and totally expose it, fitted an AR-15 style pistol grip by dremmeling a recess and epoxing it in, fitted a cheek riser, 4 x 12 scope, bipod, upgraded the bolthead pin, painted it matte black and I now have a tack--driving fun-gun that draws attention on the bench. Sold the peep sight and that covered all the mods. Enjoyed working on it and love shooting it. Looking for another one to reburbish but keep stock. Last one I saw in the local gunshop went for $300 with peep sights.
Shot with one for my first 3 years at Fullbore fitted with a Black Mountain barrel that folks say it's amazing, but it isn't really. I paid $200 for the rifle and sold it for $200 with a few less parts on it. Then I was given a Neilsen as an upgrade, which a generation newer than the Omark, superb rifle but I really need a Barnard.
Hi, I have got two SportCo model 44 rifles. I have been sport target shooting for over fifty years and have to say the SportCo model 44 rifle has to be one of the most comfortable rifles to shoot the .762 nato round. Very accurate, great trigger, and can shoot with the very best of rifles. Most people don't know what it is actually..........but that is OK, their loss. Why do I have two SportCo model 44 rifles........because I couldn't find a third.
Nice. I managed to snag a deceased estate one a few years back for $750. That said though, the only thing “omark” about the rifle was the bolt and action. Everything else had been changed out and specced for modern target rifle comp.
Hi, I bought one of these in good condition several years ago. They were made in Adelaide where I live. I found the aperture sights too hard to use and fitted a scope, which greatly improved its accuracy. It will achieve around 1.5 MOA at around 300 yards in still conditions using reloaded rounds. The recoil was a bit uncomfortable so the muzzle has been threaded and a brake fitted. Overall a lovely rifle for target shooting. IP
I've hand a few, beat a lot of rifles costing 10 times the Omark! Shot my way into A grade easily! I have another right now, I'm wanting to play with subsonic cast bullets, at a smallbore targets.
Hello, I just got one and it is exactly like the one in the video. I would appreciate knowing how to tell f the bolt head pin has been upgraded and how to disassemble the bolt. Thank you very much from Canada
There should be a link to another Aussie youtube channel who did a full video on one. They’re somewhat hard to find which is a shame because it’d be great to get a good look at one
6:50 Thanks to one of our fantastic viewers it is important to note that the barrel replacement is not as accurate as we could have been.
The lugs are on the bolt. The recesses are machined directly into the barrel.
Therefore to machine new mortise into a new barrel blank is MAJOR complex machining to exactly match the lugs on the bolt. Well beyond the machine shops of old, (pre CNC era)
Thus to replace the barrel it was far more efficient to turn the section of old.barrel containing the locking recesses into an adapter, in which the new tube would.be screwed in the traditional manner.
very cool and its a fine old rifle
only other thing missed was the size of the bolthead retaining pin changed as the early small ones had a habit of shearing off and L/H variants .I used one as my everything rifle for a number of years, scoped, Nielson stock, MAD SS fluted barrel, i should not have sold it like some many other rifles
@@ADVtheMISSIONARY my white whale was norinco mak90 but i came in to a early 90s era a2 carbine ar15 and it does everything i dreamed it could and im really lucky i got it they hard to get
@@ADVtheMISSIONARY yes, there was an issue with the early bolt head pins.... actually rather rare to fine one that hasn't been upgraded these days
@@dsar9489 yes we ended up with all the ranges having a rule that forced everyone to upgrade their bolts(in Tas)
I have a Sportco 44 that I purchased in England in the late 60s. In 1974, I brought the latter to Canada and used it a little on ground hogs. The last time I shot my rifle was probably 50 years ago.
Due to an overwhelming interest in the Rifle, we do vowe to get hold of another Omark 44 in order to do a Part 2 video with full NERD level detail
Back in the day 1970/3 I bought one...but special order..LH Acton...wasn't popular on the mound..RH shooters hated it. But after bedding it in with basically pink Plastibond, there was hardly any kick back, and a lot quieter. Did a Queens prize shoot at Swanbourne WA. C grader.... Was a member of the Coolgardie club. That's the time I peed off the RH shooters, but we had to rotate mound positions. Stock sights.
Exceptional accuracy for the day. Thx for the vid too👌
Plasti-bog does quite well as a bedding compound.... I have used if quite frequently
@@dsar9489 I forgot to mention, 1 week after Plastibond set, out with a light coating of prussion blue and hand scrape off the high spots. And always stored with a support underneath the forstock to keep it horizontal and vertical.
Just today I fitted a weaver rail to one of these that was identical to the one in this video. The one I worked on was even in near mint condition as this one is. Very nice rifle with a solid pedigree. The owner want's to shoot from his quad out to loonngg distances. Doubt he'll be disappointed. Good steel, machined beautifully.
A couple of things : The bolt head pin was prone to cracking so all target rifles needed to be retrofitted with a thicker diameter pin for competition use, you can see if it has been done because the pin was noticably thicker than factory. The other common modification was to mill a bolt removal groove at the bolt head end of the bolt. This way you pulled the bolt to the rearmost position and then rotated the handle up to the vertical position and you could remove the bolt.
Ive got one like the one you show. Uncle gave it to me 35 years ago. Shoots 1/4 MOA at 100. No gunsmithing whatsoever after original production. I have one in 260 made by Allan Murray and stocked with a thumbhole and designed for silhouette. Again a one hole shooter at 100. And one in 223 that is a work iin progress qith a 1:7 Black Mountain.. Thanks for the vid..
Odd to have this come up in my TH-cam feed this evening. I competed with an Omark 44 and aperture sight at the Belmomt range in Brisbane back in the 1970s. While cleaning my current M98 actioned scoped .308 this afternoon I had a few memories of V Bulls at the longer ranges and had serious thoughts of trying to find one.
Fantastic weapon. Used one in the early 70’s as a target rifle.
Miss my 44D, was my first target rifle, Koala tunnel, Central 1/3 click rear, Weekes wide body stock, Davies 2 stage ( tuned down to a single stage 1.5# pull after i left Fullbore for IPSC), squared off sears and safety removed ( better trigger feel ) and a notched bolt for ease of removal. Absolutely wonderful rifle to learn fullbore. Very underrated by many, particularly those who think $ spent replaces ability/fundamentals/practice.
They test the shooter, not ones credit card...
I had a Sportco 44 years ago here in Canada when I shot with the Ontario Rifle Association - Dominion of Canada Rifle Association. Sold them off and moved on as you would say. Along comes 2023 and I'm right back to owning a Omark Sportco 44 with the top wood. I guess more or less for nostalgic reasons, but what a beauty.
Was my introduction to full bore shooting in about 1972. Cairns and 51st Batalion Rifle club. A good solid accurate rifle but lacking in any glamor !
Was given an old Omark44 with a good barrel but crappy stock, so cut the stock profile to copy that of the latest alloy Oryx chassis by planing the wood at an angle from the chamber forward to free-float the barrel and totally expose it, fitted an AR-15 style pistol grip by dremmeling a recess and epoxing it in, fitted a cheek riser, 4 x 12 scope, bipod, upgraded the bolthead pin, painted it matte black and I now have a tack--driving fun-gun that draws attention on the bench.
Sold the peep sight and that covered all the mods. Enjoyed working on it and love shooting it.
Looking for another one to reburbish but keep stock. Last one I saw in the local gunshop went for $300 with peep sights.
Shot with one for my first 3 years at Fullbore fitted with a Black Mountain barrel that folks say it's amazing, but it isn't really. I paid $200 for the rifle and sold it for $200 with a few less parts on it.
Then I was given a Neilsen as an upgrade, which a generation newer than the Omark, superb rifle but I really need a Barnard.
I love what you guys are doing over there. Competition shooting is nearly dead in my country, even though we have more guns than any other country.
Great commentary, I’m just at a mates place and have pulled one of these out of his safe
Hi, I have got two SportCo model 44 rifles. I have been sport target shooting for over fifty years and have to say the SportCo model 44 rifle has to be one of the most comfortable rifles to shoot the .762 nato round.
Very accurate, great trigger, and can shoot with the very best of rifles.
Most people don't know what it is actually..........but that is OK, their loss.
Why do I have two SportCo model 44 rifles........because I couldn't find a third.
I remember seeing one years ago that was modified to take SLR magazines.
I have handled the sniper version fitted with the magazine and scope - was very interesting !!
I bought one of these rifles yesterday , looking forward to shooting it and learning more about it ..
Nice. I managed to snag a deceased estate one a few years back for $750. That said though, the only thing “omark” about the rifle was the bolt and action. Everything else had been changed out and specced for modern target rifle comp.
Thanks again for another great review 👍
Thanks for showing video 👍
Hi,
I bought one of these in good condition several years ago. They were made in Adelaide where I live.
I found the aperture sights too hard to use and fitted a scope, which greatly improved its accuracy.
It will achieve around 1.5 MOA at around 300 yards in still conditions using reloaded rounds.
The recoil was a bit uncomfortable so the
muzzle has been threaded and a brake fitted.
Overall a lovely rifle for target shooting.
IP
Mate any chance of a short clip of the bolt disassembly. Can’t find any disassembly pictures.
I have one of those still :D. I have put a new stock on and a scope so I can compete in full bore F class competition.
I've hand a few, beat a lot of rifles costing 10 times the Omark! Shot my way into A grade easily! I have another right now, I'm wanting to play with subsonic cast bullets, at a smallbore targets.
Been waiting for a review on this rifle. Thank you...
Any disassembly videos
Great stuff mate, keep it up!!
Very nice rifle man
I bought mine to get into long range target shooting. Ended up putting a scope on it and boy is it accurate.
Like your information I have one I think that they are well made and as good as any think today
Nothing like 44
Great video. Has anyone made synthetic stocks for these?
Hello, I just got one and it is exactly like the one in the video.
I would appreciate knowing how to tell f the bolt head pin has been upgraded and how to disassemble the bolt. Thank you very much from Canada
I must know more about this target version of the SLR.
There should be a link to another Aussie youtube channel who did a full video on one. They’re somewhat hard to find which is a shame because it’d be great to get a good look at one
Ozzie Reviews did a video on one recently
if I remember right there was 100 in RH and 10 in LH
neat piece. Any exported?
Can't say for certain.. but I'd be supprised if a few didn't get swapped at international events...
Yes there was an export model, rifles exported to Britain had a T prefix serial number eg: TDF 123
Hi can someone help me I want a beter trigger or know the best way to polish the trigger?
Can I use.308 ammo in it