Need Help Identifying My Omega Revolver?

S

SeriousGeorge

Inactive
the revolver is a 38 special and is made by Omega a German company but its skimpy on details. Such as no date no exact location its made. I can't tell if it is old or has just been used A LOT probably both. There is only two numbers stamped on it one is the serial which I won't post on the net for obvious reasons and the other is 66 so i think its a model 66. I tried searching omega model 66 but I get next to nothing on it with Google which is rare. It has an eagle crest with an N underneath it and next to the 66 it has what looks like a deer antler. What the hell is this gun? When was it made? What model is it? How old is it?

Sorry I can't post better definition pictures I have a cruddy cheapo camera phone.
 

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It is either a Rohm product carrying the Omega brand name instead of the usual RG or a similar gun made by a competitor.

The (eagle) N is the German proof mark for smokeless powder.
The (antler) 66 is the code for the Ulm proof house, 1966.

So you have an inexpensive 46 year old revolver.
 
The name Omega was used by at least 4 gun making companies, two of them Spanish. The only German firm to use the name Omega was Weihrauch ( Arminius) No serial number lists are avaiilable. 66 is the year proofed at the Ulm proof house ( The deer antler )
 
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I looked at them?? one is blurry, the other two show a generic type German revolver made prior to the 1968 GCA.. It looks like a Hermann Weihrauch product. The Arminius revolvers were imported under a bewildering array of different names, of which Omega was one. About 25 dollars when new. On a scale of 1 to ten, Rohm would be 10, your revolver would be around a 4. Hope that helps
 
I am relying on you guys but I have multpile answers here is RG, Rohm, and Weihrauch the same gun just made by different factories or are there differences between these guns? If they are all the same then there is probably no way to tell, but if there are differences then we should be able to tell by pictures right? I just want to know maybe i can track down some parts it needs a new cylinder release.
 
I'll try and post a new photo for you what do you want me to focus on. and why so many import names why didn't they just call it by the name Arminus or Rohm that sounds weird maybe even shady.
 
I just found a picture of a Rohm that looks exactly like my revolver. Even the bluing job looks the same as mine. I just posted the picture below What do you think?
 

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RG and Rohm are the same. All these guns look about the same, all follow the same format. All were made from alloy, only a couple of the German makers of the time made quality guns for export for the low end of the market. ( Sauer and Son was a good one, made guns for Hawes ) The rest, well, in 1966 you could buy a new Rohm RG10 for 11 dollars, guaranteed to fire at least once before parts started falling off. Could your revolver be a Rohm, sure it could, there is no listing of them using the name Omega but prior to 1968 record keeping was rather lax. In fact the GCA of 68 was the reason so many of the various Foreign gun makers went south. These guns were sold by different outlets, who ever sold them specified what fancy name they wanted on the guns. there was no law ( at that time ) that the manufacturers name had to be on them or even the importers. Again prior to 1968 this was allowed , now everything has to be stamped on the firearm.
 
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I just went to a parts website and the schematics and parts are looking very close to what they have listed as a RG 66. The gun itself seems pretty solid and I am not worried about it I got it real cheap so my feelings won't be hurt if it turns out to be from a sub par manufacturer.
 
Can I just say something off topic for a sec RJay. DUDE YOU ROCK. Where did you learn this stuff are you an armorer or an old timer who has been doing this all his life. Every gun store needs one of you.
 
RG stands for Röhm Gesellschaft, or Röhm Incorporated. Sort of like General Motors using GMC as a brand name. Some other companies purchased Röhm products and put their own or other names on them, a common practice then and now. (Check the actual number of, say, car battery manufacturers, in the U.S. vs the number of brand names.)

Röhm had previously made tear gas and blank pistols, but as Germany was still trying to get back on its feet, turned to making inexpensive revolvers, later derided as "Saturday Night Specials". At first production was mainly of .22 revolvers, but after the Gun Control Act of 1968 effectively banned cheap revolvers in that caliber, the makers turned out guns in .38 Special. The quality was no better although some proved surprisingly durable and some owners will recount tales of those guns that still fire and have stayed in one piece.

As to using .38 Special +P, I would hesitate to fire the gun with any ammunition.

The value of that gun is negligible. It might bring a few dollars on a trade-in if the item being bought was expensive enough. Gunsmiths won't touch them for repair for liability and other reasons.

Jim
 
why wouldn't you shoot the gun at all is it gonna blow up on me or something
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Quite possibly yes. :eek:

Even if it doesn't blow up, I've shot a Rohm RG10, and it was quite honestly the least accurate gun I've ever fired. I could just barely put all 5 shots in the cylinder on a paper plate at 10 feet. Hitting a soda can at that distance? Forget it. :rolleyes:

FWIW many of these cheap revolvers were sold to people who stuffed them in a desk or cash drawer for "security" and never, ever fired them. This is why many of them have survived this long despite their lackluster durability.
 
My plan is to use it as a last ditch gun for security I have already fired 6 rounds out of it and it was fine. As far as accuracy goes the max distance it will have to shoot is 6 to 8 feet. Do you really think its gonna blow up? or is it more of a "I have heard they are crap brand" kind of thing?
 
I will probably put six more rounds through it to get adjusted to the gun and it will probably "hopefully never" be fired again. Plus the revolver is a hold over until I can save up my nickels and dimes for a better handgun I have about 3.62$ and in this economy I am quite proud of myself. But about the +P rounds will that make the gun more likely to blow up or not? Also is 38 special good for personal defense I have a nice shiny box of winchester +P soft hollow point ammo.
 
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