Vintage Sniper Christmas Advent Calendar
- Vintage Sniper Rifles
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Dec 24
Olympic Arms OA-93 C-More rail sight
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The OA-93 is an AR-15 derivative pistol manufactured by Olympic Arms. Lacking a buttstock or buffer tube, the OA-93 disperses recoil through a specially designed flat top upper receiver similar to the Armalite AR-18. However, the passage of the 1994 Crime Bill required Olympic Arms to perform modifications to the basic design to continue selling them:
The first revision to the OA-93 was the OA-96 in which a 30-round ammunition well is pinned and welded in place so that it cannot be detached. In addition, the OA-96 has a button in the rear which opens the upper receiver and can then be loaded via stripper clips.
The second revision followed two years later. OA-98 used a detachable magazine but the body was skeletonized to reduce the weight below the 50 ounce restriction to allow the OA-98 to have one more feature to be compliant with the 1994 Crime Bill.
A piston driven carbine based on the pistol was made in 1993 and after the expiration of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban from 2004 to 2007.
Clear and Present Danger movie OA-93
What is interesting is that in most (if not all) appearances of the Olympic Arms OA-93, there is a small buffer tube attached to the lower receiver, a feature that is NOT part of the OA-93 system. In order to allow the pistol to function fully-automatic, a small tube had to be added to the rear of the lower receiver in order that there was room for a full-auto bolt carrier to cycle within in the pistol. The tube itself has nothing to do with the recoil spring assembly which was still housed along the operations rod atop the barrel. Contrary to some reports, movie armorers never had had difficulty making the OA-93 cycle blanks. As a matter of fact, it cycles so well and so fast that it had a tendency to burn out the gas tubes in short order. Also note that the factory OA-93 lower receiver did not have the cut or threading to accept a receiver extension for a buffer; this means that all of the documented OA-93 appearances in film and television show an OA-93 upper receiver group fitted to another manufacturer's lower receiver. The vast majority of Hollywood appearances of the OA-93 are weapons from the Stembridge Gun Rentals arsenal that were originally converted for Clear and Present Danger - these guns are in fact OA-93 uppers fitted to transferrable full-auto M16A1 lower receivers.
Olympic Arms OA-93 C-More rail sight
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The OA-93 is an AR-15 derivative pistol manufactured by Olympic Arms. Lacking a buttstock or buffer tube, the OA-93 disperses recoil through a specially designed flat top upper receiver similar to the Armalite AR-18. However, the passage of the 1994 Crime Bill required Olympic Arms to perform modifications to the basic design to continue selling them:
The first revision to the OA-93 was the OA-96 in which a 30-round ammunition well is pinned and welded in place so that it cannot be detached. In addition, the OA-96 has a button in the rear which opens the upper receiver and can then be loaded via stripper clips.
The second revision followed two years later. OA-98 used a detachable magazine but the body was skeletonized to reduce the weight below the 50 ounce restriction to allow the OA-98 to have one more feature to be compliant with the 1994 Crime Bill.
A piston driven carbine based on the pistol was made in 1993 and after the expiration of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban from 2004 to 2007.
The OA-93, OA-96 and OA-98 Pistols
- 1993: Olympic Arms made an AR-15 pistol called the OA-93 which had a barrel shroud and the first model Phantom flash hider. The OA-93 was unique in that it sported a 6.5" barrel and the distinctive recoil assembly above the upper receiver, which eliminated the need for a buffer tube with spring. Then the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1994 (also known as the Clinton Federal Assault Weapons Ban) outlawed the OA-93 a short while after its introduction. However, the OA-93 was still made available available to Title II dealers and Law Enforcement in both semi and select fire modes.
- 1996: As a result of the banning of specific cosmetic details, Olympic Arms released the OA-96 Pistol, which had a permanently pinned 10 round magazine (which "looked like a 30 round magazine"), thus not being 'detachable' the OA-96 could keep the barrel shroud and flash hider. Sales were dismal however, and few were made. No one wanted a pistol that you had to disassemble in order to reload. There are no documented cases of an OA-96 appearing in any film or television show.
- 1998: In an attempt to built another pistol that 'could' have a detachable magazine, Olympic Arms released the OA-98 Pistol, which had the look of a 'skeleton' in that most of the metal and plastic had been cut away, to keep the pistol under the arbitrary "50 oz. weight limit" imposed by the Clinton Ban. Once under this weight limit, they could add the detachable magazine and still not be an assault weapon. But the flash hider and barrel heat shield had to go. Arguably one the ugliest pistols on the planet (and called that by many firearms authors), it too did not sell well. There are no documented cases of an OA-98 appearing in any film or television show so far.
Clear and Present Danger movie OA-93
What is interesting is that in most (if not all) appearances of the Olympic Arms OA-93, there is a small buffer tube attached to the lower receiver, a feature that is NOT part of the OA-93 system. In order to allow the pistol to function fully-automatic, a small tube had to be added to the rear of the lower receiver in order that there was room for a full-auto bolt carrier to cycle within in the pistol. The tube itself has nothing to do with the recoil spring assembly which was still housed along the operations rod atop the barrel. Contrary to some reports, movie armorers never had had difficulty making the OA-93 cycle blanks. As a matter of fact, it cycles so well and so fast that it had a tendency to burn out the gas tubes in short order. Also note that the factory OA-93 lower receiver did not have the cut or threading to accept a receiver extension for a buffer; this means that all of the documented OA-93 appearances in film and television show an OA-93 upper receiver group fitted to another manufacturer's lower receiver. The vast majority of Hollywood appearances of the OA-93 are weapons from the Stembridge Gun Rentals arsenal that were originally converted for Clear and Present Danger - these guns are in fact OA-93 uppers fitted to transferrable full-auto M16A1 lower receivers.
