Although, Hi-Shear had only produced a limited amount of what they named the Omega III Rifles before shutting production down, Koon was able to personally gift one of the first rifles built by the company to actor John Wayne. He established the business around his invention of the Omega Rifle, a very high-end hunting rifle, of which he only built 1,000 before he sold the rights to an aerospace company, called Hi-Shear. His third company Omega Arms was possibly Koon’s first real claim to fame. Koon’s involvement with quality crafted firearms. The guns that were made by Koon’s earlier companies still occasionally appear at auction, and if in good condition, they can fetch a premium price. Although, variations of the names are currently being used for seemingly unrelated businesses. Today, his first two company names Ranger Arms of Gainesville, TX and Alpha Arms of Dallas TX, are long gone. He had already designed other guns and founded several other firearms companies, but none had ever achieved any truly remarkable success. Homer “Jeff” Koon was no stranger to firearms at the time that he began his endeavor to build this small serpent-killing tool.
Koon achieved all that he had hoped for with the Snake Charmer - It was the lightest shotgun on the market, it was resistant to the harsh southern elements, and it was designed with only a few moving parts to assure its long-term reliability. This little gun is ambidextrous and has a thumbhole stock that can effectively be fired by anyone and with only one hand if needed. The rear of the buttstock slides open to reveal a shotshell compartment, which holds four additional shotshells for easy transport. 410 Bore shotgun, measuring only 25-5/8” long with a stainless steel barrel and plastic furniture. The gun that he created is a lightweight (just 3.4lb), single shot break-action. The gun had to be resistant to the elements, reliable, easy to carry, and most importantly effective. So, there were a few factors that he had to take into consideration when piecing together his early design. Koon's intention was to build a gun that could easily be toted along by anyone that needed to quickly dispatch these slithery threats. The threat of poisonous snakes has been a burden to those living in the South since the earliest days of documented settlements. It is a simple little single-shot shotgun with a unique and convenient design. The Snake Charmer designed by Homer “Jeff” Koon of Dallas, Texas was intended to be an easy to carry and effective weapon for ranchers, fisherman, or anyone else that may stumble upon venomous snakes lurking in the swamps and pastures of the southern states. Though it was precisely the same type of problem-solving thought process, it was not as extreme as the Punt Gun, or meant for the military like the AR7. However, the gun that we are referring to here was built with more of a personal defense job in mind. Of course that one was long before migratory bird laws were enacted. The Punt Guns were built with huge barrels, and were mounted to boats for the purpose of taking down entire flocks of game birds with a single blast from the muzzle. The AR7 was designed for Air Force pilots, and was built to be easily assembled and disassembled, storing its components perfectly inside its stock, and it could float just in case the aircraft ended up in the water. Some examples of what we mean are guns like the AR7 Survival Rifle or perhaps the early Punt Guns. Although we may not always consider a firearm to be a tool, it can sometimes be created with a very specific job in mind.
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