"Military" HIgh Standard

I have a High Standard .22 pistol with "Super Matic" stamped on the left side. On the right side it is stamped, "Model 107 Military" along with the serial number.
A friend also has a HIgh Standard that isn't a Super Matic, (I forget which model) but is stamped, "Military" on the right side.
A friend told me that that HIgh Standards were used as training pistols. Can someone shed some light on what role if any that High Standards had with the military and why were some pistols marked with, "Military"? Thanks in advance.

7I believe that the military denotes that the grip slant is like the 1911 service pistol, They did sell some to the government but they would be stamped U.S/governtent property.

I have a Model B High Standard that my Dad had for many years. 15,000 were purchased by the government, allegedly used as training pistols. This pistol has a "Property of US" stamp on it and below that is symbol of crossed cannons in a circle (not real clear as the stamping is uneven with about one-fourth of it barely stamped).

This gun has been shot a great deal since the '50s but is still about 90%. I presume all of these were sold as surplus after the War.

I own three HIgh Standards, only the Super Matic has the, "Military" stamp. I can't find crossed cannons or flaming bombs on anu of them.

High Standard military

Hello. I shot High Standard .22s in and around 1967 as a member of the U.S. Naval Academy's Pistol Team, coached by Lt. Art Sievers, who later wrote the well known book about pistol shooting with Bob Hickey. I have looked over the years for one of these without luck. Great little pistols.

Military stamped High Standard refers to the model type. The Military model frame duplicates the grip angle of a 1911 pistol, as opposed to the earlier "slant grip" frame. I believe there there were some HS pistols used as training or pistol team guns but there are thousands stamped "Military" that were part of HS regular commercial production. Great .22 target pistol, some would argue the best ever made.

The 1960's-70's "Military" marked High Standard pistols were so designated solely on the basis of having been designed to mimic the feel of the Colt M1911 in the hand, as opposed to the prior slant grip models. One of the early slant grip models, the H-D, was (with a safety added to conform to the contract specifications) supplied to the armed forces during WWII, being marked "U.S.A. MODEL H-D". After the war, High Standard added an adjustable sight and sold these commercially as the "MODEL H-D MILITARY". The even earlier 1930's type Model B was also procured by the government during WWII, both in its original form and in a slightly modified version. Attached is a photo of U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) on the firing line with Model B's.

Not a best photo and of the wrong side, but it does read "Military" on the right side frame. A Supermatic Citation -

Here’s another Supermatic Citation marked Military. Very accurate target pistols. Original magazines are getting harder to find.
If you find a nice one that hasn’t been used up shooting bullseye they can be a great buy.

Go here at ask these folks: High Standard | Rimfire Central Firearm Forum

The Military marking is just a name to help sell the pistol. If not marked U.S. Property with an Ordnance Cartouche (or some variation of that) it is not a government issued firearm. A friend of mine collects HS pistols and has a couple marked as such. Will see if I have a picture somewhere.

High quality magazines and parts are available from Interarms in Texas. Long after the original High Standard went out of business the brand was resurrected in Houston, TX by some former employees of the original High Standard. You will see Military Models stamped "Houston, TX". Interarms was another arm of the business.

They are still the best source of parts and service though the brand is once again defunct...maybe. I think there's some court cases involved but I doubt it'll make yet another comeback.

This is the original U.S.A. Model H-S High Standard as issued during WW II. These served as training pistols and some were issued equipped with sound suppressors for clandestine purposes and as "hush puppies" to take down guard dogs.

John




(Click for larger images)

rockquarry said:

I have a Model B High Standard that my Dad had for many years. 15,000 were purchased by the government, allegedly used as training pistols. This pistol has a "Property of US" stamp on it and below that is symbol of crossed cannons in a circle (not real clear as the stamping is uneven with about one-fourth of it barely stamped).

This gun has been shot a great deal since the '50s but is still about 90%. I presume all of these were sold as surplus after the War.

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The number is probably a little less that 13,000.

AJ said:

Go here at ask these folks: High Standard | Rimfire Central Firearm Forum

The Military marking is just a name to help sell the pistol. If not marked U.S. Property with an Ordnance Cartouche (or some variation of that) it is not a government issued firearm. A friend of mine collects HS pistols and has a couple marked as such. Will see if I have a picture somewhere.

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THere were a few WWII era pistols sold to the govcernment that did not recieve the Ordnance wheel.
After WWII fes if any High Stadanrd purchased by the government had the Ordnance wheel stamp.

There were a lot of different models sold to the U.S. Govenmnent.

Model B Gov
Model B-US
U.S.A. MODEL H-D
U.S.A. MODEL H-D MS
Model GB
Model G-E probalby to the USMC through Evaluators, LTD
Lever letter Supermaitc 6.75"
S-100 Supermatic 6.75"
S-101 Supermatic 6.75"
O-101 Olympic 6.75"
Supermatic Citation 102 Series 6.75"
Supermatic Tournament 102 series 6.75"
Supermatic Trophy 102 series 6.75"
Olympic Citation 102 series 6.75"
Supermatic Citation 103 series 6.75"
Supermatic Citation 103 series 5.50 "
Supermatic Tournament 107 series 5.50"
That I recall.

There were other models that were purchased in smaller numbers probalby for recreation centers.

Once owned a well used HD. Perfect weight great trigger, in my eye one of the coolest looking pistols ever. it kept having worn out parts turn up. I already had a very early 41 so the HS just wasn't worth the trouble. Sold it. A Ruger Standard 4" would be just as good and look just as cool.

SS336 said:

Here’s another Supermatic Citation marked Military. Very accurate target pistols. Original magazines are getting harder to find.
If you find a nice one that hasn’t been used up shooting bullseye they can be a great buy.

Click to expand...

The "military" just refers to the pistol as having the same grip angle as the 1911.

In the picture above you can see the addition on the floor plate to accommodate the more upright angle of the 1911 (raked back about 18 degrees). The other High Standard pistols have a grip with a rake angle more like the Luger.

The Ruger Mk I-IV pistols and the corresponding 22/45 pistols are a similar example where they take the same basic pistol and adapt a version for the 1911 grip angle.

Back when Bullseye shooting was a big thing, it was considered desirable to have a .22 LR class pistol with the same grip angle as the 1911 you were using in the .45 caliber class.

The 1911 angle and grip shape, was one of the reasons the High Standard 107 Victor was often preferred over the S&W Model 41.

Have 6 HS pistols myself. Favorite .22 semi-auto maker, amazingly accurate. Here's an interesting and mostly unknown story behind the founding of High Standard:

On April 19, 1879 Carl Gustave Swebilius was born in Vingaker, Sweden. He was one of five children of the town watch maker. He grew up working with his father and learning his love of precision machinery. At age 18, Gus immigrated to the United States and lived with his eldest sister in New Haven, Connecticut.

His first job in the U.S. was making barrels for Marlin firearms company. He was quickly promoted to foreman of that department. He continued to attract notice and was promoted to the tool room. After three years, he was transferred to gun design where he was working at the outbreak of World War I.

While there he modified the Browning .30 caliber machine gun for use on aircraft by lightening it from 35 to around 19 pounds and increasing the rate for fire from 400 to 900 rounds per minute. He finished that task in less than a month.

Swebilius was the first American to perfect the cam system sending bullets between spinning propeller blades and the first to synchronize a gas operated machine gun. His design was used on propeller aircraft through World War Two.

Major George Chinn, author of the classic tome The Machine Gun, recognizes Swebilius as second only to John Browning in early design of machine guns. Coincidentally, Swebilius worked with Browning during World War I. Following World War I, Swebilius worked as chief designer at Marlin and then at Winchester until 1939.

Swebilius worked not only at Marlin and Winchester, but also on a side venture producing high quality barrels and barrel drilling equipment. In 1932, Swebilius, Gustave Beck (a partner in the barrel drilling business) and three other investors bought the defunct Hartford Arms company lock, stock, barrel and manufacturing tools for $800.

The deal included enough partially assembled pistols and parts to complete around 800 pistols. George Wilson, Sr. was hired as foreman to assemble the pistols. Swebilius sold them to Galefs Hardware and Sporting Goods stores. They made enough money on the deal to pay off the note and they had the equipment to produce more pistols. This was the way Swebilius did business.

After some modifications by Wilson, the Hartford semiautomatic became the High Standard Model B starting with serial number 5000. The business was successful. Swebilius hired new Swedish immigrants whenever possible. When the United States entered World War II business skyrocketed. Initially the military used the model B for a machine gun sub-caliber firing device.

A complete HS story including the above follows here: https://smallarmsreview.com/high-standard-guns-of-world-war-ii/

John Stimson said:

There were a lot of different models sold to the U.S. Government.

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It would be difficult to find somebody more knowledgeable about High Standard (pistols at least) than John.

And as mentioned earlier, there are two small companies still working to provide gunsmithing services, magazines, and parts. It's not hard to track them down or find discussions about them over on the Rimfire forum where John is a regular.

I have been trying to wear out my Supermatic Trophy, complete with multiple sets of .22 short and .22 long rifle barrels and slides after I purchased it after being lead astray into small bore pistol from my focus on competing in PPC with S&W K frame revolvers.

I am sure that a Pardini or similar hand crafted pistol is more accurate than these HS pistols intended for competition - but very few smallbore shooters are good enough to be able to prove that higher quality.