A "Grail" High Standard

[Goony]

A short article on High Standard's history. The Sport King illustrated is a less common variant, being the lightweight (alloy frame) version dating to 1955: Attention Required! | Cloudflare

 

[Goony]

A nice High Standard G 380.

I suppose I should comment on these. The G. 380 was manufactured starting in 1947 up through 1950. Commercially this model was a flop. Multiple sources state that at one point the guns were offered to High Standard employees for $15.00 with the remaining stock then being liquidated, going to J.L. Galef & Son of New York City, whose primary business was importing various European firearms.

Although production totaled less than 7,500 units, many seem to have survived in near mint condition. One notable feature of the G. 380 was its removable barrel via the operation of a frame mounted lever. I use the term "removable" rather than "interchangeable" on account of no other but the standard 5" barrel ever having been made. However this system for switching out barrels was adopted for the company's .22's up into the early 1950's.

 

[Goony]

Here's an excellent article on the WWII era suppressed version of the H-D: The Clandestine Operative’s Sidearm of Choice: The High Standard Model HD MS Pistol - The Truth About Guns

 

[Patrick Kent]

I have one of these pistols.
It's the 4 inch barrel.
I have only shot it once or twice. It's in decent shooting condition.
Got it from a friend maybe 10 years ago. I stopped shooting it because the mag needed adjustment from what I learned online and you should buy a special tool to adjust it.
It's a model HE.
I'm not a collector, I only have maybe 6-7 firearms total.
I just happened to make a trade with a buddy whose uncle died and he inherited it.

 

[Goony]

I have one of these pistols. It's the 4 inch barrel. I have only shot it once or twice. It's in decent shooting condition....I stopped shooting it because the mag needed adjustment from what I learned online and you should buy a special tool to adjust it. It's a model HE.

First off, welcome to the forum. Would love to see a photo of your example.

With respect to the magazine, the need for adjustment will largely depend on exactly what you have. I came across the photo below that adequately illustrates the differences between the two major types.

Many early High Standards (such as an H-E) seem to have over the years not retained their original magazines, which would be of the style on the right - two toned with the feed lips consisting of central tabs. These don't seem to get out of order very often, and if they do are fairly easy to tweak back to functioning properly.

The magazine on the left is of later design and manufacture, and will generally work well enough, provided it's genuine High Standard, for which its larger feed lips will be properly tempered. Where you'll encounter problems is with the modern reproductions with feed lips that easily bend out of proper alignment. The tool you mention can be used to correct this condition, but at best it's only a temporary solution.

 

[Drm50]

Ive never owned HE series and can’t recall ever seeing one in the wild for sale. I have owned a bunch of the HS pistols. I’ve had a HD-Mil for 55yrs and don’t know its history before I got it. It’s fired thousands of rounds with no problems. Trigger pull second to none. It’s got super short reset. I’ve own Victor & Supermatic also. Out of the 3 I’ll keep the HD-Mil.

 

[Goony]

Here's a pretty high grade H-E (serial number 59150) sold by the Rock Island Auction Company over 14 years ago. The hammer price was $1,300 back then.

 

[82ndpara]

There's a whole lot of Roper stocks going on with these posted guns.... almost makes you think it was a factory option, LOL....

 

[Green Frog]

Another point to remember is that the pre-War HA, HD, and HE models all lacked a thumb safety. The government specified this feature on the HD USA,and it was retained on the post-War HD Military.
I’ve had two Model HEs over the years. The one I kept has been upgraded with King sights and Sanderson grips. That reminds me, I need to get it out for a range trip!
Froggie
PS Those “Roper grips” aren’t! They came OEM on the E and HE, and were available for the A,D, HA and HD. I have a new set from my collecting days.

 

[82ndpara]

PS Those “Roper grips” aren’t! They came OEM on the E and HE, and were available for the A,D, HA and HD. I have a new set from my collecting days.

Thanks for clearing that up, I was wondering...

 

[Goony]

Another H-E sold at auction just this past June. I'd judge the condition to be roughly equivalent to that of my example. The hammer price wasn't by any means too dear: https://live.amoskeagauction.com/lo...Rare-High-Standard-Model-H-E-Semi-Auto-Pistol

 

[Green Frog]

Of o course mine isn’t anything like “original” with its Kings and Sandersons, but I wouldn’t sell it for twice that!

 

[Goony]

Corrections

In my original post, I was relying on some older references for my datapoints. It turns out that the most recent research indicates that a mere 690 of the prewar H-D were produced, making it the rarest. The H-D's manufactured for the government during WWII (the U.S.A. H-D) totaled 36,500.

 

[PALADIN85020]

You have a real rarity there! I have a few H-Ds pictured here. Click on each picture to see a larger image.

John



The U.S.A. H-D, vintage of October, 1944.




The H-D Military, vintage of March, 1948.




WWII H-D MS suppressed variation of the U.S.A. H-D.

 

[Green Frog]

I haven’t actively followed current research on the High Standards since I was collecting them back in the pre-internet days. At that time, the books by Petty, by Dance, and by one or two others had the most up to date info available. The HE was the most rare (least produced) and the other pre-War hammer guns were all pretty low production. After the war, the HD Military and late HB (with thumb safety) were made in larger numbers with the HD M making the most by far of the old types. There was a rumor that just to test the durability of the late model HD-M they ran 250,000 rounds through one without wearing it out. They were some well built guns!

Froggie

 

[Goony]

In the current (Winter 2025) issue of the High Standard Collectors' Association Newsletter there's an article written by Jerry Watson accompanied by photographs of his complete collection of all the prewar, wartime, and postwar (up through the G-series) slant grip guns, in both barrel lengths, and with all looking to be in top condition. I'd judge this as quite an accomplishment, one that'd be very difficult to duplicate.

 

[Green Frog]

As requested here are pix of my example of one man’s “working” High Standard target gun, circa 1939 or so. It’s a Model HE with King’s Micro sights and Sanderson grips. The grips fit my hand, but truth to tell are a little tight for me.
Froggie

 

[Faulkner]

Very nice. I don't recall ever even seeing an H-E in the flesh.

I've been very pleased with my one and only High Standard, a H-D Military produced in 1947.

 

[1-1917]

I just ran across one of the short barrel H-E models a few days ago. I've seen it written that only 1006 of them were made. Does anyone know where that number comes from? How many were the shorter barrels? Makes a nice companion for the HD Military. So few of the H-E models, they are hard to find info on.

 

[dsf]

I suppose I should comment on these. The G. 380 was manufactured starting in 1947 up through 1950. Commercially this model was a flop. Multiple sources state that at one point the guns were offered to High Standard employees for $15.00 with the remaining stock then being liquidated, going to J.L. Galef & Son of New York City, whose primary business was importing various European firearms.

Although production totaled less than 7,500 units, many seem to have survived in near mint condition. One notable feature of the G. 380 was its removable barrel via the operation of a frame mounted lever. I use the term "removable" rather than "interchangeable" on account of no other but the standard 5" barrel ever having been made. However this system for switching out barrels was adopted for the company's .22's up into the early 1950's.

I've had two and found that to be true, that they were in remarkably good condition. Hung on to this one -



I may be mistaken, but I thought there were other barrel lengths offered. very rare though.