Gift from a Friend—High Standard Supermatic Citation—Fooled Me

[John Stimson]

The "white" magazine is cadmium plated. There is a difference of opinion about whether these date to the period in which your gun was manufactured or a bit later (around 1959). In any case, High Standard abandoned them pretty quickly. The plating process was flawed in that a corrosive contaminant was not entirely removed. When stored in less than ideal conditions, this can result in dulling external deposits forming but more insidiously the magazine's dimensions may swell. Such magazines left in a gun have been known to for all practical purposes become fused to the inside of the magazine well.

The cadmium plated High Standard magazines were the standard configuration from about 2/27/1954 which was the date of the revision F ( finish changed to cadmiun plate) for the magazine drawing until about 8/18/1959 which was the date of the revision H for the magazine drawing. The cadmium plating offered teh advantage of corrosion preventative and great lubricity. BUT, the factory did not always get a proper rinse of the plating solution that seeped between the inner and outer magazine shells. This allowed a residual metallic salt to remain behind and being a salt, was deliquescent and attracted moisture from the air which led to rusting between the shells. This rust pushed the shells apart resulting in various deformatives. The magazine might swell outward making it too wide to fit the magazine well. It might swell inward making it too narrow inside to load cartridges or both. There is currently no known fix.

 

[John Stimson]

Yesterday, out of the blue, I was gifted this nice High Standard Supermatic Citation from the middle 1950's from a good friend of mine. He said he wanted me to have this pistol and it wasn't up for discussion. He had owned this gun since the middle 70's and shot it once in all these years. I had admired this pistol before after seeing it a couple of times. He had me research this gun several years ago just out of curiosity. He was the second owner.
I am now the 3rd owner of this nice High Standard Supermatic Citation and would like some help and advice from the High Standard owners on this forum. I know there's forum members who own High Standard Target Pistols because I've seen the pictures here.
I would appreciate any and all comments on this gun. The serial number is 5316XX and shows 1955 build date from the information I find.
According to both previous owners this is the original box and what confuses me is the box shows the barrel length at 7 1/4" when it is actually 6 3/4" and the gun is all original. The box end description looks to me like it is for a 7 1/4" Fluted barrel Military Model but the cutout is not long enough and the grip angle of the box is the early slanted design correct for this gun.
The target grips look like Herret's to me, but have no identifying marks on the inside.
This gun is in really good condition.
From what I can find this High Standard Supermatic Citation S-101, Military Model was manufactured in 1955.
The only place I see Military Model is on the box description. I know from reading some forums that High Standard has some research problems just like other gun manufacturers we know.
Let me hear from you High Standard Owners.
I've not gotten over the fact that my friend gifted me this gun yet.
I will shoot it next week.
Yippee View attachment 775202View attachment 775203View attachment 775204

The S-101 Supermatic has Herretts grips and dates to April 1956 I can do better date with a complete serial number.

The box has serial number 1,997,450 which is a 107 series Supermatic Citation catalog number 9243 with a ship date of 11/11/1968. The box is clearly not original to the gun independent of what the previous two owners say.

The military models were introduced in March 1965 in the 106 design series.

John Stimson II
SWCA LM742

 

[John Stimson]

That is a beautiful pistol and in very nice shape. I picked one up a couple of weeks ago and I'm just learning about them myself, so I can't help out too much. Mine is a S-101 Supermatic as well. It looks like your s/n is 5315xx, so it's a bit older than mine. One of our forum members is John Stimson, who is a former employee of High Standard, has written books about them, and is a guru of all things High Standard. He replied to the thread I started about the one I purchased, and I found out mine, 592518 had shipped on 8/18/1956. Perhaps John will chime in, especially since it is such a well preserved specimen. Here's the thread I started with a lot of good info in it on the Supermatics:

Thread 'High Standard Supermatic'

Jun 27, 2025

I'm not very familiar with High Standard pistols, but I'm going to look at a Model 41 S&W this afternoon and the gentleman said he was also selling a High Standard target pistol from the late '50s or early '60s
From the pictures, I see that it is a Supermatic, but other than that, I don't know much about these pistols. I'm hoping that some of you fine gentleman that are familiar with them can give me a quick lesson on them and a fair price range.

• tlawler
• Replies: 43
• Forum: Firearms & Knives: Other Brands & General Topics

• 

I am not and have never been an employee of High Standard.

I have not written any books about High Standard guns.

I was the editor of the HSCA newsletter for about ten years and have edited the High Stadanrd sections of the Blue Book and the Standard Catalog of Firearms.

I do have copies of the High Standard factory records held by BATF.

 

[Goony]

The cadmium plated High Standard magazines were the standard configuration from about 2/27/1954 which was the date of the revision F ( finish changed to cadmiun plate) for the magazine drawing until about 8/18/1959 which was the date of the revision H for the magazine drawing. The cadmium plating offered teh advantage of corrosion preventative and great lubricity. BUT, the factory did not always get a proper rinse of the plating solution that seeped between the inner and outer magazine shells. This allowed a residual metallic salt to remain behind and being a salt, was deliquescent and attracted moisture from the air which led to rusting between the shells. This rust pushed the shells apart resulting in various deformatives. The magazine might swell outward making it too wide to fit the magazine well. It might swell inward making it too narrow inside to load cartridges or both. There is currently no known fix.

Well, that explains why they turn up fairly often and in conjunction with a number of older and somewhat newer models - they were being furnished over something like a five year period, which is a lot longer than I had been led to believe.

 

[sophie]

The S-101 Supermatic has Herretts grips and dates to April 1956 I can do better date with a complete serial number.

The box has serial number 1,997,450 which is a 107 series Supermatic Citation catalog number 9243 with a ship date of 11/11/1968. The box is clearly not original to the gun independent of what the previous two owners say.

The military models were introduced in March 1965 in the 106 design series.

John Stimson II
SWCA LM742

The complete serial number is 531632 on this S-101 Supermatic and I appreciate your help in dating this pistol. When the original owner traded or sold this pistol to an old established gun shop here in Amarillo some 40-45 years ago and my friend bought the gun from that gun shop, I bet it was then that the gun was placed in this Supermatic Citation 107 series box. The gun shop would have access to old boxes and my friend probably never gave it a second thought. I don't know that he ever looked at the box numbers. He's not one to care about that, the gun just looked good in the box.
Thanks again for the help and comments.

James

 

[John Stimson]

The complete serial number is 531632 on this S-101 Supermatic and I appreciate your help in dating this pistol. When the original owner traded or sold this pistol to an old established gun shop here in Amarillo some 40-45 years ago and my friend bought the gun from that gun shop, I bet it was then that the gun was placed in this Supermatic Citation 107 series box. The gun shop would have access to old boxes and my friend probably never gave it a second thought. I don't know that he ever looked at the box numbers. He's not one to care about that, the gun just looked good in the box.
Thanks again for the help and comments.

James

531,632 shipped as a catalog number 9119 on 4/11/1956 to account number 6350 on invoice 1375.



You arrived at 1955 by using one of my charts without reading my guidance for the chart. My charts give the highest serial number for a year and so I see an amazing number of self researched guns with a date a year ealier than reality.

 

[greenwellg]

I owned a trophy 42 years ago when I lived in Houston. At 25 yards with my then magnificent vsion I could keep 10 CCI green tags under a dime . I also bought a Python target in 38 special (only ?) that would do one ragged hole at 25 yards. Now at 74 the only ragged holes are in my eyes as far as vision and in my hands as far as steadiness.

 

[tlawler]

I am not and have never been an employee of High Standard.

I have not written any books about High Standard guns.

I was the editor of the HSCA newsletter for about ten years and have edited the High Stadanrd sections of the Blue Book and the Standard Catalog of Firearms.

I do have copies of the High Standard factory records held by BATF.

My sincere apologies, Mr. Stimson, for the incorrect information.

 

[48chief]

I have a few later High Standards and a Mod 41 w/muzzle break. I shot bullseye for several years, and preferred the H.S. trigger over the Smith, however each one shot very well. Just my preference.