Hi-Standard HD Military Questions

[M-Tecs]

Yes, the old High Standards are a fun topic to dive into, and have gone from the shadows where they were when I started collecting them back in the ‘70s, to a downright respectable status. A couple of good collector books will have that kind of effect on the market!

No problem and thanks for the info. Which good collector books are your referring to?

Any recommendations on where to get prints, diagrams or detailed pic's of HD-M's

Thanks.

[Wis Tom]

There was some good info given here, thanks. I have an HB, but haven't needed any parts. I would have liked having another mag, as I only have one, but never even got around to ever looking for one.

[Green Frog]

The first “modern” book on the High Standards came out around 1980 and was written by Charles Petty. There were two others that come out about 5 or 10 years later, but I can’t remember the authors off the top of my head. (Perhaps one by a guy named Dance??) Prior to those, there was one little paperback from back in about the ‘50s or early ‘60s, and that was about it.

One of the biggest challenges to High Standard collecting for me was finding out what little info on their history I did find!

Froggie

[Green Frog]

The last two books were by Thomas Dance and James Spacek and both came out in ‘91. They’re both available but pricey. Charlie Petty’s book is listed as available, but costs more than I paid for HD Military pistols back in the day!

The early paperback was by Leyson and it too is still floating around, though it too has gotten kind of spendy.

I may have to dig out my copies to sell and help cover my next gun purchase (or maybe my next couple of mortgage payments!)

Froggie

[Drm50]

I had a buddy looking for HD Mil parts and he bought B parts by mistake. I had them up for sale but have decided to keep them for trade against HD Parts. I think the B parts would be harder to come by.

[PBSmith]

Thanks, all, for your highly informative posts. I had no idea the item under discussion had such a long and involved history.

After reading all the posts, I am inclined to wait until I can examine one of the HD Militaries in the cold flesh before shelling out the current asking prices on the web.

This is taking the thread astray, but if any of you have owned and used the Colt Woodsman, I'd be curious to learn your opinions and preferences in comparing the Colt with the HD Military. I'd have a personal preference for the exposed hammer myself, but other more important considerations could over-ride the hammer matter.

[contender1]

As we can see, a LOT of EXCELLENT info on HS semi-autos here.

PBSmith, I have owned a Colt Woodsman,, and while it was an excellent pistol, I let it live with someone else who truly wanted & appreciated them. I have kept my HS pistols though.
And while your preferences are for an exposed hammer,, (such as the HD,) I have found the later models, with an internal hammer, AND the ability to swap barrels, weights etc much nicer. It was what made me allow the Colt to move & the HS's to stay home.

[Green Frog]

Thanks, all, for your highly informative posts. I had no idea the item under discussion had such a long and involved history.

After reading all the posts, I am inclined to wait until I can examine one of the HD Militaries in the cold flesh before shelling out the current asking prices on the web.

This is taking the thread astray, but if any of you have owned and used the Colt Woodsman, I'd be curious to learn your opinions and preferences in comparing the Colt with the HD Military. I'd have a personal preference for the exposed hammer myself, but other more important considerations could over-ride the hammer matter.

Between my late father and myself we owned a couple of dozen High Standards from early to late examples and only one (very) early Woodsman. I found the early HS models far superior in all respects to the Colt. The Colt has a reputation based on its name that the gun fails to fulfill. JMHO,YMMV.

Froggie

[rintinglen]

In contra-distinction from Green Frog, I am a fan of the Colt Woodsman. (See image at left, ) At least, the pre-war versions. In my experience, the Colt's were/are more reliable than their contemporary High Standards, but after WWII, the Colts were left behind by the later HS guns, the Citations, Victors and all the rest, which were heavier and benefited from having the rear sights solidly connected to the barrel, not the slide. Claims of excellence for the various A and B models can be taken with a modest heaping of salt.
A Victor I once owned was the most accurate semi-auto pistol I have ever fired. None of my Colts can come close to that. However, I personally prefer the feel of the Colts, and at least in the ones I own or have owned, the Colts are more reliable. Plus, when I am strolling through the woods, a "Woodsman" seems more appropriate than a "Supermatic."

[thxmrgarand]

At a gun show last year I saw a not-for-sale HD Military that had a Volquartson (sp?) barrel. The owner said she also has the original barrel which could be easily re-installed. Since the replacement barrel allows a red-dot sight, which my eyes now require at indoor ranges, I have been looking for one of those barrels but without any luck so far. I must have half a dozen or more target .22 pistols but the HD Military is at least equal to any of them, and with an exposed hammer it is best for dry firing. I bought it at a garage sale, but with the interest it generated at that sale I did not pay a garage sale price. However, the pistol has served me much better than would have been the case had I kept the money.

[Drm50]

I was into target pistols in 70s. I had HI-STD, Colt. Brn, S&W and a Ruger MK-1. Now I have owned many field pistols in these makes but I’m talking target grade guns only. The guns were bought new and for all practical purposed were the same quality, which was high at the time. The Colt Woodsman Match, High Standard and Browning are very similar pistols. My favorite of these three was the Brn Olympic Medalist. This was strictly a carry to the range match gun. I only had the one Colt and I did kinda like it for carry in the woods. I got HI-STD fever and had a small collection of them. All these were fine pistols and I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them. Today all I
have is two HD-Mil and S&W 41 which is my favorite target pistol of all. The field model guns of the same period are on same scale except for HI STDs. As much as I liked their line the Duramatics were functional but not the most accurate. Of all these makers line of 22 pistols they were bottom shelf. I think it was an attempt at getting share of low end market that Ruger had sewed up with their Standard going for $37.50 at the time. The other models were all milled, the Ruger was of welded construction and Duramatics were kind of hybrid.

[Tokarev]

My observations from HS Sharpshooter:
HS firing pin has a tendency to break.
The mainspring weakens considerably over 15000-50000 rounds.
Grips are somewhat fragile.

[Green Frog]

ringtinglen, the first handgun I ever shot was a like-new Model B with type II takedown... it later became part of my collection once Dad knew it would be something I would be keeping. Although I’ve sold off most of my collection, I kept the B and a C as well as a special built HE bullseye gun. Dad got a very early Woodsman back in the early eighties... mechanically great but blue challenged. It was lovingly restored (don’t scream, it was in bad shape) and I was able to compare the Woodsman and the Model B side by side. As far as function and accuracy, they were about even, so it might be my background, but I found the B to be a lot easier to disassemble, clean, and reassemble. It may have just been a matter of familiarity, but that was my experience with them. BTW, I wonder how many folks know early Woodsman and High Standard Model B guns can take the same magazines?

Froggie

[biffj]

After working on a lot of HD military's over the years and building suppressed HDM replicas with quite a few my observation has been that the push button on top of the slide and the associated sheet metal piece that keeps the mainspring back for takedown is the biggest problem. Guys don't know how to take them down and these parts get damaged making it tough to get the pistols apart. In damaging those parts it can go on to screw with the mainspring retainer too so it won't be held. Not something you can see without hands on though.

A lot of these guns are pretty worn but seem to hold up ok. My thoughts on the ammo are that high velocity is fine and standard velocity is ok. Subsonics rarely function properly but you can use them if you want. Don't shoot the Hyper velocity as it is much hotter than the high vel stuff. I'm talking about the Velociters, stingers and such as that. I've seen damage done to the stop block with this ammo in just a short time. The 60gr SSS Aquila ammo isn't very good either. It has a greater recoil impulse than normal subsonics because the bullet is so heavy and the rifling twist rate for the bullet needs to be faster than the 1-16 that is standard on most 22LR. The 60gr needs 1-9 to be stable. With no suppressor its just an annoyance but if you're using suppressors it can damage the baffles as the bullets wobble or tumble out of the barrel.

I love the pistols. They are fun to shoot, accurate and have very pleasing weight and lines. I like the model B as well, and even the rest of the line....must have a gun problem.

Frank

[Mytmousemalibu]

My dad had one a long time ago that we used to plink with that had one heck of a personal story. As longtime classic car nuts and collectors we had I think a 41' Pontiac sedan when I was a kiddo. I was working on it with my dad one day and discovered a grease & oil soaked pocket knife in the curled lip of the engine crossmember. Someone ages ago dropped it and never found it. It had solidified into the thick, oily buildup all the years till discovered. Upon cleaning, it turn out to be an old Remington, pearl handled switchblade! The grease and oil had perfectly preserved it, it still had the faint Remington silkscreening or etching on the blade. I would rather we kept the knife but dad traded it for the HD Military. Now I don't have either. Unfortunately shooting it a long time ago the thumb spur of the hammer had cracked and been flung off firing it and it was lost in the leaf litter before anyone noticed. Never did find a replacement hammer for it.