Home Index Search Handguns Visual Selection British North American Italian German Belguim French Spanish Austrian Russian Czechoslovacian Turkish South African Hungarian Brazilian Israeli Competition Firearms Shotguns References Links Gunsite SAGA PAAA SAAACA Contact E-mail me!

This company was founded in 1926 and in 1932 they purchased the stock and tools of the Hartford Arms company. They produced the Hartford .22 target pistol and named it Hi-standard. They later improved the pistol and during the war it was used for training in the US army. After the war they were well known and pursued the Olympic competitions. For many years, the ISU (International Shooters Union) has been regulating all international match competitions. Of course, the major tournament is the Olympics, and for American shooters there are some very strange types of shooting done there, one of which is the “Rapid Fire Competition”, whereby a silhouette target turns towards you. You have to lift the gun off a table and fire five shots into it as quickly as you can before the target turns away from you again, which is a matter of seconds. In such a competition it is of absolute necessity to have as little recoil as possible to not disturb your point of aim, and it was for this purpose in international shooting the .22 short target pistols came into being. Not to be outdone by other companies, High Standard, who prided themselves on fine .22 match pistols came out with the ISU version called the “Olympic” and chambered for the .22 short only. Target shooters being what they are, High Standard made several versions of the pistol. They also made so-called military grip, which had the same angle and feel as the .45 Automatic, for those shooters who use the .45 in center-fire competition and did not want to change grip angles. This pistol is a hammerless, single action, unlocked blowback, semi-automatic pistol with a detachable box magazine, secured by a latch at the bottom of the butt. It used an alloy slide and checkered grips with a thumb rest. Take down lever is replaced on this model with push button catch and new backlash adjuster is fitted to the trigger. The long barrel which lengthens the sight radius has an integral muzzle brake fitted. Counter weights was fitted on the barrel. Excellent competition sights were fitted. The trigger can be set for weight. Takedown on these pistols are accomplished by making the sure the firearm is empty, putting the empty magazine back in the gun, pulling the slide to the rear, locking it in place. At this point a button on the front of the frame, Forward of the trigger guard must be depressed and at the same time the barrel pulled forward and lifted upward off the frame. Assembly is in reverse order. (ref. Pistols and revolvers, p747 by JE Smith, Pistols of the world by Hogg and Weeks p137)

99866