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High Standard, anyone?

56K views 31 replies 22 participants last post by  Jason D 
#1 ·
Does anyone own a newer model High Standard 1911 GI model? Site search brought up mixed reviews, mostly "bad trigger, bad finish, rough feed ramp" all the way up to awesome firearm, but those posts are years old. Anyone know if they have fixed these problems in the newer models?
 
#2 ·
they are always talking about the high standards on rimfirecentral, the reports are not good for the .22s, the same problems you mentioned are showing up with the .22s . I dont see why it would be any different on the .45s. Backwhen they had the gun to beat, but a few owners or moves later, all thats left is a name. I may be wrong but I wouldnt buy one sight unseen.
 
#3 ·
sawyer said:
they are always talking about the high standards on rimfirecentral, the reports are not good for the .22s, the same problems you mentioned are showing up with the .22s . I dont see why it would be any different on the .45s. Backwhen they had the gun to beat, but a few owners or moves later, all thats left is a name. I may be wrong but I wouldnt buy one sight unseen.
sawyer,

I was hoping to get one some day for my 22 collection BUT if they're quality is poor then I wouldn't bother. My moneys too precious to waste on trash that's manufactured by sub-standard quality! Once upon a time "High Standard" meant just that.

rimfire,22
 
#4 ·
IIRC, the "High Standard" 1911's were actually made by Olympic Arms. They've been in the 1911 business for a long time, but I've never seen one on the range, and don't know anyone who's owned one.
 
#6 ·
Then that is a horse of a different color, if they were made by olympic, I dont know much about them either, wonder if they are the same people that make the olympic ar-15 stuff, like the ar- pistols?

The High standards from Texas are the latest and suckiest i have heard, but the older high standards from Conn were outstanding, the next place they moved to cost them some quality, and Texas is the current location, the .22s might be wonderful or not, depending on where it was made, they are all marked with the location, and some are still very competitve. I had a Victor from Conn that was amazing, a trigger like glass. Choose the right one and you will have one of the High standard High standards.
 
#7 ·
High Standard

The original High Standard Company went belly up in 1984 at Hartford Conn. After that date High Standard was just a name used, first by Mitchell Arms who produced High Standard copies which were never held in as high regard as the originals. Then someone bought the rights to the name and went to court to prevent Mitchell from using it. The current High Standard Company is High Standard in name only. We have a major distirbutor here in Michigan who won't even sell the current High Standard due to quality issues. But if you find an original Victor, Trophy or Citation Military, buy it, then you to can be one of the cult worshippers who truly believe that the "Original" High Standards were a work of shooting art. I of course have mine, a Victor, and it's not for sale and never will be. If the HS 1911's are made by Olympic Arms they might be worth looking into, their ar15's are very servicable guns.
 
#8 ·
I just bought a new GI 1911A1 at the Crossroads show in Phoenix. It's made by Armscor in the Phillipines. It's identical to the RIA with the exception of the roll marks on the slide. I haven't shot it yet.

I did pull it all apart and look everything over. The trigger face is a little rough but overall things look pretty decent. The feed ramp's nicely polished and the gun will chamber and feed dummy rounds correctly.

I do have to complain about the magazine. It's about the cheapest piece of crap I've seen. It looks like a Triple K or some other knock-off brand. At last the RIA's come with Novak mags!

Maybe tomorrow I can run some rounds through it and get back on here with a range report.

Overall, a decent gun for $375 out the door (if it works!).
 
#9 ·
High Standard

The HS GI is a new offering and it is Armscor. It is a fine basic GI style firearm for significantly less than $400.

It has a checkered wood grip and lowerered flared ejection port; no lanyard loop.

It goes bang on a very regular basis if you use other than the crap fake Colt mag. The bang lands purty much where you want it to, if you can use the teensy weensy sights. :p t
 
#12 ·
New or old High Standard models?

Folks,

Just stumbled upon a gunshop's website that is fairly close to where I live and they list two 1911-style HS models as "in-stock" and a couple of others as "discontinued". The first is called the Supermatic Trophy Match. It appears to be a Gov't size model in SS. It lists at $895.00. The second is called the Camp Perry Hardball. Also a Gov't size, but comes as a two-tone - the photo shows a black, or possibly blued, slide over a SS receiver. It is around $940.00. Both are only offered in .45 ACP and, I assume, NIB. No other details were given. My first question is whether or not these are the new High Standards that are being produced in the Phillipines or if these are the older Houston, TX models? If they are new, then these prices sure seem high when you compare them to what other members have paid. If these are from the older High Standard in TX, are they worth a look? From what little I've been able to read, the opinions regarding the Texas High Standards is pretty low.

I never jump to a conclusion on pistols by just looking at picture, but these appeared to be fairly well made.

Last thing: the two models that this site lists as "discontinued" are both 6" longslide models. The SS model looked like it was pretty damn cool!

Any insights would be appreciated.
 
#14 ·
Rotorflyr said:
Can't say for sure, but I would bet that they are the older models, however not necessarily the ones made in TX.
The Armscor versions wouldn't cost near that much, as they are in the $400 range nib.
Rotorflyr,

Where else did High Standard manufacture their 1911's? I know that they made their .22 target pistols back east - CT I think. Were the 1911-style models made there as well? Are you familiar with the quality of these "older" pistols?
 
#15 ·
pinot,
To be honest I really don't know for sure but from the little I've read about them (High Standard) it leads me to believe that they did in fact make 1911's in CT as well as the .22's
Im sure sooner or later someone who is in the know will chime in.

That said, I do know the Armscor made "High Standards" are essentialy the same as the Rock Islands (and some of the Charles Daly's) and shouldn't sell for much outside the $400 range (and likely less)
I recently (late last month) picked up a Rock Island GI full size for $350 out the door.


Oh and I wouldn't drink any #%@*$%^ Merlot either!! :rofl:
 
#16 ·
SD COWBOY said:
I put 400 rounds of FNJ though my High Standard 1911A1 and it has not jammed yet . For under $400 I love this gun !!!!
I have one, and it shoots just fine (after a feedramp polish). I've got 600 rds. through it, and it is accurate if I am accurate. Magazine is cheap, so I bought a Chip McCormick (luckily, the gun only came with one magazine, so I have one less paperweight).

Fit and finish seem to be sound. I'm looking into a new sight setup, of course. . .my eyes aren't what they used to be.

So far, I love the ugly P.O.S.!
 
G
#17 ·
I have High Standards 1911a1 I find be one nice versons of 1911a1 that Armscor of the Philippines is put out. I all,s at one time had one Rock Island Armory 1911A1 which Armscor made to. I find that fit finsh of High Standards 1911a1 is better than what on my Rock Island Armory 1911A1 . When came shooting both guns High Standards 1911a1 would shoot tighter group than the Rock Island Armory 1911A1. What may be reason for that was slide to frame fit on High Standards 1911a1 is much tighter than on Rock Island Armory 1911A1 . When comes tigter pull the High Standards 1911a1 had better smoother tiger pull Rock Island Armory 1911A1. But keep mind like all Gi goverment 1911 my High Standards 1911a1 does like feed hollow points but well eat up all fmj you can feed it.But all have keep this in mind that name may be High Standards name on gun it all built buy Armscor in Philippines.
 
#19 ·
That is not the gun the guy asked about back in 05'.

High Standard has two sets of guns.
The cheap Philippine made guns, and the ones made in Texas.
Those are double the price or more.

The Camp Perry model is an American made Hardball gun they built out of a cast American made frame, and a forged American made slide. They fit in a GI NM barrel, bushing, and link, and mill the slide to accept a Novak front sight, and Kensight rear. The guarantee the guns is capable of 3" at 50 yards.

What I found in mine was a mostly well built gun that had some shortcuts taken to get it out the door. Mostly an over powered recoil spring that caused malfunctions, and a dinked with sear spring that caused the hammer to drop to half cock.

The gun after I reworked will shoot.
 
#18 ·
High Standard 1911

I have a late model High(2009) Standard Crusader Compact 1911 with 3.5 inch barrel and really like it. It is one of my carry guns. It is a little particular on JHP rounds it likes. They must be very similiar to the hardball profile to function. I'm sure a little good gunsmithing could fix this. There is no bevel at the bottom of the barrel where the round stards to chamber.Don't know the proper terminology for that). It is a match barrel and trigger. No barrel bushing.
 
#22 ·
They retail for just over a 1K.
I paid just over that with tax.

Yeah, there were a lot of shortcuts.
They have over powered recoil springs that would cause the gun to short stroke. The sear spring had been ground on with a grinder to lighten it up.

Just for the heck of it I put it back in the gun with an extreme amount of tension on the left most leaf. It would still drop the hammer to half cock.

The barrel and bushing are extremely tight, and they installed an extra long link to make it lock up tighter. The gun's finish is the lighter zinc parkerizing and is cheap and thin. It wears very quickly.

The pluses are the tight fit barrel will shoot.
The trigger feels very nice. Better than just about every stock gun I have ever shot, except for maybe my Gold Cup. They did manage to carry over the stippling of the old High Standard. I prefer that to checkering.

I looked at these guns several years back at Camp Perry and was impressed.
The gun I got looked much the same, but left a lot to be desired. Had I had all this to do over again, I would have probably skipped the High Standard and went with my first choice of a Baer.


If it isnt made by armscor it isnt worth having imo. I have a armcor-hi standard and its a nice gun in all ways and guaranteed for life...
I don't knock the guns made in the Philippines.
I have never heard a cross word about them at all.
For the price points they sell for, I would much rather have a Springfield.
 

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#23 ·
Agreed a springer"s better slide and frame makes it preferable even over a armscor made hi-standard. Though i must say the hi-standard is finished out nicer looks wise. I have both and trust them both with my life. I HAVE A SPRINGER ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF MY BED AND A HI-STANDARD ON THE LEFT SO NO MATTER WHICH WAY I HAVE TO ROLL OUT A 1911 IS THERE FOR ME......
 
#24 ·
Not bad for $500

I recently purchased a HS 1911 clone in the parkerised finish. For the $$ I think it to be well worth the cost. The fit & finish was nice. The trigger pull was a bit longer than I like, but a quick action job will fix that.
By contrast, I also own a Colt SS series 80 1911. The quality of the Colt was less than expected and required some work at the gunsmith to tweak into a nicer firearm.
 
#26 ·
I am the newly appointed operations manager for high standard. I have been in this capacity for roughly 8 months now. We are making huge leaps in quality control and customer service. Great things are happening in the 1911 and 22 areas and I hope we can live up to our customers expectations. If anyone needs any assistance with there hs I would be more than happy to help with that.
 
#27 ·
I would hope someone there is doing something about terrible guns.

My gun has has been a nightmare. Your company took short cuts in the built, and give me a real POS. When it shoots, it is accurate. The problem is it has a failure rate of 1 in 49 rounds now. It worked well after the initial hundred or so rounds. Then it started messing up. It had racked up an impressive failure rate of about 1 in 29 rounds fired.

Clipped sear spring, God only knows how powerful recoil spring, hammer dropping to half cock, broken ejector, and the funniest of all. The little ledge under the extractor that is normally machined to just under flush with the extractor, stood proud. Your hack smiths cut a slot in it with a moto tool!

It's a wonder any rounds ever fed.

This piece of crap cost me 1000 bucks for the gun, five for a sear spring, 20 dollars in recoil springs, 40 for punches, 40 for a bench block, 20 more for a Wilson guide rod and buffer kit, 70 dollars worth of books and manuals, 20 for the extractor tools, 30 bucks of a decent set of grips, and 60 more dollar for Springfield to fit an ejector because you guys treated us like second class crap when we brought it to you several years back at Camp Perry.

That doesn't at all include the ammo I have wasted trying to get this gun to work. That accounts for some 1900 rounds. This piece of crap left me standing like an idiot refiring an alibi string at Camp Perry in front of hundreds of shooters.

Thanks for a tumor of a gun High Standard.
 
#28 · (Edited)
...oh and I forgot about it's love of inertia feeds, and the dozen and a half magazines I bought just to find a few that worked with it.

You know I can pick up a Colt, Kimber, Springfield, Remington, or any of a dozen other makers and use the factory magazines in them without issue. Lest we forget Wilson, Tripp, Mec-Gar, Metalform, and Chip McCormick that tend to work in anything. Yeah, they don't in the Low Standard Crap Perry model.

I really loved it when the Wilson magazines would flop live rounds on the ground. That was a really neat trick HS.
 
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