A History of High Standard Companies by John Stimson High Standard in Connecticut was actually four different companies located in New Haven, East Haven, Hamden and East Hartford. The original company was originally a partnership between Carl Gustav Swebilius and Gustav A. Beck in 1926. Both men were former employees of Marlin. The product was deep hole drill bits used in the steam boiler, automotive, and firearms business This drill bits are often generically called “gun drills”. In 1927, the partnership was incorporated as the High Standard Manufacturing Company Incorporated. The president of the new company was Beck’s son. Beck’s son soon left the company and by the mid 1930s both Becks were gone but the senior Beck maintained a connection as he held the mortgage on the factory building. High Standard shipped its first pistols, a semi-auto pistol and a single shot pistol beginning in October 1932. In 1940 High Standard entered the Shotgun market. The company received an order from the British Purchasing Group for .50 Cal M-2 machine guns. An old four-story factory was rented, and a new factory was constructed in Hamden and another building in Hamden was purchased. On April 1, 1941, a new company, High Standard Manufacturing Corporation Incorporated, was founded. This new company was basically what the original company had been making shotguns, pistols and deep hole drills with the pistol factory in New Haven and the headquarters in Hamden. The new company had government contracts for pistols, .45 caliber 1911 barrels and .30 caliber rifle and machine gun barrels. In the meantime, High Standard Manufacturing Company was purchased by the U. S. Government and High Standard Manufacturing Company Incorporated became the management and operation personnel for the government facility. A third company, the Dixwell Corporation, was created to manage the other two companies. Each of the other companies paid the Dixwell Corporation a percentage of gross sales. They had no product, only consulting services. The major participants in management of the other two companies were managers who worked for the Dixwell Corporation. With the end of the war, the original company, the High Standard Manufacturing Company Incorporated, had no customers and did not own the factory or any machinery. After settling the taxes and excess profits paperwork it closed probably in 1946. I haven’t found anything about the closing of the Dixwell Corporation, but I suspect that it closed a little after the closing of the original company. Post War, the High Standard Manufacturing Corp was making deep hole drill bits, pistols, and shotguns, Sears had been a customer of the shotguns since 1940. Then Sears and High Standard reached agreement on Sears funding the design, development, tooling, and testing of the 12-gauge pump shotguns and .22 rimfire rifles. Later Sears was the impetus for the Dura-Matic, Model 80 pistols and the Sentinel/model 88 and Double Nine/Ranger revolvers. The Sears business continued to grow dramatically until sales to Sears represented around 65% of the total sales. Then in the early 1960s, Sears started dropping High Standard produced guns. The pistol and revolver sales ended in late 1963. Other products which had been trade named J. C. Higgins were now transitioning to the new sporting goods trade name “Ted Williams”. Some survived for a while being marked simply Sears and some briefly used the Ted Williams name but gradually the .22 rifle and shotguns were mostly replaced by new models manufactured by Winchester. By 1967 the High Standard guns offered were a Model 34 rifle and the Model 75 shotgun. All of the other models had been discontinued. Before the 1968 National Firearms Act was enacted in October 1968, Sears had abandoned High Standard. Although Sears stopped selling by mail order, they continued for almost 15 years with gun sales in the stores. Beginning around 1969 Sears resumed buying a single model 21 pump shotgun in .410 bore. With the decline of sales to Sears, High Standard back filled that loss in sales with new large customers. Kroydon, J. C. Penny, Western Auto, W. Hogee, and Gamble Skogmo were a few of the earliest. In all there were over 20 new major customers who were buying mostly shotguns. 1968 was the beginning of a change in High Standards operations. The Leisure Group, a conglomerate from Los Angeles, purchased High Standard from the Stockholders. Sears had been a preferred stock shareholder. This provided a clean exit for Sears and for the Swebilius family. The Swebilius family had been helping finance High Standard Manufacturing Corporation operations since the end of WWII. As a wholly owned subsidiary, High Standard had to adapt to the new ownership. The Leisure Group fired a large number of the office employees thus losing many years of experience in the business. Bill Donovan and Bill Henry, both of the sales department left of their own accord which decimated High Standard’s sales and marketing department. In an interview with Steve Hinchcliffe, President of the Leisure Group, he attributed the slide of High Standard to the 1968 National Firearms Act which was enacted just after he bought High Standard Manufacturing Corporation. I would speculate that making the Government the whipping boy was more convenient than acknowledging that in the due diligence process before the purchase they didn’t see that the biggest customer Sears had for all practical purposes stopped doing business with High Standard. The Leisure Group took a lot of money out of High Standard at the expense of investing in newer machinery and maintenance of their old machinery. They also replaced more experienced, more expensive, employees with cheaper new hires with less experience. These employees were mostly office personnel. The shop personnel were union, and their pay was not particularly high, so there was little opportunity to save money by replacing the shop personnel. The Deep hole drill bit business was sold by The Leisure Group because it was not a Leisure product. This original product had been a reliable profit center since the beginning. During WWII it had more profits than the .22 training pistols in percent margin and in total product dollars. About 1972, the Leisure Group replaced High Standard’s president who had left the company with Don Mitchell, a former vice-president of sales at Colt. Mitchell wanted to increase sales, but money was very tight and there was none for design and development of new models. In an effort to increase sales Mitchell instituted deals to sell private labeled guns manufactured by others. This led to Nikko shotguns, Dan Wesson revolvers, Uberti black powder revolvers, and Auto-Mag pistols wearing the High Standard label. It appears that the deal with Numrich for the Hopkins Allen black powder guns slightly preceded Mitchell. Mitchell without warning jumped ship and went to Ithaca as its new president in 1975. In 1976, the new president Clem Confessori in determined that downsizing and leaving Hamden would be the strategy for survival. It would get them out from under an old factory building that was larger than they needed, and which required a lot of maintenance and was costly to heat. Production in Hamden ended in February 1977 and resumed in East Hartford in June/July 1977 in an industrial strip mall. The new factory was much smaller, so manufacturing did need to outsource some operations. This did not necessarily compromise quality. Even during its best days High Standard had outsourced parts and operations. Receiving inspection should have caught any sub-standard parts before incorporating them into the products. The product lineup was greatly decreased as the rifles and shotguns were no longer produced. The standard slant grip pistols were also dropped. The steel frame Western style revolvers were temporarily deleted from production from February 1977 through August of 1978. The steel frame Sentinel family was also deleted from the lineup except for a couple of new models that were not cataloged and which did not last. The company now had even less sales to cover overhead. The Leisure Group wanted to sell the High Standard Manufacturing Corporation as they had pretty well run the company into the ground. Continuing the company would be costly. In early 1978, the then president Clem Confessori and some other investors purchased certain assets of the High Standard Manufacturing Corporation from the Leisure Group but not the company The new company was High Standard, Inc. In August 1978 High Standard Inc. resumed production of four models of the steel frame Western revolvers. They resumed production of two models of the Sentinel family from May through September 1978. Then the Sentinel family was again deleted from the lineup until October 1981. The new High Standard was heavily financed and since it was in questionable condition the loan rate was 6.5% over prime. During Jimmy Carter’s administration prime reached 21.5% which meant they were paying 28% interest. That is most likely too much cost for any struggling company to survive. The company did not go bankrupt but was dissolved by orderly liquidation and everyone but the stockholders got out whole. In the early 1980s there was a downturn in the firearms market. Which also contributed to the company's demise. In my opinion, if High Standard Inc. had tried to go forward, they would have gone bankrupt, and it would have been worse for everyone In summary, the original company, the one you asked about the High Standard Manufacturing Company Inc and its associated Dixwell Corp. probably closed in 1946 and had made its owners a big pot of money. The Company spun off on April 1,1941, the High Standard Manufacturing Corporation, Inc. was later bought in 1968 and more or less run into the ground by its new owner the Leisure Group. The old stockholders which were for all practical purposes Sears and the Swebilius family made out pretty well but the Leisure Group not nearly as well. The last company High Standard, Inc closed with only the stockholders losing money. I might also add that most interest in the company today is primarily the pistols which after WWII was a relatively small part of sales. Without the sales of the other products, it is likely that the companies would not have lasted as long as they did. This is especially true of the Sears sales. ----------------------------------------------------------- There were several plants over the years in several cities. 169 East Street, New Haven was the initial location in 1926 61-63 Foote Street, New Haven was the next in 1935 1811-1817 Dixwell Ave., Hamden Acquired in anticipation of British machine gun order. 1940 1337 Dixwell Ave., Hamden Ground broken Oct 1940 for new machine gun plant 100 Waterfront St., New Haven 1940 Building rented for machine gun production Dodge Ave., East Haven Used as the pistol plant beginning in the late 1940s and as a warehouse up until early to mid 1960s. 31 Prestige Circle, East Hartford. High Standard was lazy, cheap or indifferent to keeping the roll marking in sync with reality. The company name and the company address was not always up to date. In the late 1940s the Factory on Dodge Avenue, East Haven was the pistol plant, yet no pistols were marked East Haven. During that time the corporate headquarters were in the Dixwell avenue plant in Hamden, yet the pistols were still marked New Haven. ARTICLE BY JOHN STIMSON FROM RIMFIRE CENTRAL USED BY AUTHOR’S PERMISSION

Catalog number document

Catalog number document by Gary Hooper This listing of the catalog numbers of the .22 auto pistols was compiled with information in the John Currie book. The document is intended to be a quick reference for catalog numbers with page numbers, barrel length and numbers produced for each of the two hundred fifty-nine variations of High Standard .22 auto pistols. The document can be viewed by copy and paste in search engine at this address: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11NomBeWcwhQkOz7p0006EuG6_bbgO3k5/view?usp=sharing Jon, I noticed that when I paste the link address to the search engine line it takes me to a page where it asks me to sign on to Google drive. When I paste the link to the address bar on my web browser it takes me to the document I don't know if this happen because my computer knows I have a google account. If You don't have a Google account, please experiment and determine what works and make corrections to both blog postings.

Barrel document by Gary Hooper About six months ago with the help of the John Currie book I began compiling a list of the various barrels of the High Standard .22 auto pistols. I thought there might be about fifty barrels but ended up with eighty-one barrels after a few days of working on the list. By looking at pictures of online auctions and with input from fellow HSCA members the list has grown to 113 different barrels. The document can be viewed by clicking on the file sharing link and downloaded as a PDF by clicking on the download button. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tXPTYNnJtCj9aUalnnZhx1fXlShiR3b3/view?usp=sharing Thanks to the following HSCA members for their help with the barrel document; Jerry Watson, Ken Rabeneck, Jim Rosera, James Wheeler, John G. Markel, Wayne Davis, Steven Schrott, Bill Black and a special thanks to Jon Miller.

 The Winter 2025 edition of the HSCA Newsletter has been mailed.

If you are a paid-up dues member and have not received your copy by 20 February 2025 please notify Newsletter editor. We have been experiencing problems with USPS delivery in the past.

Nightdoc@aol.com

 High Standard Collectors Association

Fall Newsletter has been mailed.

Members please notify editor if you have not received yours by Thanksgiving.

Already working on the Winter issue,

Thanks,

Jon

High Standard .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol

 Article by Leonardo Antaras on the High Standard .45 caliber pistol from the summer issue of the HSCA Newsletter has been reprinted in the October Ohio Gun Collector's Association newsletter. It looks great there as well.

 Wanted: HSCA hat pins, (which were available some time ago through the association, High Standard Ash Trays, any HSCA newsletters, or scans of them from 2016 to date. The only one I have is Spring 2024. Call Paul Gajdos 845-691-2896 or email L49U@aol.com.  Thanks.

 Member is looking for back issues of HSCA newsletter between 2015 and Spring 2024.

Send message to (me) Nightdoc@aol.com if you can help him. I will give him your contact information.

I would appreciate a volunteer who would make disc or thumb drive or sim card of those issues as well.  We have the early back issues available for sale through club. These issues would complete the library.

Thanks.

Summer edition of the newsletter was mailed this week.

Reviews are quite outstanding.

If you have paid your dues and not received the newsletter by 7 August please contact me

Nightdoc@aol.com

Editor pro-tem

On the topic of dues, they are due on or before the last day of 2024.

Please also volunteer or nominate another member for the club officers.

My thanks,

Jon

2024 Annual Meeting displays and photos with thanks to Brian, Greg and Jerry

 

The annual meeting of the High Standard Collectors Association was held in Greeley Colorado, as part of the Colorado Gun Collectors annual display show. The High Standard Collectors had members attending from as far away as Florida, Kentucky, Montana, California, Oregon and Washington. Members in this photo are: Bill Elliott, Greg Markel, Owen Markel, Steve Schrott, Jerry Watson, "El Presidente" Brian Rebuzzini, Russ Gray, and Bob Snider. Smokey Grant is kneeling in front row.

Several of the HSCA Members did quite well with displays, winning awards and money.

Bob Snider manning the High Standard Montana Table. He traded off with Russ Gray answering questions and selling products manufactured by the Montana Facility.

Jerry Watson and his collection of Victor Pistols. He was awarded a “Display of Merit” and $150 check by the Colorado Gun Collectors. The High Standard Collectors Association awarded the display “Judges Choice” which came with a large clear glass flame trophy.

Greg and Owen Markel with their award winning display of Owen's Hammer Guns on the right and Greg's Olympics on the left. Their combined display was awarded by the Colorado Gun Collectors, the “Best Contemporary Pistol” display with a $750 check. The High Standard Collectors Association awarded the display the “Best in Show” which came with a large clear glass flame trophy.

Display of Custom work performed by High Standard Montana.

Smokey Grant and his display of Wheel Guns and Derringers. The High Standard Collectors Association awarded the display “Most Educational” which came with a large clear glass flame trophy.

Jerry Watson's Display

Greg Markel's display

Steve Schrott taking a break from selling Currie's book to tutor Owen Markel about High Standards.

 Members from the Northwestern HSCA exhibited their collections at the 2024 Colorado Gun Collectors' Association in Greely Colorado to great acclaim including Best of Show and other awards.  Steve Schrott displayed Currie collector's book which is available on Amazon. Article and photos to follow.

The next High Standard Collectors' gathering will be on 27-28 July 2024 at the Missouri Valley Collectors' Association Summer show in Kansas City Missouri at the MCI exhibition center. 

 Google MVACA 2024 Summer Show for specifics.  This show has award winning displays from multiple collectors groups.  More information also in the HSCA newsletter.

The Northwest HSCA will also have displays in an Oregon show in late August. Details in the newsletter or contact Jerry Watson directly.

 Do you have a High Standard pistol with a cracked frame?

I have not seen one, but there is discussion of this on another forum. They do not know how commonly this occurred but imply it was a frequent problem. 

Please send me a Model and serial number so I can track it from factory records. Photos and/or descriptions would also be appreciated.

I will report results here or in the newsletter.

Jon Miller

Nightdoc@aol.com

Spring 2024 issue of the HSCA newsletter was mailed today.

 Distribution of the Spring issue of the newsletter was mailed today.

Thanks to Ken Rabeneck, Jerry Watson, Gary Hooper, Bob Snider and High Standard of Montana, Bill Jenkins, Steve Schrott, and Brian (el Presidente) Rebuzzini.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write and submit an article for the newsletter. E-mail it to Nightdoc@aol.com.  Include photos if you have them. I need articles to continue publication of the newsletter.  

Alternatively, I will start printing issues only when I get adequate articles to justify the cost of printing and mailing three instead of four times a year.

Send me a message if you have paid your 2024 dues and not received a Spring newsletter by 20 April 2024.

Newsletter editor, Pro Tem

Positive review of Currie's book

 HSCA has arrived.

Page 26 of this month's American Rifleman magazine gives a complimentary review of John Currie's High Standard Collectors book. Well done guys.

AUGUST WEST COAST HIGH STANDARD COLLECTORS MEETING IN OREGON

 The dates are August 24 & 25.  Here is a connection to the Oregon Arms Collectors website.  http://www.oregonarmscollectors.com/home.html

The web site mostly deals with the Monthly one day shows but does include the 2-day show in August.  Several of us have reservations at the Holiday Inn Portland West - Hillsbuoro, 2575 NE Aloclekl Drive, Hillsboro, OR 97124, phone 503 640 1745.  I can pick you up at Portland Airport (PDX) Or there is a train that runs out to Hillsbuoro.  This venue is much better than the old one, but is 20 miles west of the Portland Airport which is east of Portland.

 Please pass this information to all who might be interested.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Frontier Gallery LLC <fgllcdenver@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 11, 2024 at 2:33 PM
Subject: Displays
To: <bwrcww@gmail.com>, jerry watson <jerrywatson500hsca@gmail.com>

I wanted to let you know that I still have 5 display tables available in the High Standard area, just in case one of the other High Standard Collectors wants to do a display.

--

David Weddle

CGCA Show Chairman

                                                             For your information

 High Standard of Montana has forwarded copies of their rights to the High Standard trademarks.

 Hello to all of the High Standard Collectors and shooters.

Russ and I would like to thank you all for your continued support

these last four and half years. A lot has been going on for us here.

We have built four 10X's for three youth shooting teams here in

Montana. Two teams went to Colorado Springs last year with the guns we

built and placed first and then they went to Nebraska for their

national matches and placed first along with a Camp Perry style match

which they took first place as well.  We continue to attend gun shows

here in Montana and getting the name out there.

In 2019 ND 2020, we applied for and received all of the High Standard

trademarks, including the trigger logo. We have built a few

presentation blonde boxes with the Supermatic Trophies with extra

barrels for a few customers.

We have a few Bob Shea commemorative guns still available and we have

a few of the Jim Gray Commemorative guns available as well.

Some of you may not know, but we build all of our own parts, frames,

and barrels. There are some things we have to outsource such as

springs and grips. Our grips are built by Herrett stocks. They do a

wonderful job!

Russ continues to improve on the machining and is always looking at

better ways to do the job. He writes programs for the CNC machinery

and produces some amazing stuff. I won't give away all of his secrets

though!

Some of you may not know, but we brought back the Sport King as an

entry level gun. Your choice of 4.5 or 6.75 in barrel and fixed

sights. It has been quite the attraction for those who want an all

steel gun but don't necessarily need a target pistol.

We have been quite busy with repairs from customers all over the

country. It keeps us very busy for just 2 guys who want to build a

quality target pistol and support the shooting and collecting world.

I have heard that we are hard to get a hold of at times. If you have

a hard time reaching us by phone, please text or email us.

As with any fledging company, we are striving to do our best to

uphold the High Standard brand. Wait times might get long, but we do

stand behind our work and our word. Please remember, we are just two

guys doing this and we do want quality first. we know our website does

leave something to be desired, but we will at some point get a good

one going.

We always welcome comments and advice from you all. Thank you for your support!

You can reach us by email at highstandardofmt@gmail.com or by phone

at 406-590-0351. Our contact info is on the website also.

Thank you again,

Russ and Bob

 Recommended Gun Shows

Thank you Ken R.

HSCA member attended 2024 gun shows

February 24-25 - Louisville, KY, National Gun Day (nationalgunday.com)

April 6-7  - Tulsa, OK, Wanenmacher's Spring Gun Show (www.tulsaarmsshow.com)

May 18-19 - Greeley, CO, HSCA Annual Meeting,  CGCA Gun Show (CGCA.com)

July 27-28 - Kansas City, MO, MVACA Gun Show, HSCA Midwest Regional (MVACA.org)

August ??? - Portland, OR, HSCA Western Regional (check with Jerry Watson)

September 14-15 - Louisville, KY, National Gun Day (nationalgunday.com)

November 9-10 - Tulsa, OK, Wanenmacher's fall gun show (www.tulsaarmsshow.com)

Many High Standard displays will be at:

Greeley, CO - HSCA Annual Meeting 

Kansas City, MO - HSCA Midwest Regional 

Portland, OR - HSCA Western Regional 

 For those members interested in the annual HSCA meeting at the Colorado Gun show.

Thank you Ken R. for forwarding this.

THE CGCA 58th ANNUAL GUN SHOW

May 18 & 19, 2024

ISLAND GROVE EVENT CENTER

521 N 15th Ave Greeley CO 80631

Thursday, May 16: 2-8 p.m.

at the Main Entrance

Friday, May 17: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

at the Main Entrance

SET-UP Thursday May 16: 2-8 p.m.

Friday May 17: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 

OPEN TO DEALERS Saturday May 18: 8 a.m. - 5:30 P.M.

Sunday May 19: 8 a.m. - 6 P.M.

Please reserve __________ trade tables at $150.00 each and __________ display tables at $130.00 each.

I will need electrical at $35.00  Yes  No • Electric scooter rental  Yes  No 

Same Tables with Full Payment at 2023 show  Yes  No 

Badge Request (Please Print Names Clearly)

____________________________________ _____________________________________

____________________________________ _____________________________________

____________________________________ _____________________________________

I understand that I am allowed two free badges for the first table and one additional free badge for each additional table. Additional Badges purchased before May 1, 2023 will be $30 each badge pre-paid. After May 1, 2023 the badges are $40 each pre-paid before the show.

I will have the following items for sale:

1.___ Antique Firearms 6.___Other antique weapons

2.___ Commemoratives or antique replicas 7.___Collectors cartridges

3.___ Modern weapons (note restrictions)* 8.___Western art*

4.___ Books (Firearms and related) 9.___Indian art and artifacts*

5.___ Other, please specify ___________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

I am entering a competitive display  Yes  No. If so, I intend to display the following 

types of firearms...

Opinion from facebook.com 

#1 · Oct 18, 2023  (Edited)

In Colorado, we have one gun show that everyone is proud of - the annual Colorado Gun Collectors' Association show in Greeley, now in its 58th year. Most of the sellers are old, so they have stuff to sell. There is a long tradition of individual private sale tables there, although the age of most members does not give this a long future.

Only Curio-Relics and Antiques are allowed in the door at the CGCA Show. No modern guns. No black guns. 800 tables of just collectible guns and gun-related stuff. The club awards thousands of dollars in prizes for the best display tables so there's always museum-quality stuff to gaze upon and real experts around to learn from.

No clothes or food or tools or coins are allowed. Or art or jewelry, unless related to American history or by native Americans. It's the only gun show worth attending in this state all year. The other Colorado shows are shameless flea-markets.

Hotels are cheap in Greeley and the local politics are pro-gun. The lighting in the show hall is really good and parking is free. Colorado's background check and waiting period laws do not apply to C&Rs and antiques.

Many of the big internet gun auction companies like Rock Island Auctions rent tables to meet the public and promote their services.

May 18 and 19, 2024 with two days of set-up on the 16th and 17th when the table holders have an internal pre-show for each other, before the public arrives. (For a premium admission price, members of the public can access the show during set-up, also.)