Hartford Arms Display HSCA Annual Meeting

Anyone Going to the SHOT Show?

Are any of the HSCA members planning on attending the SHOT Show in Las Vegas in January? I will be there in the High Standard booth at times, but I'm sure any HS Collectors at the show will have the HS booth at the top of their list!

January 2016 Newsletter

The January, 2016 issue of the HSCA Newsletter was mailed Wednesday, Dec. 30 to the current 2016 HSCA members.  If you are not paid up for 2016, the newsletter was not mailed to you.

Thanks to the contributors to this issue:
jon Miller, Stan Chapman, Tom Horner, Scott Archer, Jerry Watson, Brian Rebuzzini, Jim Gray, Wayne Davis, Steve Schrott, Dick Baker, Alan Aronstein, John Stimson, Steve Stafford, Marcia Mighell and Ralph Boineau.

Records and Rumors

 

Records and rumors.

 

In my interviews with many sources, I've heard some interesting stories about Gus Swebilius.  Carl Gustave Swebilius emigrated from Sweden as a young man. He was one of the founding members and later President of what become High Standard.

        I cannot confirm any authenticity, but here they are:

 

Gus was  a hands on type of guy.  He made a model of the firearm and then sent the model to the engineers to make drawings.

 

He would go out with the crew for late night bowling and drinking.  (High Standard supported several athletic clubs including baseball, golf, archery, bowling, basketball and others.)  Late one night/early morning Gus had was making his way home after being over-served at a bowling league.  He reportedly commandeered a milk wagon to get home without permission.

 

During WWII Gus hired a "colored" engineer for the plant.  This upset the other engineers to the point that they went to his office with an ultimatum.  "Either you fire him or we all quit."

Gus responded "Sorry to hear that, I will sure miss you fellows."

 

Here is a story not related to Gus.

 

High Standard produced silenced .22 caliber pistols for the OSS in WWII.  That is fact.

The head of OSS was Medal of Honor recipient Wild Bill Donovan. (This Donovan was never a High Standard employee.)  The story circulated is that Donovan took one of the USA Model HD M/S pistols and a sand bag into the Oval Office where President Roosevelt was dictating a letter to a typist.  Reportedly Donovan was able to fire a magazine of bullets into the sand bag in a trash can without the President noticing.  Donovan withdrew the magazine and presented the pistol the Commander in Chief.  Roosevelt said "Bill, you are the only ******Republican I know who I would trust to do something like that." 

 

One of the M/S pistols went to Roosevelt's home for some time until it was discovered that it was still a classified military weapon.  It was subsequently returned to OSS.

 

Good tales.  Possibly based in truth.

 

 

 

 

How much restoration is appropriate?

Well, I recently bought a well used Sport-King.  It was poorly stored and developed some rust pitting at the rear top of the slide.  So after some discussion with friends, I was wondering how much "restoration" should a collector do in this sort of situation?

I felt that honest wear such as the patina on the grip should remain, but damage such as rusting from careless handling could be improved upon since the collector value has already been impacted.   It seems to me that cleaning, only the rusty area of the slide with steel wool and re-blueing the area might be a reasonable thing to do.

So, any thoughts?

High Standard 12" Steel Competition Pistol

That cool 10" Hartford Arms in the post just below got me thinking (dangerous, that!) maybe I have a picture of my original 12" custom carbon fiber barreled High Standard.

This is the pistol I shot the first time I entered the Steel Challenge world championships eight or ten years ago.

I realized that the level of competition was going to be beyond anything I had ever seen before, and my goal was to shoot the match and just not be dead last in Rimfire Open Division. Although I didn't exactly set the world on fire with blazing speed, the long barrel and the fact that it was a High Standard, a marque seldom seem in speed steel shooting events, definitely got some attention.

....... and yes, I wasn't dead last! WOO HOO!

Hartford Arms pictures

Below 10" barreled Hartford single shot #4,  Photo of (2) 22 SHORT Mdl 1925's inc. box, period advertisement listing 22 SHORT Mdl 1925 for retail sale.

A Counterfeit High Standard is Found Out

I had no idea that there were people counterfeiting High Standard Pistols by converting a less expensive model to look like a rare and valuable one.

In case you missed it in the Comments to a previous post regarding counterfeit High Standard Slant Grip Victors, check this out:

COMMENTS:

1. Wayne DavisNovember 10, 2015 at 6:50 PM

   One correction: the highest serial number for a slant grip Victor is 2,460,614 according to John Stimson.

   Reply
2. 
   John StimsonNovember 11, 2015 at 10:58 AM

   There is another fraudulent slant grip Victor that visually is close to perfect from the photo I have seen. However the serial number is for a catalog number 9205. Not only the serial number log but the invoice confirms the fraud.

   Reply
3. 
   Wayne DavisNovember 12, 2015 at 7:39 PM

   So the final selling price for this pistol was $2275. Yikes!

   Reply
4. 
   UnknownNovember 28, 2015 at 2:59 AM

   Hello guys:
   
   I'm the guy who purchased the gun...Here is the good part of the story; had I not located this collector group web site yesterday, I would have been stuck with the gun. However, the seller has agreed to take the gun back from me and we're working on that now.
   
   So, all I can say gents is; THANK YOU for being out there keeping an eye on things like this.
   
   And, I plan on sending back the 102 I purchased just recently which I haven't received yet..
   
   Fred Olsen
   fredolsen59@gmail.com

   Reply
5. 
   AnonymousNovember 28, 2015 at 8:01 AM

   Thank you for posting these pictures side-by-side for comparison. Worth way more than a thousand words.
   This is the type over valuable information that makes it worth the money to join!

   Reply
6. 
   Wayne DavisDecember 3, 2015 at 6:07 AM

   Fred, I appreciate your reply concerning this pistol and the 102 pistol you also purchased. I am glad you are getting your refunds. This new weblog and John Stimson's www.histandard.info site are good places for High Standard aficionados to obtain valuable information concerning these guns.
   
   We hope this weblog will be a resource for collectors in the future.

Presidential Welcome

On behalf of fellow members, the HSCA Board of Directors and myself, I welcome you to the High Standard Collectors' Association Blog.

We present to you an interactive blog for communication between enthusiasts who collect, research and shoot High Standards.  We present the opportunity to publish photos and commentary and to actively participate in our association.

HSCA is a group of friends who have annual meetings and regional meetings to display our collections and talk  about them. We meet to enjoy the camaraderie of like minded collectors.  We Have FUN.

Ken and Mickey Rabeneck publish our exemplary newsletter.  It contains pictures and information on High Standards, their maintenance, the company and employees and even its predecessors Fiala and Hartford pistols.

John Stimson's website is another  research resource information.

Many thanks to Mike Gallion who created and monitors this website.  You had a great idea and executed it well.  Good job.

Welcome,

jon Miller, president
High Standard Collectors' Association

Louisville KY Blogger Help Request

Is there a blogger in Louisville who is familiar with and regularly using Blogger who would be willing to give another Louisville (Soon-to-be) gun blogger a hand with the basics of how to use Blogger to post stuff? As other Blogger users know, it's pretty easy to use, but if you are not familiar with it, you can have a bit of trouble in the beginning.

I am a member of the High Standard Collectors' Association, and I am in the process of setting up a public Blogger blog primarily for HSCA members, but available for reading by anyone interested in High Standards. Jon, our President, could use a hand getting started. Anyone in the area that can help?

THANKS!

Hartford Arms

Happy Holidays everyone!  Looking forward to posting soon!  If you are on Facebook check out my page Hartford Arms And Equipment Company.  Stefan Cohn