High Standard pistol question:
OK High standard buffs,
I've heard that the old Conn models are supposed to be the best, but how good/bad are the newer Texas made guns?
In what way are they inferior to the old guns? (Less accurate, worse finish, etc). Will the Texas guns take parts from the older guns, like barrels, grips, magazines?
What's a reasonable price range for a used but excellent condition Texas-made Victor with original box and papers?
I've heard that the old Conn models are supposed to be the best, but how good/bad are the newer Texas made guns?
In what way are they inferior to the old guns? (Less accurate, worse finish, etc). Will the Texas guns take parts from the older guns, like barrels, grips, magazines?
What's a reasonable price range for a used but excellent condition Texas-made Victor with original box and papers?
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94 to 2000 was a bad time for houston. we all called them low standards! theyve cleaned up their QA act and their guns are back on (higher standards.) the only reason houston guns were bad at first was al arenstein didnt invest in good labor and QA was poor. the co. has been turned over to new management now and they are getting their act together and listening to customers. early houston guns are still almost 1/2 the cost of collectible hamden guns. the new ones are bringing fare market for a 22 of its quality and still surpass run of the mill rugers. 0 -
Beantown, here is a Texas Victor made in 2002 up on auction right here on GB http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=26668294. As a rule I don't shill for people and I have no idea of the fair value on this pistol but I bought a Beretta from this same seller and he proved to be a great guy to deal with.
"Nothing can ever be made 'idiot proof' because idiots are simply too clever"!
Mark T. Christian0 -
Hello not to be one of the "THEY DONT BUILD THEM LIKE THEY USED TO CROWD" one thing most people dislike about the TEXAS H.S. is it is investment cast not forged like the early ones . When it comes to PISTOLS the workmanship and Quaility of the tooling to make the gun is the differance between a lifetime of trouble free use or nagging problems from the day you get it. just IMHO.It has taken Winchester allmost 40 years to get back "CLOSE" to were they were with the PRE 64 model 70 0 -
perry.....when did hi std switch to cast? circa 90's guns were forged. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by mark christian
Beantown, here is a Texas Victor made in 2002 up on auction right here on GB http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=26668294. As a rule I don't shill for people and I have no idea of the fair value on this pistol but I bought a Beretta from this same seller and he proved to be a great guy to deal with.
I did see that one; thanks, Mark.
The problem is, I can't buy it (or most HS pistols) since High Standards are non-MA compliant, meaning if I want one legally, I have to find one in the State of MA.
I recently saw an MA compliant Texas gun at what I think is a decent price, but I'd rather not touch it (at any price) if it isn't an accurate, well-built pistol and will malfunction. So that's really what I want to know. I don't know the exact year of manufacture, but it has to be before '98, and I'm guessing its probably early 90s. That would put this one in the bad QC category.
The way I look at it, even these Texas High Standards have got to be better than Ruger .22 autos, but for $500 you can do a lot of nice things to the Rugers, too. If this gun has problems will Texas High Standard stand behind it and fix it?0 -
Hello bobski the guns made today or some of the first ones from the new H.S. co that I looked at WERE investment cast. either that or some one used another manu. frame I thought all the "LIGHTNINGS" were SS. 0 -
My 2 cents on Hi-Standards.......The earlier Hi-Standards are one of the best American guns for high end competition.........BUT HI-STANDARD FRAMES CRACK........most of the time on the left side (barrel front)the rail will begin with a hair-line crack. If I remember rite the wall thichness is under 1/16" right below the rail where the V shaped sear bar spring seats.
If you find an older Hi-Standard look carefully at that rail (magnifield glass)
I'm talking about a heavily used gun like 10,000 + rd's a year.
I must have 4 to 5 cracked frames here were people tried to repair one way or other. The wall thickness of .040 to .050 does not give enough support for this gun to go the distance. So they were traded in on S&W 41's. The S&W 41 another excellent gun and better built but just did not have that extra finesse that the Hi-Standards had.
The one's made by Mitchell Arms SO-SO
The newer one's I do not know
What the Masters and HI-Masters Shooters were doing were buying HI-Standard Military Trophys, Victors maybe 3 to 4 at a time and shooting the hell out of them just to the point where they could be traded in without that crack being detected.
If a Sunday shooter bought one it would probably last him his life time, he would never know and he would be happy.0 -
high standard info up date,
the new managament of the houston high standard did try to upgrade quality but they ran a foul of a. aronstien ,who still controls the name, and the one being made today if any at all, are just like all the post 1997/98 models 'assembled by non-gunsmiths'.
i worked for high standard in houston between 1993 and 1999. about the only thing i can say they did right when they started manufacturing the high standard in houston was to purchase a very large quanity of rifled barrel blanks from the same company who manufactured barrels for original conn. operations. the barrels of the houston built guns are every bit as accurate as any high stantard. finish on a gun has no bering on how well it shoots fit of the parts to the frame will definately effect accuracy. houston high standards have never had the quality finish of the conn. guns but most have the ability to shoot one hole groups if the shooter does his job. if any one would like to know which are the best houston made gun look for those with the "AF" letter code in the serial number and the early numbers in 2,600,000. i personally would stay away from anything with a number higher than 2,602,000.
in regards to cast frame versus forged frames, it is very hard to tell the difference between a good cast frame and a forged one. i am not real sure but i believe there are some late conn. high standards that have cast frames. the problem encountered with cast frames is if the company doing the casting doesn't know what they are doing then the casting are bad. when you combine bad machining with bad castings you have a problem and this is what happened to the houston built high standards
during my time with houston high standard we didn't have any different problems that the conn. built models if you discount finish. the magazines can cause problems no matter where it was built because when you don't have a feed ramp to guide the cartridge into the chamber problems will occur. i will have to admit that conn. built magazines are far better than houston magazines. to my knowledge houston never got the magazine production right. and is now relying on tripple k magazines that are reheat treated but this is tricky also as they can turn out very brittle and can not be adjusted properly.
not to brag, but to state how good some houston built high standards are, the last houston 10X i built won the very first match it was shot in. it was shipped to a nebraska gun club where the president shot it in a match the day it was recieved without any adjustments, in other words straight out of the box.
in closing i agree any high standard is better than the rugers its just a matter if you want to take the time and money to make then shoot right and this also applies to conn. built guns. another thought that just occured to me is if you want a high stahdard military grip with the very best and tightest barrel to frame fit get one of the "sh" series that uses a screw to hold the barrel to the frame.
bill0 -
thanks for the update gorforth. fyi, i have in my possession the very last AF serial number gun to leave the factory, NIB documented. (arenstein faqua...AF) hows bob shea these days? i havent seen him since he shot his hand with a derringer by mistake. i helped him take down his christmas lights on his house that season! whats with al anyway...why wont he make a good gun? does he still make those red framed guns because the temp was wrong in the blueing tanks?[:p]
former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, former navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction. NRA certified instructor.0 -
Bobski . Bob Shea was at Perry this year and looked great compared to a few years ago. 0 -
keep in mind, a few years ago he lost his wife. 0
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