[pistolpower]

Think I got an OK deal. No box and only one mag and no barrel weights (already sounding bad ).
In any event gun is a East Hampton model with serial SH24565. Fellow forum member had advised me on what serials made up the Houston range and so walked in with that information.
As stated is just a pistol and a magazine.
Took me a while to figure out mag release.
Finish is pretty darn nice. Did look it over for any signs of fractures on the slide. I did not see any.
Price was $750. There was no negotiation as the pistol was on consignment..
Looking forward to trying it out and perhaps finding a weight for it.
No doubt you guys will tell me the folly of my ways on this one which is why we have forums like this.
But after getting my Supermatic and shooting it and being told that the Victor might be even a better target pistol, I took the opportunity to get one.

 

[webfoot56]

Nice looking pistol! You should get great shooting out of that pistol. You will enjoy it. I have 2 victors luv them both!

 

[pistolpower]

After purchase research. Actually read this article last week and did not pickup up on this comment from forum member LDBennett:
"The SH series guns are the very last Hi Std series (with the screw takedown) produced by the dying Connecticut Hi Std company. They took short cuts on some guns. They were fighting for survival, not trying to produce one of the best target pistols of the period. I personally have seen an example of those short cuts and would not buy an SH gun no matter how good the deal was. The one exception is the SH guns marked "10X". Those were made of premium hand selected parts by some of the best Hi Std gunsmiths. They were meant purely for competition.Their performance exceeded even the best of regular production guns. But the finish was bead blasted appearing dull."

 

[W8LON]

My screw mount 107 Sport King’s factory barrel was horrible. Chamber looks like was done with a hand drill and larger diameter at leade. No doubt why it still looked as new as all cases stuck in chamber. Always wanted a Victor so made one out of it! Still have the factory barrel and will likely put a SS liner in it one day as staying in the black from a machine rest was doubtful.

 

[RCrosby257]

Had an early CT Victor that I had to return to the factory after it went full auto on me.
No issues after it was returned but I eventually traded it for one of the slant grip Supermatics that fit my hand better.
Shoot an enjoy.

 

[HSWayne]

The serial number indicates your new Victor was made in 1982. The noticeable slip in quality of finish/fit became more evident in 1983 and 1984. Your gun looks like a nicely finished gun and should serve you well.

The "dreaded" frame crack is most often observed in the right rear corner of the magazine well of the frame. The area can easily be observed with the slide removed. The slides do not generally have a problem with cracks. The frame crack usually is associated with high round count and/or high velocity ammo.

 

[pistolpower]

The serial number indicates your new Victor was made in 1982. The noticeable slip in quality of finish/fit became more evident in 1983 and 1984. Your gun looks like a nicely finished gun and should serve you well.

The "dreaded" frame crack is most often observed in the right rear corner of the magazine well of the frame. The area can easily be observed with the slide removed. The slides do not generally have a problem with cracks. The frame crack usually is associated with high round count and/or high velocity ammo.

Thanks for the information. I only knew it was made between 81 an d84 (; When I get home today, I plan to take it down and get a better look at it. Plan to take it and my recently repaired supermatic to the indoor range tomorrow after work and compare performance. Hoping the mags interchange pretty well.

 

[pistolpower]

Got the pistol home and did a basic take down and clean up. Barrel bore/rifling appears fine. No sign of any frame or slide cracks. Found one screw pretty loose...the screw holding the plate retaining the safety. used blue loctite on any screws removed.
Pretty dirty under the slide.
Looking forward to getting it to the range tomorrow.
Kind of like the use of a take down bolt as opposed to push button or lever. So have one of each method now.

 

[HIghstandardguy]

pistolpower,

Not sure where you got the idea that you can not negotiate the price of a consignment item. That's the choice of the deaIer, whether they will bother to contact the owner with an offer since it means they will make less money on the sale. I rarely pay the asking price for them.

 

[pistolpower]

pistolpower,

Not sure where you got the idea that you can not negotiate the price of a consignment item. That's the choice of the deaIer, whether they will bother to contact the owner with an offer since it means they will make less money on the sale. I rarely pay the asking price for them.

In this case, it was the timely negotiation. Gun shop owner said he only saw or talked the gun owner every three weeks or so. In reality I am not much of a negotiator anyway and tend to buy on impulse.

 

[cookmonsta]

Sweeeeeet

 

[W8LON]

I think you will be happy with your latest acquisition. My only issue was the reject barrel they happened to assemble it with. Th rest of fit and finish is much better than most manufacturers of that era and far better than current manufacturers. I have zero issues with aftermarket magazines as well. Always wanted a Victor after my older brother bought his in the mid seventies. Watched him shoot flushed Grouse out of the air several times with his and would outshoot most rifles at fifty yards. Like a fool he sold his and never found anything that would replace it as an extension of his arm.

 

[LDBennett]

While I may not have chosen a SH (other than the X model) the gun chosen looks nice. That's probably because it was an earlier SH. Remember a few things with any Hi Std target gun:
Use only Standard Velocity ammo (box rated at about 1080 FPS for 40 gr bullet)**
Replace the recoil spring initially and every 10 to 15 thousand rounds there after
Use either the OEM 5.5 pound spring or the variable rate 6 pound Wolff spring
Keep that takedown screw tight
Original mags and Interarms Texas mags are best and Triple K mags are problems
Use Interarms Texas (Alan Aronstein ) for service and parts

For any model after the 107, the location of the factory would be East Hartford or Hamden. Over the years the Connecticut company moved multiple times. But ML and SH models would only have been marked as made in one of those two locations. SH would only be East Hartford.

LDBennett
** CCI Standard velocity is a relatively inexpensive choice and is the choice of many Bullseye shooters. It is accurate, relatively less expensive, reliable and has been in the past relatively easy to find.

 

[pistolpower]

While I may not have chosen a SH (other than the X model) the gun chosen looks nice. That's probably because it was an earlier SH. Remember a few things with any Hi Std target gun:
Use only Standard Velocity ammo (box rated at about 1080 FPS for 40 gr bullet)**
Replace the recoil spring initially and every 10 to 15 thousand rounds there after
Use either the OEM 5.5 pound spring or the variable rate 6 pound Wolff spring
Keep that takedown screw tight
Original mags and Interarms Texas mags are best and Triple K mags are problems
Use Interarms Texas (Alan Aronstein ) for service and parts

For any model after the 107, the location of the factory would be East Hartford or Hamden. Over the years the Connecticut company moved multiple times. But ML and SH models would only have been marked as made in one of those two locations. SH would only be East Hartford.

LDBennett
** CCI Standard velocity is a relatively inexpensive choice and is the choice of many Bullseye shooters. It is accurate, relatively less expensive, reliable and has been in the past relatively easy to find.

SOMEHOW I managed to delete my last post with details of my first range session.

I was jokingly suggesting to myself after post purchase research discovered the possible err of my ways in acquiring the SH model that some of you super knowledgeable HS guys should create a simple chart for each model indicating best to worst to acquire. For instance, I thought I was doing good not getting a Houston model, not knowing that underneath the East Hartford models there were other preferences.
I used Interarmstx for work on my recently acquired Supermatic (believe it to be first generation built in 1952) and it came bag functioning much better. I plan to see Alan's operation this Friday when I am in Houston for Thanksgiving and want to go by there and buy some mags for the Victor.
Definitely was told about the SV over higher velocity ammo and have a special ammo box just for SV and lower velocity - tried some 700FPS for grins, not much use in a semi. There is a lot of CCI in there, but wanting to try others. For instance when shooting my Supermatic the other day had best overall performance with Federal Match. Thinking my higher velocity ammo will only be used in my bolt action/lever action rifles and us SV for my pistols including my new Mark IV Lite. My single six might see some high velocity stuff.

 

[pistolpower]

Kind of rehash my first range experience with the Victor. Kind of put it up against my new to me Supermatic.
First off, both pistols are whole lot more accurate than I can ever hope to be. Would be a joy to see a marksman shoot these things.
Me, mehhh, a 63-year-old with corrected vision has his limitations.
The Victor would not use my Supermatic magazines and worked so-so with some mags I had for my Sport King (had it since the sixth grade - but not necessarily the mags).
All errors were failure to feed and usually the projectile stuck in to the top of the barrel chamber. I had a few that would not go in full battery. No FTEs or the like. Just failure to feed. Only one or two "light strikes." I shot about 150 rounds per gun. Mostly CCI SV. Some federal Match and another SV variety I had in my box.
Of course at 15 yards, my accuracy was pretty good. At 20 yards, still not bad and at 25 it kind of sucked. Might consider a different set of sights for the Victor.

 

[LDBennett]

Alan can provide his mags or adjust yours. These guns have only a vestige of a feed ramp (unlike most modern guns). And the mag must present the bullet nose to the chamber perfectly to get reliable feeding. The hitting of the bullet nose to the top edge of the chamber is a definite sign that the mag lips need attention.

As for the Houston guns, the early ones had problems that eventually were solved by Alan during production. My early Texas Trophy looked great but had serious feeding problems due to a frame casting problem. Alan changed it out in the day and the latest frames were excellent. Mine now has the stainless frame with a blued slide and shoots fantastically. Alan also corrected some of the crude early fitting by his then new employees. The gun is now excellent.

I also have an ML East Hartford Victor. It looks great and shoots great (as does the Houston Trophy). Very early Hamden guns differ from my ML only in the polishing of the frame and slide. Collectors differentiate between Hamden and East Hartford guns but the reality is, all Hi Std target guns out shoot the shooters. ML's are the bargain shooter guns of the Hi Std family. Collectors march to a different tune!

LDBennett

 

[John J Stimson II]

While I may not have chosen a SH (other than the X model) the gun chosen looks nice. That's probably because it was an earlier SH. Remember a few things with any Hi Std target gun:
Use only Standard Velocity ammo (box rated at about 1080 FPS for 40 gr bullet)**
Replace the recoil spring initially and every 10 to 15 thousand rounds there after
Use either the OEM 5.5 pound spring or the variable rate 6 pound Wolff spring
Keep that takedown screw tight
Original mags and Interarms Texas mags are best and Triple K mags are problems
Use Interarms Texas (Alan Aronstein ) for service and parts

For any model after the 107, the location of the factory would be East Hartford or Hamden. Over the years the Connecticut company moved multiple times. But ML and SH models would only have been marked as made in one of those two locations. SH would only be East Hartford.

LDBennett
** CCI Standard velocity is a relatively inexpensive choice and is the choice of many Bullseye shooters. It is accurate, relatively less expensive, reliable and has been in the past relatively easy to find.

During the later part of the SH serial numbers there were models included in that group that were only manufactured in Hamden. It is difficult to make a simple declaritive statement that doesn't have an exception when talking about High Standard guns. Here were east Hartford 107s in the SH serial number range. I have a 107 series Victor with an SH serial number and have found a number of others through my research.

 

[John J Stimson II]

I was jokingly suggesting to myself after post purchase research discovered the possible err of my ways in acquiring the SH model that some of you super knowledgeable HS guys should create a simple chart for each model indicating best to worst to acquire.

Any such list would be purely subjective and not necessarily one that everyone would agree on. My experiences will not necessarily agree with others. My experiences with magazines is very different from most peoples. I have not had feeding problems with High Stadnard magazines and there is a lot of talk about adjusting magazines on this and other forums. My experience is pretty broad as I have fired probably 150 High Standard pistols from my collection even larger collection. My excperience is not limited to the .22 pistols as I have a few 9mm pistols amd some semi auto centerfire rifles.

 

[LDBennett]

So John, you are saying that at some point High Standard maintained two facilities (East Hartford and Hamden) and that some SH guns were marked with either adress? And are you saying some ML (East Hartford 107's) carried SH serial numbers (with or without the SH marking)? In the last days of Connecticut High Standard is it possible that they were using up previously marked or problem parts from Hamden days and in their haste to close up shop mistakes were made in the markings of serial numbers?

All this serial number markings issues is meaningless to shooters. I think the poster is a shooter not a collector and as long as the gun shoots well and is presentable for fit and finish, I suspect he will find the gun to his liking! The accuracy over the years, regardless of the manufacturing at various locations, has always been stellar. Fit and finish may have varied but in most cases over the years these guns have been an excellent choice for a target gun. Just my opinion and other's opinions may vary.

LDBennett

 

[LDBennett]

For magazines, original real Hi Std magazines have not been problematical, in general. Latest Interarms Texas magazines have the same reputation once tuned to the gun. The problem mags have been the Triple K mags with their un-hardened feed lips that MAY loose their tune quickly with use.
LDBennett