Quality of High Standard

O

Oldschool shooter

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Stopped at a gun shop that specializes in tacticool stuff. In their used gun section they had a High Standard Deluxe .22 revolver with 6"barrel. It looked like it han hardly been shot. Price on it is $130. Were these good quality revolvers or junk? Thinking of going back later this week to get it, or should I pass?
 
At that price, run to the store and buy it. Do take a cleaning rod and brush, push it down the barrel, and make sure there is no rust or pitting inside. If the barrel is bright, the rifling sharp, check the timing, and if there are no firing pin marks on the back of the cylinder, buy, buy, buy.

The High Standard Sentinal Deluxe was an excellent revolver for the price point.


The High Standard Sentinel R-103 – RevolverGuy.Com

revolverguy.com revolverguy.com
 
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Let me pile on and say that $130 for a High Standard Sentinel Deluxe is an exceptional price in 2025. They used to be widely available at low prices but like everything else gun related, skyrocketed in cost after COVID.

Sentinels often shoot a bit high. I found that my R-101 shoots to point of aim with lighter, faster ammunition such as CCI Stingers or Federal Punch. But try several different kinds of .22s to see what your gun likes.

The DA pull is stout but with some practice is usable, especially if you debur the trigger serrations.

They can be tricky to reassemble so taking it down beyond removing the cylinder is not recommended. It's a good idea to remove the grip, cock the hammer, then hose the action out with something like Rem Oil, followed up with a blast of compressed air (canned air sold for dusting computers works well if you don't have a compressor).

I am a big fan of these revolvers.

sentinel-round-butt-l.jpg
 
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Dave Markowitz said:
Let me pile and say that $130 for a High Standard Sentinel Deluxe is an exceptional price in 2025. They used to be widely available at low prices but like everything else gun related, skyrocketed in cost after COVID.

Sentinels often shoot a bit high. I found that my R-101 shoots to point of aim with lighter, faster ammunition such as CCI Stingers or Federal Punch. But try several different kinds of .22s to see what your gun likes.

The DA pull is stout but with some practice is usable, especially if you debur the trigger serrations.

They can be tricky to reassemble so taking it down beyond removing the cylinder is not recommended. It's a good idea to remove the grip, cock the hammer, then hose the action out with something like Rem Oil, followed up with a blast of compressed air (canned air sold for dusting computers works well if you don't have a compressor).

I am a big fan of these revolvers.

View attachment 1259622
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they have a good style to them! Also Seen them locally in the sub $200 range
 
My go to .22 target, that goes to every range trip is a 2 Hi Standard semi auto. If they are anywhere near as good as the Sport King & Supermatic ! that’s a good thing
 
I have 2 Sentinels and restored a 3rd for a buddy.
All 3 eventually suffered from light-strikes in DA caused by weakened mainsprings.
Can be shimmed or replaced, but reassembly is sadistic, Holy-Inquisition-level torture.
Otherwise a good gun.
Would I buy another for $130......ugh, maybe.....
 
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It seems most folks have had better luck with High Standards than I have. In 55 years of gun ownership and probably 200 or more firearms passing through my hands I've owned two High Standards a 20 gauge pump shotgun and a double barrel derringer both were lemons. Just remembered I had a third High Standard. It was a semi automatic 22 LR pistol I bought new around 1972 don't recall the model but it couldn't fire a whole magazine without jamming at least once. It went back to the factory under warranty and came back still with the same problem. So as you can see why I've never even looked at owning another High Standard. Both the shotgun and the semi auto pistol I bought new and neither of them worked well from the start.All three of them were made in the last years of High Standard and I believe the care of mfg had dropped considerably.I'm glad some of you had good luck with yours.
 
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br549arkie said:
Items seems most folks have had better luck with High Standards than I have. In 55 years of gun ownership and probably 200 or more firearms passing through my hands I've owned two High Standards a 20 gauge pump shotgun and a double barrel derringer both were lemons.
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I still have a High Standard derringer, never had an issue with mine. I had a 12 gauge pump years ago and kick myself for getting rid of it. Probably the smoothest pump I ever owned.
 
Oldschool shooter said:
I still have a High Standard derringer, never had an issue with mine. I had a 12 gauge pump years ago and kick myself for getting rid of it. Probably the smoothest pump I ever owned.
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The derringer was supposed to fire one barrel and when you pulled the trigger again fire the other barrel . Mine would fire one barrel and on the next trigger pull it would hit the fired casing again a lot of the time instead of firing the other barrel. The pump shotgun would often jam and when it did you had to pull the trigger group out to get the jam cleared. Needless to say if you were out hunting your hunt was over.
 
Dave DeLaurant said:
Mas Ayoob is a real fan of the Sentinel -- he included it in one of his two Greatest Handguns of the World books.

I've never owned one, though back when Guns had one in their annual drawing I really lusted after the later .22 WMR version. Sort of a rimfire Dick Special.

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I had one of those with the shorter barrel. Let it go down the road due to the horrendous trigger pull. Hung on to it for a bit before selling it off however due to it being the only rimfire revolver of that size that held 9 .22 mag rounds. And to think Ruger won't take their LCR series over 6 rounds yet to this day.
 
KevininPa said:
I had one of those with the shorter barrel. Let it go down the road due to the horrendous trigger pull. Hung on to it for a bit before selling it off however due to it being the only rimfire revolver of that size that held 9 .22 mag rounds. And to think Ruger won't take their LCR series over 6 rounds yet to this day.
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I'm thinking yours may have already had the mainspring shimmed. With the unaltered, factory spring, DA pull is not that bad- maybe 13lb. If you get the shim even a couple thousandths too thick, its more like 17-18.
 
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NIGHTLORD40K said:
I'm thinking yours may have already had the mainspring shimmed. With the unaltered, factory spring, DA pull is not that bad- maybe 3lb. If you get the shim even a couple thousandths too thick, its more like 7-8.
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I really wanted to like it. All steel, nice blue, nine rounds......what's not to love? Members here gave me tips to try. Did them but still super stiff. Oh well.
 
Just yesterday, I changed the 2" barrel of my Mark 4 High Standard to a 4" for the adj sight version, bought online for under $100 in great shape. It was pretty easily done. The problem with my 2" was that it appears that somewhere along its history, somebody had put that sexy 2" barrel on from a fixed sight model onto my adjustable sight frame! Also, 2" barrels and .22 mag just don't cut it; a 4" is usable (the 2" is not much better than a NAA mini revolver) . That 2" barrel always shot extremely high, so the gun was basically an unsighted gun. When I thought about this dual cylinder, yes, I have a .22 LR cylinder, being a bug out bag special locked in my truck safe, I decided to get a correct for adjustable sight barrel for it. I have yet to test it, the new barrel does have more cylinder to barrel gap than the old one, and is .010 compared to .008. That's ok for the SHTF purposes I intend for it. BTW I do have a couple sentinels; a 2 3/8 barreled snub round butt and a 4" square butt. I have had them a great while, and the snub has digested a zillion rounds, but has been overhauled 35 years ago by a gunsmith who knew how. One just like it was the first pistol I ever shot, Chic Gaylord instructed me in his NYC ex-furrier shop vault range when I was 11 or 12, when my NYC Det. Uncle took me there Saturday mornings once in a while around 1958 or 59 !!!! The 4" Sentinel Delux model 107 is a Franzite "pearl" handled favorite of my wife and loaded with the first three of 9 rounds with CCI rat shot.
 
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It's been a long time so pardon me if I get things wrong. I carried what I remember as a double nine or something like that. It was made to look like a SA revolver but the cylinder loaded like a DA revolver and held 9 shots. Mine was nickle (?) plated and many a shot was fired through it with no problems at all. Later they came out with the Sentinel which was the same except it looked like a DA revolver. I also bought one of those but didn't shoot it a lot and it gave me no problems. This was in the 1950's. Personally I would leave it laying as old as it is and they were nothing like the quality of their semi-auto pistols.

Diamondback started making them again a few years ago. I have never seen one and have no idea if the company is still in business. They were the best new thing on RFC for awhile and then kind of faded away.
 
Can't speak to High Standard revolvers quality, but I'll stand up and be counted on the excellence of their .22 LR autos. I had a "Victor" that was as good as Smith's M41, and several team mates had several varieties of their "Supermatic" target autos. I also had a .380 which looked a lot like a Colt Pony or the modern Sig 938. Best regards, Rod
 
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