22LR pistols - High Standard, Smith Wesson 41 - any love?

BP7

BP7

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would this be the right section to ask about & talk about the HS 22s and Smith's model 41 pistols? having shot an older HS on wednesday, i'm thinking that if i do buy a 22 it'll be something of that 'caliber' :p

haven't seen anyone mention the HS stuff at all, and the 41 only came up once. what's the overall take on these? i've shot the ruger and buckmark stuff as well as the HS (but not a 41 just yet). what can the more experienced shooters tell me about these guns (or other guns in this price / feel range)?
 
I'm pretty happy with my S&W Model 41:

-Excellent trigger
-Nice fit and finish and overall "quality" feeling
-Super quick and easy field stripping
-Reliable with most ammo brands I've tried, including high velocity and target types

The best ones seem to be the older ones with the cocking indicator pin at the back of the frame and serial number beginning with an 'A'.

High Standards are also nice pistols, but should only be used with standard velocity ammo, as they are otherwise prone to developing frame cracks.
 
tjhaile said:
I'm pretty happy with my S&W Model 41:

-Excellent trigger
-Nice fit and finish and overall "quality" feeling
-Super quick and easy field stripping
-Reliable with most ammo brands I've tried, including high velocity and target types
Click to expand...
Agreed. I have owned my 41 for years and it's by far the best shooter with an excellent trigger and the finish is beautiful. It don't seem to like the very light or quieter rounds much but who needs those for shooting at the range anyway.;)
 
There are couple 41's at our club and I have had acouple,
one is very nice, will shoot about anything, the other is a
jam-o matic, chamber must be cleaned evey few rounds.

As a Hi Standard collector/ dealer /shooter for years, I lean
that way, And in 30 years of collecting , I have never seen a
cracked frame on a hi-end Hi-Standard pistol ( That is about 30 guns).

I must admit that the most trouble free gun I shoot is a old Hammerli
215 model, I have shoot 3 or 4 boxed of Fed 525 bulk pack and also
Fed Gold Match ammo and have NEVER had one f.t.f, misfire or f.t. eject.

I can't say that about S-W 41 or most of my Hi-Standards,
I have a olympic model that is 100% so far.

Any one of these guns will last you a life time.
 
Personally I would buy a Walther KSP or if you have lots of $$$$ a new GSP or SSP !
Lots of 41's owned by the guys I shoot with and they are mostly all jam-o-matics, or finnicky to say the least. HS seem to have better functionality. 41's look nicer but come with alibis's as we say......
 
I personally love the 41 and own a 7.5 inch model. They do prefer a good ammo but i've had good luck with the CTC Winchester expert silver box 500 round packs. Never had a misfire I could attribute to the gun.....
 
I just got a model 41 with 2 barrels off the EE delivered on Wednesday. It is my first handgun so I have nothing to compare it to other than shooting a clip or two through a couple other makes. I have shot about 600 rounds through it already just trying to find out which ammo it likes the best and even though some of the ammo definatly didn't work well, I found that the winchester wildcats worked great. Only a couple ftf or fte in about 400 rounds once I switched to the wildcats. I'm sure I may find another kind of ammo that will work better but until I get to a store that has more than 3 or 4 kinds I'll keep shooting these and have fun learning. I still have a goofy grin on my face from shooting it. I like it alot...but then again I have no real experiance with others to compare to.
It is a breeze to take apart to clean, and like the previous owner said "you would have to take your time for it to take longer than 20 seconds to change the barrels".
It's new to me but I got a feeling it will be one of the guns in the keep forever pile.
 
I enjoy shooting my M41, not a problem with it so far....it's pushing 50yrs old, and get's a steady diet of Winchester T-22's.

Some have mentioned jamming problems. My experience has been that if you're having problems with a .22 jamming, try cleaning the breech face, chamber and the extractor first. Burnt power seems to get packed in and it screws up the extraction process. .22 rounds seem to burn pretty dirty, at least some brands do. So I would make sure you're dealing with a clean mechanism before you blame the gun straight away.

I also understand that the original M41 design is based upon firing sub-sonic cartridges. Of the CCI sub-sonic variety I believe. After all, it's a target pistol.

While some M41's might cycle the HV rounds OK as build, the recoil spring is really for sub-sonic stuff. My spin is that the slide gets moving too quickly and bounces back with greater speed when it bottoms out. This can occasionally trap the spent shell in the breech. It also beats the snot out of the slide over time. Worn out recoil springs will do the same sort of thing.

You can be easily change the recoil spring to one better suited to the HV cartridges if you're having problems while firing HV rounds. The kicker will be, that it will not likely cycle the sub-sonic rounds 'cuz they aren't strong enough to compress the spring completely

Like cars some guns end up being lemons, so there's probably some M41's out there that cause some shooter grief no matter what.
 
thx. i haven't shot (or handled) a S&W 41 just yet, but seems that the controls on it are much more like a regular automatic pistol. i've shot a HS and while i liked the trigger, i hated the safety / slide release controls (or maybe i was using them totally wrong)

anyone ever use the Ultimate Cliploader with M41 magazines? does it work? what about the HS magazines? the ability to quickly load up a few magazines (and finding magazines to buy as spares) will likely be a factor in my decision.
 
I used to have a High Standard H-D Military and it was a great pistol. It fit in my hand like a glove and the pistol felt really "natural". Out of all the ammo I fired I never once had a jam of any sort. For the money they really are a great pistol - I only sold mine to fund my other firearms.
 
got a chance to shoot a HS Supermatic Trophy as well as a Smith 41 back-to-back today. i gotta say that i like the Smith a fair bit more than the HS - everything is nicer on it and i got better groups right off the bat with the 41 than i did with the HS (even though i had shot the HS before).
 
I haven't shot either in a long time,but I just purchased a new Model 41 last week.New ones can be found for very good prices in the U.S.A.,and imported for much less than the asking price in Canada.It looks like mine will be less than $1100 after all expenses are paid.
 
I like my High Standard Victor. Its doesn't seem picky about ammo. I think both guns have great reputations, and I'd just watch for whatever I could get a good deal on. High Standard had many models, so its not really fair to lump them all into one bunch and compare them to a single model of S&W 41. The Victor is near the top end of the High Standard line, having a sight rail that is affixed to the top of the barrel. Also, High Standards were produced by at least 4 factories to date. Their qualities varied, so its best to research the one you are interested in. I believe mine was made in Hamden in the 60s or 70s.
 
are new High Standards still good quality? and what's special about the Victor model? i've had that particular one recommended to me by a few people, but i've only ever seen / handled / shot the Supermatic Trophy, and looked fairly old.
 
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