I Have This Old Gun: Hi-Standard Model B

At the start of the 1930s, the Colt Woodsman was one of the most popular semi-automatic .22s available. But an upstart company called Hi-Standard began gaining ground quickly, and by the start of World War II, its Model B was one of the most popular rimfire handguns ever made, and it even saw service in World War II and beyond. Watch our "American Rifleman Television" I Have This Old Gun segment above to hear the history of the Hi-Standard Model B.

"In 1932, Hi-Sandard took over the Hartford Arms and Equipment Company and started producing .22 pistols," American Rifleman Field Editor Garry James said. "Actually, the first one was basically a gun that was produced by the Hartford. That was the Model A, and then they came out with a Model B. A lovely little gun. Blowback, 10-shot magazine, came in a couple different varieties of 6.5" barrel and a 4.5" barrel. They were sold commercially and did reasonably well, even during the Depression era."

After the United States entered World War II, the military suddenly found themselves confronted with the reality of having to train millions of men for military service. To accomplish basic marksmanship training, the Ordnance Dept. contracted for rimfire rifles and handguns, and the Hi-Standard Model B was its choice for a rimfire handgun trainer.

"That way, they didn't have to expend a lot of .45 ACP ammo, and so they made a deal with with Hi-Standard to purchase a number of Model Bs and to have them continue to produce Model Bs for them for training purposes," James said. "As a matter of fact, Hi-Standard was the only company that produced .22 training pistols for the United States military during World War II."

Using a simple straight-blowback operating system, the Hi-Standard Model B employed a fixed barrel and a reciprocating slide, and it was fed by a 10-round magazine held in place by a latch in the heel of the magazine well. The gun's distinctive, angular grip was due to the fact that the rimmed .22 Long Rifle cartridges used in the magazine had to be oriented at such an angle in order to promote reliable feeding.

"The Hi-Standard Model B in .22 is a gun that the United States military purchased 14,000 of beginning in 1942 to train soldiers in the use of side arms, small arms, throughout World War II," National Firearms Museum Director Phil Schreier said. "It was eventually replaced by the Hi-Standard HD, but at 14,000 guns that were purchased by the Ordnance Department, it played a significant role in the early days of training our soldiers in combat small arms during the Second World War."

To watch complete segments of past episodes of American Rifleman TV, go to americanrifleman.org/artv. For all-new episodes of ARTV, tune in Wednesday nights to Outdoor Channel 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.