High Standard new X-Series guns

First topic message reminder :

If I knew back in October how much I was going to like this new gun, I would have done a few things differently.  As it was, I called Alan Aronstein from India to tell him to make one for me, and I called him last week to see if he could make it easier to rack the slide.    The new gun arrived today.  I need to get out my lights, etc., to take proper photos of the gun, but this image comes pretty close.

I'm thrilled with everything I've been learning about the gun.  A few months ago, I was seriously considering buying a Pardini.  Those thoughts vanished when I picked up this gun this morning at the FFL.  I have yet to see what the gun can do in my hands.  If I get a sight mounted tonight, I'll find out tomorrow.

I love how smoothly everything works.  I like the accessory Alan designed to make it easier to rack the slide, even while thinking it's ugly.  I like that Alan told me I can dry-fire the gun all I want for practice.  The fellow at the FFL who opened the box first thought the gun looked stunning.  To me, buying this gun for bullseye shooting is like buying a Leica for photography.  

I told Alan what kind of rail I was looking for - the rail he found me, something he made a long time ago, is perfect.  The red dot sight will be as low as the custom rail Roddy Toyota made me for my Victor.  

Changes I would love to see - for starters, make the "X-Series" lettering gold, like was done to the Victors long ago.  And make the lever to rack the slide either gold (as the fellow at the FFL suggested), or black (what I prefer).  

Roddy Toyota spent weeks making the Victor I bought as close to "perfect" as he knows how.  Alan and his technicians did things to get the same effect - everything I love about my Victor seems the same in the X-Series.

I need to try it out (hopefully tomorrow), and maybe get one of the better shooters at my club to try it.  I also need to take a lot more photos, once I get some lighting set up.  The picture I posted here came from my iPhone 11, but with a little Adobe Lightroom editing.

swissyhawk wrote:Mike - I was comparing your avatar, the old victor, with the pictures of your new one.  It looks like the thumb shelf has been lowered quite a bit.  Do you notice a difference in the grips?

I never really did answer your question.  Now that I'm shooting both guns, yes, I very much DO notice the difference.  To do the best I can with the two guns, my hand needs to use a different grip.  I don't think that's good for me, but my hand just "automatically" wants to go to the best position for each.

I think I need to order a pair of new grips from Alan.  It's confusing when my grip needs to be different when shooting two versions of essentially the same gun.

https://servimg.com/view/19883699/386


I should add that I took the new gun apart for cleaning today.  What a difference!!!   It came apart so easily, and went back together just as easily.

swissyhawk wrote:Mike - I was comparing your avatar, the old victor, with the pictures of your new one.  It looks like the thumb shelf has been lowered quite a bit.  Do you notice a difference in the grips?

I read this a while back but just now took a look at my two High Standards. My original High Standard Victor is just like Mike's older model while my Houston Citation has that flatter shelf. Allen likely carried that design over from his Houston days. I can't say I have ever noticed that it was different but I will be mindful of it when I shoot next.

John