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May 12, 2009
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Here are some bits and pieces of information based on my recent research on the High Standard MK II and MK III Sentinels manufactured by Dan Wesson.
There were 23 "sample" guns in the serial number range H 0,001 and H 0,028 which included 14 catalog number 9402 and 9 catalog number 9408. These guns shipped between April 9, 1973 and July 26, 1973.
For reference the catalog numbers High Standard used were:
9401 - 2.50" barrel, Fixed sight
9402 - 4.00" barrel, Fixed sight
9403 - 6.00" barrel ,Fixed sight
9407 - 2.50" barrel, Adjustable sight
9408 - 4.00" barrel, Adjustable sight
9409 - 6.00" barrel, Adjustable sight
In a piece of High Standard literature, they had additional catalog numbers for interchangeable barrels and extra barrel assemblies. To date I have found no indication that any of the other catalog numbers other than the six listed above were ever used. It is not uncommon for sales brochures to have information that turns out to be sales jargon (BS).
The production serial numbers run from H 10,001 through H 31,911 and H35,029 through H 35,049. These were shipped between July 1973 and June 1975. There were 21,932 guns shipped in that range. There were 535 Open records and 459 returned to stock. I have not tried to resolve the disposition of those returned to stock. Four are listed as scrap. There were 73 doubled serial numbers. Most of the doubled serial number guns were marked "-1" after the serial number
The approximate counts are:
9401 - 2,270 10.3%
9402 - 8,450 38.6%
9403 - 1,760 8.0%
9407 - 1,260 5.8%
9408 - 5,760 26.3%
9409 - 1,890 8.6%
The total number is approximately 21,400 with 12,490 fixed sight models and 8,900 adjustable sight models.
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Dans Club
December 4, 2011
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Wow, that is a lot of detail and represents a tremendous amount of work. Thanks for posting this.
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Dans Club
March 2, 2008
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John, thanks for the information.
For DWF Members who do not know John, there is no more knowledgeable or informed source of information on High Standard firearms, take a look HERE.
I wish we had as much DW info as John has for High Standards
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
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January 24, 2009
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John, thank you so much for the very thorough and detailed information. Very impressive!
Those production numbers sure explain why the 4" barrels seem to pop up more often on the various auction sites.
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Dans Club
March 25, 2013
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If I ever sell my 21/4" adjustable sight Mark iii I will have to put RARE, RARE, RARE in the heading and cite John's statistics. Thanks John for all your work. Maybe a word with President Trump would free up the DW records from the clutches of the BATF. Wasn't that one of his campaign promises? Nah! But it could have been if he knew about it!!!
May 12, 2009
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Ole Dog said
If I ever sell my 21/4" adjustable sight Mark iii I will have to put RARE, RARE, RARE in the heading and cite John's statistics. Thanks John for all your work. Maybe a word with President Trump would free up the DW records from the clutches of the BATF. Wasn't that one of his campaign promises? Nah! But it could have been if he knew about it!!!
Everybody loves the word " RARE " but few can or will quantify it. Absent a definition, I have created a table that is nearly binary but with the larger numbers rounded to easy to remember numbers.
Note that the counts are for production High Standards and does not include prototypes or experimentals which are generally produced in very small numbers.
This chart continues to vary with continued research but there are 9 unique guns and an additional 6 with a production of only two.with respect to your 2.5" with adjustable sights with a production of 1,260, that rates only not-so-common on my chart and there are at lease 227 High Standard models with production less than that.
http://www.histandard.info/PDF2015/Rarity_rating_%208-10-2015.pdf
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Dans Club
March 2, 2008
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John- The link provided goes to Server Not Found (my archived link to High Standard Information is fine, however)
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
May 12, 2009
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To put the Dan Wesson made High Standard models relative rarity within the High Standard gun line-up, the scarcest is the 9407 MK III 2.50" currently ranks 249th from the top. The 9403 MK II 6.00" ranks 276th and the 9409 MK III 6.00" ranks 282nd.
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