The High Standard Model 10 (HS10) is a
gas operated
Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent ...
,
semi-automatic shotgun
A semi-automatic shotgun is a repeating shotgun with a semi-automatic action, i.e. capable of automatically chambering a new shell after each firing, but requires individual trigger-pull to manually actuate each shot. Semi-automatic shotguns us ...
that was manufactured by the
High Standard Manufacturing Company
High Standard Firearms was an American manufacturer of firearms, based in Houston, Texas. The company was founded in New Haven, Connecticut in 1926 as a supplier to the numerous firearms companies in the Connecticut Valley. It was based in New ...
of
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 census.
History
The peaceful tribe of Quinnipiacs were the first residents of the ...
. It is easily recognized by its
bullpup
A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...
design, rotatable shoulder
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
, and integrated
flashlight
A flashlight ( US, Canada) or torch ( UK, Australia) is a portable hand-held electric lamp. Formerly, the light source typically was a miniature incandescent light bulb, but these have been displaced by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) since the ...
.
History and design
The basic design of the Model 10 shotgun was developed in the late 1950s by Alfred Crouch, a
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
. Crouch's goal was to create the ultimate entry shotgun for
SWAT
In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
and tactical units. His original design used a modified
Remington
Remington may refer to:
Organizations
* Remington Arms, American firearms manufacturer
* Remington Rand, American computer manufacturer
* Remington Products, American manufacturer of shavers and haircare products
* Remington College, American c ...
semi-automatic shotgun.
In the mid 1960s, Crouch sold his design to the High Standard Manufacturing Company, who used their C1200 Supermatic shotgun as the basis for the first model, the 10A. The C1200 Supermatic was modified by replacing the stock, relocating the
trigger
Trigger may refer to:
Notable animals and people
;Mononym
* Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers
;Nickname
* Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist
* "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster
;Surname
* Bru ...
assembly, and fitting a three-piece
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
shell around the
receiver and first half of the
barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...
. The rearward piece of the shell provided an attachment point for the rotatable shoulder stock. The lower piece of the shell provided the grip. Since the trigger assembly was moved forward to accommodate the bullpup design, a rod that connected the new and original trigger locations was used to allow minimal modifications to the original receiver.
![High Standard 10A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/High_Standard_10A.jpg)
Although the standard capacity of the Model 10 is 4 shells, there was a
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
tube extension available which would increase the capacity to 6 shells.
On the early model shotgun the 10A, the upper plastic section also housed the built-in flashlight and carrying handle.
The later model shotgun the 10B was improved with a left-hand charging handle, flip-up front sight, and utilized the new flashlight mount/carrying handle mounting block (which doubles as the carrying handle mount) as the rear sight. The "
Kel-Lite
Kel-Lite was the first heavy-duty aluminum bodied flashlight, which became popular with law enforcement agencies due to its heavy construction. They were designed to be carried in place of a police baton and also provide light. The eponymous compa ...
" branded flashlight can be removed, as it is attached to the aforementioned mounting block.
Service
Originally, the Model 10 was sold to law enforcement only. The concept of this shotgun was quite interesting to many police agencies who adopted the Model 10 in the late 1960s and early 1970s; however, most of the agencies found many shortcomings, and ultimately ceased using the Model 10.
The most common problem was the failure to cycle correctly. According to the instructions on the Model 10, only magnum or "high brass" shells were to be used. However, even with the correct shells, the action would sometimes fail to cycle reliably. Other problems that plagued the shotgun were the rough and unpredictable trigger feel, the strange rotatable shoulder stock, and the tendency of the
recoil
Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force requ ...
to cause the flashlight's
batteries to become damaged.
Another problem was that the Model 10 could only be fired from the right arm, as the gun ejected spent cartridges from the right side of the unit with a high force. There is a warning on the right side of the shotgun reading "CAUTION - DO NOT SHOOT FROM LEFT SHOULDER."
Users
* Used by the
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...
and the
Argentine Navy
The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...
* Used by the
Mexican Army
The Mexican Army ( es, Ejército Mexicano) is the combined land and air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army.
The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National De ...
* Used by various U.S Police Forces
See also
*
List of bullpup firearms
The following is a list of firearms designed in a bullpup (i.e., action behind firecontrol/trigger group) configuration.
References
{{Bullpup Firearms, Rifles=Pindad SS2 Bullpup
Bullpup firearms
A bullpup firearm is one with its fir ...
*
List of shotguns
This article is a list of shotguns. Shotguns have traditionally fired iron, stone or lead shot stored in large shells that are normally loaded.
See also
* Assault shotgun
*Automatic shotgun
*Combat shotgun
*List of bullpup firearms
*List of ...
*
High Standard Manufacturing Company
High Standard Firearms was an American manufacturer of firearms, based in Houston, Texas. The company was founded in New Haven, Connecticut in 1926 as a supplier to the numerous firearms companies in the Connecticut Valley. It was based in New ...
External links
Modern FirearmsHigh Standard 10B: Disassembly and Attempted Shootingat Forgotten Weapons
{{Bullpup firearms
Bullpup shotguns
Semi-automatic shotguns of the United States