High · Pistol
High Standard HD Military
Blowback (semi-automatic) · .22 Long Rifle · introduced 1943
Also known as High Standard HDM, High Standard H-D Military, Hi-Standard HDM
About the High Standard HD Military
The High Standard HD Military is a .22 LR blowback semi-automatic target pistol whose integrally suppressed HDM version was adopted by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in WWII as a purpose-built clandestine silent pistol. The suppressor, developed in cooperation with Bell Telephone Laboratories engineers, used a barrel ported into a copper-mesh and baffle stack to bleed off and slow muzzle gas, reducing the report to a muffled cough and bleeding supersonic ammunition down toward subsonic. It served Allied special operations agents and later passed to the CIA, which kept it in inventory for decades.
OSS chief William 'Wild Bill' Donovan famously demonstrated the silenced High Standard for President Franklin Roosevelt by firing ten rounds into a sandbag in the Oval Office anteroom while Roosevelt dictated a letter, unaware the gun was being fired behind him.
High Standard HD Military specifications
General
- Type
- Pistol
- Action
- Blowback (semi-automatic)
- Firing mechanism
- Single action
- Trigger
- Single stage
- Calibres
- .22 Long Rifle
- Magazine capacity
- 10 rounds
- Magazine
- Detachable box magazine
Dimensions
- Barrel length
- 171 mm (6.7 in)
- Overall length
- 351 mm (13.8 in)
- Height
- 127 mm (5.0 in)
- Weight (empty)
- 1.30 kg (2.87 lb)
Barrel
- Rifling
- Right hand
- Grooves
- 6
Materials
- Barrel
- Steel
- Receiver / frame
- Steel
- Slide
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- blued
Performance
- Muzzle velocity (typical)
- 329 m/s (1079 fps)
- Muzzle energy (typical)
- 140 J (103 ft·lb)
- Effective range
- 25 m
History
- Introduced
- 1943
- Discontinued
- 1958
- Production status
- Out of production
- Country of origin
- US
Features
- Integral suppressor
- Fixed sights
- Single column magazine
- Exposed hammer
Safety
- Manual safety
Specifications reflect the integrally suppressed HDM configuration; figures include the suppressor section. Roughly 2,600 suppressed pistols were produced for the OSS between October 1943 and March 1944.
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