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The AR-15 has become one of the most popular
rifles in history, and for good reason. They work, and they are
accurate. However, there are many people who love to criticize
the AR to no end. Mostly these are folks who have never owned
one. It is true that blued steel and walnut makes for a much
prettier rifle than does black plastic and anodized aluminum,
but the AR is not about pretty. The AR-15 is one of the most
user-friendly rifles ever produced. It is reasonably light in
weight, easy to shoot, and can be extremely accurate. It also
seems that the number of manufacturers producing AR-15s is
growing daily. In spite of its critics, somebody is buying a lot
of these weapons, as they are more popular than ever.
One of the latest manufacturers to produce the
AR-15 is High Standard Manufacturing of Houston, Texas.
The name of High Standard has long been associated with high
quality target pistols. They still produce those, but have now
ventured into the AR-15 market, producing four variations of the
rifle. We recently received here two of their rifles, which are
the subject of this article. One of the rifles has a flattop
with built-in Picatinny rail for easy optics mounting, A2 fixed
buttstock, and twenty inch barrel. The other has a carry handle
with A2 adjustable rear sight, four-position CAR collapsible
buttstock, and a sixteen inch barrel. Both have A2 closed-bottom
flash suppressors, bayonet lugs, and standard A2 front sights.
The twenty-inch rifle weighs seven and pounds and thirteen
ounces, and the sixteen-inch version weighs six pounds and
twelve ounces. Both have sling attachments and come with a
thirty-round magazine. The triggers on both rifles are standard
AR-15 type, and the trigger pulls are a bit heavy for my tastes,
but they are okay for a combat weapon. The trigger pull on the
twenty-inch rifle releases at six pounds and ten ounces, and the
pull weight on the sixteen-inch gun measures seven and one-half
pounds. Both can be improved with a little effort and a good
stoning by a knowledgeable gunsmith.
While most AR-15s are pretty reliable, I tried
hard to make these new guns jam. I tried several different types
of 5.56mm and .223 ammo in the two rifles, firing the weapons
from several positions. I rotated the guns, firing them straight
up, on their left side, on their right side, and fully upside
down. Both weapons functioned perfectly. Both were fired until
the became pretty dirty with powder residue, and continued to
operate perfectly. They fed, fired, and ejected every round,
from both new thirty-round magazines and from forty-year-old
twenty-round mags.
For accuracy testing, I mounted a Leupold
Mark 4 PR, 4.5 to 14 power Mil Dot scope atop the twenty inch
rifle using an ArmaLite one-piece mount. I love the
ArmaLite mount. It works well, and is very strong. This
Leupold scope has a 40mm objective and side focus. It has superb
optical quality. I can see details like holes in target with
this scope set at 14 power that I cannot see with other
twenty-power scopes. I believe this Leupold scope to be
the best tactical scope that you can buy for the price. I only
wish that it came with lens covers. I hate snapping covers
from a twenty dollar Tasco scope on a nice Leupold.
Leupold has remedied the problem by introducing some very nice
"Alumina" lens caps for their scopes, I just have not
got any for this scope yet. I must do that, or order a set of Butler
Creek caps for it. Anyway, it is an excellent scope, and I
highly recommend it. It is just about the right size for an AR,
offering excellent optics, plenty of magnification, and a
compact size. Perfect.
The rifle turned in a good performance, with
group sizes ranges from a worst of one and three-quarters inches
at 110 yards to a best of five-eighths of an inch at that same
distance. The Winchester Ballistic Silvertips were the
most accurate ammo tested. No handloads were tried for accuracy.
I think that the practical accuracy could be improved a bit with
a lighter trigger pull, which is my only criticism of this
rifle. However, the trigger pull on these High Standards is as
good as most AR-15s on the market, and better than some.
These These new High Standards are good,
reliable weapons, and should be considered if you are in the
market for an AR-15. They are available exclusively through Lipsey’s
Distributors, so have your dealer contact them at: 1-800-666-1333
to order. For a list of dealers near you, go to: www.lipseys.com
and click on the dealer locator. You can also see all four
variations of the High Standard AR-15 online at the same web
address.
For more info on the extensive line of Leupold
optics, go to: www.leupold.com.
Jeff Quinn
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Click pictures for a larger version.
High Standard AR-15 rifles: 16-inch carbine with
CAR-style collapsible buttstock (left) and 20-inch
"Flattop" with A2-style buttstock (right).
CAR-style collapsible buttstock on the 16-inch carbine
adjusts to four different lengths.
The High Standard AR-15 is right at home mounted to the
hood rack of the author's Yamaha Rhino.
For accuracy testing, Jeff mounted one of Leupold's
excellent Mark 4 PR 4.5-14X Mil-Dot scopes
The High Standard AR-15s performed very well with a
variety of ammunition, favoring Winchester's 55-grain
Ballistic Silvertip load.
Best groups were produced with Winchester's 55-grain
Ballistic Silvertips, while the worst groups (a very
respectable 1-3/4" at 110 yards) were produced with
WW-USA's 62-grain FMJ "White Box" loads.
A promising new entrant into the AR-15 market, High
Standard is producing accurate, reliable rifles at a
reasonable price.
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