High Standard Sentinel R-101 .22 Revolver

Back in the 1940s through the 1980s, High Standard was well known for their excellent semiautomatic .22 pistols. Many serious bullseye shooters favored High Standard autoloaders.

Less well known were their revolvers, introduced in 1955. Rather than going into their history here, I encourage you to read this nice article by Ed Buffaloe. After reading that and another article on RevolverGuy.com, I decided to get one for myself.

As I started my search I ran across numerous blog and forum posts about the Sentinels, the vast majority of which were very positive. Among other well known shooters, Skeeter Skelton, Mas Ayoob, Elmer Keith, and Chic Gaylord liked and spoke highly of them.

Hickok45 has a video about the Revelation Model 99 that belonged to his father. It's simply a rebranded High Standard.

Revelation was a house brand of the old Western Auto store chain. They resold guns from several makers under this brand name. Sears did the same thing with the J.C. Higgins and Ted Williams brands.

Last week I found a 1950s-vintage Sentinel R-101 on Gunbroker at a gun store in NJ. I waited until the end of the auction and was able to get it for the asking price. After I called the dealer to arrange payment he overnighted it to my local FFL, where I picked it up yesterday morning.

I photographed it next to my K-Frame S&W Model 18-3 for scale.

The steel 3" barrel and cylinder, and the aluminum alloy frame of my revolver are nickel plated. The plating remains almost entirely intact.

Looking it over I could tell that it had been barely, if ever fired. There was no powder or lead fouling on the gun and the front of the cylinder lacked the telltale black marks of a gun shot with lead bullets. The cylinder has no endshake and locks up tight. Timing is perfect.

The rear sight was damaged at some point, with the right corner being chipped. This doesn't affect usage but I may replace it anyway.

Upon getting it home I dismounted the cylinder and grip, then hosed out the action with Rem Oil and compressed air, then relubed it with G-96 CLP.

This video on YouTube details basic takedown of the Sentinels and really shows the clever nature of their design.

Further disassembly isn't needed unless it's to replace a part. The action is held together with pins, so it can be challenging to reassemble. In other words, don't, unless you really need to do so.

I put around 60 rounds through it last night at an indoor range at 10 and 7 yards, shooting Federal Game Shock high velocity .22 LR 36 grain hollowpoints. The single action trigger pull is excellent, probably breaking at no more than 4 lbs., with no creep. The double action pull is another story. As expected it's heavy, probably about 14 lbs. but at least it's smooth. As I understand it not much can be done about the DA pull without affecting the SA pull. I regard this as a single action revolver with emergency double action capability.

Groups with the Federal ammo were nothing to brag about. .22s in general can be very finicky as to what ammo they'll shoot well so I plan to try it with a variety from my stash.

It also shot about 1" to 2" high. Numrich Arms has replacement front sights, one of which I may order and modify in my milling machine to take a taller blade. I'd like to see point of aim and point of impact coincide at 10 yards.

According to a scan of an owner's manual that I found here, they were factory sighted for 50 feet, although they don't specify the type of ammo used.

The revolver functioned perfectly, delivering good hammer strikes to the case rims. Unlike a friend's Ruger LCR in .22 LR, it does not seem prone to being easily short-stroked, which will cause a misfire.

Before I fired the High Standard I put 70 shots through my S&W Model 18-3, also in .22 LR. The Smith is a higher quality gun but the cylinder holds 6, compared with 9 in the HS. It also has tighter chambers than the HS, so even though the Sentinel holds half again as many rounds, ejecting spent brass from the Model 18 requires more effort.

The Sentinel is just a little smaller than a S&W K-Frame but it's noticeably lighter due to the alloy frame. I tried it out in a Pacific Canvas and Leather shoulder holster made for S&W Victory Models. It's a little loose but it fits and the strap will hold it securely in place.

As noted at the beginning of this post, the High Standard revolvers were generally well thought of by some experienced handgunners as well as many others. Last year, Diamondback Firearms introduced the Sidekick, which is a Western-styled DA/SA revolver like the old High Standard Double Nine. In fact, the Sidekick appears to be based very closely on the High Standards and has the advantage of shipping with two cylinders, one for .22 LR and the other for .22 Magnum.

I expect this High Standard Sentinel to make a nice little gun for plinking and woods bumming.