High Standard Model 103 Supermatic Tournament

The High Standard Model 103 Supermatic Tournament is a .22 Long Rifle semi-automatic target pistol produced during what many collectors consider the golden age of High Standard’s manufacturing. The Model 103 series was manufactured from approximately 1954 to 1963 and represents a refinement of earlier High Standard target designs. The Supermatic Tournament sits in the middle of the company’s target pistol hierarchy – above the basic Sport King and Dura-Matic models but below the top-tier Supermatic Citation and Olympic models. It features a blowback action, a ten-round magazine, and the push-button barrel takedown system that became a hallmark of High Standard’s better pistols.

What distinguished the Supermatic Tournament from lesser models was its attention to accuracy and shooting ergonomics. The pistol came with a bull barrel that added weight to the front end, helping to steady the gun during aimed fire. It featured fully adjustable rear sights, allowing precise windage and elevation corrections for target work. The trigger was notably clean for a production pistol, and High Standard’s reputation for tight tolerances meant that the Tournament could hold its own against significantly more expensive target arms. The grip angle and overall balance were designed with competitive bullseye shooting in mind.

High Standard pistols of this era earned an outsized reputation in the competitive shooting world. The company’s guns were used by numerous national champions and were even adopted by branches of the U.S. military for training and special operations use. The Model 103 Supermatic Tournament gave aspiring competitive shooters access to much of this performance at a price that did not require a second mortgage. Today, these pistols are prized by both collectors and shooters who still use them in organized bullseye competition, where their accuracy and reliability continue to impress decades after they left the factory in Connecticut.