Strange Guns: High Standard Model 10A Bullpup Shotgun

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The High Standard Model 10 (HS10) is a semi-automatic shotgun that was manufactured by the High Standard Manufacturing Company of Hamden. Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It has a bullpup design, rotatable shoulder stock, and integrated flashlight.

The High Standard Model 10A Bullpup Shotgun looked like a futuristic shotgun back in the late 1960’s. With its short size and five 12 gauge shots capacity, it was both easy to handle and powerful.

The basic design of the Model 10 shotgun was developed around 1957 by Alfred Crouch. He was a Santa Monica, California police sergeant. His goal was to create the best entry shotgun for SWAT and tactical units. His original design used a modified Remington semi-automatic shotgun.

In the mid 1960s, the High Standard Manufacturing Company bought the design from Crouch. The company then used their Flite King shotgun as the basis for the first model, the 10A.

The 10A, or High Standard Model A Bullpup Shotgun, looked futuristic in the late 1960s.

With its full length 18″ barrel in a bullpup configuration, this little beast of a shotgun could even be shot one handed while holding a ballistic police shield with the other hand.

But, it never caught on. The High Standard Model A Bullpup Shotgun was discontinued and shortly after a Model B was released in the 1970s that came with a detachable flashlight and a fold down carry handle.

The Model B too was discontinued. Bullpup shotguns were thought to be too strange for the market at that time.