A Beautiful Target Pistol I Acquired

[jimku]

That is a keeper for sure! Absolutely great gun!

[John Stimson]

I'm guessing the barrel is 5.5", difficult to say because the picture was taken at an angle. All my HS pistols are/were 5.5" and also available in 3.5", I think.

Military grip Supermatic Trophys were only available in the 5.50" barrel like this gun or the 7.25" fluted barrel. Other models had barrels as short as 4.50" and as long as 10.00"

[John Stimson]

That appears to be a SH series, or some people call it 108 series. Lack of push button take down, or at least I don't see one. As I understand it, First year SH were great pistols. Second year, very good. Third year were hit and miss. If there is a V suffix, well, good luck.

It is indeed a 108 series. However your understanding is flawed. You cannot easily quantify quality by year or even by manufacturing location. The late 107 and 108 series guns were just fine. All era's had lemons. There are even a few "V" marked derringers and revolvers form the Hamden era. However all "V" marked guns shipped in June 1984 or later. The real fall in quality was in the August/September 1983 and later time frame. This is when a few pistol models were discontinued and production numbers declined to 0 at the end of the year then production gradually increased until May 1984 after which virtually all pistols shipped were visually impaired and stamped with "V". These "V" marked guns were warranted to function properly sold at discount and could not be returned for appearance reasons.

[stuckinthe60s]

choice of words around john is CRUCIAL! lol.
maybe the OP can check his serial number and check for a v?
granted, not all Hartford guns were bad.
allow me to rephrase it....the latest v series were the worst. :>

[the45er]

How do you spell F. U. N. !