https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/HSC/hsc.html
The link is a very good write-up on this revolver. I had three of them, a boxed set of a .44 and .45, (
Like the above picture) including factory shipping box, and single .45. I sold the boxe set for 1,900 dollars ten or so years ago but kept the .45 for shooting.
When I took the one to the Linebaugh shoot Twenty years ago I was amazed at how many gents, including leading men in firearm knowledge gathered around as they had heard of them but never seen one. Brian Pearce got out his caliper and measured cylinder thickness to how it compared to Smith & Wesson for hot loads.
He said it would with stand hotter cartridges as it had thicker cylinder walls.
...The 1978 and 1979 issues of Guns Illustrated list the High Standard Crusader Commemorative Revolver, but state that the price is unavailable. The 1980 issue lists the gun, available in three barrel lengths, and in .357, .44, and .45 caliber, with a price of $335 for the 4-1/4” barrel, $340 for the 6-1/2” barrel, and $345 for the 8-3/8” barrel. In the same issue the Smith & Wesson Model 29 is listed at $331 with a 6-1/2” barrel, or $342 with an 8-3/8” barrel. In the 1981 issue the Crusader is listed as available only in .44 or 45 caliber and only in the two longer barrel lengths, but the price is again listed as “not available.” In 1983 the Crusader is no longer listed. The early articles on the Crusader had all promised that the new gun would be much cheaper than the Smith & Wesson, but apparently High Standard was unable to produce it as cheaply as projected.
At this point the Crusader project had to be abandoned. The gun was too expensive to manufacture and still be competitive. The market for .44 Magnum revolvers was already beginning to decline, and the market for new .45 Colt revolvers was even smaller. So today the Crusader remains a collector item. No one shoots the commemoratives because they are too valuable--a sad end for an innovative and promising design....
