Current Browning / FN Hi-Power

[yoni]

Gaijin, excuse me do you know the hammer in the last picture is cocked?



People really freakout when I tell them is certain situation that were very explosive and very close distance, I used to put my Hi Power in the holster cocked and locked. Then once it is firmly in the holster I would take the safety off. I was talking to a friend that had served in Det14 in N. Ireland, and found he did the same thing in the same kinds of situation.

[Circle_10]

Just to prove the old adage "One man's trash is another man's treasure" my Hi Power, a beat up (but in nice shape mechanically), apparently Israeli police surplus FN Mk II made in 1985, is one of the "jewels" of my collection, to me anyway. There's literally nothing special about it at all, but before I got it last year I had wanted a Hi Power for a long time, since I was a kid really, and just never got around to getting one. I have no intention of getting my Mk II refinished as I like the honest wear it has. It doesn't have the usual Star of David that you see on a lot of the Israeli Hi Powers, but it does look to have some sort of Hebrew character that I can't quite make out stamped on it.
I'd really like a brand new production Mk III to go with it, and maybe dress up with some fancy grips but I'm put off by the price.
On the other hand, I personally wouldn't carry a Hi Power or use one for HD generally as I'm just too accustomed to using striker fired polymer guns with no manual safeties for those purposes. Even a beat up Hi Power looks better than a pristine Glock though.

[plain old dave]

My Arcus is starting to change my mind about selfloaders. Does anyone make an aftermarket spur hammer? I don't like ring hammers....

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

[gaijin]

Gaijin, excuse me do you know the hammer in the last picture is cocked?



People really freakout when I tell them is certain situation that were very explosive and very close distance, I used to put my Hi Power in the holster cocked and locked. Then once it is firmly in the holster I would take the safety off. I was talking to a friend that had served in Det14 in N. Ireland, and found he did the same thing in the same kinds of situation.

Yep.

The old story of the Texas Ranger carrying a 1911 in condition one; lady comes up to him and asks- "you know your gun is cocked, isn't that dangerous"?
His reply; " Yes ma'am, I wouldn't carry it otherwise".

[williejc]

This is another source for BHP mags. cdnnsports.com

[williejc]

Look up the late Steven Camp's writings on BHP's. He's the best on this subject that I've ever seen--really outstanding. My link failed.

[Gary1911A1]

I have two Browning Hi-Powers. Does anyone else find it strange the Hi-Power doesn't handle +P ammo well and yet it was designed in Europe where 9MM was loaded hotter than in America?

[Circle_10]

I'd always heard that the Mk IIIs will handle +P alright. I might be getting my Hi Power trivia confused here but wasn't the decision to offer the Hi Power in .40 s&w the original impetus for the development of the Mk III, which used the updated cast frame to handle the .40, thus a 9mm built to the Mk III specs is supposed to be good to go with +p.

[williejc]

Of course they will. Oddly, the Cylinder and Slide shop at one time(and maybe still does)claimed that HP's would not. They have credentials. I don't, but my opinion is that they are wrong. Metallurgy advancements and FN engineering give me confidence that the Mk 111 guns will hold up. If a shop works on high numbers of handguns, they will see examples of material failures regardless of brand. Remember that a number of HP clones have been made and sold all over the world. Many HP's were made with slave labor during the German occupation of Belgium. Some were made under license here and there. My guess is that many slide failures occurred with true submachine gun ammo not intended for pistols and others were caused by hand loaders not using good judgment.

Since I began reading gun literature around 1960, I've noticed statements that European 9mm ammo was loaded to higher pressure than is made in America 9mm ammo. However, I never saw a cited reference backing up this point. The statement has been repeated so many times that people automatically accept it as fact. Is it true? I don't know. If you make me give a definite answer, I'll say NO. Then I'll add that the issue of submachine gun ammo loaded to higher pressure has contributed to the confusion. I fired a couple cases of WW2 surplus 9mm ammo made in Europe. It would be shipped to me(a kid)by railway express. Recoil and report were the same as American hardware store ammo. Back then, in my town few people bought a box of handgun ammo. Stores sold ammo by the round. I was known as that kid who bought it by the box.


Addendum: I checked Browning's instruction manual for the BHP. It recommended against using +P or +P+ ammo in any BHP. So, I must admit that I have been
violating factory recommendation. If I continue to do so, then it's on me and not Browning if I damage my pistol.

[yoni]

We used to kill our issued Hi Powers because we shot super hot sub gun ammo through them, and we shot them a lot. Today Glock is the issued pistol and the ammo has changed to modern hollowpoint.