Browning Hi Power in 45acp

[Cohibra45]

Seems I remember reading somewhere back in the 60's or 70's that there were a few Hi Powers made in 45acp. I do remember that the original Luger was made in 45acp for testing purposes but never in production, but I thought that the same was done with Browning Hi Power??? Did it really happen or am I suffering from what my son calls 'old timers' disease???:confused:

[beckman]

I can't say for certain, but I DO remember that Guns & Ammo ran some articles in the '70s about a HiPower conversion to a wildcat cartridge called the .40 G&A. Of course, there were other projects, too, such as the '80s-era, ill-fated .41 Action Express.

Here's a link to some info on the .40 G&A project:

http://www.thegunzone.com/brenx/40ga.html

[Dave James]

Either during WW-2 or shortly after that Canadians tried the P35 in 45acp

[hp35]

I think a Hungarian clone was chambered in .45. Not 100% on that though.

[JonInWA]

I believe that after WWII, the Canadian military entertained solicitations for such a gun. The prototypes were called the Brigadier; there was also a carbine version, where the pistol simply fitted into a carbine barrel/stock set-uo. When FN Herstal in Belgium became aware of it, they quietly, but very pointedly informed the Canadian government that while the WWII produced Inglis backwards-engineered Hi-Powers were acceptable, the Brigadier was not, and represented an out-and-out patent infringement and was an egregious violation of previous licensing agreements regarding Canadian-produced Hi-Powers. That pretty much single-handedly scuttled the Brigadier's potential for contracting and production. I'll check my history tonight (Blake's tome on the Hi-Power covers the affair in detail) when I get home, but I'm pretty sure that that was the gist of it.

Best, Jon

[Kilroy]

It is hard to put ten pounds of sand in a five pound bag. The HP would lose it's svelte lines with an injection of .45 caliber goodness. Best to leave each to there respective best platform.

[JonInWA]

Ok, had a chance to do some research, mostly out of Blake Stevens' excellent book The Browning High Power Automatic Pistol;" Basically, in 1959, a private company, the North American Arms Company of Toronto (NAACO) produced one prototype of a .45 caliber pistol modeled on the High-Power called the Brigadier, but with a modular en bloc removable action. The .45 NAACO cartridge was much longer and more powerful than the .45 ACP cartridge, propelling a 230 gr bullet at some 1,600 fps, for 1,304 lbs of muzzle energy. The gun featured an alloy frame, and a substitutable long barrel which enabled the receiver to be used in a automatic carbine stock set-up (not dissimilar to some of the current ones available for Glock receivers); the ensuing gun was called the Borealis.

No orders resulted, and the company quickly went bankrupt. I have no idea whether the lack of orders came from the fear of possible litigation from FN, or due to an intrinsic lack of interest in the NAACO Brigadier (and/or the NAACO .45 cartridge) itself. The cartridge survived to become the .45 Winchester Magnum cartridge.

As mentioned by an earlier poster, FEG did produce a DA/SA gun bearing an exterior resemblence to the High-Power, but the action and internals as I recall were pretty much a copycat of Smith & Wesson automatics.

Best, Jon

[Cohibra45]

Thanks Jon and all,

I am a huge fan of the 45acp and I happen to also like the Hi Power ergonomics. Seems like I might have to look into possibly something like EAA. Or, I might have to break down and get one of those S&W M-P 45.

Thanks again. I was just looking for something a little different as I already have a couple 1911s.

Kelly (Cohibra45)