Browning Hi-Power question

I am more concerned about the Magazine Safety acting up anyway.

No worries. There are other reasons to prefer a MKII over a MKIII. Weakness of the slide is not one of them. IMHO

Bought mine new about 5 years ago . No problems at all . About 4000 rnds though it . Your right about the trigger , out of the box was 9 lbs . Now its 4 , no creep and breaks clean and an absolute joy to shoot .

WVsig said:

No worries. There are other reasons to prefer a MKII over a MKIII. Weakness of the slide is not one of them. IMHO

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At the risk of thread drift , please expand on the MKII vs MKIII prference.

Well my Nato batched Mark two has a forged frame and no firing pin safety. It does have big Tritium dot with orange circle and wide U Novak's machined into the rib . C&S fire control I installed when. I removed the magazine safety and checkered Aluma grips. It is my fighting Hi Power over my Mk III tricked out Practical.

Waveski

At the risk of thread drift , please expand on the MKII vs MKIII prference.

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You might also want to check out Stephen Camp's website: highpowersandhandguns.com. In one section (The "Best" Hi-Power), he goes over the similarities and differences between the Mk. II and the Mk.III.

Waveski said:

At the risk of thread drift , please expand on the MKII vs MKIII prference.

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It is really just a matter of preference. Purest prefer the older forged frame. Some smiths I have worked with prefer the forged frame. There are dimensional differences in the 2 frames. Both the MKII and MKIII will generally feed hollow points without issue. Some people also like the look of the hognose bushing. In the end one of my favorite base guns for BHPs are forged frame MKIIIs. For me they are the best of both worlds.

Could you please post a side by side of the "hog nose" bushing vs the later one?

I have a MkII , stock surplus , and a transitional MkIII ; it retains the slide rib. The MkIII is just back from a custom shop ; I am considering my next project and trending towards using another MkII as a basis.

(trying to stick with the MkII/MkIII comparison topic...)

Longevity and durability always seems to come up in BHP threads. This is IMHO a bit of myth born out of truth. Very few people I know have shot a BHP to frame or slide failure. The guns accuracy will open up as it ages but with proper spring changes we are talking about guns that will last 15,000-25,000 rounds of standard pressure ammo.

Many BHPs were trashed in military service where they fired heavy NATO rounds like the Brits and even some UZI sub gun ammo in Israel. These certainly shorten the life of those pistols. I can only assume people heard of this or witnessed this and incorrectly IMHO translated this to commercial use of BHPs. It was further codified by people like Mas Aybood who often repeated this.

In the real world very few people are going to shoot 20,000+ rounds through a single pistol. Yes some will but the majority won’t and if you can afford to do that you can afford to get a replacement IMHO.

People worry way too much about the ruggedness of the BHP. It is not as durable as some more modern designs but it is still a durable reliable pistol.

Waveski said:

Could you please post a side by side of the "hog nose" bushing vs the later one?

I have a MkII , stock surplus , and a transitional MkIII ; it retains the slide rib. The MkIII is just back from a custom shop ; I am considering my next project and trending towards using another MkII as a basis.

(trying to stick with the MkII/MkIII comparison topic...)

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Hog nose









MKIII

The lower images are of a stock MkIII , if I am correct ... and the upper images are ?

I've read about the firing pin block cutout as a potential weakening point and that it can crack there. Here's a pic from Stephen Camp's site showing it.


I remember reading an article by Masaad Ayoob that mentioned the hi power and the british military having issues with parts breakage, but iirc, it was mostly slide stops. Personally not an issue for me, considered slide stops to be a replaceable part for wear and tear.

My dad has an mkiii that has a forged frame.

I don't know what a high round count would be for one.

Waveski said:

The lower images are of a stock MkIII , if I am correct ... and the upper images are ?

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First gun is a stock hard chrome MKII. I changed the grip and replaced the gold trigger with a black trigger.

This is an Alloy BHP customized by Don Williams




MKIII Cast Frame Custom by Jim Garthwaite



MKIII Forged frame custom by Ted Yost.





The pic of the stock gun is the gun I used as a base gun for the Yost build.

Current collection

WOW, WVsig! Awesome BHPs.

MAKster said:

I'm looking at FN rollmark surplus imports that are selling for around $525-550. One I am looking at has a 1987 serial number so it is late MKII which from what I read is in the transition period when they added the firing pin block. If I had it in hand I could take it apart and look at the inside of the slide but is there any way to look at an external photo and tell if it has the block?

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No but post a pic and I can tell you more about the gun.

MAKster said:

The listing just expired but this is a good example of what I am looking at. Also similar ones from 1985 (245PV). Thanks
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/868921141

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MKII you can see the hog nose bushing, drain hole in the slide and the rib on the top of the slide. No firing pin block.

WVsig said:

It is really just a matter of preference. Purest prefer the older forged frame. Some smiths I have worked with prefer the forged frame. There are dimensional differences in the 2 frames. Both the MKII and MKIII will generally feed hollow points without issue. Some people also like the look of the hognose bushing. In the end one of my favorite base guns for BHPs are forged frame MKIIIs. For me they are the best of both worlds.

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I think my early MK III has a forged frame. It doesn’t have the ridges on the bottom of the mag well

Nature Boy said:

I think my early MK III has a forged frame. It doesn’t have the ridges on the bottom of the mag well

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You can also look for a casting mark. Not all cast frames have the ridges. Some really early ones did not.

WVsig said:

You can also look for a casting mark. Not all cast frames have the ridges. Some really early ones did not.

View attachment 918821

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I’ll take a look and post some pics

MAKster said:

I'm looking at FN rollmark surplus imports that are selling for around $525-550.

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MAKster -
I can tell you that I have 2 from that lot and I am very pleased with them. One of them is marked the same as the one you posted , with a character (Hebrew , I think) that looks like an inverted "U" ; I believe that designates law enforcement service. There are others marked with the Star of David , which is an Israeli military designation. The law enforcement one has a noticeably lighter trigger than the military. I'm thinking heavier springs for NATO loads.
(I've since had the military HP worked on , trigger now about 5.5# .)

That lot of surplus High Powers represent a good value , IMO anyway. Great shooters.

Apologies to the OP if this takes the discussion too far off topic, but my Mk III looks like one of those transitional pistols between the Mk II and Mk III. I believe it has a forged frame

Nature Boy said:

Apologies to the OP if this takes the discussion too far off topic, but my Mk III looks like one of those transitional pistols between the Mk II and Mk III. I believe it has a forged frame

View attachment 918897 View attachment 918898 View attachment 918899 View attachment 918900

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I assume no firing pin safety?