dogtown tom
Member
Not again.
Other than a monstrosity called the Grand Rendement, JMB had little to do with the Hi Power design. It's tough to design a pistol when you're dead.
Browning Hi-Power has gone out of production...The passing of a firearms Icon
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Other than a monstrosity called the Grand Rendement, JMB had little to do with the Hi Power design. It's tough to design a pistol when you're dead.
dogtown tom
Member
They did export the IOF HP's to the US about twenty years ago and they had a tough time selling them. They were rough and markedly less quality than a genuine Inglis or FN Hi Power.
Monac
Member
Yes, I have one of those. It is rough on the outside, but it its trigger pull and accuracy are first rate. That is with the mag safety still installed. Reliability was fine with FMJ and the few JHPs I tried in it. Maybe mine was tuned up before I got it (I bought it used), or maybe Ishapore put more effort into functionality than appearance. Or I just got lucky.
I keep meaning to get a 13 round Mec-Gar mag for it. It came with one factory 13 round mag and one Mec-Gar 10 round mag.
Tallball
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Mine is an FEG "clone" I got for $200 at a gun show in the ancient times.
It shoots fine and eats any ammo. The trigger isn't great, but I wasn't very picky when I was younger.
View media item 1476
It shoots fine and eats any ammo. The trigger isn't great, but I wasn't very picky when I was younger.
View media item 1476
Rock185
Member
I guess I'm part of that "old crowd" mentioned since I bought my first Hi Power in the '60s, and have owned a number since. They just could not compete in the marketplace with the plethora of relatively inexpensive, higher capacity, plastic pistols. Still have three that I do not intend to trade in on tacticool Tupperware anytime soon
The Hand Gunner
member
No! Are you serious!? Ahh man that sucks. I have to admit I love revolvers more than any other gun out there but the Hi-Power was iconic, for me it would rank up there with the Colt Single Action Army. Man I wish I'd of been able to get my hands on one.
I was sorry to see them discontinued, as prices instantly shot up, as far as I could tell. A BHP is definitely on my list of Iconic Firearms That I Want.
JTQ
Member
There have been a few options...
Nighthawk Custom https://www.nighthawkcustom.com/legacy/browning-hi-power
Cylinder & Slide https://cylinder-slide.com/Item/8644
and hammers have been modified to help https://cylinder-slide.com/Category/BHPham
FL-NC
Member
Yes, they are great pistols, and are still very prolific throughout the world. I have seen them in use in Latin America, Europe, and the mideast. Australian SOF personnel I worked with were still using them in afg in 2008. They have a history of use as impressive as the 1911. The BHP was the first pistol I ever owned; it was purchased after I graduated from the SF weapons course. I chose the BHP because I was so impressed with it in training over all of the other pistols we trained with at the time. The sad truth is that they are pricey an less popular than more modern designs. Its difficult to even find a decent modern holster these days for a BHP. The good news is that there are so many of them in circulation, as well as so many well-made clones, that the opportunity to own and use them probably isn't going to end any time soon.
Gary W. Strange
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About a year before Browning stopped making Hi-Powers, I started hearing this would soon be the case. I started looking for one, a new one. No distributors had any. I looked for a good six months. One day I was checking, online and seen Sports South showed them in stock. I made a call to one of the gun shops I buy from and had them order me one. Glad I did, because within a few hours they were out of stock again. I received it and made a call to Craig Spegel, to get a set of his grips for it. About 6 months later I had them. I am glad I bought one when I did because, in January, it was announced, they were out of production. It was a loss of a great firearm.
JR24
Member
As noted there are a few options out there for different hammers that help. My issue is I have biggish hands (edge between L and XL glove, but I have wide palms and shortish fingers) and I have a tendancy to try to get as high on a grip as possible, so working from the holster my natural tendency is to grab so high the slide actually also bites the web of my hand.
Some places offer a beavertail, which would fix it for me, also I'm sure with enough work I could retrain my hands (learned from years of 1911s and Glocks) to grip lower, but I don't want to go through the effort when my BHP is no longer a carry option and just a fun range gun.
sabbfan
Member
Please someone tell me more about this Browning Hi Power. I am intrigued. If I knew a bit more about the details I might be interested in picking one or two up.
Theres a guy on here with a very similar screen name that seems pretty knowledgeable about them, I’d hit him up for some info
WVsig
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JMB only gets partial credit for the BHP. IMHO the gun we shoot today is more Dieudonne Saive than JMB but that is a discussion for another thread.
Easiest fix for the hammer bite (on the spur hammer) is to grind / dremmel a smidge off the rear of the hammer.
https://hipowersandhandguns.com/HiPowerandHammerBite.htm
https://hipowersandhandguns.com/HiPowerandHammerBite.htm
SSN Vet
Member
I love the BHP and have invested a great deal of time and capital in learning how to smith them (not licensed, I only work on my own stuff).
When properly tuned by someone who knows what their doing, they are an awesome gun. And IMO, hold their own against any and all of the "modern" competition.
The winds of change blew in the early '80s when the Army required submissions for their new standard issue pistol to be DA/SA and then that "crazy Austrian" started making polymer framed striker fired pistols that lowered the cost of production far below what FN could compete with.
So sadly, FN abandoned any and all attempts to update the BHP and more or less abandoned the product line to the "legacy" crowd.
People need to understand that first and foremost, the BHP was designed and build for military contracts and service issue. And despite the modern mythology promoted by video games and movies, in it's time this meant poorly trained conscripts. Also auto loaders were still fairly new to the seen and were not trusted as time and time again, people hand accidental discharges caused by failing to drop the mag first when checking the chamber empty. So adding the mag disconnect safety and making the trigger pull somewhere around 12 lbs. was required by the "customer" as a way to make the pistol safe. And the 26 lb (later 32 lb) hammer spring was required for reliability with all kinds of 9mm ammo (think hard primers on hot 9 mm SMG ammo).
Fortunately, the Turkish mfg. Tisas has resurected the BHP (they call it the Regent HP9), and they even make a stainless steal model. They still have the mag. disconnect safety and crappy triggers, but they can be tuned (by a competent smith) into a great trigger.
When properly tuned by someone who knows what their doing, they are an awesome gun. And IMO, hold their own against any and all of the "modern" competition.
The winds of change blew in the early '80s when the Army required submissions for their new standard issue pistol to be DA/SA and then that "crazy Austrian" started making polymer framed striker fired pistols that lowered the cost of production far below what FN could compete with.
So sadly, FN abandoned any and all attempts to update the BHP and more or less abandoned the product line to the "legacy" crowd.
People need to understand that first and foremost, the BHP was designed and build for military contracts and service issue. And despite the modern mythology promoted by video games and movies, in it's time this meant poorly trained conscripts. Also auto loaders were still fairly new to the seen and were not trusted as time and time again, people hand accidental discharges caused by failing to drop the mag first when checking the chamber empty. So adding the mag disconnect safety and making the trigger pull somewhere around 12 lbs. was required by the "customer" as a way to make the pistol safe. And the 26 lb (later 32 lb) hammer spring was required for reliability with all kinds of 9mm ammo (think hard primers on hot 9 mm SMG ammo).
Fortunately, the Turkish mfg. Tisas has resurected the BHP (they call it the Regent HP9), and they even make a stainless steal model. They still have the mag. disconnect safety and crappy triggers, but they can be tuned (by a competent smith) into a great trigger.
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SSN Vet
Member
I picked up this, what appeared to be a pretty nice, 1977 HP from a local shop the other day.
View attachment 916681
Looked to be in great shape, right up until I fired it. Popped a loaded mag in the gun, dropped the slide, and the gun fired a round into the ground about 6' in front of me. Look at the gun, and the hammer has followed the slide forward to half cock. ***?
Cock the hammer, squeeze of the next round, and got a 4 round burst.
This is almost always caused by people bending the sear spring to lighten the trigger pull.
Compare the shape of the new sear spring from MGW to the one you have in the gun and I suspect you'll see a significant difference.
The key to a good trigger in the BHP is.
1. ditch the mag disconnect (this is easy and there are many YouTube videos to walk you through it)
2. Swap out the springs.... you'll find disagreement here, but I don't think you can go wrong with the Cylinder and Slide trigger pull reduction spring set (they have options for target and duty use). Don't just change the hammer spring, as the hammer spring, firing pin spring and recoil spring work in concert and you need to adjust them all to maintain reliability and not beat up the frame.
3. polish the sear nose and hammer hooks with a very fine Arkansas or ceramic stone (polish only, don't modify unless you know what you're doing and have the appropriate jigs).
4. If you take the time to really learn how the BHP works, detail strip the trigger mechanism, put in a 3 coil trigger spring and debur/polish the trigger lever and the slot in the frame. Then you can debur/polish the sear lever and slot in the slide.
5. If you invest serious time and study into the platform and are willing to spend some coin on a Power Custom sear jig, then go after lowering the hammer hooks and put a relief bevel on the sear. But buy and extra sear and hammer as you'll likely screw it up the first time you try it.
NOTE!!!
Nowhere on my list did I say bend the sear spring. The sear spring is critical to preventing hammer follow. You don't need to screw with it to get an excellent trigger and I believe you'll find that most experienced and responsible smiths will tell you not to. You can polish the interface between the sear spring and the bottom lever of the sear, but that (IMO) is all the fiddling you should do with the sear spring.
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WVsig
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Theres a guy on here with a very similar screen name that seems pretty knowledgeable about them, I’d hit him up for some info
I will look him up....
dogtown tom
Member
I don't blame them. And FN made several attempts to "update" the Hi Power.......none were a success.
The BDA, BDAO, BDM were sad attempts to make a "better" Hi Power.
They are in good company though, Colt still hasn't produced a double action, polymer frame or striker fire semi auto handgun that works. It may not be "legacy" buyers, but legacy designers.
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