Springfield Armory SA-35

it will not stay that high. be patient. It will come down. When I find a used one for close to 500, that's when I'll pick one up. (recognizing that that might be a few years)

No way thats legit.....real FN guns dont go for that much.

I myself would wait till the stamped is over. The suggested retail of $679.00 or there about. is a bit much in my opinion. I had a Browning produced example 25 plus years in the past. I was not that impressed with it, thus rid myself of it. If your are willing to wait till after the balls on rush to acquire one the retail price should come down.

Hangingrock said:

I myself would wait till the stamped is over. The suggested retail of $679.00 or there about. is a bit much in my opinion. I had a Browning produced example 25 plus years in the past. I was not that impressed with it, thus rid myself of it. If your are willing to wait till after the balls on rush to acquire one the retail price should come down.

Click to expand...

Good advice. You can find real FN Brownings for far less than the OP list price. Heck my almost perfect shape one sold for $1000 on consignment a few months ago.

planetmobius said:

I'm super excited about the Springfield Armory SA-35. It has a MSRP of $679.00 or there about. I see they are actually being bid on Gunbroker for up to $2500.00 as of this writing. What the heck? Is this just people who have to be the first one on the block with one or should I expect this trend to persist?

Click to expand...

Every time something new hits this is normal. Some want an early low number and will pay well for it. As production runs others will pay quite a bit more just to lay hands on one sooner. Hey its their money <shrug>. It will not take long till they are selling for MSRP on the auction. Soon after that they start to show up in shops and will of course be less. Does look like a damn nice pistol.

I had a Browning Hi-Power 9mm years ago---didn't like it.
I have a 1911 9mm now---love it

Alex Clayton said:

Every time something new hits this is normal. Some want an early low number and will pay well for it. As production runs others will pay quite a bit more just to lay hands on one sooner. Hey its their money <shrug>. It will not take long till they are selling for MSRP on the auction. Soon after that they start to show up in shops and will of course be less. Does look like a damn nice pistol.

Click to expand...

Exactly, this is nothing new. MSRP is just a marketing tool to get people interested. Colt's new model Pythons and Anacondas have been selling for well over MSRP for over a year now.

I will get one when the stampede is over. I've always loved the Hi Power, and I carried one for years. It looks like SA did their homework and refined the pistol in ways that most shooters take the originals to a gunsmith to have done (with the one exception that SA did not stipple the grip frame). I particularly like that they removed the magazine disconnect, saving owners the hassle -- and potential legal entaglements attendant with disabling a factory-installed safety device if they ever have to actually use the gun in self-defense. This allows for both a better trigger, and drop free magazines. I can't believe they're shipping the guns with only a single magazine though. Who does that with any other semi-auto?

One thing I am curious about though, is how well the pistol holds up to shooting with +P. The top gunsmiths all advise against shooting any +P in the original versions, even the latest production examples, cautioning that shooting even a few magazines of +P ammo will start to round off the locking lugs. People who wanted a +P capable Hi Power would get the .40S&W version and put a 9mm barrel in it, as the .40 pistol has a slightly beefed up slide and a third locking lug. The SA-35 has the 9mm dimensions, with the more svelte slide and just two locking lugs. And what I've read indicates the gun is rated for +P, but I wonder how well they solved this problem, and how durable the gun will be with that ammo. Not an issue if you just want a range toy, but might be important if you want to carry the gun.

The originals racked up decades of use with NATO ammo. At least 4 decades of use by the British Army from 1954 to 1998. I'm sure they hold up just fine to +P ammo usage.

Am glad they didn't stipple the frame, IMO it looks like crap.
Hopefully they beefed up the grip enough to add classy looking checkering.

Billy Shears said:

And what I've read indicates the gun is rated for +P, but I wonder how well they solved this problem, and how durable the gun will be with that ammo. Not an issue if you just want a range toy, but might be important if you want to carry the gun.

Click to expand...

Not to me. I looked at my home and carry defense weapons, not a 9mm +P in sight.

C0untZer0 said:

The originals racked up decades of use with NATO ammo. At least 4 decades of use by the British Army from 1954 to 1998. I'm sure they hold up just fine to +P ammo usage.

Click to expand...

An English author made a brief reference to "Two Zed ammunition that eats Brownings." I wish he had gone into detail.

The Belgian made Hi Power was the service pistol to the world for 60-ish years. Why people want to believe now that they are delicate little flowers is a mystery to me

Jim Watson said:

Not to me. I looked at my home and carry defense weapons, not a 9mm +P in sight.



An English author made a brief reference to "Two Zed ammunition that eats Brownings." I wish he had gone into detail.

Click to expand...

I'm a fast is good guy myself when it comes to 9mmP and I scored a case of Federal 9BPLE +P+ JHPs a while ago when Natchez had them on clearance.

That said, I don't shoot those very often. Run a couple boxes thru a new pistol to make sure it works with them and then I only dispose of the actual carry ammo periodically.

I've very interested in the SA-35 but I wouldn't plan to carry it and don't need it to stand up to a steady diet of +Ps. I have tougher, smaller, lighter pistols for those purposes.

BSW

They look nice to me. I hope it's successful and they make a detective model!

I'm a very long time fan of the Hi Power, and interested in one of the SA versions myself. Reference admonitions against using +P, etc. ammo in the Hi Powers. Years ago, I loaded thousands of rounds of ammo to what would probably now be rated at +P, or even +P+ levels, and shot a lot of it in T and C series Hi Powers. Also used it in S&W semi-autos, Swiss SIG P210s, German P226s, CZ75s, etc. Now that I know more about such things, I wouldn't shoot copious quantities of +P ammo in Hi Powers, but I doubt occasional use and carry would be likely to cause a problem....ymmv

I only wish Stephen Camp were still here, but he did leave us some writings on the subject of +P in the Hi Power: https://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/HiPowerComments.html

Billy Shears said:

I will get one when the stampede is over. I've always loved the Hi Power, and I carried one for years. Who does that with any other semi-auto?

Click to expand...

YES! It has LONG really burned my butt when I buy a new pistol and it comes with one damn mag. So often its worse if its something new since often its hard to find extra mags for a while on top of that.
Years ago Wife wanted a .380 for the car. I told her to buy a Bersa as I had, had a few over the years and liked them. She came home with one of the plus models I did not know they were making. 15 round mags. Of course 1 mag and NO ONE had them. Had to order 4 more from the importer at almost $50 each
Damn mags were almost as much as the pistol

I have a MKII and a MKIII and I have loved the BHP since the first time I had a chance to shoot one during my USAF days back in the 70’s. This SA-35 has piqued my interest but I can bide my time & wait for a decent deal on one of these.

Ive been tracking a few sales of them on gunbroker and all have gone for well over $2,000.

Speaking to a local dealer yesterday when buying ammo, their is a titanic demand for these new Springfields. I would expect these to be selling for several time the MSRP for months to come, as the Colt Pythons did when reintroduced last year.

JCooperfan1911 said:

Ive been tracking a few sales of them on gunbroker and all have gone for well over $2,000.

Click to expand...

There is an old saying about a fool and money buried in that statement.

9mmepiphany said:

Longevity in military service isn't always a testimony to durability when in reference to a handgun. Handguns are seldom used during practice...certainly not as often as a rifle.

A better indicator might be the P-35's use by spec op units like the SAS. They quickly wore through their P-35 during training. This lead to their changing to the SIG 226 for additional durability.

Another indicator would be use in competition...not power wise as much as the volume of rounds through their guns during practice. The Rhodesian and South African IPSC teams used the P-35 in competition...because they didn't have access to the 1911...and they reported numerous failures during the year


The P-35 has a very light slide which moves at very high velocities. The slide movement in recoil is violent as it slams backwards. Attemtps to mount a Bo-Mar rib on the slide often resulted in sheared screws

It basically beat both the slide and barrel lugs to death

Click to expand...

That's interesting to know. We think of 1911s as durable, but weren't they refurbished by the Army at least once or twice?

JCooperfan1911 said:

Ive been tracking a few sales of them on gunbroker and all have gone for well over $2,000.

Speaking to a local dealer yesterday when buying ammo, their is a titanic demand for these new Springfields. I would expect these to be selling for several time the MSRP for months to come, as the Colt Pythons did when reintroduced last year.

Click to expand...

The guys who are buying these at those prices are probably the same ones who swear blind that their XD is made in the USA. Finally, the ‘US-made’ hi power of their dreams.