Thoughts on the the Browning HP Practical

Rangegod . . .



I hate you.

Sigh,I miss the fact that they are no loner permitted and are banned here in the UK,because of Thomas Hamiltons actions.The Practical Browning HI-Power,was the type used by Hamilton,with an extended magazine,to commit the massacre in Dunblane-with.He used two with two S&W 586s in .357 magnum.

It just makes me want to thump my computer desk,in anger,at the sight of and comments about,this magnificient handgun-due to our ever moronic gun laws :cus

One of the greatest guns ever.....

I bought a BHP series III last year because I needed a gun for the practical pistol shoots at my range (I'm mostly a revolver guy). It happened to be an unfired consignment gun at my local gunshop. I bought it on a whim, simply because it felt better in my hands than any other handgun I've ever handled or shot. The fit and the ergonomics just happen to be absolutely perfect for me - like putting on a glove.

Removal of the mag safety is a must with these guns. It improves the trigger pull from merely "good" to excellent, in my opinion. The BHP has also has been the most reliable gun I've ever owned. Several thousand rounds through it already and I've never, ever had a misfeed or stovepipe no matter what ammo I'm shooting. It eats 'em up and spits 'em out like no other gun. It also happens to be extremely accurate.

My BHP has replaced my Colt .357 revolver as my night stand and carry gun as well - not something easy to do for a "committed" wheelgun guy.

John Browning was a genious and his guns keep proving it!

A great gun

Sorry if I gave some misinfo, only that here in Europe (well Finland at least), people by the CZ 75, as it's so close to the hi power and lot's cheaper than an Browning. Heck, I do not know if u can buy a Browning here!

All, I wish to say to you Americans is: 'You lucky so and so's' !

I have three fines, speeding twenty kilometers over the limit and such, nothing violent, nothing with a court case, no criminal record, but that means that although I have been a member of a shooting club for three years and had extencive handgun training (FN-9mm), in the army, I cannot get a licence even for a .22lr target pistol !!!

Think about it! I was the best of our company in snap shots and night shooting, also in tied second place for the regular ten meter pistol shooting. And pretty high at the 150 meter rk-62 assault rifle from lying down with iron sights...

So, a guy like me, with extencive firearms training in the national service, a member of a firearms club that shoots form 25 meters with rental guns, if one doesnt own one, but that means that the ammo has to be purchased from the club, and it's ten times that of shop prices!

To save money, and because I am intersted in practical shooting (where U need a licenced gun of your own), I tried to first get a six inch .22lr (the officially recommended first gun for a licence applier), and after a year, apply for a 9mm practical suitable CZ, which is very similar to a hi power in it's normal mode, the practical model is more smooth and larger.

Anyway, can u imagine this in any state of America???

I repeat, NO CRIMINAL RECORD! And I was in the guard honour company, which meant we got an eight week military police course, and appart from our training (urban combat, and hostile house entry, kind of sas style with absailing through windows ect). We were next to the Presidents palace, with a sixteen man, one nco and two officer team ready to go into the palace 24/7. Is this how a guy who was in a unit where nobody with a criminal record could get into, should be treated when he applies for a plinker licence? And I repeat, no criminal record, only three cases of circa 70dollar (sixty Euro's, the smallest fine in Finland) fines...?

Yep, U guys are so lucky...

I even had a Browning buckmak plus on hold for me... sigh...

p.s. I drool every time I see one of you guy's guns! God I wish I could get one for under 600 dollars and start the hobby that I wish for. (I already do SCUBA, target shooting, and military history, along with travelling, p.s. if I do come to the states, is there kind of festivals where people who are into practical gather, and even a tourist could have a go? I'm seriously thinking of doing a trip to the US for this purpoce, I was there in 88, where I turned 18, it was a great trip! Your land is beautiful, my friend lived in Louisiana, and he got his first car, and we drove to California, I'll never forget the sun setting with the light on the mesa's in Texas. One of the most beautiful things I ever seen...

Yours truly: Mr Poundr.

Don't own a "Real" Hi-Power Yet

I have the FM M95 and an FEG. They are interchangeable parts wise (made from the same Blueprints) But not Brownings. I covet one though does that count? A close freind has one of the Belgium made Brownings does that count? Great guns even make an old duffer like me a good shot. If the price of a real Browning is not an issue for you like it is for me get it.
My dream gun would be a carbine that took my Hi-Power mags to go with the pistols. Was one ever made? Does such an animal exist?

I saw them recently for $499.00 at Gander Mountain (unadvertised sale) in St. Charles, Illinois...I thought about it...came back and they were $100 more...I balked...I have wanted one of these since I read Serpico by Peter Maas in 8th grade (1975)...SWEEEEEEEEET gun...
Bill

Get It!!!!!

I bought one this past year with income tax return. I love it, Ibought mine in the 40 S & W. I had one in 9mm and loved it, but not the round. I got rid of my 1911 and got the HP. I went out to the range and was able to hit the bottom of V8 cans at 25' and bowling pins at 50'. This was done straight out of the box. I've done nothing with it and love it just the way it is. 2 magazines came with it that were spring loaded. I like that alot.
You can't go wrong!!!

Although, I have rented and fired a 1911 Colt .45 a.p.c., and it was good and accurate, I still preferr the 9mm parabellum.

Now, it's really nice to read US citizens love the 9mm (mostly, and I am fascinated with the .40cal although the Glock .40 that I rented had an unusally hard kick to it, go figure)?

Anyway, as I subscribe to an American gun magazine, and subscribed another before, I have got the picture that all of the US is in .45apc frenzy at the moment.

It goes to show that the media is corrupt in hobby magaizines to the extreme, they are advertizing and cloaking it to be articles, but as I did an 'end of the year survey', I got about five magazines of guns, four of them form America, and one Finnish, and I have to say, that the .45 'reneissance' is being pushed strongly in the mags, but reading U guys, it seems like a huge ad campaign!

What say thee? Is the .45 going through such a furious renewal frenzy as the mags try to make out, or is it media soft sell?

P.s. I liked the 1911 I fired, but the mag capacity was pitiful! seven rounds in a modern gun!!! Wake up! I'd rather get a 357 6, 7 or 8 round revolver if it came to choosing between the two!

I mean, packing what, twelve to sixteen (the normal ammounts in double stack pistols nowadays, including the .40cal, some 9mm even going to 20 rounds in the mag)!!!

Then I see one stack .45s made by famous brands, for one to two thousand dollars, and this is the US price, I think, nuts! If peope can get a Browning Hi Power wich holds ten in the smaller mag, and is it fourteen in the larger? There is no contest to paying say, 1500 bucks for seven rounds of .45apc, is there?

Yours truly: Mr Poundr

Oooo Oooo!! I wanna add a pic of my Practical HP to the thread

I'm a fan, and yes they are very practical, LOL. Just shot mine yesterday, in fact. I can shoot them better than any other auto pistol.

You mentioned all Hi Power pistols beign all metal, but I could have sworn that some newer models have plastic grips, and different colours, not just metal in different finishes, and shades...

Also, I might be wrong, but havent Browning got out a new pistol in the last five or so years? This one for shure has plastic (or polymer if we want to sound cool), bits on it... Also, I belive it's a double action only gun...

Now please you American gun enthusiasts help an Euro who is confused...

IF I start to shoot, with a DAO (Double Action ONly), gun, which has a round in the barrel, will the next shot have the hammer 'cocked' so that pulling the trigger on the next round will be much lighter as it usually goes, or does it act like a 'having to pull a revolver without cocking the hammer first, meaning much more harder on the muscles', every shot in the clip???

You see I see more and more single action only and double action only, and it worries me, because I like the method of having all my bullets in the clip, and pulling the slide back, when I start to shoot, that is how we were taught on FN 9mm's in the Finnish army, so it sticked I guess...

But, I understand the advantages of 'having one in the tube' as it were... Here I also understand that instead of having to pull the hammer up when there is one in the barrel, you just pull like on a modern revolver and it takes at least double the power, but it lifts the hammer before firing the gun...

But now all this DAO and SAO, is getting me dizzy, and some are DAO/SAO!!!

Could somebody put this into an easy form to understand for us dumb EU folks, who dont know that much, and we are all used to the traditional way a semi auto works´.

Please?

Thanks, mr poundr...

P.S. thanks for that link that I will check out the gun lawer thing, as I was denied my licence for a 22cal target pistol because I have a couple of 60 euro (the minimum possible), fines from very innocent things...

Now, when I got out of the army, with our training, (we shot the second most of any units in the army), I would have got a 9mm or .357mag licence asap, If I would have applied right after the army, but I only started the hobby years after my national service, and before 2000 something, I didnt have any fines even, even now my record is clean, no trials ect... I would like to hear form a law man, how does the EU law act on these questions, I was in the Guards Honour Company, who's job was to protect the president, and formulate urban warfare, especially in house tactics using various guns when not on guard duty...

I mean, they dont let guys with shady pasts into that unit! Anyway, I'll move to the US I guess, as I'm just itching to tget my hands on so many of the great guns that are out there!!!

Mr Poundr.

P.S. have you ever tried a CZ model 75? It's pretty much a straight copy of a Hi Power, you might enjoy the experience... A great gun too... How about the new Beretta? (Is it the 'storm'), in 9mm, what's it like? I ask for I do not like their famous model 92 so much... When I heard that it was touch and go weather the US Army took the Beretta or the Sig 226 for the army's gun, I almost wept as the sig imho is so much better to shoot, and more accurate! But hey, the Beretta was cheaper.... And look how much they spend on the F-22, that they now wont probably need...

Anyway, the Finn army got rid of the otherwize good FN's we used to have, but the fixed sights on them were astoundingly bad, the worst I have ever shot through!!! Now we have the WALTRHER P99, 9mm parabellum, a good choise all in all.... Especially when they add the laser/light combo to the front, it's made to fit just from the trigger guard, to the end of the pistol, so it looks really cool, it's one straight line from the handle, with the trigger 'hole' in there to the end, looks really cool.

The controls feel a little unfamiliar (after my Sig), and I'm not thrilled about the mag not dropping free (though not really a deal-breaker, since I won't be doing any combat shooting with it).

Click to expand...

The new mousetrap mags have a *really* positive eject. You'll think your Sig was pretty half-hearted on dropping the mag after seeing a BHP launch a mag halfway across the room Okay, maybe not that stout, but they clear up the drop-free/mag-safe dilemma without removing the magazine safety.

This is a way old thread......... any updates?

beavertail

I have a hi power practical, but it has a beavertail hammer? I thought they were all psudo-combat hammers on the practical. Does anyone know why mine's a beavertail? got it in 01 as a 21'st bday present. I believe it was new.

Just a tuned 3.5lb trigger and Esmeralda grips did it for me.

I love mine. I had a trigger job, commander hammer, Esmerelda grips, stippling and barrel crown. One sweet shooting 9mm! I almost picked up a 9mm 1911, but with this one I don't see the need. IMHO best 9mm pistol out there.

I have the Practical HP in 9mm. It was sent to Novak's shop to replace the ring hammer with a no-bite spur hammer. Besides that it is pure stock. I carried that HP every day for 2 years. It handled every 9mm round I shot through it accurately and reliably,(ball,jhp+p/115,124gr.). I was turned on to the HP by Steve Camp. It is one of my main pistols forever.

Try to test fire before you buy.

I love the looks, I love the history.

I have fired two in my life, and both had really, really bad triggers. One was a rental, the other was a friend. The friend had had work done on his. With one in college and one real close, I am envious of my DINK (Double Income No Kids) friend who can afford to get work done on pistols. He said the work had improved the trigger, but it was still terrible (yes he had the magazine safety removed).

So try before you buy.

Mike

My Practical had magazine removal problems until I shaved just a touch from the inside of the Pachmyer grips. Seems the grips were dragging on the magazine just enough to make it a real bear to get the mag out. Still got the magazine disconnect and a smoooth trigger pull.

I gotta remember that "He who dies with the most toys, still dies".

I also consider John Moses Browning a Higher Power. Sorry, couldn't pass that one up.