BHP question

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Ritt, I don't know what the weight rating is on the factory FM, but the Browning/FN uses a 32#. It is quite heavy and the C&S may be a similar weight. I have used the 28# Wolff mainsprings in my Brownings, and have never had a misfire/light primer strike, etc. This,even with the Winchester NATO 9MM ammo, which seems to me to have a slightly harder primer...
 
The resale value of an FN made BHP with those mods will have better resale than a clone such as the Kareen.

In fact, the resale value of an FN-made BHP without those mods will probably be the same as (or more than) an FN-BHP with mods. Cylinder & Slide installed changes might get you some of your money back, but just using C&S parts might not. In most cases modifications or upgrades add little to resale value.

And it's a sure bet that you'll be unlikely to get back much (if any) of such extra money spent to mod/upgrade a clone, such as a Kareen, FM, or FEG.

If you're going to upgrade any of these guns, consider that extra cost "lost money," spent because you wanted those features or changes on your gun, not because you thought they'd increase the resale value later. Don't expect to get a cent back later. You'll be happier in the long run.


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If you're going to upgrade any of these guns, consider that extra cost "lost money," spent because you wanted those features or changes on your gun, not because you thought they'd increase the resale value later. Don't expect to get a cent back later. You'll be happier in the long run

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100% agreed. I wasn't worried about resale value at all, I view it like a used car that someone has had a custom paint job done on and maybe some new rims. I might choose it over a non custom model of the same car, or maybe pay some small premium - but I am definitely not paying the value of the used car plus the retail value of the modifications.

Plus I hear the pimped out Kareen market has really peaked, and the true collector market is now in Hi-Point .45s with Ed Brown aftermarket parts;)

My concern was really whether the Hi Power clone was a good enough platform (quality of the frame itself) to modify in the first place, or whether I'd get to the point where I had put a few hundred dollars into it and then wish I had started with an FN.

I understand there is a qualitative difference a Browning/FN and a FEG/Kareen/Charles Daly, but the clones are still serviceable shooters, right? That's what it boils down to, I think.
 
Some of the early clones are virtually identical to the BHPs in all important respects -- including parts interchangeability -- so they're a good base gun, especially if you aren't worried about resale value.

I've been led to believe that the early FM's are just FNs built by other people (i.e., under license), and the earliest FEGs are very good copies (true clones) without the license.

Both diverged over time from the original patterns. FNs that didn't carry the Browning rollmark tended to be less "pretty" than the Browning HPs, and the FMs I've seen were never as nice as the FNs -- but some of the FEG early guns were very nice-looking guns, with high levels of polish...

I don't know ANYTHING about the Kareens, and have never seen/handled one.
 
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