FN HP SFS Trigger

[Hastings]

I have a FN Hi Power SFS in 40 cal.. I picked it up new, about a year and a half ago for $465.00. I am very pleased with the pistol. It is much more accurate than I am. I consistently place the first round of a fresh magazine into a 1" dead center mark at 15 yards. Unfortunately, the following rounds then spread out to between 2" to 4" overall. The FN obviously has the magazine safety, and I seem to remember someone mentioning that on the SFS models the magazine safety was difficult, if not impossible to remove with out a host of tools not commonly owned by the typical recreational shooter. Is the FN SFS different from the other Hi Powers in such a way as to make the removal of the magazine safety more difficult, or impossible without sending it to a gunsmith? I am sure the variation in accuracy is due to poor trigger control, anticipating the recoil, ...etc. However, if I can improve the trigger pull appreciably, that might help. Does anyone have first hand experience specifically on a SFS model?

 

[Janos Dracwlya]

I have a 9 mm SFS Hi-Power and I removed the magazine disconnect (it's not a safety) just by punching out the pin on the body of the trigger. Once that's done, the plunger just slides right out (you have to have the slide off, so you can see it). I don't know if that's how other Hi-Powers work, but it can't get much easier than that. The trigger pull was quite good before I removed the disconnect, but it is practically perfect now; I only removed it because of it keeping magazines from dropping free.

 

[wrangler5]

The magazine disconnect on a Hi Power lives in the trigger, and is identical on the "regular" and SFS guns (I have one of each.) I removed mine by taking out the trigger (with the disconnecter attached) and then driving out the little pin that holds the disconnecter in place, but if you can figure a way to support the trigger while it's still in the gun I suppose there's no reason you can't just drive the little pin out as Janos described.

The disconnecter is a small spring loaded pad that projects into the magazine well when a magazine is out and in that position it moves the trigger bar lifter (whatever it's called - the thing that rises out of the right side of the frame when you pull the trigger) so that it doesn't connect with the trigger linkage to the sear. Putting a magazine in the gun pushes the spring loaded pad out of the way and reconnects the trigger linkage, but the pad itself slides up and down along the front of the magazine during trigger movement. Depending on the relative smoothness of the disconnecter pad and the front of the particular magazine in use, you can feel practically no effect from the disconnecter or a horrible gritty trigger pull, or anything in between. Unless all of your magazines have the same surface smoothness under the disconnecter pad you will have a different trigger feel with different magazines. And your magazines will NOT drop free reliably unless they have the "mousetrap" spring in the baseplate that kicks 'em out when you punch the button.

So on the whole, removing the disconnecter is likely to improve your trigger pull, either a little or a lot, and will certainly let your mags drop free virtually every time.

 

[jaydubya]

My Hi Power Classic has a C&S SFS kit installed. Removal of the mag "safety" is exactly the same as on an original Hi Power. Check www.hipowersandhandguns on what to do. Be advised that the host, Stephen Camp, thinks the SFS alteration is a solution looking for a problem. On this, I respectfully disagree with the best source on Hi Powers. He carried them Condition One (cocked and locked) for much of his law enforcement career, and trusts them that way. I do not; but when I carried my Hi Power, I was flying over Vietnam. Whole different world.
Cordially, Jack

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. I apologize if I gave the impression that I thought the SFS was a "solution in search of a problem" for I do not...and never have.

I see them as a viable alternative to the traditional DA/SA autopistol as well as the DAO, a pistol that offers single-action trigger pulls for each and every shot but one that does not have to have the hammer (visibly) cocked. I think that these would be just the thing for folks who cannot by regulation carry an automatic cocked-and-locked.

A nice thing is that if a person gets an SFS-equipped Hi Power and winds up wanting to go with the traditional single-action pistol, he can get the parts needed and use the same pistol. Parts are expensive but it is an option should it be desired by the shooter.

I do not have an SFS-equipped Hi Power. If I ran across one "right" I might buy one but I'm so used to the single-action traditional version that I'm comfortable with it and not eager to change. Perhaps that's where some of the possible misinterpretation occurred.

The system seems to work pretty good from what I've seen and more than a few shooters I've visited with like the system.

But getting back on topic, removing the magazine disconnect on the SFS pistols would be the same as on the traditional single-action Hi Powers.

Best and good luck.

PS: It is not my desire whatsoever to hijack this thread, but for folks wanting to read the piece on the SFS system, it is here:

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/What Do You Know about the SFS on the BHP.htm