Is the Browning Hi-Power still relevant?

[RNB65]

How does the quality of current production compare to the older BHP's? I rarely see a used one locally, so if I buy it will probably be new.

Thanks.
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[rooter]

As a combat handgun?
No.

easyg, could elaborate on your reasoning for this statement?

 

[Texas Colt]

Yes, it is still very relevant. I'd say it's better now than when it first hit the market. We now have custom goodies like those from C&S. We have accessories like a huge selection of leather, MecGar mags, and Craig Spegel grips.

It is slim, accurate, reliable, and with a little work has a trigger as good as a 1911. The Mark III even has a firing pin block.

There is only one 9mm that I will carry, and that is my Hi Power. The other 9's are just range toys.

 

[distra]

As a combat handgun?
No.

Only because it's a 9mm Nothing wrong with a BHP for combat handgun. I can out shoot most Glockers and 92ers with mine in our club matches.

 

[gallo]

Irrelevant? No. Pricey? Yes, too much for its own good. Nonetheless a classic contemporary, the culmination of perfect form and flawless function manifested directly from God through the genius of John Browning as gift to mankind.

 

[jungle]

 

[gallo]

Jungle, if all those are yours, you possess great wealth.

 

[mokin]

Drool,

Very nice gentlemen. I stopped carrying my BHP when I took my wife to the range and she decided she didn't want me to leave her home without the pistol. So, I got to finally buy a Glock. I'm still not sure if it was fair. The BHP is more accurate and more concealable. It also has way more class.

 

[jungle]

Jungle, if all those are yours, you possess great wealth. gallo


Yes, they are all mine and I took the photo, but great wealth? No, the top two were bought for around 300 and reworked slightly. The others almost all bought used as many clamored for new DA autos and sold their older pistols.

I like JMB's other work too:

 

[mattk]

Relevant to what??
The HiPower isn't a debunked economic theory.
Its one of the most used handguns in the world.

My wife and I each have a HiPower that we use for home defense. I also carry mine. Lots of people do.

Plus the CD HiPower was not made in the Phillipines.

 

[dogtown tom]

The Browning Hi Power is revered WORLDWIDE as the finest service handgun ever. From Idi Amin & Saddam Hussein to Prince Harry, military and police, ANYWHERE you go, the Hi Power has been first choice. Call it Hi Power, High Power, P-35, GP whatever........it is unquestionably the MOST relevant handgun worldwide.

With two notable exceptions: The USA and the ComBloc.

The real question is.........is the 1911 still relevant? Certainly not in US law enforcement, and military usage is miniscule compared to the M9 & M11.

 

[blitzen]

Here's a guy ( Prince Harry) who could have or be issued anything he needed. Yes that is a BHP. Yes, I think it is still relevant.

 

[DougDubya]

easyg - not as a combat handgun?

Uhm... why?

The features of the BHP are pretty much the measure of all other high capacity autoloaders:

1 - is it as ergonomically perfect?
2 - does it have a foolproof system to prevent negligent discharge while still being lightning fast into combat?
3 - can it fit 13 shots into the same sleek, handy package?
3a - can it fit ten BIG shots in the same sleek handy package (for .40s)?
4 - is it as finely concealable?
5 - is it battle proven?
6 - has it been working for longer than I've been alive?
6a - has it been working well since even before my FATHER was born?

Little questions like those matter.

 

[DougDubya]

dogtown tom - the 1911 is regaining approval - the LAPD's best teams (SIS and SWAT), the FBI SWAT and HRT...

plus it's still allowed for use in Chicago last I'd heard.

 

[Tribal]

Let's hope Prince Harry's Crown Jewels remain safe with that mode of carry...

 

[Monkeybear]

Its a reliable, well made, and is chambered in the most popular centerfire cartridge on the planet. What's not relevant about that?


So.....what exactly makes a hand gun a "combat" handgun?

 

[RickH]

It is an all steel gun, reliable and accurate, designed a long time ago, just like the 1911. Is the 1911 still relevant? I think yes. Are more soldiers carrying the 1911 or the Hi Power today? I don't know that either, but at least the English still issue the Hi Power. Only special groups get the 1911.

 

[mgregg85]

I'd love to own a HP, just too expensive to justify at this point. And I don't like the mag safety.

 

[MountainBear]

Slightly off-topic I know, but the 1911 is moving back into relevence, not only as a swat/hrt/sis pistol but as a standard issue, especially in departments that do not have a designated everyone will carry this pistol, but rather a list of acceptable choices.
They are, in my opinion, doing it right in that I have heard of several departments offering crossover classes before you are allowed to carry a cocked and locked 1911.

And to answer the actual topic of this thread (more beating a dead horse at this point), the HP is not irrelevent, and probably will not be for a good long time. I would liken this question to asking if the FN/FAL and its variants are irellevent. The answer, like several have alluded to above, is that they are less popular in the US, but in the grand wordly scheme of things, they will continue to be relevent.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Yeah, how is the BHP not a combat pistol?

 

[buttrap]

Last one I priced new was around 600bucks, I would not call that expensive by any means. Could probably also be called the most popular combat pistol in history too. Guess now its not "taticool" so its not a combat gun even though it was more popular than the 1911. You get out of the US the 1911 is considered silly almost vs a HP.

 

[Tribal]

Is the BHP still relevant? Well, yes. Other than ease in take-down and being DA/SA, I don't see that the Beretta 92 is really an advance on the BHP (and you could fix most of that with a light redesign).

As compared to a 1911, they would seem to me to be useful for different things. If you're expecting determined resistance (such as Moro rebels) you want the big bullets where capacity isn't such an issue because if you need more than eight rounds then you need something more than a pistol. If you're expecting more "skittish" opposition, having more shots (although of a properly lethal caliber) which cause your opponent to keep his head down is better.

It always seemed to me that the Hi Power is a better officer's pistol and the 1911 is a better NCO's pistol, if that makes any sense.

 

[legion3]

OMG yes and I don't even have one but it is a classic combat pistol and always will be.

 

[TimboKhan]

Even considering caliber, I can't see why the HP wouldn't be relevant as a combat arm today. It does everything newer pistols do, and at least as well. The 9mm is an OK, though not great, combat round depending on the round used, and the HP is plenty strong enough to handle +p. It hasn't been around as long as the 1911, and everyone faints dead away from horror if it is suggested that they aren't the bestest combat pistols around. Age isn't a good indicator of relevance, I guess.

 

[Pilot]

The BHP is the one of the best balanced pistols available. Its accurate, reliable, hicap, slim and classy. The king of the wondernines. The only reason its not more popular is its not DA/SA and people that aren't properly trained including LEO's and their agencies are ignorant to the safety and benefits of cocked and locked.

My BHP is my most accurate centerfire handgun over my HK, Sigs, Berettas as just slightly more accurate than my CZ's.