Springfield Browning

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I've had guns with the rowel type factory hammer, factory rowel type modified by removing the lower half, the spur type, and the C&S. Much as I like the Hi Powers, they all bite me. Not as bad as the Swiss SIG P210s, but if I forget to but a Band-Aid on the web of my shooting hand, there will be bloodshed.

I wish SA well with their SA-35. I realize the frame, slide, etc. are probably imported from somewhere. But as long as the end product is of good quality, I am not offended. I've only owned FN made Hi Powers over a period of many years, but I may just have to acquire one of the very reasonably priced SA versions...
 
Couldn’t be more pleased with my SA Mil Spec 1911.

If they can produce a quality, US made 1911 in the $500 to $600 range then I am inclined to believe this Hi Power variant will be equally as good at a minimum.

Watching this with interest
 
Slamfire said:
If you are implying that the concept of a firing pin block did not exist until the Germans created it out of thin air, in 1935,
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No, what I was saying was that Walther did not begin work on the P38 DA/SA locked breech 9mm until 1935 and so could not have offered any basis to Browning and FN about double action service automatics. Even the blowback PP did not come out until work on the GR and GP at FN was well under way.

As far as firing pin safeties go, one article described how Walther downgraded the linkage at German Army request because the gun would "fail safe." That is if anything went wrong, it would default to not firing no matter what. The army accepted a bit of risk that the firing pin safety could fail and the gun still able to fire so as to not disarm their man. The next generation was in the HP which retracts the firing pin inside the safety rotor; replaced by the P38 which merely locks the firing pin in place and decocks the hammer against it full force. The firing pin lug has been known to fail or maybe be sabotaged by slave laborers, so one is advised to ease the hammer down as the safety lever decocks it.
 
md7 said:
Couldn’t be more pleased with my SA Mil Spec 1911.

If they can produce a quality, US made 1911 in the $500 to $600 range then I am inclined to believe this Hi Power variant will be equally as good at a minimum.

Watching this with interest
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They don't "really" make that gun in the US. They do just enough to call it US made but the forgings come from Imbel. To my knowledge SA does not own a forge.
 
I saw an advertisement in the NRA magazine on the new offering by SA. The photo looks good, the price is right, and I'm glad they are making clone BHPs again. But, it just make me appreciate my 69C and my 75C Sport models more. I don't think I need an SA variant.
 
WVsig said:
They don't "really" make that gun in the US. They do just enough to call it US made but the forgings come from Imbel. To my knowledge SA does not own a forge.
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I know prior to 2014(ish) the SA 1911’s were Imbel and marked as Brazilian made. I could be wrong, but I thought after that time frame the frames and slides were forged domestically.

Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought that was the case.
 
md7 said:
I know prior to 2014(ish) the SA 1911’s were Imbel and marked as Brazilian made. I could be wrong, but I thought after that time frame the frames and slides were forged domestically.

Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought that was the case.
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You maybe correct but they definitely outsource the forging. It is not an in house process and to my knowledge Imbel was the last known source of their raw forgings.
 
earlthegoat2 said:
Where's the GIF for "Take my Money"??!!
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but really, what I'd like to see would be the actual custom hi power feature people want: a beavertail. and is that a parkerized finish? but depending on the street price and used market price, I might be in. If I could pick one up for <$500 I'm in.
 
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I'll have to add this to the safe to keep company with my Inglis, MKIII Practical and FEG clone. Tried to buy a Tisas Regent BR9 but they were all sold out. Girsan is coming out with their clone MS P35 soon and being imported by EAA. Wonder if Springfield is using those as a basis?
 
The write-up my son sent me from the American Rifleman (IIRC), was very positive...and the accuracy results, (again IIRC) were all very good indeed. I haven't seen an over the counter example as yet, but an ~$700 pistol with those features and accuracy would make a good CC choice for me. My two BHP's are beautifully finished and I hate to see any were whatsoever on them...hate to say it as I have a long history with the model going back to my Vietnam service...but mine are just too nice to bang around on a tractor seat during all day carry. I welcome this SA offering! Rod
 
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Well. I have to say pics are impressive. And MSRP is smart. Enough to make me renege on two “Nevers”: as in never want a 9mm and never want to buy anything from Springfield Armory.
 
If you do a search for the Girsan MC P-35, and you look long enough, you will come across an ad by EAA that is remarkably similar to Springfield's SA-35 ad. Both ads show a man sitting at a workbench, back to the camera, with a photo of JMB next to a digital clock which reads "19:35", and both with long guns leaning against one edge of the table. The differences? In the Girsan ad, the back of the man's shirt is boldly printed in white with the letters, "EAA". The long gun leaning against the table in the Girsan ad is a shotgun, while in SA's ad it is an M1A. I'd say it's a reasonable bet that the SA-35 is built from Turkish (Girsan) parts.
 
Okay, it was a good detective work to link SA-35 to Girsan, and 1911 to IMBEL (although they even marked their work before 2014). So, where do you guys think Springfield subcontract the 911?
 
Without knowing anything my first guess would have been "Croatia." But the Turks have been making BHPs for a while now so I'm going to say TISAS, Arsin-Trabzon Turkey.

But I guess having the same ad copy as Girsan is a bit of a smoking gun...
 
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zaitcev said:
Okay, it was a good detective work to link SA-35 to Girsan, and 1911 to IMBEL (although they even marked their work before 2014). So, where do you guys think Springfield subcontract the 911?
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It is probable that the assembly of Springfield Armory's 1911's are in Genesco Illinois. It is also probable that the amount of labor to assembly the pistols is actually very small per pistol. I read a book on the history of Colt, and everything was made in house. That was prior to WW2 and those days are gone. I talked with several people who either visited Remington Huntsville, or worked there. Today, most of the parts are subcontracted out. Remington was getting forgings from South Korea (if my recall is correct) for their 1911's. Very little machining needed to be done at the Huntsville facility. A bud who toured the plant told me that one third of the building was manufacturing, one third for test shooting, one third for shipping. The beginning of the manufacturing line was totally automated, with one employee picking up things that fell off, but that was about it. The barrel making section was totally automated and really impressive. Only saw humans in any quantity till the end of the line where twenty somethings were assembling firearms, and they did not have any files. The guns were not filed to fit in any way, just screwed together, more or less.

This is more or less true for all industry. There are very few people on the factory floor. Parts are outsourced to the greatest extent possible, and vendors are world wide. Remington Huntsville did not have the people or the means to fix defective firearms, they chunked bad guns and sent out new ones. Custom shops are a rarity, the people on the production line are doing a job only slightly more complicated than assembling a burger at a fast food joint.
 
C0untZer0 said:
I never understood the obsession with chambering the 1911 in 9mm - to my thinking that's what the Browning High Power is.
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I have 1911's chambered in 8 different cartridges (45 ACP, 40 S&W, 357 SIG, 9x19, 38/45 Clerke, 38 Super, 38 Special, and 22 RF) while I have only one Browning High Power chambered in only one cartridge, 9x19.

Maybe, the obsession with the 1911 in alternate cartridges is it is has been a more desirable platform for alternate cartridges than the Hi Power.

P.S. I know there are a few more cartridges than I have listed for the 1911 that it has been chambered in. I just have not gotten to them--yet. Also, I know the Hi Power has been chambered in 40 S&W. I do not think the Hi Power has not been chambered on a regular basis in any other cartridge.

On another hand, as said, the Europeans seem to be less interested in varying from established cartridges while US shooters are more experimental. Admittedly, this is a limited, single data point, point of view. I'll admit, the opinion may be flawed.
 
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JCooperfan1911 said:
A few years ago I sold my mint condition Mk III about a year before Browning ended manufacture. Certainly a choice I regret. Genuine Hi Powers are commanding titanic sums on the open market.

Then the Turks came in with their cheap Tisas clones which from most reports are decent enough. But the thought of owning a Turkish made budget version wasn’t so appealing.

This new Springfield seems like it should hold an excellent niche of mid priced and made in the USA with customer service support by an established name. This will be a hot seller for sure. I only wish 9mm wasn’t so overpriced right now.
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My sentiments exactly. I’m cautiously optimistic…. I’ll likely give this a year or so to settle into the market to gauge the experience/reception.
 
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