I know, I know... It's not complete "unamerican" but this one is made in Belgium. It's the improvement of the 1911-desgin in 9 mm Luger.
(I can almost hear the howling that started now all around in the U.S )

The gun comes in a synthetic case with a "external" lock for the gun and two mags for 13 rounds.


The original Pachmayr wraparound-grips fits my hand. The size of the grippiece is big compared to a standard 1911.


The duotone-surface is made very accurate and there are no dents or spots.


The rearsight is adjustable. The two vertical white lines are uncommon. Maybe I wil paint them black.


The rearsight is impressively flat. This allows to use a low frontsight.


The sightpicture with the three vertical white lines, like one should focus at the range....


The dangerous side shows the precise fitting of the barrel. No play anywhere. Nor between the barrel and the slide, nor between the slide and the grippiece.


More pictures from inside the gun and the shootingresults will follow. But for now that's all from the UNAMERICAN HANDGUNS.

Swissman

Looks familiar, but mine has the older, less attractive rear sight. Great guns.

I've never seen the "practical" model with that rear sight (the "sport" rear) nice. I really like the look of it.

Personally, I believe there is no finer 9mm pistol in the world.

I know several people who have those guns and love them. It's amazing how few "single action" autos are around now, that are not a 1911. I guess most everyone but me doesn't care about a nice crisp trigger and likes shooting the spongy trigger glocks, SDs, Sigmas, Kahrs, SR-9s, etc.

I'm a big Hi Power fan and have two Mark IIIs. Besides S&W revolvers they are the only handguns I own.
I know you will find your Practical a very good gun, it's easy to shoot well. Change out the recoil spring every 1000-1200 rounds and your good to go. The more you shoot it the better (lighter, smoother, more refined) the trigger will feel.

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R Gitz

Sweet...Now go put some patronens through it...

BTW, I have never seen one with no marking on the left side of the slide....

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

I love the Highpower and the "practical" model is my favorite. Best of all worlds with that gun. Hard to find here, been looking for a "right condition/right priced" copy of the practical for a while.

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Dave

High Powers, one in hard chrome, the other in black epoxy. They're both chambered in .40 S&W. Seems like a superb comibnation.

I had the same pistol , but in .40 S&W. Never took a liking to it though. The weight added to the slide ruined the perfect balance of the original 9mm. So it got traded away for a CZ-75B-SA in .40.

Swissman.
Right you are. There is no reason for a red blooded American to own one of those foreign guns and especially one chambered in that effeminate European cartridge. 9mm is for sissies.


1950 FN HiPower and 2011 Glock 17C


Bill@Yuma

I would like those sights on mine. The most accurate 9mm I own. CZ is pretty close though.

Does yours have the "mouse trap" spring loaded 10 round mags that pop out for quick reloading?

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Still Running Against the Wind

OCD1, you give me hope! All ranges are closed now because of Easter-holiday. The trigger needs a bit more weight than I like,
but I check it again after a few houndred rounds.
One "mousetrap-mag" is included. The other is without it. I don't care for such things. But if it comes with the gun...OK.

Swissman

Swissman, I'm with you about the Belgian made (assembled in Portugal) guns. I've personally never understood the 'purists' who eschew anything but a pure Belgian made and assembled Browning since the quality of the guns is not in question. I understand that some feel it's like the attention to hand fitting and bluing on the older S&W's that is no longer done today, but for a shooter the should be no difference.

Have a practical model in 40S&W and it is one of the best shooting and easiest shooting 40's I've ever owned. I find the trigger to be acceptable though the traditional fix to improve the trigger is the elimination of the magazine disconnect 'safety'.

My 9mm HP is an old all-Belgian war horse that was Parkerized. Just wish I had had the funds and the desire 30 years ago to buy up a few more. Back then they were out of my budget range, or so I thought. Had we only known . . . .

That's a good one Bill! And don't forget those who mounts beavertails on the guns and change the shape of the hammers because of the possible "hammerbites".

Oh yes, sooo many memories......

Swissman

So how come there's not markings on the left side???

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

NFrameFred, I must confess that I bought the HP too, because it is signed "Made in Belgium" only. The gun is made in 2008.
My first pistol was a FN International .22 l.r. and this gun is still in my posession. It's a fine looking pair, or what do you think??



Swissman

sipowicz, the only thing i've deleted is the serial-# on the
right gripframeside and on the chamber of the barrel.
You see the markings "Made in Belgium" on the right side from
the slide.

Swissman

Nice looking HP, Swiss. I like the new adjustable sights so I just picked up a leftover polished blue anniversary, with adjustable sight. It's at the gunsmith now having the magazine disconnect removed and trigger tuned and I'm anxious to get it back! (He previously did my FN High Power)

I have two: a 1960 transitional and a 1994 (pre-Crime Bill) 9x19mm. Practical. As many have said, it's my all-time favorite 9 mil.

My 9x19mm. Practical (and all others that I've examined) came with two Pachmayr-based 13-rounders; I've only seen the "mousetrap" assist on the .40 calibre mags. Is the 9mm. mag shown with "ejection assist" a new thing, or only available for European purchases or have I slept through something?!

Steve

We all know the perfectly logical explanation. When the previous owner polished off the "Assembled in Portugal" and reblued the slide, he got a little over enthusiastic and took away everything.

At some point we forum members must take up a collection and send poor SwissMan a real U.S.-made 1911. The poor chap has lived a deprived life for too long and for some odd reason hasn't the interest to help himself.

Some folks complain that the trigger is to heavy due to the magazine safety and take it out. It doesn't bother me. Mine is a tack driver. Makes me look good.

The barrel and lock up is very similar to the CZ. The chamber has a very short leade so it does not like RN lead bullets unless they are seated much lower than a equal weight jacketed bullet which come to more of a point.

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Still Running Against the Wind

That rear sight looks the same as that on my Browning Mark III. My sessions at the range have convinced me that the three vertical white bars are just too confusing and do not promote accuracy. Like you, I have considered painting them black but I haven't tried that yet.

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Quoth the raven:
"Nevermore"

Shot my first BHP, an Inglis, in a Canadian "commando match" in 1960. Very high speed, low drag for the time as everyone else was shooting a revolver. They are seriously cool guns.

Steven Camp has a good book on BHPs in general at a very reasonable price for the info it has. I'd recommend it.

No one ever tells the truth about the High Power.
John M. Browning designed these things to keep people like me broke! I will keep buying these "UnAmerican Pistols" until I get the perfect one.
Swiss, That Practical has always been my favorite, one of these days....
These all shoot good groups. Even the 'cheep' 'FM Argentine' will keep a mag full on a 3" post-it at 15 yds (13.72 meters).
The grips I like are the 'Navidrex' from Brownells (Silver Chrome) and the 'Herrett Coco Bolo' from CDNN.

Attached Images

HIGH POWERS.jpg (66.4 KB, 166 views)

I think that the Browning Hi Power is just about the finest 9mm they ever made! However, an improvement over the Colt 1911..........NO WAY, NO HOW!!!

In my opinion, I think the Colt 1911 is on the top of the heap and will stay there for a long time to come. I also will go so far as to say that the internals on the 1911 are way better than the Hi Power. But of course that is just my opinion.

Chief38

Here is the cure to the trigger: the cylinder and slide wide combat trigger assembly.
BHP Wide Combat Trigger - Hard Chrome
I put them in both my Hi Power Practicals (one 9mm and one .40). Drops the trigger pulls to a bit over 2 kilograms.
My Practicals were imported by Browning and have the Browning logos on the Pachmayr grips.

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Science plus Art

swissman, if you add the wide trigger from cylinder& slide shop and remove the magzine disconnect, you will improve the trigger by at least 50%. have one done up like that with tangent sights. has the best high power trigger i ever tried.

Well, we're still here - waiting for the shooting results!

A quick first report from the range.

The sights are not that bad with the vertikal white lines.
The trigger is still pretty hard, but I think it's getting better.
I got some bad flyers from time to time. Always to the left
in the 8 and 7 ring at 25 meters. But this is not the guns fault. Accuracy seems to be good.





Holding/firing the gun is very comfortable. Recoil is no problem. No hammerbites....but the trigger is so hard.






That's all for now.

Swissman

I don't care how hard the trigger is, I don't want you shooting at me!!!