totin a Browning Hi Power - gettin hooted at! ***UPDATE***

What did the song say "Jokers to the right....clowns to the left" or something to that effect.

So..........USUAL EDC is J frame, stocked with +P, carried at 4 o'clock. This is what ALL the usual guys at local range know I show up with for practice sessions.

Just for the heck of it, (and cause I didn't want to overload the range bag as usual) I had my 1988 Hi-Power on my belt, left the 637 at home and was just going for some fun time and exercise on the old Hi-Power.

Boy........the hoots, grins, sarcasm, just rolled on and on...and this is from guys I know! Like: What...S&W go out of business?
Did they kick you out of SWCA? What are you planning with that underpowered relic?.....blah...blah blah.

I don't mind the ribbing, but evidently black plastic and Kydex are here to stay. Quite different than when I bring the Model 25 or the Model 29 (in my range bag)....then it is oohs...and ahhs and I have to be careful they don't slobber on the bluing.

Anybody else out there getting such disrespect for one of John Moses finest designs?

UPDATE: Thanks for all the comments about HiPowers being among the best bottom loaders ever made. I thought maybe I ought to explain that my range buddies are some pretty nice guys that are mostly envious of the S&W wheel guns that I show up with, and they really love it when some old warhorses (Garand, Ithaca 1911, Victory, Luger in older days) accompany me. Their chiding banter on the Hi-Power was all in good jest, as most all of them are younger, working stiffs, and about the best they can afford are the fantastic plastic, and usually quantity 1. I am really glad that I had several boxes of ammo on hand as again...they are not at all shy to handle, fondle, beg to shoot some of the treasures I show up with. For the most part these guys are paying by the hour so it is even more of a stretch for them to leave their lane and come over to see "What's Charlie got in his range bag(s)....sometimes 2 with me, today!

The one guy just acquired a finish challenged, mechanically very good, Model 10.....his first wheel gun, first S&W and he is already sliding on our slope!

This is where our new members are going to come from, so I accept any jesting, chiding, comments about my "fossiltility" (New word there folks) and just keep on enjoying what I have been fortunate enough to accumulate.

Just didn't want you all to think that all black plastic guys are jokers and clowns, and most of them know my daughter (a LEO) has a Glock 21 Gen 4 45acp as her duty piece AND that she routinely cleans my clock at this same range so all good fun.

Keep them Hi-Powers gunnin!

They are green with envy. Nice HP

I have owned eight BHP’s; still have #2 and my son has #8 (.40 S&W). Let those ignorant people poke fun at a classic. Unlike them, it will be working long after they are dead and gone.

Simple solution -- get new friends. The ones you have are no-class nitwits of the type your mother will be glad you've stopped hanging around with.

I don't have a Browning Hi-Power, but I do have an Argentine FM-90... and I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express. If your Hi-Power is reliable with your carry ammo and you don't mind hefting the weight, there is nothing wrong with a BHP as an EDC. Of course, I could be a freak as I heft a S&W 6946 and my friends all prefer Glocks or the S&W M&P/Shield.

Never.

My father had an older Hi Power in Southeast Asia, and later bought a Hi Power Practical when I was a kid. As far as he was concerned, the HP was the perfect autoloader. Several years back, he gave me his HP Practical and the Colt Python he bought in 1969 after returning from SE Asia and before heading off to Germany. My first question was if he had a terminal illness. Fortunately, the answer was no.

As an adult, my experiences with the Hi Power are mostly positive. I do get hammer bite, and that sucks, but my favorite pistol, the Swiss P210, does it even worse. I do wish that it had a better trigger reset. Those negatives aside, as far as I am concerned the Hi Power is the perfect sized pistol for concealment and self defense. It is right at the same height as a Glock 19, but has a longer barrel and sight radius. Count me as a fan, and I am known to carry once from time to time instead of my W. German P226.

The only weapon that I have ever had to deploy in defense of my life was a Hi-Power. Let them remain ignorant, prices are already too high and if more discover the joy of the P35 they will only soar higher.

As an outdated unappreciated design, I can hold onto it for you. I'll suffer the shame of owning and shooting it.

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One of the finest guns ever made!!i I would not trade my 1971 for a s&w semi anything

Presuming your range buddies are not just indulging in good natured banter...

I would challenge them to a competition with a gun of their choice that does not have the technology pioneered in the P35, namely the 9 mm staggered round box magazine and the tilt-lock.

I would also remind them that Browning finally had to cheap out and drop their last wood and steel centerfire handgun - you know, the kind that helped win the biggest wars in history - for plastic.

I see a "get off my lawn" moment coming...

The man I know who's shot more men with a handgun than any other killed several with a Hi-Power, the rest with a Beretta M-9.

I'd take either over any S&W auto ever made, or any Glock.

No so-called "gun guy" would dis on a Hi Power unless simply green with envy. Carry it proud; you're totin' the finest 9mm pistol ever created.


I kinda have a thing for them

My HP dates from 1972........There isn't a "plastomatic" that measure up to it.

Your friends are just kidding around. Nobody with any gun sense at all would ever seriously degrade a Hi-Power. Its a true classic and my absolute favorite 9mm.

I bought a Browning MK III back in 1990 and it ain't going nowhere.
In the last year, I've bought a FEG PKJ-9HP and an FM Argentine Hi-Power Detective Model. I've grown very fond of the chopped down Detective.

Just light-hearted ribbing from friends. The BHP is at the top of my list of guns I regret not getting.

I carried the HP MkIII in 40 S&W from when when it was first offered until retirement, uniformed duty and SRT. The only modification I did was remove the magazine safety (it improves trigger pull and allows you to fire single-shot with no mag}.

Your buddies are just impressed that you found something to wean you off your revolver.

I also have a 1988 vintage Belgian FN High Power that I got to familiarize my sons with this classic firearm. They like and appreciate it. If the younger generation isn't familiar with the classics, it is the fault of the generation that raised them.

Half Power

At Gunsite Orange they were known as half powers, but always recognized as a beautiful design from John Moses Browning.

I bought mine new in 1968. Got it with the red lined pouch and instruction manual which I never really read---not sure I can find either accessory at this point. Carried it for over 40 years backed up by a model 36. I have had all sorts of handguns but the BHP never had me wanting anything better.