Fabrique National D'Armes De Guerre Herstal-Belgique FN Hi Power

tgoose1 · May 13, 2020

Early 1950's era FN/Herstal high-powers are sometimes found with matching magazines and police style black leather holster. Most of these serial numbers are hand etched on the mags and hand inked inside the flap of the holsters. Occasionally a holster/magazine is found to have an embossed serial number matching the pistol found with. Question I have, would a pair of matching sn# "embossed" mag base plate, that matches a pistol sn#, carry any special significance or extra value? Was this an early post-war feature or just a random special order requirement of a particular agency or police department? The pistol is a 30,xxx sn# gun which could be late 40's to early 50's, a guess based on how FN sent out various contracts. Still, would a matched pair of mags w/embossed sn# base-plates signify an earlier era pistol, i.e. late 40's? Thanks to the FN/Browning historians who can illuminate on this issue.

Bro. Dave · May 13, 2020

I have a copy of Vanderlinden's book on FN Handguns, but won't be able to check it till later this evening. My guess is that magazines with serial numbers matching the pistol would be desirable and add some value to the weapon. The Hi-Power was used all over the world, but the "authorized" series of German Police Pistols as my limited understanding was: P1-was essentially a P38; the P2 was the Sig P210; the P3 was the Astra; the P4 was a P38 with an alloy frame and slightly shorter barrel; the P5 was the Walther P5 (ejects empties to the left) ; the P6 was the Sig P226; the P7 was the H&K squeeze cocker. That pretty much exhausts my limited memory.

I'll try to check the book this evening, unless one of the more knowledgeable folks here chime in.

Thin Man · May 13, 2020

Bro. Dave said:
the P6 was the Sig P226;

Actually the P6 was the police version of the P225; a more compact version in the P-Series line-up than the P226, and with a single-stack magazine.

Not mine, but identical:

tgoose1 · May 13, 2020

Thanks for the input above, but I'm referring to an early post-war
P-35 FN/Browning per pics:

Absalom · May 13, 2020

The German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen (Northrhine-Westphalia, or NRW) purchased and issued several thousand FN Hi-Powers in the 1950s, and they remained in service into the late 1960s if my memory serves me right.

These pistols did not get any state stampings or other identifying marks, as these did not become required in Germany until 1968, and NRW did not mark any guns acquired before then (in contrast to some other states like Bavaria and Lower Saxony, which went back and stamped every gun they had).

So the only way to identify these Hi-Powers is usually that they come with a holster with German markings.

However, I have a source I can check where I might find some serial data. I’ll add any info if that turns out to be the case.

Kurusu · May 13, 2020

The magazine of my 1951 made E series FN Hi Power has no serial number.

Absalom · May 13, 2020

Confirmation:

Yes, the FN Hi-Power #32430 is almost certainly an NRW police pistol.

The pistols were delivered 1951 to 1953 and fall into the 30000 to 59000 serial range. On lower-numbered guns, the magazine bases were serial-stamped. Later, the practice stopped.

tgoose1 · May 13, 2020

Absalom said:
Confirmation:

(Yes, the FN Hi-Power #32430 is almost certainly an NRW police pistol.

The pistols were delivered 1951 to 1953 and fall into the 30000 to 59000 serial range. On lower-numbered guns, the magazine bases were serial-stamped. Later, the practice stopped.)

Appreciate the information. What nationality is the NRW, and can you give me a ballpark value of a two magazine + holster rig serial# matching to the all original/matching FN-P35, assuming condition is 95% or better? Thanks again.

Absalom · May 13, 2020

tgoose1 said:
.... What nationality is the NRW, and can you give me a ballpark value of a two magazine + holster rig serial# matching to the all original/matching FN-P35, assuming condition is 95% or better? Thanks again.

That‘s West German.

Value-wise, these don‘t show up often enough for a reliable quote, and you have to be aware that the police history doesn‘t mean much to many folks, so you have to find the right buyer. Going by your 95% description, I would hazard a wild guess between 1200 and 1500. I know that if I were still in the market, anything below 1500 would get me bargaining

Kurusu · May 13, 2020

tgoose1 said:
Absalom said:

Confirmation:

(Yes, the FN Hi-Power #32430 is almost certainly an NRW police pistol.

The pistols were delivered 1951 to 1953 and fall into the 30000 to 59000 serial range. On lower-numbered guns, the magazine bases were serial-stamped. Later, the practice stopped.)

Appreciate the information. What nationality is the NRW, and can you give me a ballpark value of a two magazine + holster rig serial# matching to the all original/matching FN-P35, assuming condition is 95% or better? Thanks again.

Click to expand...

German. NRW = Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Edit. Ah beatan to the draw. Again.

tgoose1 · May 13, 2020

Thanks to all who responded to my request for information, much appreciated!

max · May 14, 2020

The P6 was issued to the German military. Several years ago, many of them were sold as surplus in this country.

Thin Man said:
Actually the P6 was the police version of the P225; a more compact version in the P-Series line-up than the P226, and with a single-stack magazine.

Not mine, but identical:

Absalom · May 14, 2020

max said:
The P6 was issued to the German military. Several years ago, many of them were sold as surplus in this country.

Minor correction:

Police, not military.

In fact, the ex-police P6’s on the US market come from the same state as the Hi-Power discussed here.

The P6 was NRW’s first service pistol which was consistently marked. If you look at Thin Man’s photo, you can see the NW stamp on the slide; HK actually factory-stamped these for the states which ordered the P6; I have not seen any but the NW stamp here.

max · May 14, 2020

I knew that, why did I say military? I think this quarantine is starting to disable my brain. I apologize for my error.

Absalom said:
Minor correction:

Police, not military.

In fact, the ex-police P6’s on the US market come from the same state as the Hi-Power discussed here.

The P6 was NRW’s first service pistol which was consistently marked. If you look at Thin Man’s photo, you can see the NW stamp on the slide; HK actually factory-stamped these for the states which ordered the P6; I have not seen any but the NW stamp here.

Darkenfast · May 14, 2020

Ah, the FN Browning/Saive High Power: the gun Commander Bond SHOULD have carried!

Kurusu · May 14, 2020

Darkenfast said:
Ah, the FN Browning/Saive High Power: the gun Commander Bond SHOULD have carried!

Not really.

Lieutenant Commander Fleming was issued an FN in .25 ACP.

And I don't think he ever used it.

Absalom · May 14, 2020

Absalom said:
...
The P6 was NRW’s first service pistol which was consistently marked. If you look at Thin Man’s photo, you can see the NW stamp on the slide; HK actually factory-stamped these for the states which ordered the P6; I have not seen any but the NW stamp here.

I screwed up too; I meant to say “Sig Sauer”.

max · May 14, 2020

Mine is stamped NW also and has a date of 1178 which makes it an early one. I had the feedramp polished so it would feed hp's.

Stevie · May 19, 2020

I bought one of the Buenos Aries 61 FN Hi Powers a few years back. It came with two matching serialed mags. A #1 and a #2 each serialed to match the gun.

Andyd · May 19, 2020

max said:
The P6 was issued to the German military. Several years ago, many of them were sold as surplus in this country.

The P6 was issued to police. The German military was issued the HK USP in a slightly different version and it was designated the P8.

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