Hi Power Imports- Who paints guns like this?

[Walter Rego]

I would be highly cautious that they are unserviceable and would do a complete detail strip and examine them under bright light and magnification before introducing any live ammo.

The pricing alone makes me think that too. Why would any importer sell a genuine High Power to a retailer for a price that the retailer can make money at $299 unless they were bought for a song, and why were they priced so low ?

If they are serviceable but have worn finishes, they are still at least a $600 gun in today's market, maybe even more.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Maybe they were going to be used on Mars but they couldn't afford to sit on them anymore so they sold them.

 

[MG-70]

Israel would be my guess if I had to make a guess. It's a little odd that they are painted though.

I was researching my Israeli high-power a few years ago (mine came with yellow tape on it) and it seems the Israeli police would mark their handguns so that during a shootout it was a way to help tell the good guys from the bad guys. Not sure exactly how accurate my research was but I guess if nobody is in uniform and everyone is shooting then you just shoot the people that don't have the color of the week marking their firearms.

My particular example also had a Star of David stamped on the frame near the trigger guard but I understand that marking wasn't real common.

I have a supposed Israeli surplus CZ75 Pre B with the yellow tape on the slide. Coincidentally, it also has a lanyard loop, stud and ring, located on the left side of the bottom of the grip frame, such as on the OP's gun.

I don't think the red paint serves the same purpose, but I read that the yellow tape was to identify friendlies during a battle. There are pics out there showing similar stickers used by LEO in the recent storming of the US Capitol building, except that the stickers were red and white.

Why Plainclothes Police Had Striped Reflective Tape On Their Glocks During The Capitol Siege

 

[PeteC]

Last summer there were some S&W 5906's on Gunbroker with blue paint, and at the time they were identified as US surplus training guns that used a specific type of training ammo. I believe it was also discussed here within the last year.

I believe in the 1990's guns painted a bright color were used in at least one overseas country to make sure people being trained did not confuse a weapon loaded with training ammo and their regular carry gun. If they happened to do that, an instructor could tell immediately. Magazines were also colored.


edit: I vaguely remember that said training ammunition also required different recoil springs, so I would check that in any used gun which looked like that.

 

[mckenney99]

Having worked for an agency that used "modified" actual duty weapons with specially created "ammunition" for force on force training, those pistols do not appear to have been marked for the same purpose. The painting is too hap hazard and does not cover both sides in sufficient amounts to make them visible enough to prevent inadvertent use with live ammo.
Quick and dirty marking of captured/surrendered weapons of some sort is possible.

 

[Zipdog]

I have one of them almost cleaned up. It looks beautiful in my eyes. Before anyone gets all worked up about their value i would say they are FN fakes but very good fakes. Still worth $300 in my opinion. I don't doubt I could get $600 or more for them. I have every confidence they are safe and will run like a sewing machine.

 

[Justin T]

I would be highly cautious that they are unserviceable and would do a complete detail strip and examine them under bright light and magnification before introducing any live ammo.

The pricing alone makes me think that too. Why would any importer sell a genuine High Power to a retailer for a price that the retailer can make money at $299 unless they were bought for a song, and why were they priced so low ?

If they are serviceable but have worn finishes, they are still at least a $600 gun in today's market, maybe even more.

It wouldn't matter to me one bit whether unserviceable or not. I'm handy and parts are plentiful. $300 for a hi power is an instant yes. Even if it's a FEG-made fake.

 

[Zipdog]

Right on. I was in the skilled trades for 47 years. Not much scares me.

 

[Echo40]

Looks like the sort of paintjob you see on guns in Call of Duty online multiplayer matches. Seriously, apparently kids love guns spattered with random paint colors, so it wouldn't surprise me that much if someone bought a Browning Hi-Power then splashed some red paint on it to make it look like the 1911 they use in CoD online matches. In fact, if it were neon green, pink, purple, or yellow, then I would be certain of it.

Sometimes police departments paint training guns, or otherwise guns loaded with less lethal riot ammo but they typically just paint the grips, and they don't just randomly splatter it like that, they remove the grips, spraypaint them blue for training or orange for riot control, let them dry, then put them back on the gun.

That being said, $300 for a BHP is a steal, and paint can easily be cleaned off by a number of finish-friendly cleaning products, so don't worry about it. Congratulations.

 

[gwpercle]

Since I don't have proof of that the paint is coming off.

Could just replace grips with shooting grips and hang on to the red ones ...just in case they are valuable !
Hope it shoots well . I've always wanted one but never in the right place at the right time with disposable cash !
Sweet Score
Gary

 

[Richard Simmons]

You bought two so worse case they have issues and you're able to get one reliable, functioning gun out of the pair. Even then you didn't do bad at all in today's market.

 

[desi2358]

AIM sold some Israeli FN Hi-Powers a few years ago very cheaply. I bought two of them at the time. They had the black paint finish (similar to the British WWII Suncorite) but no odd splotches of other colors. If the one source is correct that they came out of Oman perhaps it was a quick and dirty way to identify government property? I think if they were dedicated training guns they would have been a little more thorough to ensure instructors could quickly identify a gun intended for training ammo only.

As to the price, there have been some really good deals on surplus firearms, especially if they have finish issues, over the last few years. I would suspect the importer sorted out the splotchy looking ones (or got a great price if the whole lot was that way) and wanted to move them quickly. Lower price equals quick sale and fast turn around on their investment. Most of the companies selling surplus have varied prices depending on condition and unless extremely rare ugly guns are always cheaper than the nice ones. If I had seen this earlier today I would have headed down the road to AIM myself for one instead of heading off to work.... oh well, maybe next time

 

[Zipdog]

Upon very close examination and disassembly I now agree that these were captured guns and haphazardly marked as such. On one of them the slide release pin had so much dried paint inside that I almost couldn't get it out of the frame even with a hammer. Paint was in the frame in the slide rails and that would be a no no. Some paint had run from one side of the guns to the other side of the gun. I can visualize that these guns were lined up in a table or the ground and some guy came by with a rag wrapped around a stick dipped in a bucket of red paint lobbing the paint on. Sorry to the guys who think these are reject guns full of problems but these are going to prove as totally functional guns ready for work again. That's my opinion after close examination of the 2 I bought. One of mine is now void of the paint excepting the right grip panel. I might leave all the paint on the other gun. It's raining here today so I can't shoot either one like I hoped. Might as well go look at more of them since it's raining.

 

[ContinentalOp]

I hope you'll post some "after" pics once you've gotten them cleaned up and running.

 

[crstrode]

While working as a government contractor at one of the US National Laboratories, many desirable (easily pilfered) metal items (tools and instruments mostly) were daubed with special red "paint" in a similar haphazard manner. This paint had special properties such that even if it was completely removed with solvents and even sandpaper or grinding, it could still be detected with a proprietary scanner. The story is that it bonded with metal at a molecular level. Stuff to be marked would be spread out on a table as described above by Zipdog, then the items were very crudely marked with the red paint.

Some Items that I used had glops of paint in very inconvenient places, and it indeed, it was very difficult to remove.

As I recall, the color of the daubed-on paint was a perfect match to what is shown in the photos.

 

[Telecaster]

Radioactive paint?

 

[Ματθιας]

I have some P229 magazines that have red paint on them, too. They function fine.

 

[Aggie Bill]

Similar Markings

I don't know who made them for sure. It says Fabrique Nationale De Guerre Herstal-Belgique. Browning's Patent Depose I'm just guessing they're fakes.

I have this BHP which was made by the Germans when they took over FN plant during WW2. It was in sad shape when I bought it so I carefully polished it so not to remove markings then rust blued it. BTW it was made in 1942

 

[SF VET]

perhaps when the ordnance dept of whatever country was going thru their handguns to select and mark those they were going to dispose of they splashed some paint on them to make sure they stayed in the same pile they were tossed into.

"...OK, into small box, bad, splash paint, toss into big box."

I like HP's, and shoot mine often. One is my home security pistol.

All the best, and stay safe... SF VET

 

[Zipdog]

Well since it was raining yesterday I went back to Aim just to look at the paint jobs on their remaining Hi Powers. They had 6 of them left. So much for just looking. I brought home another one and it is the one on the right. The one on the left has been cleaned up except for the right grip panel. A few miles down the road I stopped in at another place on my circuit of adventures. I walk in and on the counter was a box. I look inside and count 13 of the same guns with the red paint. He said those are not for sale . I think that was the only time I've been in there and didn't buy something. The mystery deepens.

 

[stansdds]

I think $300 is a pretty darned good deal, even if they are worn and have paint swabbed onto them.

 

[Zipdog]

My project of those Hi Powers got put on hold big time. My sewer line from the house to the street is plugged. I'll let everyone know when I start test firing them.

 

[rosewood]

My project of those Hi Powers got put on hold big time. My sewer line from the house to the street is plugged. I'll let everyone know when I start test firing them.

Assuming you this fixed by now, but the easiest fix I have found is one of those expandable balloon type things (drain bladder). You put it on the end of your water hose, push into your cleanout as far as it will go then turn the water own. The bladder swells up sealing the pipe, then the water pressure pushes out the clog. Works great. Hardware stores sells them, so does Harborfreight. Seems like they are cheaper at HF.

Rosewood

 

[Retired W4]

My friend in Dayton, who has collected HP's for 50 years, thinks Israel. He has owned two of them and both required work beyond repaired value. Bad slide rails, barrels, etc. Good luck with them. I hope you get lucky and they work out for you.

He saw AIM Surplus at OGCA a year ago January. Speaking of OGCA, the annual Display show is coming up.

 

[Zipdog]

Assuming you this fixed by now, but the easiest fix I have found is one of those expandable balloon type things (drain bladder). You put it on the end of your water hose, push into your cleanout as far as it will go then turn the water own. The bladder swells up sealing the pipe, then the water pressure pushes out the clog. Works great. Hardware stores sells them, so does Harborfreight. Seems like they are cheaper at HF.

Rosewood

I worked pretty hard with an electric eel and in the end the only thing that worked was the bladder you speak of. Highly recommended. My son encouraged me to buy one after reading up on them. HF cost was only 7 dollars. Those flushable wipes were the problem. Packed in tight.

 

[Zipdog]

My friend in Dayton, who has collected HP's for 50 years, thinks Israel. He has owned two of them and both required work beyond repaired value. Bad slide rails, barrels, etc. Good luck with them. I hope you get lucky and they work out for you.

He saw AIM Surplus at OGCA a year ago January. Speaking of OGCA, the annual Display show is coming up.

My slide rails look good. Still haven't shot any of them yet. My only concern at this point would be barrel bore wear. I have the paint removed from 2 of them.

 

[scoobysnacker]

I worked pretty hard with an electric eel and in the end the only thing that worked was the bladder you speak of. Highly recommended. My son encouraged me to buy one after reading up on them. HF cost was only 7 dollars. Those flushable wipes were the problem. Packed in tight.

Great price on the HP, and great recommendation on the sewer pipe cleaner (I did this not too long ago myself).

 

[Zipdog]

Turns out these are real FN Hi Powers and they were Malaysian training guns. They are not worn out. Just no longer needed. Happy with my purchase.

 

[VictorLouis]

I cannot reveal my source, but...there's more coming.
Aim Surplus has a batch out for refurbishment, which will include a bead-blasted matte re-blueing. So, if your FFL has a goomba at AIM, perhaps we can get a few more happy members here in the next few months.

 

[Echo40]

Goomba?

But seriously, if you're using the Italian-American slang for friend, then it's Goombah, with an H at the end. If you're talking about King Koopa's henchmen, then carry on.