Let me ask the free state members this: If you were to acquire a new or near new BHP today, which current version would you choose?
Traditional or Mk III?
Traditional... all the way. I can be happy with either, but there is no question that the classic HP feels better in the hand than the newer, stronger Mk III. At least, not to me, and I have five of them to choose from. The one caveat is I wouldn't choose one with the internal extractor, unless you like the ambiance of that original design and are willing to put up with the difficulty in finding a replacement should you ever need to do so.
Some people are concerned about beating the original designs to death. The Inglis pistols are still working for the Canadians, and they have been shooting those same pistols manufactured in 1944/45 for about 70 years now, on a diet of nothing but military 9mm ammunition. They don't have a problem with assorted parts breaking - probably mostly because the gun plumbers inspect the recoil springs on a regular basis and replace springs that are out of spec. Some of the recoil springs in civilian HPs I have been shown have recoil springs that are greatly shortened and probably would be more like 13 or 14 lbs than the stock weight. I would suspect much of the problem lies there. Stephen Camp never managed to shoot any of his HPs to death - but he said he also changed his recoil springs every 5000 rounds.
With modern police service ammunition, you don't need +P ammunition. I recognize that there are those who feel otherwise; I'm not interested in visiting that debate again and would simply say that if you believe that take it up with Dr. Gary Roberts instead. That man looks at more OIS reports and autopsy/medical reports in his work in a month than most do in a lifetime. The last time he was asked that I am aware of, he said he carries standard pressure Federal HST 147 grain loads in both his personal carry gun and in his position as a reserve police officer where he also has his choice of caliber.
If you do want to feed a steady diet of +P ammunition and are worried about it in a classic HP, choose the slightly heavier recoil springs available and change them regularly. Easy-peasy.
The original feed ramp can be a problem in some classic HP pistols with hollow points, and no problem at all in others. My 69C has fed everything I put in the magazines since I bought it for police work around 1977 or so. Others have had to spend a few minutes polishing feed ramps.
So I would choose an original for carry, but I would recognize that the original hump and bump sights are less than ideal, particularly once old timer's eyesight sets in. Happily, Novaks and others will fix that for you with a set of very nice, very classy sights in a very short time frame for a very reasonable amount of money. And they look very classy on a very classy pistol to begin with.
A classic Israeli/European surplus HP from importers like CDI would be a great place to start. Those who have bought them, and then refinished and had new sights involved have ended up with some beautiful and very businesslike carry pistols for less than the cost of a new Mk III. I haven't heard anyone who bought from CDI say they were dissatisfied for what they got for the price they paid. Most, if anything, said the condition of the pistol they received was well above what it was advertised as, and most of the wear appears to be holster wear.
I've added it to my 2017 Possibilities List. 
I now see that it was a P9R variant. 
Add the cost of a trigger job and getting it into the state (if even possible) and it's a lot more than I can afford. 
