Hi Powers

[Lee's Landing Billy]

We put about 200 rounds through this today. It' still a tack driver after all these years. Most of my guys had never seen an accurized HP.

 

[Richard Simmons]

The Navidrex grips are quite popular with many. It is probably a tie in popularity between the Navidrex grips and the rubber Uncle Mike's licensed clone of Craig Spegal's wooden grips for the HP. Spegal's wood grips are actually slightly thinner than the rubber Uncle Mike's version.

The wooden versus the rubber Spegals are on the two HPs in the picture above. I find the Navidrex grips to feel a little too square edged in the hands. You could probably easily address that, but as they didn't feel better than the rubber Spegals in my hands anyways, they went on the market to somebody else.

The Uncle Mike's are no longer made, and it is not uncommon to see people asking for $80 a set, and getting it. A few weeks ago Buds advertised new Uncle Mike's that they had found somewhere, and they were asking something like $40. I imagine they went very fast at that price, but perhaps they still have a few sets.

Thanks for the heads up. I ordered a set of the Uncle Mike's which arrived today. The difference they make is wonderful. Much thinner than the factory wood. They feel great and look good too!

 

[TTSH]

Much better if I can find a BHP to buy on my own without the emotions and friendship issues involved.

Took a long ride today to check out yet another older BHP 9mm in Massachusetts. I had high hopes going in but it wasn't my gun. It was a little too "used & abused" generally for my taste... plus the wood grips looked poorly refinished, likely multiple times.

Once again, the trigger was very heavy. Being a subject of the People's Republic of Massachusetts, I am usually pretty good about dealing with heavy (MA-compliant) triggers. But once again, I found this BHP... like so many others... to be disappointingly stiff.

So the search goes on. I sure wish I could try out a brand new one. At least it would tell me if the trigger on a new one would need work or if I could get by and enjoy it without the added cost of the trigger work.

 

[girvin02]

I've had this one for several years. In that time, I customized it a bit, to make it more to my liking. The first thing I did was cut the slide to accept a Novak rear 1911 sight and cut a dovetail in the front to accept a gold bead front sight (made by Wilson Combat). I picked up some ebony grips from Craig Spegel which fit my hand much better and don't look too shabby. Then I made an extended thumb safety, using a Wilson Combat 1911 safety as a donor. While I had it apart, I removed the magazine safety and did a trigger job - it now has a very nice trigger for a BHP.

 

[Jäger1]

Took a long ride today to check out yet another older BHP 9mm in Massachusetts. I had high hopes going in but it wasn't my gun. It was a little too "used & abused" generally for my taste... plus the wood grips looked poorly refinished, likely multiple times.

Once again, the trigger was very heavy. Being a subject of the People's Republic of Massachusetts, I am usually pretty good about dealing with heavy (MA-compliant) triggers. But once again, I found this BHP... like so many others... to be disappointingly stiff.

So the search goes on. I sure wish I could try out a brand new one. At least it would tell me if the trigger on a new one would need work or if I could get by and enjoy it without the added cost of the trigger work.

The tech spec for the Inglis High Power trigger pull was/is 6 - 8 lbs. About the same as for the military 1911, the M16 family, etc. I assume FN factory commercial specs are somewhere along the same lines. My 69C measures a bit over 4.5 lbs, just as it came from the factory. I haven't done anything with it in the 40 years I have owned it other than to carry it, shoot it, clean and regularly replace the recoil spring and other springs as required. My Inglis is about 5.5 lbs, and the two MkIII's run around 7 lbs. Then there is my Practical in 40 S&W; new, it has a freak show trigger pull that goes over 16 lbs. It has a date with Don Williams. All of them remain unmodified.

If you want the trigger pull of a modern 1911, chances are any HP you find will "need work". I'm pretty comfortable with a pistol with a trigger pull in the 5 - 8 pound range for business purposes, but that might be a result of starting out on revolvers.

I do see the surplus High Powers seem to be sold out everywhere at the moment; I imagine more will show up sometime in the near future.

 

[gdogs]

Picked up this hard chromed custom at Tulsa couple weeks back.

With the rest of the family.

 

[Walter Rego]

Here is another one of the Austrian Gendarmerie P35's that were imported in the mid to late 1990's. This came with a matching numbered spare mag and I found one of the correct holster rigs for it. What I have never been able to figure out is where or how they carried the spare mag. I have not seen any mag pouches of similar style or construction.

 

[ROK]

Newest addition

Previously posted

FM M-95 Detective aka Commander-size BHP

This gun has an appointment w/ Mr. Williams from The Action Works for some 'serious work'.

 

[Mistered]

I passed on a GORGEOUS Charles Daly HP a few years ago for $450 - bad move right??

 

[Ozark Marine]

My brother bought a BHP 40S&W used from a friend of his around 10-15 years ago. Beautiful gun but it is the hardest racking gun I've ever fired. And stove piped every other round if I recall correctly.
After shooting it I broke it down to clean. Recoil spring seemed too long as it was a major PIA to reassemble.
He took it to the local gun smith and he replaced the spring and said all 40 BHP's have this problem. Just a converted 9mm.
It has never been fired since.
Any other 40 BHP owners have or had this problem?

 

[CajunBass]

It looks to be in awfully good shape. The 1911-style slide gives it a fairly unique look. Gotta look twice to see what it really is.

I could go for one at that price!

I read this back when you originally posted it, but didn't have a clue what you were talking about...A 1911 style slide?"...I had to look at a lot of the pictures for it to suddenly jump off the monitor what you meant.

By George...it is different.

 

[TTSH]

I read this back when you originally posted it, but didn't have a clue what you were talking about...A 1911 style slide?"...I had to look at a lot of the pictures for it to suddenly jump off the monitor what you meant.

By George...it is different.

Oh yes! Different for sure!

And yes, it looks so "correct" otherwise that your mind doesn't immediately pick-up the differences because you're not expecting nor looking for there to be any differences.

It was kind of the same for me with certain of the FEG copies. One glance doesn't always do it. Takes a good look at it to appreciate all the differences.

 

[Jäger1]

My brother bought a BHP 40S&W used from a friend of his around 10-15 years ago. Beautiful gun but it is the hardest racking gun I've ever fired. And stove piped every other round if I recall correctly.

It is fairly unusual for HPs to have feeding/extraction problems with either the factory or Mec-Gar magazines. HP's of all vintages are generally extremely reliable with factory magazines and in good tune i.e. no extractor springs, recoil springs, etc that should have been replaced long ago.

And yes, they do require a little more effort to cycle - the result of the recoil spring FN used in designing the pistol.

After shooting it I broke it down to clean. Recoil spring seemed too long as it was a major PIA to reassemble.

Chances are the recoil spring is exactly what it is supposed to be, and the difficulty in replacing the barrel/guide rod/recoil spring is due to lack of experience, not some overly long recoil spring for some other firearm. The wrong spring seems pretty unlikely.

He took it to the local gun smith and he replaced the spring and said all 40 BHP's have this problem. Just a converted 9mm. It has never been fired since.

If that's actually what that gunsmith said, he's not a gunsmith. He's a basement hack who can't even bother to phone the tech line at Browning USA where he could get both information and help. Much better than inventing a myth - and then doing what sounds like "fixing" 40 S&W High Powers based on his personal myth.

It is not a "problem". It is part of the redesign of the frame, slide, etc., to allow the High Power to take the pounding of 40 S&W ammunition without failing. While most other manufacturers simply put a 40 S&W barrel and a different spring in their existing 9mm designs, FN realized that frames designed for the 9mm were facing a different animal with the 40 S&W.

The original cast frames of the slimmer, more svelt classic High Power was abandoned by FN for the heavier, forged frames that you now see on ALL High Powers. In other words, they didn't go to forged just for the 40 S&W, but for the 9mm as well. I imagine there were other considerations involved in the change (costs of manufacture, probably being one), but the beefier forged frame and that recoil spring you don't like were part of the plan.

BTW, trivia point: C. Ed Harris used his personal High Power while doing some metal testing for Ruger. He fed it a heavy diet of +P ammunition, finally going to something like over 200 proof loads before he managed to break it. When he contacted Browning about repairing it, they cut a deal with him where they would fix it for free if he shared some information with them. Harris said they were working on some .40 caliber upcoming cartridge at the time...

No, these are not "just a converted 9mm"

Now... IF this supposed gunsmith's "fix" was to replace the 32 lb. recoil spring in 40 S&W High Powers with a 17 lb recoil spring from a 9mm... then it's a good idea nobody has fired the pistol since the basement gunsmith genius "fixed" it.

Feel free to call Don Williams about this if you like. Or Jim Garthwaite. You know... REAL gunsmiths who know a thing or two about High Powers.

Any other 40 BHP owners have or had this problem?

Yes, every single other 40 HP owner has discovered they need to use more effort with the 40 HP than they need to with a Beretta Nano. Including me - I have three of them; two Standards and one Practical.

FN figured it was cops who would be the primary market for the 40 S&W, while the sporting herd stuck with the 9mm. And presumably, cops with enough strength to put a set of cuffs on somebody would have sufficient hand strength to cycle the slide on a fighting pistol.

If the 40 S&W spring strength annoys you, the 40's are fetching a pretty good price these days now that they're no longer brought in by Browning. So you can sell it and probably make money - but you might want to ensure it has a 40 S&W recoil spring in it first.

Alternately, what a fair number of people do (including me) is have a 9mm barrel fitted to their 40 S&W slide. It's a specialty barrel, as the 9mm High Power has two locking lugs, while the 40 S&W has three (see, not just a "converted 9mm"). Bar-Sto sells three lug 9mm barrels for use in 40 S&W High Powers.

Then you can use a 9mm recoil spring...

 

[Darkenfast]

One point: it's the newer pistols that have the cast, reinforced frames. All previous HP were forged.

Source: "FN Browning Pistols", 2nd Ed. Anthony Vanderlinden, page 351.

 

[OLDSTER]

Hi-Power

It is fairly unusual for HPs to have feeding/extraction problems with either the factory or Mec-Gar magazines. HP's of all vintages are generally extremely reliable with factory magazines and in good tune i.e. no extractor springs, recoil springs, etc that should have been replaced long ago.

And yes, they do require a little more effort to cycle - the result of the recoil spring FN used in designing the pistol.


Chances are the recoil spring is exactly what it is supposed to be, and the difficulty in replacing the barrel/guide rod/recoil spring is due to lack of experience, not some overly long recoil spring for some other firearm. The wrong spring seems pretty unlikely.



If that's actually what that gunsmith said, he's not a gunsmith. He's a basement hack who can't even bother to phone the tech line at Browning USA where he could get both information and help. Much better than inventing a myth - and then doing what sounds like "fixing" 40 S&W High Powers based on his personal myth.

It is not a "problem". It is part of the redesign of the frame, slide, etc., to allow the High Power to take the pounding of 40 S&W ammunition without failing. While most other manufacturers simply put a 40 S&W barrel and a different spring in their existing 9mm designs, FN realized that frames designed for the 9mm were facing a different animal with the 40 S&W.

The original cast frames of the slimmer, more svelt classic High Power was abandoned by FN for the heavier, forged frames that you now see on ALL High Powers. In other words, they didn't go to forged just for the 40 S&W, but for the 9mm as well. I imagine there were other considerations involved in the change (costs of manufacture, probably being one), but the beefier forged frame and that recoil spring you don't like were part of the plan.

BTW, trivia point: C. Ed Harris used his personal High Power while doing some metal testing for Ruger. He fed it a heavy diet of +P ammunition, finally going to something like over 200 proof loads before he managed to break it. When he contacted Browning about repairing it, they cut a deal with him where they would fix it for free if he shared some information with them. Harris said they were working on some .40 caliber upcoming cartridge at the time...

No, these are not "just a converted 9mm"

Now... IF this supposed gunsmith's "fix" was to replace the 32 lb. recoil spring in 40 S&W High Powers with a 17 lb recoil spring from a 9mm... then it's a good idea nobody has fired the pistol since the basement gunsmith genius "fixed" it.

Feel free to call Don Williams about this if you like. Or Jim Garthwaite. You know... REAL gunsmiths who know a thing or two about High Powers.


Yes, every single other 40 HP owner has discovered they need to use more effort with the 40 HP than they need to with a Beretta Nano. Including me - I have three of them; two Standards and one Practical.

FN figured it was cops who would be the primary market for the 40 S&W, while the sporting herd stuck with the 9mm. And presumably, cops with enough strength to put a set of cuffs on somebody would have sufficient hand strength to cycle the slide on a fighting pistol.

If the 40 S&W spring strength annoys you, the 40's are fetching a pretty good price these days now that they're no longer brought in by Browning. So you can sell it and probably make money - but you might want to ensure it has a 40 S&W recoil spring in it first.

Alternately, what a fair number of people do (including me) is have a 9mm barrel fitted to their 40 S&W slide. It's a specialty barrel, as the 9mm High Power has two locking lugs, while the 40 S&W has three (see, not just a "converted 9mm"). Bar-Sto sells three lug 9mm barrels for use in 40 S&W High Powers.

Then you can use a 9mm recoil spring...

Sir; Please get yourself a copy of Stephen Camps book "The Shooters Guide to the Browning Hi Power".

 

[HARDWARE]

early post war ... for the monthly high power thread. i tried to resist but if you cant beat em ... join em.