A classic auto

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dahermit

New member
I don't own any plastic guns and likely never will. Further, I am a revolver person, not an auto man. Nevertheless, I do like classic autos like my Browning High Power.
I have never been a fan of the factory wood grips on a HP however, so mine wears Pachmayr rubber wrap arounds.
Also, I have always liked the looks of a round rowel rather than the spur hammer that came on this gun...so I swapped it out for the rowel as in my photos.
I have also removed the useless magazine safety, but did not find a huge improvement in the trigger pull. This auto is one of the most reliable functioning (note that I did not use the term "running" or "run".) auto I have ever owned.
Note: that is not rust in the slide serrations...just an artifact due to lighting. If I remember correctly, it came with that ambi safety...not a big fan.
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The rubber grips are quite a dichotomy when you talk of "classic" autos. Your gun, your choice. But for classic beauty nothing beats wood.
 
Cheapshooter said:
The rubber grips are quite a dichotomy when you talk of "classic" autos. Your gun, your choice. But for classic beauty nothing beats wood.
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I agree...but all my guns have to be "shooters" first...and I find that the rubber grips provide a significant improvement over the factory wood grips while shooting.
 
I had a HI Power back in the 80s, blued commercial Browning, with adj sights. Really nice gun. The factory wood grips fit my hand well and actually was the best feeling grip on a 9mm I'd ever run into. The pachmyrs don't detract from that to my eye at all.

My big complaint was the trigger. It took (almost literally) "three men and a boy" to pull the trigger.

The safety was small, and did not positively "click" into position like my 1911A1s did. The magazine disconnector (I refuse to call it a "safety") was a royal pain, though I did learn my finger is just barely long enough to reach and trip it with the mag out...not everyone's is..;)

and lastly it was "only" a 9mm. (I was a .45 guy back then, and with good reason, back then)

It's a trim, elegant gun, has served on both sides of every war since it was made, and still is in use today by civilians around the globe. Not a bad record for a 1935 pistol.
 
My big complaint was the trigger. It took (almost literally) "three men and a boy" to pull the trigger.
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Yeah...when I installed the rowel-type hammer, I did no fitting...but the present trigger pull is not all that great. I am too old now to try to make it lighter...and there seems to be no contact honing fixture or jig like there are for the 1911.

The magazine disconnector (I refuse to call it a "safety") was a royal pain, though I did learn my finger is just barely long enough to reach and trip it with the mag out...not everyone's is...
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I do not understand what you mean about "tripping" the magazine disconnector...mine had a "pad" that slid upwards when the trigger was pulled. I found that putting a dab of grease on the spot where that pad contacted the magazine, the pull was greatly improved...until the grease wore off. But then, I removed the magazine disconnect from gun anyway.
 
"...did not find a huge improvement..." Without the mag safety the trigger pull is going to be better than with it.
"...did no fitting..." Oddly some of those parts that we all know require fitting sometimes do not. Replaced the sear in my Inglis(tried to polish it), years ago, with a CF issue sear(knew a weapons tech. Got a pair of .30 Browning flash hiders several years later, the same way.) that dropped right in with no fuss. I think they're investment cast. Dunno for sure.
My one plastic gun fires a stream of water. snicker.
 
I do not understand what you mean about "tripping" the magazine disconnector...
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All I was referring to was reaching up into the empty magazine well and pushing the pad (tripping it) so the hammer could be lowered without needing to insert a magazine.

Not anything of any practical value, just one of my handling quirks, I like to be able to lower the hammer, mag in, OR mag out, as I can with 1911s and many other pistol designs.

From what I have heard, the magazine disconnect was requested by the French, and after it was included in the design, they declined to buy the pistol, anyway...
 
From what I have heard, the magazine disconnect was requested by the French, and after it was included in the design, they declined to buy the pistol, anyway...
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That is my understanding also.

All I was referring to was reaching up into the empty magazine well and pushing the pad (tripping it) so the hammer could be lowered without needing to insert a magazine.
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Ahhh. Got it.
 
"...did not find a huge improvement..." Without the mag safety the trigger pull is going to be better than with it.
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If there was improvement, it was very slight...I need to do some contact surface polishing also, evidently.
 
Cheapshooter said:
The rubber grips are quite a dichotomy when you talk of "classic" autos. Your gun, your choice. But for classic beauty nothing beats wood.
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While I have seen some aesthetically pleasing wooden aftermarket grips for HP's, the grip panels that came with my gun, albeit being walnut, were plain and ugly. I offered them up for sale a few years ago and some guy jumped on them...good riddance.
 
???

I have to agree that the BHP is a classic, furnished with wood grips. Then it begs the question; :confused:

Can we still consider BHP-Practical, a classic as well ?


Be Safe !!!
 
Those slide serrations are looking a little rusty, you might want to clean them up a bit with some Ballistol and a light abrasive, then maybe brush on a bit of cold blue.
 
I think the Hi-Power is a fine gun, but the web of my hand has a series of ladder-rung like scars from hammer bite. I don't like to bleed on guns. It makes them rust.;)
But thats just me.

I have no experience with this idea,but IIRC Cylinder and Slide makes some trigger components for the Hi-Power that may help your trigger pull
 
Forte S+W said:
Those slide serrations are looking a little rusty, you might want to clean them up a bit with some Ballistol and a light abrasive, then maybe brush on a bit of cold blue.
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That comes from not reading all the posts, and then posting. Read the original post...that is not rust, it is a play of light that just looks like rust. As a matter of fact I could not get a true representation of that that gun looks like...in reality, it looks almost as new with a really good Blue finish. whereas the photo of the gun makes it look well-worn.
 
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Kevin Rohrer said:
I agree about wood making a better grip than rubber or plastic. This is my Gunsite BHP in .40cal.

BHPRossLeather.jpeg
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while I agree that your grips look better than my Pachmayr rubber grips, the original grips that came with the gun and are shaped as the G.I. grips, are not as good as rubber. In my opinion just for shooting, Pachmayr grips are better. Admittedly though, I you want a pretty gun to look at...yours are better.
 
I had a HI Power back in the 80s, blued commercial Browning, with adj sights. Really nice gun. The factory wood grips fit my hand well and actually was the best feeling grip on a 9mm I'd ever run into.
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When I first got that gun it had factory wooden grips that were typical for the BHP G.I. grips. I did not like the feel at all. Then I noticed that while the grip panels were flat with a small bevel around them, my hand was not flat. In short, that company in Belgium was making grips that fit the flat hands of the French. :)

Nothing ergonomic about the originals at all. Nor is anything about them aesthetically pleasing.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Browning-Hi-Power-Wood-Grips-Red-Backs-original/233787587177?hash=item366ed37a69:g:zsUAAOSw8pFftfQz
 
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dahermit, The Hi Powers are one of my longtime favorite 9MMs. I've owned, I don't know how many, since the '60s, both stock and custom. As you've discovered, removing the magazine safety/disconnect results in minimal trigger pull weight reduction. I'd done it in past, but quit removing it years ago. The down side for me in removing the mag safety, is that the mag safety spring also helps move the trigger forward to reset. So if the mag safety and spring are removed, trigger reset gets even soggier than on a stock Hi Power. That slow, and long, trigger reset is not desirable to me. If the mag safety is removed, the older pre-MK III 2-coil type trigger spring is a bit stronger, and can be installed to help regain some of the crisper trigger reset.

I still have three HPs, one a MK III like yours. I think the MK III is one of the last 9s I'd want to part with.
 
dahermit: said:
I agree...but all my guns have to be "shooters" first...and I find that the rubber grips provide a significant improvement over the factory wood grips while shooting.
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Agree that the guns have to be shooters first. And both of my Hi Powers have the same Pachmayr grips as yours and this grip works fine for shooting purposes. A set of Craig Spegel’s beautiful wood grips are always nice to have but I don’t know that they make these guns shoot any better.
 
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