Anyone else share a passion for the Browning Hi-Power?

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Sparks1957

New member
Some time ago, I asked your opinions on a FEG Hi-Power clone. Well, after a few range trips in the past couple weeks, I have fallen for this design in a way that only compares to my response to my CZ 75 guns, and now I realize where CZ got some of their inspiration for the 75.

Why? Superior ergonomics and balance makes shooting this a great experience, and results in some of the most consistent and accurate shooting I have ever done. The sights are definitely tiny and a little challenging for my old eyes, but in good light I can work with them. The trigger is a bit heavy for a single action, but I really prefer that personally.

Well, I just took the plunge and placed an order for a new Browning Hi-Power Standard model from Bud's this morning. Have long thought one of these belonged in my collection just because of its rich history, but now I realize I want one because it is such a superior gun in my hands.

No offense those of you who like polymer and striker-fired guns, but they just don't float my boat.

Anyone else hear feel the BHP is one of the highest achievements of gun design?
 
Anyone else hear feel the BHP is one of the highest achievements of gun design?
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If I had to carry a nine millimeter, it is the one I would carry in a military or civilian scenario.
browninghp.jpg
 
I believe Gun Tests Magazine said it right...

"The 9mm by which all others are judged..."

13427744535_b6b6c4816a_z.jpg

Bar-B-Que High Power

Of course that was so long ago I don't even think anyone would say that any more...
 
"...one of the highest achievements of gun design..." Except for the stupid unnecessary mag safety that was put in because the design was messed with by Europeans.
Have an 1944 vintage Inglis. Crappy sights and doesn't shoot well, even with the daft mag safety removed, but it works every time.
The .41AE barrel I put in it wasn't a great idea. (Buying the 500 pieces of brass when I bought the barrel was though. No .41 AE ammo or brass around.) I think the slide is coming back too fast and causes a limp wrist jam every friggin' time. Doesn't in 9mm. Think it needs an even stronger return spring than was recommended in the original article away back when. Big kid's toys are such fun.
 
Since one of you mentioned the mag disconnect safety, perhaps I should ask a question about it here.

What really are the pros and cons of removing the magazine disconnect? I've seen videos of it being done, and it looks easy enough to do.

Am I missing something about this process, and is it a wise thing to do?
 
I don't think there are any unequivocal pluses and minuses.
I curse the mags not dropping free, but if I did a lot of shooting from a boat, I might think it's the greatest idea since sliced bread?

A mag disconnect is a band-aid for poor gun safety practices, but if you live in a house with kids, being able to render the gun "safe" by removing the mag might be of some value.

Removing the disconnect can make the trigger pull lighter and smoother; the disconnect is a spring-loaded plunger that bears on the front of the magazine tube, so the finish on the mag - rough, smooth, slippery - will affect the trigger. The spring is also serving to return the trigger, though there is a trigger return spring, and some report that trigger return is slow or mushy with the disconnect removed.

I left the disconnect in my gun, got around the mags being retained in the gun by purchasing a couple of "mousetrap" mags, and the trigger on my HP is better than a buddy's which had an expensive trigger job.

If I had a single complaint about the HP, it would be about the quality of the average trigger pull, not the mag disconnect.
If you are used to shooting striker-fired pistols, you might think the HP trigger is awesome, but it's nothing like an even average 1911 trigger.
 
Just on the removal of the magazine "safety". All (sold in the U.S. anyway) commercial versions of the gun have the "safety" installed. Some versions and runs of military orders did not, so I've read. The point of it is to make the gun unable to fire unless a magazine is fully inserted. Many Smith & Wesson pistols operate the same way. It is a feature that was commonly used by law enforcement and some militaries.

Here's a link to Stephen Camp's discussion of the pros and cons of the issue on his forum Hi-Powers and Handguns

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/MagazineSafety.htm

His books on the BHP are the best out there and are available from his website.

tipoc
 
"...looks easy enough to do..." Yep. One tiny, wee, small, pin(part #19) in the rear of the trigger that comes out easily enough with a tiny, wee, small, punch. Then the mag safety (part #22) comes out the back of the trigger itself.
http://stevespages.com/ipb-browning-hipower.html
It was put in because FN was marketing the P-35 pistol to European police. Who wouldn't consider it without the mag safety.
Like RickB says, taking it out drops the trigger pull, but the nature of a BHP trigger(it's a lever with the trigger pushing up on a transfer bar and the bar pushing down on the sear.) means it'll never be close to a 1911's.
Only real issue is that somebody who doesn't know it's out might pull the trigger on a loaded pistol. And the assorted shooting games like IPSC/IDPA won't let you play with it out.
 
It has never (seriously) ever been my style on message boards to show up to a "love" thread with dissenting opinions. Always seems like it is far more appropriate to read, enjoy, NOT post, but something about the Hi-Power threads make me feel and act differently.

I absolutely love the way the pistol looks. Love it! And the one pictured just about with a fixed Novak-style rear, I never see that sight on a BHP and it looks fantastic. Like most, I really love the Hi-Power style flats on the muzzle-end of the slide. Just looks fantastic. Have always thought it also quite interesting the way an old warhorse looks compared to a more modern, cutting edge kind of late BHP looks. Almost like the sleeper-hot chick in a movie, when you first see her, you are "supposed" to overlook her and then be surprised later when she sheds the glasses and does something with her hair and BOOM, she was the prettiest girl in the movie all along! (off on a tangent there...:p)

The Hi-Power is also a handgun that I just can't get along with, really. Most of them give me some small level of hammer-bite. Yes, that can be addressed... but there's only a few handguns that bite me almost all the time, and I feel like I shouldn't have to "address" it.

The very genuine problem I have with the Hi-Power is the seemingly ridiculous interaction between the trigger and the sear. And the only thing that mystifies me more than the ridiculous "Rube Goldberg" style interaction between the trigger and sear is that it usually seems like I might be the only guy in any discussion that believe the design is ridiculous.:confused:

I truly do NOT know if John M. Browning was responsible for the teeter-totter interaction between trigger and sear or if that was the French guy who did the rest of the design of the Hi-Power.

The bottom line for me is that John Browning designs the 1911--
basically, and almost without argument the FINEST straight-line trigger/sear interaction design in man's complete history of handguns... and then follows it up with perhaps the most oddball interaction between trigger and sear that I could imagine without going cartoonish. :eek:

So, when the subject "Hi-Power" comes up, I think two things immediately:
1) GORGEOUS!
2) ridiculous design that I simply don't understand

It also seems to me that while a few have obviously cloned and copied the Hi-Power... the nutty design that I am keying in on has simply NOT been copied and adapted to other guns. The entire gun, including it-- yes. But the way it uses a rocker in the slide to bridge the magazine in the frame? Nobody ever saw THAT design and said "wow, we GOTTA do this!"
 
"...looks easy enough to do..." Yep. One tiny, wee, small, pin(part #19) in the rear of the trigger that comes out easily enough with a tiny, wee, small, punch. Then the mag safety (part #22) comes out the back of the trigger itself.
http://stevespages.com/ipb-browning-hipower.html
It was put in because FN was marketing the P-35 pistol to European police. Who wouldn't consider it without the mag safety.
Like RickB says, taking it out drops the trigger pull, but the nature of a BHP trigger(it's a lever with the trigger pushing up on a transfer bar and the bar pushing down on the sear.) means it'll never be close to a 1911's.
Only real issue is that somebody who doesn't know it's out might pull the trigger on a loaded pistol. And the assorted shooting games like IPSC/IDPA won't let you play with it out.
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Not all BHP mag disconnects will come out that way. Most MKIIIs will require that you remove the trigger. The epoxy ones are much tougher to knock out.

Also the mag disconnect that nothing to do with European police departments. A mag disconnect was part of requirements for the French Military pistol trials of 1922 which FN submitted a JMB prototype for. This was known as the Grand Rendement. The French never adopted the pistol but the Belgians put the Saive designed Grande Puissance into service as the P35.
 
I've owned two and been tempted to get another. It was one of my first semiautomatics and both I and my wife enjoyed it a lot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Don't like the hammer bite and trigger and safety and the fact that it's easily pushed out of battery...also not sure on the quality of steel used on the frame (peeled a bit in a safety notch)

Yes I know cylinder and slide...they should have addressed this issue decades ago

I still like it but it comes with some pretty annoying flaws
 
I truly do NOT know if John M. Browning was responsible for the teeter-totter interaction between trigger and sear or if that was the French guy who did the rest of the design of the Hi-Power.
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The French guy was Dieudonné Joseph Saive who also designed the FN Model 1949, the Baby Browning and the FN FAL. He was the lead in house designer at FN. He designed the mag which JMB used to build his protoypes. He completed the design after JMB died and the French had abandoned the pistol.

He was no JMB but he was more than some French guy in terms of his design work to characterize him in that manner is IMHO disrespectful.
 
Apologies if you took it that way. Perhaps I should have said "French Gentleman" but I did not want to misspell the man's name.
 
The very genuine problem I have with the Hi-Power is the seemingly ridiculous interaction between the trigger and the sear. And the only thing that mystifies me more than the ridiculous "Rube Goldberg" style interaction between the trigger and sear is that it usually seems like I might be the only guy in any discussion that believe the design is ridiculous
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I wonder how much of that was due to the 1911 design being under patent at the time, and JMB being forced to find another design alternative. That, and the French insisting on a mag disconnect.
 
I love the way they look, they feel good, but the triggers I have felt are horrible, even without a mag safety.
 
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