I picked this one up today. I believe that this gun was customized by a quality Hi Power smith but the seller was not sure who did the work There are a few small things that lead me to believe this. If it was not done by a professional smith the person who did the work understood BHPs and did a nice job.
First the hammer has a "no bite" modification which is nicely done. Not as short as Novak's current version but would keep most hands from getting bitten. I do not suffer this problem but it is a nice little upgrade. The modification was done well and has a nice look to the bluing on the hammer which matches the thumb safety and slide stop/release.
The gun is a matte blue and the roll mark is shallow. No way to know if it was originally a high gloss blue but if I had to guess it was at one time. There is loss on the "Browning Company Morgan" part of the rollmark but nothing too bad. This is typical of these guns IMHO. There is also a little bit of loss on the proof marks but nothing major.
The mag disconnect has been removed and the trigger is a nice clean 5.2 lbs, avg of 5 pulls on my digital scale. I did not get a chance to fire it yet but I believe the mainspring has been swapped with a lower lb spring. You can feel it as you cock the hammer. Lighter than stock but does not feel too light. I believe this will be a solid shooting trigger. I believe that there has also been some trigger work done on the gun. It is too smooth to just be stock but I did not detail strip it to look at the angles on the sear and hammer.
There is no serious real wear anywhere on the pistol. The gun does not show any holster wear but does show some slight bluing loss around the grip area. There are also some light spots in the blueing here and there but nothing detrimental. Looks like a normal handling shooting wear. There is some small light pitting on the left lower front of the slide but it could be cleaned up with a little elbow grease.
The stippling is nicely done. It is not too deep and gives the gun a nice grippy texture but is in no way aggressive. The front strap stippling stops at the trigger guard which is fine to me. I know some people like it to continue but I am fine with stopping there.
The sights are genuine Novaks. They are not night sights but are the older style black on black. The cuts are well done and the sight is nicely beveled to the rear of the slide. It does not over hang at all. IMHO a quality installation.
The grips are to my eyes Spegels but they have been modified. I took a few pics and you can see that they are thinner than standard Spegels. I believe that they were shaved down to fit the pistol. They are a perfect fit and make the gun as slim if not slimmer than Navidrex slim micarta. Whoever fit them fit them to this pistol well.
Overall a solid pistol with a lot of custom features. It should make a great shooter/carry piece. The only modification I might make is a new thumb safety and a gold front dot or night sight front dot. Other than that this gun is good to go. Will make a nice addition to the collection.
First the hammer has a "no bite" modification which is nicely done. Not as short as Novak's current version but would keep most hands from getting bitten. I do not suffer this problem but it is a nice little upgrade. The modification was done well and has a nice look to the bluing on the hammer which matches the thumb safety and slide stop/release.
The gun is a matte blue and the roll mark is shallow. No way to know if it was originally a high gloss blue but if I had to guess it was at one time. There is loss on the "Browning Company Morgan" part of the rollmark but nothing too bad. This is typical of these guns IMHO. There is also a little bit of loss on the proof marks but nothing major.
The mag disconnect has been removed and the trigger is a nice clean 5.2 lbs, avg of 5 pulls on my digital scale. I did not get a chance to fire it yet but I believe the mainspring has been swapped with a lower lb spring. You can feel it as you cock the hammer. Lighter than stock but does not feel too light. I believe this will be a solid shooting trigger. I believe that there has also been some trigger work done on the gun. It is too smooth to just be stock but I did not detail strip it to look at the angles on the sear and hammer.
There is no serious real wear anywhere on the pistol. The gun does not show any holster wear but does show some slight bluing loss around the grip area. There are also some light spots in the blueing here and there but nothing detrimental. Looks like a normal handling shooting wear. There is some small light pitting on the left lower front of the slide but it could be cleaned up with a little elbow grease.
The stippling is nicely done. It is not too deep and gives the gun a nice grippy texture but is in no way aggressive. The front strap stippling stops at the trigger guard which is fine to me. I know some people like it to continue but I am fine with stopping there.
The sights are genuine Novaks. They are not night sights but are the older style black on black. The cuts are well done and the sight is nicely beveled to the rear of the slide. It does not over hang at all. IMHO a quality installation.
The grips are to my eyes Spegels but they have been modified. I took a few pics and you can see that they are thinner than standard Spegels. I believe that they were shaved down to fit the pistol. They are a perfect fit and make the gun as slim if not slimmer than Navidrex slim micarta. Whoever fit them fit them to this pistol well.
Overall a solid pistol with a lot of custom features. It should make a great shooter/carry piece. The only modification I might make is a new thumb safety and a gold front dot or night sight front dot. Other than that this gun is good to go. Will make a nice addition to the collection.
