Browning Hi Power malfunctions, course of action?

W

Weimadog

New member
My brother has a Browning Hi Power which has been double-feeding, and also a second malfunction I can't name. It is pictured on the attachment *999.jpg below.



The magazines he is using to not have witness holes, they look like aftermarket.

I suggested he buy an assortment of recoil springs, and new factory mags. If that doesn't fix it, a trip to the gunsmith.

Am I missing anything?




IMG_20141105_111736_808.jpg

IMG_20141105_120916_999.jpg
 
Start with mags. Get factory or Mecgars. Don't change anything else until you try the mags. If the failures continue then move to other things.

Looks like a bolt over base which is most likely mag related.
 
Both pics look mag-related. Search around a few sites and get a couple of 13 round Mecgars, as suggested above.
 
In the meantime, before getting new mags, try loading mags with only
10 or 12 rounds and then inserting into gun and firing.

Also, FMJ ammo being used?

Does the feed ramp look like it's been worked on?

And last but not least, is the gun well lubed/oiled, the rails, the lock lugs on the barrel and the recesses in the slide just in front of the ejection port?
 
Do the mags have plastic slide-on basepads with something like "KDS" molding into them?
If so, those are "South African" or "South American" (take your pick) mags. I have three of them, and they all worked perfectly for a few years of light use, then I started to get malfs like the one pictured.
I replaced the springs, and no issues, since.
Other than the original springs, I think they are nice mags, with heavy-walled tubes and metal followers.
 
I'm going to suggest Factory or MecGar mags as the solution to that problem.

In fact, for pretty much any semi-auto firearm, the order of problem solving usually goes:

1. Ammo
2. Magazines
3. User error
 
"I'm going to suggest Factory or MecGar mags as the solution to that problem."

If I'm not mistaken, MecGAR makes all of Browning's magazines, or at least one time did.
 
They did and I think they still do; but there are minor differences between the factory Hi-Power mags and the Hi-Power mags Mecgar sells under their own brand. Never had any trouble with either; but the Mecgars are usually cheaper.
 
failures

I was taught that there are 4 types failures:

1)fail to fire, 2)fail feed, 3)fail to extract, and 4) fail to eject. I read and hear the term "double feed" now and then, but am not really sure if that is technically valid and not exactly sure what one would look like.

To me, from your pics, 888 shows a fail to either extract or eject, if in fact that is a spent case wedged in the ejection port. If you are consistently getting spent brass stuck in the pistol, what follows does not apply. Rather than drag out my response, I will proceed on the belief that both pics display fail to feed.

If that is a live round top most, pic 888 is a fail to feed. Pic 999 is a fail to feed for certain. Fail to feeds can often be traced to bad mags, as others have noted. Factory mags for my HP all have a "mousetrap" spring on the rear. I cannot say if the touted Mec Gars have same, or if MecGar and factory are indeed the same thing. May well be.

Assuming you are running fresh, quality factory ammo( I would use FMJ as a default) and your pistol AND MAGS are clean and lubed, , I would try new, quality mags next.

As others have noted, ammo, mags, and I would add, fail to maintain and lube (dirty gun) are the most common causes. The HP has reputation as reliable due to the relatively straight path of the upcoming live round into the chamber. Hope yours gets to running right soon.
 
My version has the humped feed ramp. It's fine for FMJ ammo, but chokes on JHP if the mag is loaded to the maximum. I have cheap mags, OEM mags and get the same result. Loading the mag -1 always does the trick.

I've read that polishing out the hump in the ramp takes care of the problem, but I have yet to try this solution.
 
Wishoot, I made a reference in an earlier posting here regarding loading less than the full 13. British SAS learned to only load 12, meaning 11 in mag and 1 in chamber. The "hump" in the feed ramp seems problematic.

Now, since Weimadog hasn't given any of us feedback, I suggest we all just sit back and wait for him to follow up on the suggestions. And then hopefully he'll report back. Hopefully. :(
 
Wishoot, I made a reference in an earlier posting here regarding loading less than the full 13. British SAS learned to only load 12, meaning 11 in mag and 1 in chamber. The "hump" in the feed ramp seems problematic.
Click to expand...

Yep. It seems to be a fairly universal problem with those types of feed-ramps. I've thought about getting the hump polished out, but I really hate to make any changes to a fairly pristine c.1982 BHP.
 
I read and hear the term "double feed" now and then, but am not really sure if that is technically valid and not exactly sure what one would look like.
Click to expand...

There are two different problems that are referred to as "double feed", even though one has nothing to do with feeding.
An actual double feed is a result of "inertia feeding", in which, during the extraction and ejection process, a live round is released from the magazine into the chamber, and then as the slide closes another live round is fed in behind it. I would have never believed it possible, until I happened to me.
Some also refer to a failure to extract, leaving an empty case in the chamber and a live round partially fed behind it, as a "double feed", which, though it looks like the former, with a case in the chamber and a live round behind it, is a completely different animal.
 
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