Browning Hipower Questions

R

RHarris

New member
My cousin just got a really good deal on a Browning Hipower. It's a really nice pistol. I like it so much I might have to get one!!!

We've got a couple simple questions about it.

We think it's around twelve years old. It has a silver finish. Is it stainless steel, hard chrome, or nickel?

It has wood grips and one is damaged. Where can a set of original Browning wood grips be obtained and how much might they cost?

The only thing about it that isn't impressive is the fixed sights it has. Are these able to be easily replaced with something better?

Any answers or other suggestions to the care and use of this fine pistol would be greatly appreciated.
 
The BHP is a geat pistol and you can find accessories,including grips and replacement sights for the BHP just about anywhere. If you need a professional gunsmith to do the work, then check out this address. http://www.kwgw.com/ Best of luck!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RHarris:
My cousin just got a really good deal on a Browning Hipower. It's a really nice pistol. I like it so much I might have to get one!!!

We've got a couple simple questions about it.

We think it's around twelve years old. It has a silver finish. Is it stainless steel, hard chrome, or nickel?

It has wood grips and one is damaged. Where can a set of original Browning wood grips be obtained and how much might they cost?

The only thing about it that isn't impressive is the fixed sights it has. Are these able to be easily replaced with something better?[/quote]

RHarris,

You are so right! The HighPower is a great pistol. There are still plenty high capacity magazines out there (13 and 17 rounders).

You can go to the Browning site to find out the year this HighPower was made based on its serial number. Based on you description of the sights, you probably have a pre-MarkIII HighPower. Hopefully someone will post info as to how those sites can be changed.

I don't think a stainless steel HighPower was ever produced. I imagine what you have is either a HighPower Practical or HighPower Chrome. (I guess some previous owner could have had it chromed or plated.)

Wood grips can be found at Brownells and other providers, but they can be a little expensive. I think Brownells charges $50+ for one panel.

Currently, NIB HighPowers can be a little difficult to find, but toward the end of this year, or early 2001, more are to be imported. At least that what FN has said.

Numbers
 
The nickel/silver chrome finish looks like stainless steel and was discontinued in 1985, so the gun could be 15 or more years old. OTOH it could be newer as a silver chrome finish, which was introduced on the Practical in 1990, was offered starting in 1991. One way to tell would be to look at the safety. If it is original and the long ambi type then the gun was made after 1985 (all guns made after 1989 had it) that would make it the silver chrome version. If it has the small original HP safety then it would be a nickel/silver gun.
 
From information contained on the Browning website, wood grips for the HiPower cost $33 apiece in French Walnut.

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"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken
 
I have been known to shoot a BHP on occasion and if I were in your cousins shoes I would opt for wood grips by Kim Ahrends or Craig Spegel. These are a lot nicer than any factory grips I have seen or used. Regards, Richard.
 
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