Folks,
Unfortunately Ed is right. A couple of years ago the Argentine government nationalized many industries to include FM. Exports to the US ceased at that time. I even checked with some Argentine contacts and did extensive web searches about this question at the time of the older thread. All said that exports were on hold. Perhaps Peter Knight can check further locally as I know of no restrictions in the US on importing handguns from Argentina. Heck we just had another load of old 1911 clones sold here.
The Detective weights the same as a full length FN model but is an inch shorter with no indented slide, but rather a full width throughout. It came from the factory with the traditional tiny thumb safety. It also sported rubber finger grooved grips which I found abysmal in terms of their fit to the gun. Given that FM had old FN equipment left under contract, parts interchangeability sans the twin recoil spring and guide are pretty good. I used Cylinder and Slide parts to fix the traditional design drawbacks of the Hi-Power. The aforementioned thread covers most everything else. It is a very reliable gun and with the tweaking I've done gives more than acceptable accuracy.
FM also makes a traditional sized P35 clone which has been well received. Personally I favor the FM clones over anyone elses including FEG, etc. FM is positioned like Taurus was in its early days with genuine Beretta factory equipment and some innovative design concepts.
-=[Bob]=-
[This message has been edited by bald1 (edited May 11, 1999).]
Just be seated when he answers. Austin Behlert charged $900 for the conversion back in 1983, and I can't imagine that the price has gone down in the last 16 years.