Hi power question

[Walt Sherrill]

Seems to me Hi-Power development/variations have been continued or evolved through the CZ emanations and the various CZ-like clones which come in different sizes/configurations and fill the void well enough.

WVsig said it more succinctly, but I'll add this: The CZ and HP sort of look alike, but the resemblance is only skin deep. If you compare parts diagrams or detail strip them you'll find that internally they couldn't be more different.

The BHP is a MUCH SIMPLER single-action only weapon. About the only real shared trait, is the basic Browning short-recoil locked breech design, with similar locking lugs (from the 1911 design); how the barrel is guided during the firing cycle is quite different.

The shared short-recoil locked breech design is also by the vast majority of center-fired semi-autos, including designs much older than the CZ-75.

 

[BlueTrain]

Given that FN makes just about every conceivable type of small arm, we really don't know what sells the best and keeps them the busiest. They made several firearms for decades, too, with few exceptions, probably longer than any other manufacturer of small arms. They are the largest producer of small arms in Europe and I sort of doubt that handguns are the biggest seller, dollar-wise (or Euro-wise).

One of their best known products was the FAL rifle but I believe production of the M16 has the record of it. Don't know about the AK but there have been a lot of them churned out over the years, too.

It's curious that the US Army adopted the MAG something like 30 years after it was introduced.

 

[CWKahrFan]

Yes, Hi-Powers and CZ's etc. are different... I'm just suggesting one reason perhaps why (as the OP was wondering) there hasn't been such a demand for more Hi-Power variants as there has been in the 1911 category... Whether for unimportant or superficial reasons... or not... gun buyers are affected by how guns appear.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

I'm just suggesting one reason perhaps why (as the OP was wondering) there hasn't been such a demand for more Hi-Power variants as there has been in the 1911 category... Whether for unimportant or superficial reasons... or not... gun buyers are affected by how guns appear.

If looks matter, how do you explain Glocks? On the other hand, CZs *DO* look a bit like BHPs, and that hasn't hurt CZ's sales.

There were a number of HP variants offered over the years, some licensed (FM) and some not (FEG); Stoeger did some, as did some other gunmakers from the Philippines.

I suspect the main drawback of the HP design is that it is Single Action Only design, and one not easily adapted to other action designs.

Converting a DA/SA CZ to SAO or DAO is as simple as removing one part from the DA/SA gun: the disconnector (to make it SAO), or the sear (to make it DAO). Being able to offer all three configurations was not a big cost or production issue for CZ. (There is an innate flexibility to that design that is seldom mentioned and is seemingly unappreciated. The new CZ Omega system is even more flexible -- with the end user being able to switch from safety to decocker or back.)​

We have to keep in mind, too, that most of the guns developed and sold since the HP's introduction (circa 1935) have been DA/SA (or DAO), many offered with decockers.

The increasing popularity of striker-fired, Double-action (or modified double action) high-cap, polymer-framed guns, including new ones from H&K, S&W, Walther, SIG, and even FN, might cause one think the all-metal SAO HP is on it's last legs. (If THAT happens, then you might see some clones...)

 

[745SW]

IMO Glock's aren't bad looking guns. They are acceptable. The rest is reputation, name, and it's sold.

Many a non gun person will ask about the P08 Luger, probably because of the good looks, but beyond that interest will cease or diminish.

There was a pristine Colt blue Government with short trigger on display at a show. Probably something like a series 70. From afar I'm not the only one that took a prolonged look at that piece.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

IMO Glock's aren't bad looking guns. They are acceptable. The rest is reputation, name, and it's sold.

I don't think they're bad looking, either -- but I wrote what I wrote because the people who like 1911s seem to just scream about how UGLY Glocks are! I couldn't resist.

 

[Kosh75287]

I'M a 1911A1 fan, and I've never panned the Glock because I thought it looked ugly. As a matter of fact, it looks nicer than a lotta pistols out there, today. I have no objection to LOOKING at Glocks. I just don't want to have to CARRY one anytime soon.

To answer the original question about the absence of a compact P-35, I suspect that one was never (widely) made because other smaller more concealable single-stack 9mms were prevalent, and were no less effective in fights than the P-35, except in terms of magazine capacity.

I think the impetus behind the proliferation of 3" & 4" 1911A1s was a demand for a smaller, more easily carried sidearm that retained the stopping power of the .45 ACP cartridge.
The 1911A1 was offered in another cartridge with a discernible edge in stopping power over 9x19, (.38 Super) but only custom platforms offered double-stack capability, and its ballistic edge tended to fall off as barrel length decreased.

1986 (I think) marked the advent of the Glock pistol platform, and 1990 was the year the 40 S&W debuted. Shortly thereafter, the two came together, and firearms thus configured could do everything the P-35 could do (plus some things), except look elegant.

A chopped and channeled P-35 in .40 S&W might have been a big seller before the advent of Glocks, but I present a hypothesis that is no longer testable.

If I could afford one, I'd own a 9mm P-35, not to carry, just to shoot. If I could afford one, I'd own a .40 S&W P-35, to shoot as well as to carry.

 

[WVsig]

If I could afford one, I'd own a 9mm P-35, not to carry, just to shoot. If I could afford one, I'd own a .40 S&W P-35, to shoot as well as to carry.

BHPs are very affordable if you are willing to purchase a surplus gun. $450 plus shipping and transfer about the same as a used Glock.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=510945176

Or

 

[Kosh75287]

That's heartening news, so I'll keep looking for one. Unfortunately, all my "Gun Money" keeps turning into college tuition.