BHP barrel bushing
I want to correct what I said above and apologize for the error. The BHP bushing is screwed in. I was deceived by a bad memory and by some drawings that don't show it, but the threads are there.
I am indebted to Mete, who sent me a pic of a bushing removed from a Belgian BHP that certainly has threads. The Browning High Power Automatic Pistol, by Blake Stevens, has drawings that don't show the threads but pictures of cutaways and also the bushings that do. It is possible that production techniques changed at some point, but for now, I have no doubt the bushing was threaded and was screwed in.
Regardless, the BHP barrel bushing was considered a permanent assembly to the slide and was not designed to be removed by the customer. When I make statements about gun parts or assembly, I prefer to check them out myself. I did not do so this time for the simple reason that I could not do so without wrecking a BHP slide, something I did not want to do.
A point on the front sight. I said that the hole for the sight tenon was cut through the bushing. That is true when there was a full tenon, but for a time in the post-war manufacture, the front sight was just soldered in and had no tenon. The cut was deep enough that the sight still locked the bushing, but the cut did not go completely through the bushing.
On the subject of bushings, I might note that the BHP had the same problem with the breech face being impacted by extensive firing that cropped up with the M1911. This was solved in the same way, by screwing in a hardened bushing ("slide stud" or "rear slide bushing") around the firing pin hole. The problem was finally resolved in 1947, when FN went to a hardened slide. Colt had gone through the same process, and a bushing (they called it the "recoil plate") was used from 1935 by Colt and also by all the WWII contractors. Colt also went to hard slides in 1947. Very few owners of either pistol know that the rear bushing is there.
Jim
I want to correct what I said above and apologize for the error. The BHP bushing is screwed in. I was deceived by a bad memory and by some drawings that don't show it, but the threads are there.
I am indebted to Mete, who sent me a pic of a bushing removed from a Belgian BHP that certainly has threads. The Browning High Power Automatic Pistol, by Blake Stevens, has drawings that don't show the threads but pictures of cutaways and also the bushings that do. It is possible that production techniques changed at some point, but for now, I have no doubt the bushing was threaded and was screwed in.
Regardless, the BHP barrel bushing was considered a permanent assembly to the slide and was not designed to be removed by the customer. When I make statements about gun parts or assembly, I prefer to check them out myself. I did not do so this time for the simple reason that I could not do so without wrecking a BHP slide, something I did not want to do.
A point on the front sight. I said that the hole for the sight tenon was cut through the bushing. That is true when there was a full tenon, but for a time in the post-war manufacture, the front sight was just soldered in and had no tenon. The cut was deep enough that the sight still locked the bushing, but the cut did not go completely through the bushing.
On the subject of bushings, I might note that the BHP had the same problem with the breech face being impacted by extensive firing that cropped up with the M1911. This was solved in the same way, by screwing in a hardened bushing ("slide stud" or "rear slide bushing") around the firing pin hole. The problem was finally resolved in 1947, when FN went to a hardened slide. Colt had gone through the same process, and a bushing (they called it the "recoil plate") was used from 1935 by Colt and also by all the WWII contractors. Colt also went to hard slides in 1947. Very few owners of either pistol know that the rear bushing is there.
Jim