New Hi-Powers? What happened??

D

Dave AA

New member
Greetings,
I remember last year, there was news that the Hi-Power would be back in production. I actually traded E-mail with the company planning this, and they said it would be out in the spring of 2001.

Well??????

I don't remember the whole story, and I was wondering if anyone else has followed that development.

I don't know about you guys, but I would be very interested in a spankin' new Hi-Power!
 
I have seen advertisements for the new double action High power from wholesale dealers. I have seen no advertisements for the orginal high power at all. It appears that FN is pushing the new double action on the world police and military market. What is left over finds its way into the civilian market. FN has never been interested in the civilian market.

Browning is not handling the High Power any more because they are afraid of big city lawsuits.

Browning catered to the civilian market while FN catered to the police and military market. Do not expect to see many of either the old or new high power.

The new double action high power is basically trash. It has a cheap aluminum frame and a plastic safety. I have not had the opportunity to fire one yet but the info I have read on it suggests the accuracy is nothing like the original high power.

No knows for sure at this time wether or not FN will continue to produce the high power. Because Bronwing does not handle this firearm anymore we will have to rely on FN to import it and they have had a sorry history when it comes to supplying the civilian market with arms.

I believe we are witnessing the end of an era. The old fashioned finely crafted works of art made from close fitted forgings have given way to the new wave handguns that are made of cheap plastic or aluminum , thrown together with little or no hand fitting. Accuracy is generally pedestrian at best and the outside finish is generally crude to say the least. The younger generation of shooters having never experienced the joy of owning a real work of art simply does not know the difference between todays junkers and the great beauties that the arms factories were once capable of producing. Today we have only shooting machines, not works of art. Trying to explain this to the younger shooters only draws a somewhat blank stare. They have no idea what you are even talking about.

If we could flash back to even 30 years ago and show a tupperware pistol to the shooters of that era and try and explain to them that there would actually be people that would want to own such a weapon the person would have been locked up in the nearest mental asylum. Before taking this person away the people listening to this person talk would have nearly died laughing.

Those of you that are lucky enough to still own some of the old Colt 1911 .45's, or the orginal Browning High Powers, or the original Sig Neuhausen P210's would be well advised to hang on to them. They are rapidly escalating in value and becoming more and more scarce with each passing day. Someday very soon they will become to valuable even to shoot anymore. W.R.
 
Someone in....South America (?) is making Hi-Powers under license. I bought one of the Detective models this past Spring and it seemed to be a decent gun, even if it was not up to the fit and finish of my older H-P. After I get it broken in, and WHEN I have the extra cash I hope to send it to Cylinder & Slide for some work. All of my hi-cap magazines seem to work in it so I think all is not lost. At least not yet.
 
Two shops here have new Browning HPs with serial numbers beginning with 511MZ...the MZ being Browning's code for 2001. One store owner told me that he has been told by the Browning representative to expect continued availability of the basic MKIII, the Standard and the Practical. He hadn't heard anything on the FN-marked guns.

They didn't have more than a few of any one model, but at least they had some I could pick through.

John
 
If you'll visit Browning's website, you can see that they have a note up in their FAQ explaining that they are still importing and selling the Hi-Power.

I've seen MM and MZ (2000 and 2001) Hi-Powers for sale, so they are definitely being sold to dealers. I think the main problem is that everybody rushed the dealers when they thought the Hi-Power was being discontinued and now the market for them is a little soft so the dealers aren't ordering any.

You'll probably have to do some looking around to find one; but they are still out there.
 
Fprice,

Someone in....South America (?) is making Hi-Powers under license. I bought one of the Detective models this past Spring and it seemed to be a decent gun, even if it was not up to the fit and finish of my older H-P.
Click to expand...

You are referring to the Argentenian FM models. They have a pretty good review of them at
http://www.cruffler.com/review-February-01.html
I have one of the early models full size models that don't have the huge commercial stampings on the slide and is much more "military" in appearance. I've also been perfectly happy with it.
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My dealer has a new Browning Hi Power in his case that he ordered a while back. It was a decent pistol set up with the ambi safety. Decent meaning it was more like a work pistol than a classic. It still has the terrible trigger pull because of the mag safety. If I remember correctly, it was more of a matte black finish instead of a high gloss blued. It didn't seem up to the quality of the older Hi
Powers that I have seen and I wasn't impressed.

But then the $600 price tag didn't exactly make me want to snap it up either!

Good SHooting
RED
 
As mentioned above, Browning's website says that they will still sell the Hi Power. Just this last week, 2 Hi Powers were added to the "approved" for sale list in Kalifornia. The MKIII showed up about a month ago. The new additions were the Practical and a Hard Chrome finish. Haven't seen that one produced in awhile myself.

I don't know what they are up to but it seems kind of lame of Browning to pay for testing and listing of guns on Kalifornia's approved list unless they intend to produce and sell them.
 
Ah, excellent.

I will have to see if I can get a new Hi-Power out of one of the dealers around here! Anyone know what they are going for now?
 
I definitely seen the new hi-power in the store around here and that’s in California. All the Hi-powers are approved in California and that is a great expense, they wouldn’t do it if they weren’t planning on selling a lot of them. I would expect everyone would be seeing more of them in the next months. :)
 
The local gun dealer put a brand-new BHP Mark III in his display case several weeks ago. It was manufactured in 2001, according to the date code in the serial number.

The dealer thinks he can get $619 for it because his shop was starved for BHPs for about a year. Evidently, he reckons that his customers now believe the BHP is rare, and that it commands a premium price. Be that as it may, the last time I looked, this BHP was still in the case.

BTW, it looks identical to the Mark IIIs of a couple of years ago, with one exception: apparently, FN no longer stamps a duplicate serial number on the barrel.
 
Well, he can get $500 from me if the quality is the same as the last production. Or, I could just order one! He may have to wait for a sucker;)
 
A local dealer here in PA has a new Mk III for $560 and a standard for $550. I think there is a Practical also for a bit more money. FYI.
 
One local store wanted $599 for a 9mm MkIII, $649 for a fixed-sight Practical and I don't remember the price on the Standard. The other shop beat them by $20 across the board.

John
 
This is from Browning's web site

Is the High-Power dead?

No we will continue to produce the high power.



If your question remains unanswered, please call our Consumer Department directly at: 800.333.3288 or 801.876.2711



Home FAQs Firearms FAQs Handgun FAQs
 
Just picked up a BHP yesterday for $550 plus tax. It has the MZ (2001) code. Very nice gun. Best bluing job I've seen in a while...
 
Saw a Hi Power last week. Nice ;) Problem...$579. Seems just a bit steep for this gun. I think I'd rather have a CZ at $399 and get a trigger job for it.
 
I saw 6 FN HPs yesterday at the Richmond VA gun show, but only got to handle one briefly. They appear to be the basic MkIII, just like my new BHP, but the serial numbers are on the right side out beyond the trigger. They began with 511MZ.

They were in very large black plastic FN cases with a Browning adhesive label on one end. The owner said that he got them through the custom shop. He build pistols (and rifles) and likes the SN on the right side.

Only $670.

John
 
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