The Browning Hi Power and +P ammo

Do you shoot +P in your BHP and what is your experience?

  • Own a BHP and have never shot +P because of what I read about possible damage.

    Votes: 10 20.4%

  • Own a BHP and have shot some +P ammo but restrict the diet of +P and have not suffered any damage..

    Votes: 13 26.5%

  • Own a BHP and shoot whatever I want but have not suffered any damage.

    Votes: 24 49.0%

  • Own a BHP & restrict the diet of +P & have experienced damage attributed to high pressure rounds.

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • Own a BHP and shoot whatever I want but have experienced damage attributed to high pressure rounds.

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Total voters
    49
  • Poll closed .
The Hi-Power in that thread has had about 1,400 rounds of +P ammo through it (as well as now close to 30,000 rounds of regular ammo). It is a cast frame MkIII and I've used an 18.5lb recoil spring in it since around 2002 or so.

It had significant damage to the barrel at about 7k rounds total but that was shooting normal pressure ammo through it at an IDPA match.
Click to expand...

Was the damage to just to the barrel or the slide as well? Anything to do with the locking lugs? Did you simply replace the barrel?
 
If you click on that thread, I go into great detail, complete with pictures about every part I've broken or problem I've had and since I kept a decent round count and log on that pistol, the info is fairly solid. I can't vouch for 100% accuracy as to the exact round count; but the numbers are within a few hundred.

The barrel was a KKM match barrel that broke. KKM acknowledged they were redesigning the barrel but blamed the gunsmith. The gunsmith blamed KKM. I dropped the factory Browning barrel back in with no fitting or muss and never had another problem with accuracy or reliability.

Locking lugs are in great condition.

There has been some slight peening of the slide stop cutout on the slide (which may be related to the previous slide stop cracking and FN's circa-2000 redesign of the slide stop) but all good so far (knock on wood).
 
I was really intrigued by the .40 caliber BHP. It seemed to be a master stroke, getting double stack, higher caliber, higher energy and penetration, and performance beyond +p 9mm in a reasonable (imo) trade off for the standard pistol.

I'd have even gone as far as taking milder .40 rounds with heavy bullets, compared to the 9. A 165 at about 1k fps sounds like a good compromise for damage to tissues and ease of use.

That's not far from the .45 acp gold dot in 185/1,000fps. This, IIRC, is about what the old Super Vel loads ran. Obviously, that's been surpassed by the currently available super loads.
 
"...It's a 45 year old pistol..." Friggin' near new. Mines an Inglis, made in 1944. snicker.
The CF issued the same ammo for SMG's and pistols for eons. As I recall, there have been claims that NATO spec 9mm ammo is/was +P. Never seen nor heard of any Inglis being damaged by NATO issue ammo. Don't see any need for ammo with higher pressures myself.
Cooper said more absolute BS than anything else.
 
I am the guy who clicked the bottom one.
I bought a GP35 for 9MM testing. I ran well over 1500 load combinations through it, ten rounds per test load.
ALL were real McCoy 9MM OARABELLUM +P loads and in the by'n'by they beat the hell outta the locking lugs in the slide and the locking lugs on the BBL. Those loads also sway backed the slide to the point it was readily visible to the naked eye.
Heavier recoil springs simply caused the pistol to now go full-auto so that was no solution.
I had the gun rebuilt, BAR-STO and all, by Wayne Novak but do not recall shooting it since except to check the sight settings.
A SIG P210-5, a CZ85COMBAT, and a Taurus PT92 now do ALL my 9MM shooting in fine style with nary a problem using many of the same +P handloads.
REMEMBER: the Brit SAS noted they had " draws full " of BR.HP slides trashed from simply shooting them a lot.
And so it goes...
 
If it's mkIII with 18.5# recoil spring there should be nothing wrong with shooting +p regularly at all.
Then again I don't see why you would want more muzzle blast & recoil at a higher price for a very slight improvement in velocity.
 
I put in a buffer and use standard reloads and have put over 2,000 rounds through my BHP and it still looks like it is brand new. I think back when the military used it they shot +P+ and the constant diet shortened the gun's life but then the military doesn't care- they just got new ones.
The BHP is not my favorite semi auto although there is a lot of cheap 9mm brass around so that is a plus. I love the 1911, I just shoot it better and feeding in a new magazine is so fast that the 15 round B mag isn't that much of a plus for me. Still the BHP needs to be considered one of the all time great guns. I wish it had a better trigger. :cool:
 
There is a statement attributed to JM browning that he felt that the hp was a huge improvement on the 1911. The best he had ever created.

Taken out of context with whatever criteria he was judging it by, even if he actually did make that statement, it's really difficult to know what he meant by it.

The simplicity of design, double stack, safety features, 9mm loading, sure, a lot of things make it a better handgun than the 1911, but there are at least that many things that can be said about the 1911 being the better design.

If nothing else, it can be said that the 1911 can be customized to an absolutely unbelievable degree.


There is also that little consideration of having it firing something big and dangerous cartridges, instead of the mousy little luger cartridge...;)
 
"big and dangerous cartridges, instead of the mousy little luger cartridge..."

The .45 is the Bluto of cartridges while the 9 mm
is the Popeye of cartridges. :p
 
There is a statement attributed to JM browning that he felt that the hp was a huge improvement on the 1911. The best he had ever created.
Click to expand...

JMB dd not make the BHP as we know it. He designed the Grand Rendement which Saive finished and turned into the BHP. Also the concept that the BHP is an improved 1911 is a myth and sadly JMB never saw what we call the BHP.



 
I've got a '72, "C" series. It's had a few hundred rounds of +P through it from me, who knows what the previous owner(s) put through it.

I don't really have an issue with shooting +P in it, but, if I want more power/higher velocities than the standard loadings will give, I shoot other calibers. Really, the only reason I shot any +P at all is that my father in-law gave me several boxes of the stuff. I don't worry about it hurting the gun, I would rather just step up to a different caliber if I want higher performance...............and if I need to buy another pistol to do it, so much the better :)
 
I'd be curious to know what percentage of 40S&W Hi Power owners have had problems. Would not that provide at least half a clue with respect to how post40S&W era cast frame MKIII 9mm Hi Powers would fare with an extended diet of 9MM+P?
 
WIL TERRY said:
I bought a GP35 for 9MM testing. I ran well over 1500 load combinations through it, ten rounds per test load.
Click to expand...

There are many variants and clones of the Hi-Power. Do you have any idea who manufactured the one you used or when it was manufactured?
 
MFG by FN in Belgium. Sold here about 1985.
The first HP pistols I found that could really stand the gaff were the MKIII pistols that were marked ASSEMBLED IN PORTUGAL.
Until then the HP's were made to bend and not break. AND take a close look at how lightweight ALL HP pistol's frames etc are manufactured; they were thin and sleek on purpose to not shatter but to bend when needed.
 
I have an FEG (Hungarian) HP that I bought used around 1990. I have fired thousands of "normal" 9mm rounds through it and have had zero problems. I avoid +P because of what I've read. If you want that size bullet to go faster, 357 magnum is the way to go. :)
 
Don Williams has done them. You take a 40 S&W and get a conversion barrel. From my understanding Barsto used to make a conversion barrel but no longer do. KKM might still make one. There can be issues with the mags and they need to be tweaked a bit.
 
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