Browning Hi Power Question and Mod Ideas

[Brit]

I purchased a civilian model Hi-Power. Serial # 7879. Brilliant blue finish, yellow? Grips. walnut? Tiny little sights. NEW! The story, a Civil Engineer bought it from a London Gun Shop. Who specialized in guns taken out of England.
Such as Sterling Sub Machine Guns, that ended up in rubber plantations in Borneo.

He was heading for a two-year contract on a Brit Army base Gibralter? Not sure. It had the hammer with the hole in it, Commander hammer? The story told to me by the young Salsman in the Withy Grove Gun Shop in Manchester England in 1960? The first day at work, the Engineer strolled on to the base, with a loaded, locked and cocked pistol, in shoulder holster!

"Excuse me, sir, are you an Officer?" No answer had the pistol off to the armoury, lovingly kept by the staff, for the two years he was there, never fired, brand new.

This Gentleman was an arrogant toff! On arriving back in Manchester, he applied for licensing to keep this new pistol, Police refused his request, off to be sold, on consignment. Where I saw it, browsing the store. The price tag read Twenty Pounds!! $40.00? in 1960. It came with 3 civilian, deep blue magazines, and a really nice shoulder holster.

"Is this the deposit?" I asked. Asked outside of the shop, I got the story.
It was on consignment, the shop set the price, they took 10%. He was a nasty man, moaned and groaned about the Army/Police and anyone else including the owner of the store! He really PXXXXX off the store owner!

Off home to borrow the money from my Dad, pick up my registration book.
And head back. Many adventures with that gun, had a buddy (Mate!) build me a fabulous polished wooden case, fitted, locked down green beige blocks, for my cheap .22 Star target pistol, a Chief Special .38 Snub Nose, and the Hi-Power (target pistol honest Officer) (Constable) it sailed with my Family to Australia/Canada. Stolen in a robbery when I was out of the Country, they burned the door off a 1700lb Brinks Safe.

I loved that Browning.

 

[TunnelRat]

Thanks again for all the info.

I had a chance to shoot it over the weekend. Function was excellent. It's been some time since I'd shot a Hi Power, a number of years really. I find ergonomically it fits me much better than the CZ 75 pattern pistols.

Of the complaints there were basically three. It has a well defined break, albeit at a bit over 6 lb. the wall feels heavier than it is. The trigger press is much smoother without the magazine disconnect, but the reset is very soft now (I can still feel it, but barely). Both of these are things that could be addressed by springs.

The last issue I had was more problematic. I find that with my thumbs forward grip, as my support thumb lays by habit it pushes down on the front of the slide stop. Most other pistols I have don't have a piece of the slide stop that flares out at the front. Shooting one handed showed no issues. Over the course of the session I played with my hand placement a bit and had better luck, but it still happened occasionally. Part of it was the grips on there now really have no traction left so my support hand is sliding around more than it would otherwise. I had a similar issue on a 1911 before, though in that case I was riding the slide stop and preventing lock back, and a grip change made a big difference. I never remember this issue in the past, but back then I was using a revolver grip as a leftover of what I was taught.

Overall I enjoyed it. I wanted an all steel 9mm and for me I think the Hi Power fits nicely. I think I'm going to try some new grips, the different slide stop just to try, and a spring kit and the third hand tool. Some of those are on sale this week so that helps.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[bn12gg]

Once a shooter gets use to trigger travel and weight, the Hi Power trigger works fine. It's military set up. -- works for me -- and I shoot a number of 22 target pistols that take a trigger wink and they go bang.

.02. David.

Ps.. The Hi Power is what it is. -- trigger and all. -- hard to beat for decades.

 

[TunnelRat]

I never said the trigger didn't work.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Yes, if you use a modern thumbs-forward grip, your offhand thumb ends up right on tbe bottom of the slide stop usually. It is like it is made for it. And since a lot of your offhand pressure is delivered there it can cause the occasional failure to lockback. I’ve shot them a lot and never found a good solution for that.

On the reset, I don’t bother trying to find it on the Hi-Power because the reset is both long and soft. For rapid fire, it is just easier to slap that trigger like it owes you money. Surprisingly, it works pretty well withe Hi-Power’s single action trigger; but you’ll need some transition time going to a different pistol (Glock for example).

 

[1MoreFord]

OP, did you change the trigger return spring to the two coil version? That's supposed to solve the soft reset problem.

 

[Fishbed77]

All the talk about Hi Powers in the recent Tisas thread finally motivated me to buy another Hi Power (I owned one many years ago as one of my first semiautos). I picked up a surplus MkIII being sold by Mach 1 Arsenal on GunBroker and was lucky enough to not have my auction bid up overly high.

Good to know I'm not the only one to have fallen into this trap.

I recently took delivery of this all-matching Mark II from Mach 1. The barrel and bore look practically new, and while the frame and slide have their share of dings and finish wear, the pistol as a whole looks quite good and better than the photos let on. Not bad at all for $490, considering the inflated prices these have been garnering since FN stopped production.

 

[zeke]

As mentioned removal of the mag safety and navidrex thin grips are done to the currently owned HP's. The only other thing I did to my israli surplus was light recrowning of the barrel, which noticeably improved the accuracy. A careful cleaning/lube of the internal trigger mechanism points/pins can also be very helpul. Have grown to like the 2 stage trigger pull with heavier (5-6 lb)/clean break.

 

[Erno86]

I like the feel of the Pachmayr grips on my MkIII. Though I'm hesitant to remove the magazine disconnect, because a lawyer in a court case may take issue with that.

 

[Ibmikey]

Fishbed, You are fortunate to get such a nice pistol at this late date. Many of us have been acquiring the Israeli pistols including post war, E series, T series Mk II & III etc. for very many years now. With the demise of CDI I thought we had seen the last of the H P’s that had not been deformed by CAI and others with their bill board printing. Again, nice pistol.

 

[luger fan]

'WONT HOLD UP TO EXTENDED SHOOTING LIKE MODERN PISTOLS." Oh yea. That's why PLASTIC is preferred to FORGED STEEL??????????

What genius came up with that gem? Gastion Glock?

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

WONT HOLD UP TO EXTENDED SHOOTING LIKE MODERN PISTOLS." Oh yea. That's why PLASTIC is preferred to FORGED STEEL??????????

Let me know when you’ve got 40,000 rounds through a Hi-Power, or any pistol, and we can compare notes.

 

[RickB]

I'm a tinkerer at heart, very few of my guns are stock, but my HP Mk. III has only blacked-out rear sight dots for mods.
It has the best trigger I've ever tickled in a HP, even those having had a trigger job, and that may drive my satisfaction with it.
I have been tempted to shorten and round the edges of the hammer spur a bit, and if I shot the gun a lot, I'm sure I would have.
If I had to spend some money on a mod, I'd get a narrower front sight with fiber-optic.

 

[Jim Watson]

The HP is a notorious hammer biter, even with hammers sold to alleviate the problem.
Sunday I saw an SVI with no hammer spur at all, the hammer was contoured flush with the slide. Would that not fix the Browning? Assuming you don't carry Condition 2, of course.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Besides sights, the only thing I'd do is to mount Browning ambidextrous safeties.

 

[Fishbed77]

With the demise of CDI I thought we had seen the last of the H P’s that had not been deformed by CAI and others with their bill board printing.

I was fortunate to nab what had to be one of the very last Hi Powers sold by CDI earlier this year (a force-matched and re-finished Star of David-marked Mark III). Nobody does import marks as well as CDI did (tiny print on the side of the barrel that is invisible unless the slide is drawn) - I don't know why everyone doesn't do it this way.

Despite this, I feel like the current batch from Mach 1 are nicer (and better priced) than the final pistols we saw from CDI. Hopefully, they keep flowing in.

 

[RickB]

WONT HOLD UP TO EXTENDED SHOOTING LIKE MODERN PISTOLS." Oh yea. That's why PLASTIC is preferred to FORGED STEEL??????????

Let me know when you’ve got 40,000 rounds through a Hi-Power, or any pistol, and we can compare notes.

The USMC had M1911A1s with documented 300,000 rounds through them, in the '80s.
Wouldn't be surprised if only the frame, pins, and screws were original, but that's the way it is with mechanical devices.

I have a custom 1911 with 50,000 rounds through it, and the only part I've replaced is the barrel, and that was defective, rather than worn.

 

[RickB]

The HP is a notorious hammer biter, even with hammers sold to alleviate the problem.
Sunday I saw an SVI with no hammer spur at all, the hammer was contoured flush with the slide. Would that not fix the Browning? Assuming you don't carry Condition 2, of course.

Single action pistols don't really need a hammer spur; it's cocked when the gun is loaded, and if you want to drop the hammer, loaded or not, pull the trigger.
I've trimmed a rowel hammer to a short spur, and it works fine for any oddball occasion requiring that the hammer be manually cocked or decocked.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

The USMC had M1911A1s with documented 300,000 rounds through them, in the '80s. Wouldn't be surprised if only the frame, pins, and screws were original, but that's the way it is with mechanical devices.

A box stock Glock or M&P will go 60k easy. My Hi-Power is at ~40k and I’ve replaced: barrel, slide stop, ejector, extractor, grip screw, firing pin retaining plate, and recoil spring guide due to those parts breaking. Parts started breaking at 13k. None of this includes “regular maintenance” parts like recoil springs or firing pin springs.

I’m sure, with Uncle Sugar’s budget, I could keep the frame serviceable until 300k; but why would I when I can just buy a modern pistol and have a good chance of shooting 100k rounds with no parts broken?

 

[tipoc]

The HP is a notorious hammer biter, even with hammers sold to alleviate the problem.
Sunday I saw an SVI with no hammer spur at all, the hammer was contoured flush with the slide. Would that not fix the Browning? Assuming you don't carry Condition 2, of course.

This is a remarkably easy fix. All you need is a file. Or a dremel and Swiss files. Remove the metal on the hammer serration by serration till you get what you want. Then just smooth it out.

tipoc