Browning Hi Power Question and Mod Ideas

[tipoc]

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?

OK, then why you here? Why not just do that and say bye? Honest question.

BTW, if you've replaced all of that, why put yourself through such turmoil and pain? Why should a delicate fella bother?

My experience is different. I've found them to be reliable guns and require only minimal maintenance.

tipoc

 

[TunnelRat]

I hope to post an update tonight. I'd ask folks to please stay on topic. I have plenty of polymer framed pistols to put many rounds through. By the time I shoot 40k rds through this pistol I'll have spent 10x what I spent on the pistol on ammo.

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[Jim Watson]

You're going to shoot 40000 by tonight? Wow.

 

[TunnelRat]

You're going to shoot 40000 by tonight? Wow.

Yup. I am just that motivated.

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[TunnelRat]

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.

Nice looking pistol! I noticed that the MkII variants seemed to be going for about $100 less.

The HP is a notorious hammer biter, even with hammers sold to alleviate the problem.

I don't have that issue with mine, nor have I in the past. I have skinny hands and on the smaller side of medium too, so even with my hand pressed as high as I can I don't get bit.

As an update I put another 100 rds through the pistol this weekend (sorry, not at 40,000 yet). I ran this with the RDIH slide stop this time. Because of the contouring at the front of this slide stop version I found my support thumb wasn't riding right on top at the end of the fulcrum and as a result I only had one premature slide lock in all 100 rds. Something to potentially try if you have the same issue.

The pistol is very pleasant to shoot. Below are pictures showing the distance to (10 yds) and then a picture of 50 rds moderately slow fire and then another 50 rds where I was doing double taps over the previous shots. I was shooting into the sun a bit but I'm pretty happy. While the reset is a bit soft, the trigger is actually pretty nice, though I might try a different mainspring to get it a bit lighter. I have some grips, Lok for now, and then Trijicon 3-dot night sights coming this week as well as more magazines to supplement the only one I have currently. I also have a Cylinder and Slide wide safety on order. I'll update as I try those as well.

I'd end by saying the Hi Power is just very fun for me to shoot. I do notice that shooting the Hi Power and then going to my Glocks afterwards really seems to exaggerate the hump in the Glock grip, but I stop noticing after a few minutes.

Target stand placement:

50 rds moderately slow fire:

50 rds of double taps and rapid fire on top of the previous:

Black frame gets pretty hot in the sun:

 

[tipoc]

For ideas on setting up your gun go here...

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/HiPowerComments.html

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/Defense.htm

They don't need much. Decent sights and a little work on the trigger if you want. I always remove the disconnect.

tipoc

 

[TunnelRat]

Just a couple updates. First would be the Lok grips. I was not particularly impressed. The finish seems nice. The texture, Ridgeback, is not as aggressive as I'd like, but it is advertised as Medium in that department so that's really my own fault (most of the rest say Very Aggressive and my wife shoots this too so I erred on the side of less texture). The fit isn't particularly great. At the backstrap there are parts where the grips protrude passed the backstrap instead of being flush. In addition, when tightened all the way down the side of the grip panels closest to the frontstrap has a tendency to pull up and away from the frame, leaving minor gaps. The thinness is nice, but even with my medium to small hands it seems overly thin (but I'm used to fat grips). I'll probably look elsewhere, maybe even at replacement wood grips.

What the grips look like:

Grips follow the backstrap a bit unevenly:

At the side closest to the frontstrap the grips tend to lift off the frame when tightened down. This view is looking towards the frontstrap (you can see the mage release). If you look up by the slide stop you'll see the gap:

Lastly were the Trijicon night sights. These came out quite nice. The stock rear was a giant pain to remove. Easily the hardest sight to move in many pistols I've owned. There was little to no budging the rear sight Friday night, so I doused the sights and the dovetails in penetrating oil and let them sit. Today even with my Wheeler sight pusher and soaking overnight I had to hammer on the spoked adjustment wheel to get the rear sight to move. Once off the replacement rear went on without too much trouble (tight, but not hammer pounding tight). The front sight came out easily enough. I did have to file the bottom of the replacement front sight to fit in the dovetail, but only enough to basically remove the black paint from the sight bottom. Dimensionally the Trijicon sights seem identical to the stock sights. The dots are very clean.

Side profile of the sights:

Looking down the sights:

 

[WVsig]

There is variance in BHP frames and it is very common to have to “fit”’the grips. Spegel even sents an instruction sheet on how to do it. If you take a little material off leading edge of the grip where it inserts into the frame and a little off the screw hole, and by a little I mean slivers, the grips should fit flush. Can’t help with the texture..

 

[TunnelRat]

But if I remove material from under the grips by the screw hole won't they pivot up at the front even more?

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