Browning Hi Power

dont pean the rails! that is a shlock job sort of thing. Cylinder & Slide does real good work on Highpowers. Leave any work to them, or just shoot it. after break in you should not have to do a damm thing, except to keep it clean and fed! Mike.
 
barrabas74 said:
I recently put some money down to Buy a Browning Hi Power in 9mm. It has fixed sights, pacmyere (if thats how you spell it) grips and original grips. A 10 round modified clip and 3 13 round clips that come with it. It was pre-owned but it looks very well taken care of by the lack of wear on well anything on the gun and the barrell looks like glass inside. I am thinking about getting adjustable sights and having the upper milled to accept them. I dont know what year it is but the gun dealer (whome I have purchased from and had good luck with for years) said it was one of the Belgian made models.

So my questions. I hear these are pretty darn good guns, do you all feel the same? Is it worth my time to upgrade the sights? The trigger is crisp but not the lightest, I am going to get it worked on. Is there any recommendations to upgrades or changes? I hear some people experience hammer bite but the way I shoot I doubt it will be an issue. Anyone experience this?

Thanks guys all help is appreciated.
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I had one and it was the most accurate handgun I ever fired with stock sights. I regret selling it. I never felt the need to install different sights on it but it would have only grouped the shots closer. I never had anything dont to it asI felt it was fine out of the box. HP is a great handgun.
 
i have had a half power or 2 and have always liked them,

one of mine did well with HP ammo the other wouldnt feed it at all go figure,

imho novak fixed sites are the way to go as far as sites.

while they are good pistols, & i like them, i think theres a lot of better stuff around nowadays for the $$.
 
SIFU1A said:
while they are good pistols, & i like them, i think theres a lot of better stuff around nowadays for the $$.
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I have a good variety of pistols. I havent held an HP until this one and just fell in love with it. I have Berretta's, Glocks, S&W's in 9mm and this just felt better in my hand than all of them. I am hoping it will shoot as good or better. I love the 1911's and this just kinda feels like its little brother.

A brand new HP with the glossy Blued and Wood handles new was around 1200 at this gun shop. I cant swing that but at 500 I feel I am getting a good deal. Or a percieved good deal.

I probably wont do any of my own modifications. I have thoroughly looked over Cylinder and Slides website and if I do get mods done I'll probably send it to them. There work looks very good.

When I get the pistol I'll post pictures of her as is and if/when I get some mods done I'll update this thread. I am anxious to pair it up with my other 9mm's and see how it stacks up.

I'll definatley shoot alot of rounds through it before i get anything done (cept maybe the trigger...I like lighter triggers). These pistols seem like they lend themselves to personalization and I tend to do that to my pistols.
 
I could always draw and shoot fast and accurate as if the HP was part of me. Getting my own one was a constant effort as they were highly valued in Zimbabwe. They shoot beautifully. I recall polishing the ramps helped the feeding of JHP for our club members.
 
Have one (Belgium made) and I can attest to the hammer bite with a nice little permanent scar between the thumb and finger on my hand! Yes the factory triggers are stiff but damn I love that gun.
 
i started to mod the last one i had but it was a late 50's belgium one and i just couldnt do it.

i agree they feel good in the hand, kinda like a 1911, my thoughts on 'em are if i want to carry a pistol of that size and feel i will just pack a 1911 and be done with it, but HP's are certainly neat pistols and ya could do worse than packing one of 'em.

and ya should check out the novaks, the later one i had had them on it when i bought it and i really liked 'em, of course i like novaks on most anything though lol.
 
barrabas74 said:
It has similar looks to my 1911's which I am a huge fan of and the whole thing just feels right.
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I like the way you think.

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I wouldn't modify a classic, but a run of the miller is another matter.

I have two Hi-Powers, one a major makeover by C&S & the other one a more minor "product-improved" by my local guy using C&S parts.

I can recommend C&S if you have the money & the patience to wait for the work to be done. They're very busy & way behind.

Using a C&S hammer reduces hammer bite, and their sear is a more durable part than the factory's cast sear.

Sights on my FN-marked pistol are already high visibility, other models can use improvements.

Denis
 
Thanks Kamagong. Looking at the hammer on your HI Power does it have bite? Looks like if the meat of your hand got real up there it could nip ya. Both guns you got there look sweet. I wonder if this one bites if I wear a shooting glove if it would not affect me.
 
Hammer bite has never been a problem for me. I don't have very meaty hands though.
 
Couple of tips from my experiecne with my Hi Power.
1. As previously stated, the Cylinder & Slide Shop parts are very good.
2. When you have the mag safety removed and the trigger tuned up, make sure you have it done by someone who really knows Hi Powers. A bad trigger job can leave you with a pistol that will occasionally convert itself into an illegal machine pistol!!!!!:eek:
3. For a cheap and VERY ergonomic fix, buy a set of the Pachmyr wraparound grips, throw away the separate backstrap piece and cut off the frontstrap piece, leaving just the grip panels. You will have the 1911 style grips this gun should have have from the get go and you will have minimal bucks invested. I did this and was greatly pleased by the improvement.
4. If you want to get really crazy, contrary to conventional wisdom, the slide a 9mm High Power can, in fact, be machined out for a low mount "melted" Bomar style adjustable rear sight. It is apparently a bit more work than on a 1911, but I have seen it done by the guys at Gun Craft down south of Tampa. As for fixed sight, Novak did all of the "heavy lifting" years ago to create great sights for the Hi Power, so you can't go wrong with them.
5. Any recent Hi Power or for that matter, any Euro 9mm that saw military or police service are designed to shoot NATO spec ammo, which is a bit hotter than some of our standard velocity ammo because it also has to function flawlessly in a fairly wide variety of SMG's. Back in my younger days, I fired Fiocchi NATO spec ammo out of my Belgian/Portugese Hi Power and my Walther P5 and they both suffered no ill effect. Well, except for the HUGE fireball that the ammo created out of the muzzle of the short barrel of the P5!! LOL
 
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I have owned a few Browning made Hi-powers. I love the ergonomics of the frame and slide, it just "fits" my hand.

I like the cylinder and slide parts for Hi-powers. If you need a Browning gunsmith, I have used a gentleman named Karl Sokal owner of Chestnut Mountain Sports. He is a very nice man and an excellent gunsmith. Also his backlog is not as long as Cylinder & Slide.

Good gun, I'm sure you'll love it.
 
My Dad has a Nazi version that my Grandfather brought home from WWII, along with a Nazi Officers dress dagger with the metal scabbard and silver lanyard.

That Hi-Power is a sweet shooter and yeah, it does feel like an extension of you. It also has the leather flap over sheath with the spare mag pocket on the outside.

A local gun dealer here in town offered him around 6 or 7 hundred for it back in the early eightys. I have no idea what it's actually worth. My Dad never shoots anymore - I'm sure that thing is getting pretty hungry by now - Think I need to feed it soon.

I love that gun... and the Dagger.

I know you'll love yours BARRABAS.

Gibby
 
alaskanmonte said:
I have owned a few Browning made Hi-powers. I love the ergonomics of the frame and slide, it just "fits" my hand.

I like the cylinder and slide parts for Hi-powers. If you need a Browning gunsmith, I have used a gentleman named Karl Sokal owner of Chestnut Mountain Sports. He is a very nice man and an excellent gunsmith. Also his backlog is not as long as Cylinder & Slide.

Good gun, I'm sure you'll love it.
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Gun Craft down in Ruskin used to be very good with Hi Powers. back in the mid 90's I saw one IPSC "race gun" they built by stretching the frame and beefing up the slide of a Hi Power so it could chamber 13+ rounds .38 Super.
 
A BHP was the present I purchased for myself from my last trip to Iraq. I put a couple hundred rounds through it (it was used but in almost unused condition) before adding to the CCW rotation. I added Novak night sights, removed the mag-disconnect safety which really improved the trigger and added Mil-Tac G10 Grips which make the already comfortable BHP just melt into my hand...very accurate for me and has digested everything without a single burp!

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ROCK6
 
I picked one up a few weeks ago. Its a lovely gun, with beautiful bluing. It came with adjustable sights, which are a bit odd looking, but workable.

You can tell what year it was made by the serial number. You'll see 2 letters, which will give you the date (llok around for the code online).

All HiPowers were made in Belgium. At some point in production thoough, they were assembled in Argentina.

And its the most accurate 9mm I have ever owned, by the way.
 
AWGunS said:
I picked one up a few weeks ago. Its a lovely gun, with beautiful bluing. It came with adjustable sights, which are a bit odd looking, but workable.

You can tell what year it was made by the serial number. You'll see 2 letters, which will give you the date (llok around for the code online).

All HiPowers were made in Belgium. At some point in production thoough, they were assembled in Argentina.

And its the most accurate 9mm I have ever owned, by the way.
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Not sure about Argentina, but at some point in the mid to late 80's or so, they started shipping the parts to Portugal for finishing, much like we have sent a lot of stuff to Mexico for final assembly over the last 25 years of so. At that time, Portugal didn't have the wage scale that Belgium did and it kept the prices reasonable for what is a fairly complex gun to finish out like a 1911. This was before Kimber et al started doing all of the complex machining operations on CNC machines and brought the price of 1911's back to a sane level..
 
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