Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Browning hi-power

Never owned one but I often catch people having admiration for the pistol.

Is it that good ?

it is a fine pitol. Very old school....but then agian, I am old school, so it fits this old fart well.

Last of Browning's designs, but I do not think he actually completed it - someone will be along to give better history than I.

It does not fit peeps with small hands that well, but is easy to get around if you work on it. Likely the finest single-action 9mm full-size auto ever developed. There were many others made that did not fare half so well, so yes, it really is that good.

I once owned a nice one, and had the magazine disconnect removed and the trigger work, and had a super-fine pistol.

While decidedly "old school," the BHP is a fine pistol that is an enduring classic. Mine is quite accurate and reliable. Even today, there are very few better choices in a defensive handgun.

+1 all I carried for many, many years
The first "large capacity " 9mm.

Still very hard to beat the fit and finish of a B. Hi Power

Yes.
As others have stated it is "old school". A single action auto dating from 1935. Probably has the best "feel" to most people of any full size pistol. Great ergonomics would be a good description, but it is not an old school word. Conceals quite nicely for a full size pistol. Try one you'll like it. I stay away from +P ammo since these pistols were not designed for them.

Ernie

edited for spelling

I have a 1911 and had a Hi Power. I found the Hi Power had a far more accommodating grip design and was a more comfortable pistol to shoot. Their triggers are problematic. I traded my Hi Power off after it spent way too much time with a gunsmith who claimed he could improve the trigger pull, but proved otherwise. I ended up with a trigger that was worse than the "out of box" pull. It is a bit ironic the Hi Power is considered old school while the 1911 flourishes. To me it boils down to what caliber you like best - the 9mm or .45. Keep your eye open for a Hi Power with a good trigger pull and when you find one, buy it.

I just never felt the love when I traded into one, and I got rid of it.

In my limited experience I have found that the triggers tend to improve noticeably after a few hundred rounds.

Ernie

The trigger is the Achilles Heel of the Hi Power. I got a pretty good trigger on mine, but it wasn't easy. The trigger/sear linkage with levers, etc. makes it much harder, IMHO, to achieve a good trigger on a Hi Power as compared to the 1911 with it's more direct linkage.

Other than that, it's a great gun, reportedly, Fidel Castro's favorite handgun. I think I remember seeing one strapped to Saddam Hussein. So, it can't be too bad with high classed endorsements like that...!

DF

Its my primary day to day gun

But it is an "old farts" gun...no plastic that feels like a brick with a a ganbanga aura, just steel and wood and class.

Mine has been carefully tuned by our head gunwrench and it is a shooter. Boringly accurate.

WildandlotsoffirepowerAlaska ��2002-2011

I bought mine new in the 70's
and hated the trigger.
I wrote Browning and they had me ship it back.
It came back in a couple weeks with the sweetest trigger this side of the S & W custom shop! Gratis!

The BHP is a classic and still a standard in many military's. I love the BHP and its one of the few 9mm's I will carry. They are old school but then so am I. Clynder and Slide make some great trick parts for the BHP and they do some fantastic custom work on them too

I have never been disappointed with a BHP. Mine are accurate, dead nuts reliable, and a joy to shoot.
They conceal well due to the thin frame, they come into play quick, and for me, point so naturally that a first round hit is routine.

Consistently the most reliable pistol I�ve ever used. Ergonomics are outstanding, making it one of the most inherently �shootable� pistols in the world. Triggers � well, out of the box they�re very �different� but not really bad. The worst BHP trigger is still better than a Glock trigger. The magazine safety is attached directly to the trigger. So you have to compress the magazine safety spring when you pull the trigger. So you have a somewhat long, sort of spongy first stage, and then your typical short & crisp second stage. Anyone familiar with the two stage triggers found on a Mauser �98 rifle will be right at home with the trigger on the Hi Power. Remove the magazine safety and it�s not hard at all to get a decent trigger on a Hi Power. Most of the later Hi Powers (since around 1990) use investment cast parts, so if you want a truly great trigger on a Hi Power, you need to swap out at least the hammer, and often times the sear as well.

In the �60�s the Egyptians made some SMG ammo that had extra hard primers. In response to that, several military organizations requested a heavier mainspring in the Hi Power, so ever since the mainspring has been increased to 32lbs; which doesn�t help the trigger at all.

To get a truly great trigger and keep the magazine safety, you have to:

Lighten the mag safety spring
Install a C&S trigger bar, which changes the trigger bar hole location. This means you have to drill a hole in your slide. Once done, it gives more leverage to your trigger and really helps
Change out the hammer for a C&S tool steel one
Sometimes you may need a tool steel sear�not a bad idea to just do it
Reduce the mainspring weight to about 24lbs
All is good.

If you want to lose the mag safety:

Do the same as above, but you can skip the C&S trigger bar, and you don�t always have to reduce the mainspring weight.

heres mine, with C&S parts


WildandengravingbyjimwhiteAlaska ��2002-2011

Magazine safety is a hardware solution for a software problem....I hate mag safeties....I like to reload hot not dry and like the option of still having one in the chamber just so I can fire that round if need be before ramming the mag home

Nice.....I am jelous....gun envy going on here

Me to! I want one just like that.

I guess I wouldn't be taking this discussion too far off track by asking if anybody has had much experience with the .40 Hi Power? I've never shot one and would like to know how they compare with the 9mm.

Friend of mine has a .40 Hi-Power. I guess it is a little bulkier than the 9mm and recoils a bit more, but it is still SWEET.