Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns HiPower for Concealed Carry?

Who uses a HiPower for EDC?

Is it comfortable enough?

Nice guns

I carry one sometimes.
Bob

Use mine for my going to the big town gun. Holds more ammo and offers faster reloads than my normal 2” J or K frame carry guns. I carry it in a leather IWB made by some Israeli company. Holster was only $30 or so and is a good unit.

I bough an Israeli FN, had it cut for Heinies, trigger worked, Cerakoted, etc...turned into a very nice gun with intention of carrying it. Gun shoots incredibly, and I have always loved the Hi Power. After all that, I found I still prefer to carry the plastic stuff. More bullets, less weight, less money, no worries.

I am undecided if the Hi Power will continue to occupy a place in the safe, or move on down the road. i am not much on safe queens.

Kevin Gibson used to. I did for a little while back in the late 1980s Nothing wrong with it at all if you're already accustomed to flipping off a thumb safety when you draw. Of course there are many better choices available today, that don't require the use of a thumb safety, such as Glocks. It's kind of Old School Cool, though.

When I did bodyguard work, I always carried a Hi Power with a S&W 442 as BUG. In the '90's I carried in a Summer Special, but once the Versa Max II was created, I thought that was HUGE step in the right direction; and IMO it still remains one of the best (although I rarely carry in one anymore).

I changed guns, and carried the Hi Power for another 12 years; and I always thought it was comfortable for daily carry if you have a very good carry rig. I carry in a HBE Com III (which is very similar to a Sparks Nexus, but a little nicer). Finally a friend just HAD to have my Hi Power, and I moved to a LW Commander for about 13 years. These days I still carry the LW Commander sometimes, but mostly I carry a CZ P07.

BUT WAIT...

I recently scored what has always been unobtanium... A Lightweight Hi Power. And I have to say, the Lightweight Hi Power is the best, most comfortable full sized carry gun I've ever worn. The one I got was a former Belgian Detective gun, so it has been carried a lot, and used very little. I have plans on building it into my ultimate carry gun, and that will likely be the gun I wear until I slip into the grave.

Why do I like the Hi Power?

Well in factory, out of the box form, I’ll say it’s not all that impressive. Trigger sucks for a single action pistol, I hate the stock ambi-safety, and Browning factory grips do their best to ruin the ergonomics on probably the most ergonomic pistol ever built.

I remove the magazine safety and carefully tune the trigger. I add Spegel grips (the single most amazing change you’ll ever make to a Hi Power), Novak sights and I’ll hard chrome this one because I’ve never had a better finish on a carry pistol than hard chrome.

In much of humanity's opinion the Brown Hi-Power is the best combat 9mm pistol ever devised. The objective complaints are the price and weight. The Hi-Power is going to cost more than a polymer pistol squirted out at the factory and that counts for something. If I know in the morning I'll be crawling around under a truck I'll pick a different pistol to drag around on the asphalt. At around 32 oz. the Hi-Power is heavy for a 9mm. I'm not small, so while the weight is noticeable when donning the pistol, in a good holster it fades to background after a few minutes. The weight is also one of the factors that make a Hi-Power easier for many people to shoot well. The Hi-Power is flat and very comfortable on the hip, but the weight warrants a good holster and appropriate belt, which adds even more to the price.

Lots of shooters find the sights on 'modern' Hi-Powers acceptable, but I always change them on carry pistols. That's not necessarily a knock on the pistol because I change them on almost every pistol I carry.

The Hi-Power's balance and feel are unsurpassed and make it a bullet hose at the range. In my opinion choosing something else is the choice of a lesser pistol for less cost and less weight, but I often make that choice myself. However, the Hi-Power definitely gets its turn in my rotation.

You're making me want to dig mine out of the safe and shoot/carry it some. They do feel great in the hand, carry nicely, and shoot real well.

This is a '67 T series that's Israeli surplus. I had the mag safety removed, along with the trigger creep. Rear sight notch was opened up and the pistol was re-parked. The gentleman that did the work is a great Hi Power mechanic who worked in a pawn shop next to a topless joint outside of FT Bragg. It's a great shooter that for awhile was my only handgun when I was back on active duty at the Special Warfare Center. I even jumped a couple of times with it, just for fun. The Sgt Major took a dim view of that though, even though he was a fellow gun freak. A lost pistol somewhere on the DZ that was personally owned would have made for an interesting report up the chain of command.

It's never malfunctioned with anything I fed it, after a couple of thousand rounds of mostly free ammo. Probably my favorite High Power so far. If someone was looking for me, this is the one I'd want around, along with my old S&W Bodyguard.
Bob

There is no pistol that benefits greater from considered customization than the Hi Power. Out of the box they're downright decent. Address the grips and trigger, just those two things, and it becomes something REALLY special. Any other customization beyond that is optional at the users preference.

Its a more sophisticated pistol from a more refined age.

biggest drawback with the HP for me, was the crappy safety. Tiny lever, and no real solid engagement. For CCW use, that was not acceptable. Several times I found that the safety had slipped off. I no longer carry one.

The newer ones from Browning come with a nice, snickity, thumb safety.

And Cylinder and Slide makes a good replacement for the older guns.

I liked the idea of carrying a HP. But I had the same problem, I just didn't trust the safety, seemed to be too small and not a (like you said) solid engagement. Finally went down the road. Wish I still had it, I would have sent it off and changed somethings.

Welcome to 1982!

Mine is in no way as fancy as some of yours but is what I consider my ideal carry HP. All work done by a local small time smith.

is it hard to de-cock?

for me it began far longer ago than that.

If I ever owned a HP again that would be the one...nice gun Bob...

Had one back about 1973 that was a friends who had the trigger worked on that was real decent. Never failed to feed the year I had it... But the two things that I just don't care for are the small safety without a solid feel and the short tang. I just get bit too often when doing draw and fire practice vs. target shooting.

The nicest thing is the slim slide...just balances and points nice...that said the Commander size 1911s do everything for me...

Bob