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A favorit in my pistol collection

3K views 32 replies 24 participants last post by  cremaley 
#1 · (Edited)
A 1942 production Browning High Power rig, It came with an extra mag. (marked), plus a 1942 (marked too) holster. In the military collecting world, the H.P. ,in my opinion, are right up there with the Lugers, 1911A1. (nice looking, 13 round mag., dependable, and accurate)
Thanks for looking, Joe
 

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#2 ·
That's a great looking Hi-Power ! One of my favorite pistols. Love that tangent sight to. I've though about adding one of those older ones exactly like yours to my collection. Here's two of mine, a 1993 Mk.III and a 1980 GP Competition :
 

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#17 ·
I agree as to the Hi-Power being a great pistol, and I wish I still had the one I foolishly used as part of a "swap" situation, back in Colorado some years ago!

Something I've never understood however, is why John Browning designed the pistol around the 9mm round, (and I believe the 40 S&W round more recently), neither of which is a particularly impressive cartridge, (ballistically), or when compared with the 45 ACP round, which was just as available as the 9mm! I'm sure it probably had something to do with "money"! :)
 
#4 ·
Nice, collectible High Power! Closest I can come is a Bulgarian High Power clone. However, I did inherit a 1944 P38 with the gear.
 

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#6 ·
The Hi-Power is one of the finest handguns ever manufactured. I have One 1942 German manufacture with the tangent sights, one Canadian Inglis that was sent to England during the war, and one Argentinian Hi-Power. All three of them are superb pistols. I only have photos of my German Hi-Power on my computer so here it is.

Firearm Gun Trigger Airsoft gun Gun accessory
Firearm Gun Trigger Gun accessory Gun barrel
 
#11 ·
The Hi-Power is one of the finest handguns ever manufactured.
Definitely so. The only thing I don't like about them is the mag safety, but with that removed they are superb guns. I have two of them, one German issue and one refinished Chinese contract Inglis, and the Inglis is my shooter. According to many sources, the workers at FN would sabotage the hardening process on a regular basis, so the wartime FN guns should not be fired. I don't believe anything will blow up, but some parts may break.

My favorite Hi-Power story is when I changed sights on one of the guns assembled in Portugal. Many people turn up their noses at these, but I soon learned that they are just as good as any FN. I took it out for a test at about 10-15 yards, fired one round and checked the target for point of impact. Then I fired another one, and it didn't even hit the target. Fired a third one with the same result, so I walked up to look closer and found a clover leaf hole so tight that it looked like one hole. Doesn't get any better than that.
 
#8 ·
Here is one of the Austrian Gendarmerie contract P35's from the mid-1950's with the issue holster rig. It is marked with the district that it was issued to (in this case Salzburg) along with a rack number on the front grip strap and on the baseplate of both magazines. The High Powers are classic handguns by any and all measure.
 

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#18 ·
In Europe at the time...maybe still...handgun calibers were generally much smaller than in the US. To most Europeans 9mm was probably thought of as a big bore round considering .32 caliber handguns were so prevalent. Smaller rounds saved strategic materials and costs. They must have thought Americans were extravagant with our .45. In a military scenario pistols were a symbol of rank than a combat weapon...I've never heard of a European military conducting anything like the Thompson-LaGarde tests to find the optimum combat cartridge to arm soldiers with.
 
#23 ·
Regarding the "T" serial range of High Powers, dad (RIP) had one in the 70s that my brother (RIP) inherited in 1979 and probably sold to support a habit. Dad had it Armolloyed and it had a Bar-Sto barrel. The serial is T138959. Would love to have it today.
 
#24 ·
I've never owned a real browning or FN pistol but I have a number of the FEG clones. Best bang for the buck ever. Browning and FN parts swap right in (I've only needed springs and an extractor so far) they are good to go pistols.

Someday I'll get an FN, even if it's from the surplus market--they really are one of the greatest designs of the 20th century.
 
#28 ·
Same story with an Arcus clone that I have. Pic in post #4, above. Nicely made, all steel, good machining, and internally an exact copy, even if more modern styling has been applied. I think it was something like $239 brand new. Regardless of maker, they are one of the most naturally pointing handguns made.
 
#26 ·
'K. Now that I have figgered out how to put these things up, the top one I got in the '80s, and the bottom one I mostly stumbled into last year. The '41 Belgian FN Nazi was a good deal, but I am still in the hunt for an appropriate correct magazine.
The manganese phosphate one is my best 9mm, and I have shot the livin' daylights out of it. It runs good.
I have not shot the Nazi one yet, and I might not; who knows. It is in pretty good shape for a war relic. There is some speculation relative to the quality of the product, what with it bein' manufactured by slave labor. It is a fact that there were some Nazi HiPowers that were 'programmed' to come apart as a poke at Hitler's minions. I mean, really came apart, sort of unexpectedly, and with a good dose of immediate violence. Probably sufficient to discourage whatever sorry bastid got caught firing that last round. I don't know how anyone could tell which ones would do the KFB thing, so I'm gonna leave it until I can do a little more in depth research.
Meanwhile, these are my browning HighPowers, or M-35s, or Grande Prusiannce, or whatever you want to call them.
To me, they represent the benchmark that all other 9mm pistols must be judged by.
Just some more of JMB's genius.


I love these pistols.
 
#29 ·
I likely am the ugly duckling of this topic ….


I have owned a Herstal Browning GP 35, it was my first and brand new 9mm Para auto pistol. I had been sold it in 1977 by my gunsmith who claimed it was one of the best pistols in term of shooting accuracy and robustness. At that time I used to shoot also MAC 50 pistols with the army (MAC stands for Manufacture d'Armes de Chatellerault). MAC 50 was a very very robust pistol designed to be able to eat the highpowered 9mm Para cartridge dedicated to the submachine gun MAT 49 (MAT stands for Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle). Shooting accuracy of MAC 50 was varying from poor to good and sometimes very good depending on the pistol you were allocated. With my GP 35, from the beginning, I never had been able to score similar results to those I used to get with an average MAC 50. I had noticed a significant play between the breech and the frame but not alarming (from my standpoint). However, along the shooting sessions, the results carried on getting worse till the day I noticed a break had appeared on the breech, starting from the ejection window. About 3000 cartridges had been shot. They were reloaded at the minimum powder load to allow a good operating reliability. No need to use highpower cartridges to punch holes in cardboard ….
In the meanwhile my gunsmith had passed away (by the way, I considered him more like a friend than a salesman) and I had to complain directly to the Herstal Company. On first contact by phone, the key question raised by the technician was “Do you use reloaded cartridges?” Naively I said yes but they are low power cartridges. He returned me “Between us, off the record, if you mail Herstal a complaint letter, do not mention you used reloaded cartridges because Herstal will jump on this argument to dismiss your complaint ! ”


To make it short, the warranty having expired, the price for a replacement breech being very hight with regards to a new pistol and, more important, having lost confidence in this pistol I gave up with Herstal, bought a CZ 85 and returned instantly to my usual shooting performances.


To complete this story, I consider a weapon (not only weapons but all sort of objects) you have own for a while gains a kind of soul and you cannot discard them without losing a small part of your own private life (i.e. this GP 35 was bought with saved money during my military duty and it was also a few months before I got married – no correlation- . In some respect, it was a kind of small milestone in my life). So, I thought it deserved an other shot at life as a wall-hanger (correct word ?) and decided to have it demilitarized / neutralized.


In an other thread I'll show you how to ruin a handgun the official way … a shame!


On the image, the red arrow points at the break, the blue arrow at the mark (AN stands forArme Neutralisée) that guarantees the pistol has demilitarized parts inside.

Firearm Gun Trigger Gun accessory Starting pistol
 
#30 · (Edited)
Your HP is great. I alwys wanted one but best I got was a WW2 Luger -- Grungy grimy from laying on a shelf for decades, I bought it from a long time friend for $400. Took it to LGS where they cleaned it up & pronounced it worth a lot more. Getting home with my new treasure, Wife says friend called wanting a call back. Heavy heart thinking seller's remorse I called. He says "I forgot to give you the holster & extra magazine" ---->
 
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