Posted on 02/09/2018 1:10:38 AM PST by Simon Green
Browning has announced that John Browning’s final handgun design, a pistol that at one time armed most of the militaries in the Free World, has been discontinued.
In a notice posted on their website, the company advised that “although it is possible to still find a few Hi-Power pistols at dealers across the U.S., the Hi-Power is technically out of production. Current dealer inventories will be the last available from Browning for the foreseeable future.” The gun was a classic of the 20th Century.
Famous American firearms inventor John Browning began work on the double-stack, single-action 9mm for Fabrique Nationale of Herstal, Belgium as an evolution of his venerable turn of the century handguns and, by 1923, filed a patent on his work. Though Browning died before the Hi-Power was fully realized, Dieudonne Saive completed the design and by 1935 the revolutionary 13+1 shot combat handgun was ready for production.
Though FN entered into several small military contracts for the Hi-Power before 1940, World War II saw the Germans occupy their factory and divert production to Berlin. The gun went on to be manufactured in Canada by Inglis with Saive supervising and in a twist of fate was used by both the Allies and the Germans in the conflict.
After the war was over and commercial production restarted, the Hi-Power was one of the most popular military handguns in the West, serving at one time or another with 68 countries, and carved out a stake of the civilian market as well. Browning-marked guns were made by FN starting in 1954 and imported to the U.S. with latter models assembled in Portugal from components made in Belgium.
In more recent years, a number of longtime military users such as the British Army have sought to replace the now-dated handgun, though WWII-vintage examples still march, for now, with both the Australians and Canadians.
Being an 80-year-old design, a number of Hi-Power clones are out there such as Argentine-made FM‘s, Hungarian PJKs, Israeli Kareen J.Os, Charles Daly HPs, and the Bulgarian Arcus 94, however, they are largely either long out of production or, in the case of the latter, no longer imported.
While custom shops like Robar and Nighthawk will trick out a Hi-Power to an impressive degree, they use Browning-made guns as a starting point, which means their pool is now limited to what is in circulation. As for Browning’s own Custom Shop, they only have two Hi-Powers listed, both 9x21mm 75th anniversary Renaissance models, one in gold, the other in silver.
Likewise, neither Belgian FN Herstal nor FN-USA lists the Hi-Power as a production pistol.
Will the Hi-Power come back? In 2000, Browning put the line to rest but that didn’t last long, with the company adding Mark III, Practical and Standard models back to their catalog in 2002. The Practical was put to pasture in 2006 but the Mark III and Standard remained in production until recently.
Collectors and admirers of the BHP may spark such an interest to resurrect the line once more, but only time will tell.
Not enough “pizzazz”...
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StupidObama...
Can’t figure out if this makes me happy or sad. Been a collector of Browning Hi-Powers since the early 70’s. All are pre 1983 in either 9mm or 30 Luger. I do have one newer model that started out as a 40 call but was converted to also shoot 357 Sig by Novak. Quick check shows 23 Hi-Powers in my collection. Now it looks like all Browning Hi-Powers will soon be on the collectors list instead of just what I call full Belgium/Non Portugal.
Plastic guns win again.
Sadness
I bought a new Portugal one a couple years ago. It is just flat out cool.
I have a mint Inglis along with the original wood case/shoulder stock.
The Hungarian version kept the ring hammer of the original. Less expensive, too. Used ones often turn up as Israeli surplus so that’s a plus.
Blue steel & wood - the only materials a handgun should be made of. That’s the Hungarian to a T.
I recall right after that Jamaican @$$hole Colin Ferguson shot up a train full of commuters on Long Island, Time magazine ran an article trying to argue for the banning of high capacity semi-automatic handguns. They had a picture of a Hi-Power, with a caption that it’s popular on the street because of it’s “high power”. What liberals know about handguns wouldn’t cover the bottom of one of Barbie’s sewing thimbles.
In the collectors world of Hi-Powers the Portugal doesn’t make the list. The full Belgium’s are the sought after pistols, this announcement is a game changer making any Hi-Power a collector. There’s nothing wrong with the Portugal Hi-Powers, they’re as good or better than the older full Belgium’s. It’s just the pickiness of collectors.
In a fit of monumental poor judgement I sold a Belgian Hi Power. I got $350 dollars for it.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
L
True, and I almost bought a Belgium gun for that reason. I opted to buy a new one in part because I thought the quality was good and I liked the idea of a forged frame, but mainly because I intend to hang onto it and I wanted the “story” of the gun to begin with me as its original owner.
I carried one for three tours, was a good functioning weapon. 9mm is not my choice for a pistol, but the army didn’t give me any alternatives heh.
:o) ...... been there , recovered. Sorry for your loss.
Chuck hesitated, then picked up his Browning Hi-Power from under the bar and slipped out the back door to confront the robber.
The kid was startled by the locked entry door and Chuck's sudden appearance but managed to get off one wild shot from the pistol he was carrying.
Chuck returned fire with two rounds, both into the heavy wood-clad door.
The robber dropped his gun and ran toward an idling Chevy Impala. Chuck emptied the magazine at the now screaming would-be robber. All the rounds missed their targets.
Just as all this was happening, a passing Urbandale police cruiser happened by and the officer wheeled back to investigate. Found inside the Chevy was a 15 or 16 year old, crouching in the back floor, crying and wetting himself...
The cop appraised the situation, handcuffed the kid, then turned to Chuck and suggested he stop by the Urbandale police range for a little practice with the Hi-Power...
Well that’s unfortunate. I got a spectacular pair of them in a great trade around 2005. Had to have 7 of the dozen magazines that came with them shipped to my dad due to them being the CA illegal 13 round ones, rest were post ban 10’s.
The Argentine Hi-Powers are not clones.
They were licensed by FN.
I always liked these pieces. Very serviceable.
BARs are pretty sweet also.
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