paulg
.375 Atomic
Posts: 2,420
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Post by paulg on Oct 21, 2016 16:37:20 GMT -5
Bear with me, there's a little story. Sometimes I'm in the right place at the right time. Yesterday was one of those times. I took the day off from work for two reasons. One, I hadn't had a day off in about 2 months and I had a doctors appointment at noon. After my appointment I decided I'd go visit a good friend who just happens to own a small gun shop nearby. When he first opened his shop 5 years ago he had the run of the mill new gun shop fodder. Stuff like old military rifles, low end handguns and cheap holsters. Slowly but surely he has worked that little shop into a haven for fine handguns, rifles and shotguns. He now deals in Cabot, Republic Forge and Wilson Combat 1911's, high end AR's and fine production shotguns from Benelli. I can't afford much of what comes into his place now but he lets me run my calloused old hands over them and day dream. Yesterday was my lucky day in his shop. I walked in and started looking and lo and behold in one of the cases sat an almost new Browning Hi Power that he took on trade toward a Wilson 1911. I asked if I could look at it and of course he couldn't get to it fast enough. It has the nice deep Browning blue. Not the typical epoxy paint job that comes on many of them. Very nice and milled adjustable rear sight and the best part was when I dry fired it. It had the most buttery smooth crisp trigger I've ever felt on a Hi Power. And the annoying magazine safety had been removed. I asked who did the trigger and to my surprise it was done by a local gunsmith from a different gun shop. Of course there was no build sheet accompanying the pistol. So after work today I stopped by that gun shop and talked to the smith himself. He told me the work he did to it and said he had been doing Hi Power trigger work for years. I believe him as you have to feel this thing to believe it. The extra holes in the slide, he said, is where he removes the stock lever or bar in the slide and mills a custom part to replace it while moving the fulcrum to a more optimum position to provide a much smoother action. He said you have to be ok with the extra holes to get that trigger. I'm very ok with them. So I sent Mr. Barranti an email today asking him to put me in line for and Urban Defender fully carved with dyed background for this pistol. It deserves such a holster. Of course I'll be ordering a Simply Rugged Defcon model for non BBQ wear.   |
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Post by bullseye on Oct 21, 2016 16:48:11 GMT -5
Very nice!...Good grab there, I've always had a weakness for Hi Powers.
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awp101
.401 Bobcat
TANSTAAFL
Posts: 2,649
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Post by awp101 on Oct 21, 2016 17:15:01 GMT -5
Fine looking piece of hardware! I've always had a weakness for Hi Powers. Me too...why don't we have a drool smilie? |
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Oct 21, 2016 18:02:21 GMT -5
Beautiful Browning....congrats !!!
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Oct 21, 2016 19:31:56 GMT -5
Ive owned or handled many of John Brownings creations but have never had a hi power.... one of these days that ia gonna change 😉😆
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Post by zeus on Oct 21, 2016 20:08:57 GMT -5
Nice gun!! I picked up a T series myself this summer. Wanted one for a long time and found one that looks brand new so it couldn't not come home with me. Congrats on a good find!
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Post by tullymars on Oct 21, 2016 20:56:31 GMT -5
I'm a dyed in the wool 1911 man but High Powers are the sexiest auto man has yet created. I've owned a couple, and one of them was my edc for a lot of years.They do benefit from a proper action job to make em feed and fire. Both of mine were massaged by Cylinder and Slide.
That is definitely a BBQ gun to be proud of. Good snag.
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Post by Quick Draw McGraw on Oct 21, 2016 21:42:14 GMT -5
That's honestly the nicest looking Hi Power I have ever seen. Congrats on picking it up.
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paulg
.375 Atomic
Posts: 2,420
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Post by paulg on Oct 22, 2016 5:43:06 GMT -5
Thank you all for your kind words. I've never been "in love" with any gun I've ever owned but this is the closest I will probably get. I've owned 2 other Hi Powers previous to this one. The first was an early 70's model that was butt ugly but a great shooter. I used it in bowling pin matches and did well with it. The second was the Hi Power Practical. A two toned job that never tripped my trigger. It ran fine and was plenty accurate but I just couldn't fall in love with that two tone look. I've always thought the Hi Power was the sexiest looking pistol ever made when dolled up in a beautiful finish and nice grip panels. Thankfully my gun shop friend gets more quality trade ins for those 3 and 4 thousand dollar 1911's than other local shops or I'd have never seen a pistol like this for sale around here, let alone own one. My friend also keeps his feet on the ground when it comes to guns like this Hi Power that's had custom work done to them. He doesn't try to over price a gun because of someone else's idea of a custom gun. Those 4 extra little holes in the slide is what got me a deal on this pistol that I could live with. And a trigger job that'll make your mouth water. If you've never shot or handled a Hi Power you owe it to yourself to do so. They are very accurate with almost any 9mm you stick in it and despite the small ejection port are very reliable. Even in an unaltered state. Now the older Hi Powers might be a bit finicky with a big hollow point but Hornady makes a fix for that in their Critical Defense line. Thanks again boys and go getcha one!
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Post by dougader on Oct 22, 2016 11:35:09 GMT -5
A gracious gent let me borrow his beautiful 60's Browning Hi Power for an LFI-1 course we both took in about 1990. It had a BarSto barrel fitted and a sweet action/trigger by Actions By T in Sugarland, TX. What a pistol!
I've wanted one ever since...maybe next year.
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Post by contender on Oct 22, 2016 18:56:55 GMT -5
Gee,,,, thanks a LOT! You just brought back buried memories of the Hi-Power I had to sell to pay for an attorney back in 1984. One of the reasons I HATE seller remorse.
BTW; Nice Browning!
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Post by zeus on Oct 22, 2016 20:35:42 GMT -5
Here is the one I found. Not an adj sight version but I thought it was worth grabbing like you. It looks like mine was from 1964 which is when they started using the T prefix. Have you dated yours yet by chance?   |
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Oct 22, 2016 20:37:23 GMT -5
Trouble making enablers.... the both of you 😆😆
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paulg
.375 Atomic
Posts: 2,420
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Post by paulg on Oct 22, 2016 21:17:41 GMT -5
Very nice Glenn! Especially for the year. The fired case envelope says that Jorge Baptista fired that round on November 9, 2013 and based on what I can find on the serial number 2013 looks correct. Sorry Craig if you wanna make a trip to central Florida I'll be glad to have you shoot mine.
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Post by zeus on Oct 22, 2016 21:24:53 GMT -5
Very nice Glenn! Especially for the year. The fired case envelope says that Jorge Baptista fired that round on November 9, 2013 and based on what I can find on the serial number 2013 looks correct. Sorry Craig if you wanna make a trip to central Florida I'll be glad to have you shoot mine. He can then pass through KS and shoot this one.  |
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