wwillson Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 All,I can get a Browning Hi-Power new in the box for $540+tax. This deal is at our local Bass-Pro and includes $160 off for a couple combined one-time discounts I have available to me. The gun started at $1000 and was discounted to the current counter price of $700. $540 is a fabulous deal, but there is one caveat, of course. The gun is finished in desert camo, which has precluded them from selling an otherwise hot seller. The desert camo is about the ugliest finish I've ever seen on a handgun. Does anyone know if the finish can be stripped? Any idea where and how much it would cost for the entire stripping and rebluing?Thanks,Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 I believe the finish is epoxy paint, no? If so, it can be stripped. All the painted parts - what are they made of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 The desert camo is about the ugliest finish I've ever seen on a handgun. Does anyone know if the finish can be stripped? Any idea where and how much it would cost for the entire stripping and rebluing?http://www.apwcogan.com/I've seen their work. Fabulous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryinIN Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 I know Browning has used some sort of spray-on finish, but don't know if that camo is. One would think so.When I had my HiPower customized a few years ago, it was a two-tone chrome and blue gun (Practical model) and the hard chrome had to be stripped off the frame. That was $35 I think, and I would guess it would be close to do what you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo Posted March 7, 2011 Report Share Posted March 7, 2011 Wayne - this thread just SCREAMS for pre, during and post photos!!Heck - I didn't even know they made that gun in camo. I agree, some of the camo colors are hideous. The Springfield and FN camo offerings bring me to near nausea. The weird greens are even worse than desert camo.Anyway, if the parts are metal and I suspect they are painted with epoxy, then they can be stripped to raw metal and refinished to your needs. Plastic presents more of a challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted March 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2011 I just looked on Google Images and it's so ugly I couldn't even find a picture there.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted March 7, 2011 Report Share Posted March 7, 2011 I just looked on Google Images and it's so ugly I couldn't even find a picture there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted March 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2011 Thanks GMAN...It's the same style of camo, but the one I saw is much lighter.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted March 7, 2011 Report Share Posted March 7, 2011 Thanks GMAN...It's the same style of camo, but the one I saw is much lighter.Wayne Every pistol with this finish is different. The pattern is generated at random by a computer.So few of these were sold that I suspect in years to come they will be a collector item. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted March 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I went back today to purchase and it was sold... I'll have to wait to get a Hi-Power... oh well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I went back today to purchase and it was sold... I'll have to wait to get a Hi-Power... oh well Too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Win Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I like the digital camo finish - I've thought about picking one up. Plain jane Hi Powers with the 75 year roll marks can be had for about $700 pre tax right now, a bargain, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted March 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I read an article in Handguns magazine that said the triggers on the Hi-Powers with the magazine disconnect are breaking around 10 lbs. If that's the case, then I need to find an older Hi-Power that doesn't have the magazine disconnect.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I read an article in Handguns magazine that said the triggers on the Hi-Powers with the magazine disconnect are breaking around 10 lbs. If that's the case, then I need to find an older Hi-Power that doesn't have the magazine disconnect.The Hi-Power has always had a mag disconnect; it's part of the design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted March 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Originally Posted By: wwillsonI read an article in Handguns magazine that said the triggers on the Hi-Powers with the magazine disconnect are breaking around 10 lbs. If that's the case, then I need to find an older Hi-Power that doesn't have the magazine disconnect.The Hi-Power has always had a mag disconnect; it's part of the design. Good to know - thanks GMAN..Do all Hi-Powers have 10lb triggers from the factory? Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Originally Posted By: G-MANOriginally Posted By: wwillsonI read an article in Handguns magazine that said the triggers on the Hi-Powers with the magazine disconnect are breaking around 10 lbs. If that's the case, then I need to find an older Hi-Power that doesn't have the magazine disconnect.The Hi-Power has always had a mag disconnect; it's part of the design. Good to know - thanks GMAN..Do all Hi-Powers have 10lb triggers from the factory? Wayne That, I don't know. I do know the Hi-Power has never been known for having a great trigger largely due to the mag disconnect. Dieudonné Saive completed the Hi-Power design after Browning's death and one of the changes he made (requested by the prospective customer, the French military) was the mag disconnect.There are gunsmiths out there who specialize in the Hi-Power who can work magic on the trigger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryinIN Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 HiPower triggers can vary. I had read how awful their triggers were for 20 years before buying my first one. That one had a great trigger, and made me wonder what everyone had been talking about. The next one I bought had a terrible trigger. I've had six more since, and they all fell somewhere between those first two. The best advice I can give someone trigger-wise when shopping for HiPowers is to try as many as they can. If buying from a place that has several guns to choose from, try every single one of them. Or, if you have one gun to choose from and the trigger is unsatisfactory to you, get a trigger job. You can spend $75 or hundreds, depending on what you want there. My custom HiPower's trigger breaks clean at under four pounds and has a shortened reset so it feels really good, but the work cost more than my first HiPower. The shortened reset took a lot of work and cost accordingly, but if you don't want or need that, Don Williams (The Action Works) is one of the best HiPower smiths in the country and his regular BHP trigger job is $95. It's well worth it if needed at all.http://theactionworks.com/browning.htmIncidentally, the trigger mechanism is the downside to what is best part of HiPowers in my opinion and that of many others. The HiPower feels better to me than any other gun, both in shooting and carrying. The grip shape and for that matter, and slim overall shape, is why. It got that way by the trigger linkage. Trigger movement has to get transferred to the sear. The 1911 and others run a trigger bow around the magazine well, and others have a single heavier trigger bar running alongside the frame. Eliminating either one could give a slimmer frame in the grip area. They got rid of it in the HiPower by transferring the trigger movement up into the slide and back down. The trigger moves a bar upward, which contacts a rocking, seesaw-like trigger lever in the slide, and lifts it upward. It pivots downward at the rear to press on the sear, releasing it from the hammer. It's only one additional part, not the "complicated maze of linkages and levers" most gun magazine articles say, but that one part adds a couple more movements and contact points which don't help the pull. But it allows a nice trim gun. My view on it is that while trigger pull is important, so is having a gun that fits the hand. I can get a decent trigger on a Browning for $100 or less, but the grip or overall feel on some guns can't be helped for any amount of money. Few, if any, feel as good as the HiPower to me. Also-Like triggers varying from gun to gun, there are a lot of things about BHPs that vary from owner to owner.When someone buys a BHP, people start offering advice on what it "needs". Watch that, because these "improvements" might not be.A good example is hammer bite. It almost always gets mentioned, but some people get bit and some don't. Among those who get bit, some hammer styles do it and some don't. I very seldom got bit with the regular spur-type, but the round one eats me alive. Meanwhile, a lot of people like the round hammer (I refuse to call it a Commander hammer because BHPs had them first), and swear it's the greatest thing ever. And different people get bit different ways (by the tip of the hammer or by the shank part below the thumbpiece).Grips are another. Most hate the current plastic thumbrest grips, but some like them. Some want slim grips and others want to widen it.If you buy one, shoot it a while, then see what it might need. It might not need a thing. That's true with any gun, but seems more evident with HiPowers.I have a gee-whiz custom one that I carry almost every day. I also have one that is just like it was in 1972 when it was made. It has the small sights everyone says they can't see, small safety lever everybody says they miss with their thumb, and stock trigger everybody says they can't use- but I shoot that one as well as the custom one. It's just that it's easier to do with the custom one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Keep in mind that Browning's original design for the Hi-Power was striker fired. It was only after the Colt-owned 1911 patents expired that Saive radically redesigned the pistol to incorporate a lot of 1911 features, like hammer firing. Had Browning lived to complete the design of the Hi-Power himself it would have no doubt been a vastly different pistol than the final Hi-Power we have today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted March 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Really great info guys - thanks!Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfahrt Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 That is really good first hand info. I was pretty sure that I wanted a Glock 17 as my first 9mm but I was less than thrilled with my buddy's after firing it at the range The Browning Hi Power is on my short list. I still have a lot to learn and I am doing a lot more lurking, reading and learning than posting. Thanks for sharing your insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryinIN Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 I just think people need to be forewarned about modifying HiPowers. Some of the "common knowledge" fixes don't fix things for everyone, and often make them worse. I often see and hear cases where people buy a HiPower, then everyone tells them they what they "have to fix" before ever shooting it. That's how it happens. "Fixing" hammer bite without knowing if their hammer bites them is the classic example. They often end up creating hammer bite.Then they are stuck. They have a gun they already spent extra time and money on, and still have problems. Now what? Whether they caused the problems or not it doesn't matter. They still have to decide whether to invest more time and money, accept it like it is, or move on to something else.It could have been avoided by shooting the gun a while to determine what they actually needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Here is a photo of the striker-fired Hi-Power prototype that John Browning built in his Ogden workshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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