Browning Hi Power

Product Description

The pistol was later patented by Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre (FN) of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, quite some time before he had finished creating a production version. Belgian arms designer Dieudonne Saive, working at FN fully developed and realized the Browning design.

The Hi-Power pistol was dubbed the name Hi Power for its 13-round magazine capacity, which was, at the time was almost twice that of contemporary designs such as the Mauser or Luger 1910. The Hi-Power was capable of holding 13 cartridges including a 14th round loaded in the chamber and had the first functional double-column magazine of 9 mm Parabellum rounds. As of present day, higher capacity magazines which extend past the end of the well as well as flush-fit 15 round magazines are now available.

The Browning Hi Power is frequently referred to as an "HP" standing for Hi Power or High Power. It is also referred to as a GP for the French term Grande Puissance. As for th P-34 nickname it refers to the fact that the pistol was introduced in 1935. The weapon also goes by the nickname King of Nines. The pistol is most often referred to as Hi-Power especially in Belgium. The last frequent nickname of the pistol is the BAP or Browning Automatic Pistol and this name is used most frequently in Irish service.

Development

The weapon was first designed in response to a mandatory French military requirement for a durable service pistol, the Grand Rendement, High Yield or the Grand Puissance, high power. Specific requirements specified by the French military included a pistol with a 15 round capacity, an 8 inch barrel, a magazine disconnect device and that the weapon should be in the 9mm Paraballum cartridge that Germany was using. The last requirement was that the pistol could not weigh more than 1kg (2.2 lb).

John Browning was commissioned by FN to develop and design a new military pistol under the specifications. Browning had been very successful in selling the rights to his M1911 United States Army automatic pistol to the esteemed Colt's Patent Firearms. Therefore, Browning was forced to produce and design a completely new firearm that did not infringe on any of the M1911 patents. During the building, Browning constructed two prototypes. The first was a basic blowback design, and the second prototype utilized a locked breech recoil system. Both of the Browning designed protoptypes employed a new staggered magazine design which was purposefully designed to increase magazine capacity without altering the gun's grip size or magazine length.

Browning selected the locked breed design for further testing and development. This model is striker fired, and the pistol features a double column magazine that can hold up to 16 rounds. The design of this magazine was a pure refinement of several trials which was undertaken by the Versailles Trial Commission.

The patents for the Colt Model 1911 expired in 1928 and Dieudonne Saive instituted much of the Colt's formerly patented features into the new Grand Rendement design of the pistol. This model was known as the Saive Browning Model of 1928. The version of this weapon showcased the removable barrel bushing and signature Colt 1911 takedown sequence.

A shortened 13 round magazine was incorporated into the Hi-Power design by 1931 as well as curved rear gripstraps and a barrel bushing system that was a key catalyst for the slide assembly. The Hi-Power was completely designed and ready for full scale production by 1934. The Belgium military service was first to adopt the weapon in 1935 calling it the Browning P-35. France passed on the pistol and selected the very similar Ml3. 1935.

Design features

The Browning Hi-Power continued to go through some significant refinement throughout its introduction. The weapons were initially made in two distinct models: one was termed the Ordinary Model which had fixed sights. The other model was termed the Adjustable Rear Sight Model which contained a tangent type rear sight and a conveniently located slotted grip for attaching a wooden shoulder stock. Currently, the adjustable sights are available in commercial versions of the pistol, however the should stock mounts were terminated and discontinued during World War II. The design of the weapon was further modified in 1962 to improve reliability by changing out the internal extractor and replacing it with an external extractor.

The pistol is based on a single action design. Differing than modern double action semi automatic pistols, the BAP's trigger is conspicuously not attached to the hammer. In a double action pistol configuration with the hammer down and a round in the chamber, in situations where there is also a loaded magazine inserted, the person can fire the gun by pulling the trigger. The difference between a single action pistol is that the pistol must be cocked by hand before the first shot. This can be achieved by pulling the slide to the rear and releasing it or thumbing the hammer back.

Similarly to the Colt 1911, the Browning Hi-Power is carried in military use with the safety catch on and the hammer cocked (this carrying mode is called condition one or cocked and locked).

The Browning Hi-Power, similar to numerous other Browning designs, utilizes a short recoil principle. Differentiating itself from the Colt M1911, the Browning Hi-Power's barrel does not move vertically by a toggling link, however the barrel is moved by a hardened bar that crosses under the frame of the barrel and directly contacts a slot under the chamber of the pistol towards the rearmost end of the barrel. The slide and barrel quickly recoil together through a short distance, however when the slot engages the bar, the rear of the barrel and the chamber are drawn downward and ultimately stopped. The barrel is disengaged from the slide with this downward movement of the barrel and continues to move, dispelling the spent case from the chamber by ejection. When the slide reaches the full limit of its path, the recoil spring snaps it forward again, loading a fresh round from the magazine into the chamber. The action pushes the barrel and chamber forward. The bar and cam slot move the chamber upward and the locking lugs on the barrel quickly reengage those in the slide.

Flaws of the High-Power

The two major flaws of the Hi-Power are:

1. For a single action pistol, the standard trigger pull is heavy. This is caused by the pistol's safety design which was added to the weapon to meet the initial French military requirements in 1935. The factory Hi-Power magazine safety is directly connected to the trigger of the weapon and is effectively released by a plunger pressing firmly on the surface of the magazine. This action of the plunger on the magazine increases tension on the trigger pull and the overall force required to effectuate this feature. In order to avoid this problem, many remove the entire magazine safety overall entirely. This will void the pistol's warranty. Another effective approach is to polish the interface of the surface between the magazine and the safety plunger. Lastly, there are after market trigger springs on teh market.

2. The Hi-Power's tendency to pinch the web of the shooter's hand, betweent he forefinger and the thumb. This pinching is caused by pressure from the hammer spur. Many owners fix this problem by changing the hammer or by holding the pistol in away that avoids that type of injury.