Browning High Powers

[GuyW]

[gotgunz]

Yours would be considered a Portugal gun. There were also HP's that were made and assembled in Belgium.
There seems to be a perception that the Portugal guns are not as high quality... don't know where it came from as I have never looked closely at a Portugal gun to compare any quality differences between the two.

[13luck]

Its more rare and a collectable thing as well.

I have Russian guns made in West Germany and it bumps the value a ton. (3X) Its diffrent to see a Russian Gun Stamped "West Germany Military"

I have to tell you guns do shoot diffrent where they are made. It makes a huge diffrence in my books. Qulaity, finish and everything changes.

my 2 cents

[Spyder]

I couldn't tell you about BHP's in particular, but you can definitely tell the difference between high grade Belgium made BARII's and the others. Very very nice stuff...

[doctor_vals]

In another thread, a Calgunner just sold his HP, which he described as a "Belgium" gun, vs a "Portugal" gun.

Now I'm somewhat confused, as my HP says, “Made in Belgium Assembled in Portugal”.

Is mine a "Portugal" gun, then?

Are the Belgium guns actually better or just perceived as better.
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I have "Portugal"

And I like it.
I bought it long time ago and it impress me at 25y all the time

[GuyW]

I have "Portugal"

And I like it.

I like mine as well. I was just looking to understand whether folks had facts or personal perceptions.

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[JTecalo]

I don't know what the actual differences are, if any, but I was told to make sure and get the Belgium model when I was looking.

found a nice 1971 model that looked unfired, and it is nice to shoot, but I would have been happy with one from Portugal.

[RRangel]

Nothing wrong with the assembled in Portugal guns in any way shape or form that I can tell. It's mostly a name thing, but I can imagine them commanding more value. Most of the "Belgium" made Hi-Powers I've seen are older guns as it looks like production was shipped over to Portugal at some point. New Hi-Powers are fantastic, except for the trigger, which is not a new feature.

[jimrod]

Just a little history on the Hi-Power for those that are interested. The Browning Hi-Power design was developed at Fabrique Nationale (FN) in Herstal, Belgium. The Hi-Power was developed in response to the need for a new French military service pistol. It's design started under the famous American gun designer John Browning (father of the 1911) at the request of FN but he died before it was finished. Dieudonne Saive, a Belgian gun designer at FN, finished it. Oddly enough, the French Army never adopted it, but the Belgian Army did in 1935. The military designation was P-35. It was the first pistol with a double stack magazine (13 rnd capacity). In WWII, the German Army captured Belgium and the FN factory and produced the Hi-Power for it's own armed forces and named it the Pistole 640(b). Most of these Hi-Powers purportedly went to the SS. During WWII, John Inglis and Co. of Canada reverse engineered samples of the Hi-Power that were originally shipped to China for evaluation by FN (before WWII) and began manufacturing Hi-Powers for the Canadian Army as well as the British OSS and SAS. The history of this gun makes pretty good reading.

[SwissFluCase]

I have a circa 1992 MkIII, made in Portugal. It was my first pistol, and I will never sell it. It has the black duracoat type finish on it, so I can't really speak about polish and blue. It functions very well, and looks great to me.

I cleaned my trigger up a bit my polishing the area on my magazines that the magazine safety contacts with a pencil eraser.

Regards,


SwissFluCase

[bullywagon]

I too have a 1992 MkIII portugal (also black coated). My trigger if flawless, I bought it used so I don't know if the PO did anything to it but it almost like a 2 stage with a very clean break. I feed my Hi-Power a steady diet of cheap dirty 9mm and has only ever had one Fail to feed in at least 10K rounds.

SwissFluCase, you should get the Houge rubber grips for it, it makes it like an extension of my hand.

[SwissFluCase]

SwissFluCase, you should get the Houge rubber grips for it, it makes it like an extension of my hand.

I never really liked rubber grips, but I would make an exception for the Hi-Power LaserGrips:

http://www.crimsontrace.com/Home/Products/Browning/LG309/tabid/194/Default.aspx

Or I would go for the classic Cocobolo, especially if I ever have a custom Hi-Power built:



Of course, these grips look interesting, as well as the maker of them...

http://www.esmeralda.cc/browninggrips.htm

Regards,


SwissFluCase

[Fire in the Hole]

I was stationed at SHAPE NATO HQ in Belgium during the mid 70's. The Rod and Gun Club had them in stock, They are enscribed with only Browning Arms Company Morgan Utah & Montreal PQ. Below that is enscribed "Fabrique en Belgique" They had 7 at $200.00 each with adjustable rear sights. I didn't have a lot of money, but I figured I might be onto something. I bought all 7 of them, and shipped them home with me. $1,400 was about 3 months pay back then.

[smle-man]

I've owned both Belgian and Portugal assembled HPs, the Portuguese pistols have less labor time in them due to the finish on them instead of the labor intensive polishing that was done to the Belgian pistols prior to bluing. Portugal labor rates were/are a lot lower than Belgium so the assembly was subbed out, kind of like U.S. work going to Mexico. Mechanically pistols from the two countries are interchangable.

[GuyW]

I have a circa 1992 MkIII, made in Portugal.....It has the black duracoat type finish on it, so I can't really speak about polish and blue.

I bought my "Assembled in Portugal" HP in 1989. It has what I'd call a "medium" blue finish. That is, its not a highly-polished "chrome" blue like a Colt revolver, nor a matte "sandblasted" blue.

I cleaned my trigger up a bit my polishing the area on my magazines that the magazine safety contacts with a pencil eraser.

The best trigger improvement is to nuke the magazine non-safety feature....

BTW, those Cocobolo grips are hot...
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