Browning Highpower Clone

[twomoons]

Had a customer who had to have a Highpower copy and SOG were the only ones who had it in stock. I warned him that SOG quality was pretty spotty but he looked at the picture on their web site and said go ahead. Well the gun came in and their Godd to Very good was FECES. The trigger was covered in rust and the backstrap was pitted, the rear sight was goobered up with paint and the slide was mixed blue and paint and rust. IMHO it was no better than fair condition. The customer looked at the picture in the ad and then at the gun and shuddered and tried to ask for his money back.

The upside is that the gun ended up completely stripped and balck parkerized with a poilshed barrel and the rusty internals replaced with spares from old Brownings. It ended up costng the customer $125 more than he planned and he's now into a copy for about $200 less than a brand new Browning.

Here is the finished gun ready to go out. Over the years as I added aftermarket parts to the Highpowers I saved the old parts so most of the innards of the gun are Browning issue. The feed ramp has been polished to a mirror finish and the barrel lapped and polished on the outside. The good part is that the FEG Highpowers are actually made of a tougher steel than the original pre 80's highpowers and tend to hold up better to long term usage.

[jmarriott]

The copies made for the Israel army came from all over and they were rushed to war. Who knows what chop shop made some of them as there was an import and export ban to Israel back then. I think the new ones are fn parts assembled I. South America.

They pale in major ways to the fn produced stuff but a poorly made hi power is still better than many of the plastic fantastic of today.

One overlooked 9 mm is the single stack star pistols. Yes heavy and Spanish made 1911 copies but I have owned 2 over the years and they shot very well. Now they did not carry like a hi power.

[twomoons]

THe Hungarian and the Israel guns were clones and were not factory authorized. The Argentine guns were factory authorized and built on FN supplied machinery. IIRR there were at one time over 22 countries that were carrying issued BHP as their miltary gun. This gun wasn't poorly made it was just beat to S#!t before I got it, this is my complaint with SOG they send some dufus back into the wharehouse and say pull out a very good gun and they grab the first thing in the bin and sent it out, it could be new or it could be junk...who cares.

[Jack]

Now it's a nice looking pistol.
I have always liked the BHP.
I wonder, Twomoons, did you take out the magazine safety? That usually improves the trigger pull.

[twomoons]

Most of the FEG's come with the safety gone so I don't have the added liability of removing a safety device. If you want that done here it requires a notorized release of liability and THEN we will put a crisp 4 pound pull on a highpower.

[Jack]

I understand, Twomoons. That's a wise precaution if you run a business.
I took mine out- it helped the trigger pull a lot.
Never really understood the concept of a magazine safety, anyway.

[twomoons]

Well for LEO or Military it is sometimes nice to be able to drop the mag and disable the gun, especially when you are rolling on the floor with someone you can't shoot. For the Military the idea was that most rookies thought if you took out the magazine the gun was safe and they frogot to check the chamber. The secret to fitting the mag safe and getting a good trigger pull is to polish the face of the disconnect and the magazine where there is contact, then you try and fit springs tillyou find the lightest that will work in that gun. You can get 5 pouonds crisp with the mag safe in but it takes half a days work.