Feat of the Week: Browning Hi-Power
This week’s blog features a Browning Hi-Power with a trigger job and optic cut. But not just any optic cut. The Hi-Power slide has so much metal that we could remove enough material to align the rear sight integral to the optic to the proper height. This allows the shooter to use both the optic and the iron sights properly.
If the U.S. military had adopted the Hi-Power instead of the Beretta 92, we would seen more of these pistols in our shop for modernization services like optic cuts and trigger jobs. But instead, we rarely see Hi-Powers come through our doors.
Hi-Power History
The Browning Hi-Power is a single action pistol based on Browning’s design and finalized by FN engineer Dieudonné Saive.
It was originally designed for the French military who required a simple, compact 9mm service pistol with more than ten rounds capacity. FN hired Browning to design the pistol. But because he had sold the rights of the 1911 to Colt, he had to create a completely new pistol working around the 1911 patents.
Browning built two prototypes and filed for the patent in 1923. Unfortunately, Browning died in 1926 before it was granted and the design was complete. FN engineer Dieudonné Saive took over the project, and when the patents for the Colt 1911 expired in 1928, he incorporated some design features including the take down design and the removable barrel bushing.
Soldier from Uruguay with Canadian Hi-Power
Saive also created a staggered magazine which doubled the capacity of other pistols of the time. The name Hi-Power reflects the capacity of the thirteen round magazine which was considered high for the time.
Saive completed the design in 1934, and the Hi-Power was adopted by the Belgian military a year later. And though the pistol was designed for the French, they never adopted the Hi-Power.
With the beginning of World War II only a few years later, the Hi-Power entered into combat and was used by both Allied and Axis militaries during the war.
When Belgian occupation became apparently imminent, the FN factory sent the plans to the Britain before it fell into German hands. The Allied forces were able to receive Hi-Powers from a Canadian plant but not until 1944.
After the invasion and occupation of Belgium in 1940, the Nazis took control of the FN plan and began producing and using the Hi-Power for themselves.
FN resumed production after the war ended and continued until 2018. Ultimately, the Hi-Power was used by over fifty militaries around the world. Although the U.S. never adopted it, the Hi-Power is still considered one of the most popular military pistols in history. And it would’ve been a better option than the Beretta 92.
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