My First HiPower w/Pics

[Ping]

Always thought they were really cool. Very nice condition too! Congrat's.

[jaybet]

Nice gun...enjoy!

[blackwolfe]

Love the Hi Power.  They do feel right in the hand.  Have several, both .40 and an old 9 mm, probably made in the 50's for the Austrian Border Police I have been told.  Like some others, it is the only 9 mm I have.  I believe it was what JMB was working on when he died.

[alfsauve]

Love the Hi Power. <snip>  I believe it was what JMB was working on when he died.

So could one posit that JMB was designing something he throught was  better than the 1911?

[blackwolfe]

So could one posit that JMB was designing something he throught was  better than the 1911?

According to Wiki------yes. I have heard it elsewhere also.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browning_Hi-Power

The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. It is based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized. The Hi-Power is one of the most widely used military pistols of all time,[3] having been used by the armed forces of over 50 countries.[1]

[Sponsor]

[alfsauve]

Or was he just trying to make a buck designing something for the Belgiums without violating the 1911 patents?

[Timothy]

We'll never know but I've shot both and I still prefer the 1911 in my hand.

Unless you can see what he was working on in 1926, most of the design is attributed to Saive anyway!

The .45 was predicated by the War Department which is why even Luger developed a firearm to compete against the 1911!