economically feasible to build a BHP???

[hardhit777]

Hey guys, in the next 6 months i want to get into IDPA, well the pistol i carry is not allowed under IDPA rules. Well i would really like to use my fathers 1911 but im a lefty and he wont let me mod his pistol. So next best thing, build or buy my own. But i really want a High power too. Hmm is it possible to buy quality parts inexpensively enough to build my own pistol the way i want it less or equal to what i could buy one for? I have wanted to build a pistol for a year or so now, i just thought that instead of doing the 1911 why not try its cousin?

Have any of yall tried/ completed this? An sources for parts and or information? Thanks guys.

HH

 

[Azrael256]

Basically, no.

You could buy a vanilla BHP and do some work to dress it up and accurize it. Brownell's is the best resource for finding parts if you go that route.

It's a good way to go if you want to make a thoroughly customized pistol yourself, and you will likely spend less on a standard pistol plus spiffy parts than you would on a spiffy NIB model. But you'll spend more than the difference on tools. And you'll have to learn how to do the smithing work. And it's not easy. Depending on what you want to do, you may be looking at a very small amount of money and time to pop in an extended slide stop lever and a better mag release button. Or, you could be looking at a couple grand and many hours for a hand-fitted barrel, racegun hammer and sear, new trigger, all the tools to do it, and so on.

Speaking personally, I think it's absolutely worth it to build it yourself, but I'm after the experience and satisfaction of doing it. If you're looking just for a cost savings, I think you'd do better buying something that's already close, and having a good smith do the rest.

 

[nalioth]

Wasn't there a thread here with a guy mentioning building his own from Inglis frames/slides from Numrich and the other parts from Numrich, Sarco, and elsewhere? Guy said he had around $400 in each pistol.

 

[Jim Watson]

Quality parts? Not many. There is not the cottage industry supporting the BHP as there is 1911 or Glock.

Something out of scrap and junk as nalioth describes just so you can say you did it yourself? Maybe so.

 

[nalioth]

Not sure it'd be "scrap and junk" any more than building a USGI 1911a1 from surplus parts would be.

Here is the link I was referring to: http://www.gunco.net/forums/showthread.php?t=31253

 

[Jim Watson]

Well, being NRA Mechanically Inept, I know I would not try it. Maybe 77 is smarter.

 

[falling leaves]

If you are looking for an inexpensive way into a BHP try Sarco's FM Argentina copies. I am pretty sure that they still have some at $299. I've put over 1500 rounds through mine and it still works, and has no major or unusual wear.

The mags they send with the pistol are not that great. The feed lips will open up and cause double feeds after several hundred rounds. It has developed some premature slide lock issues, which I believe to be due to the mag shoulder being just a little high, causing the slide stop lever to bounce up occasionally. This area on the mag body has been worn by contact with the slide stop. My solution was to buy Mec-gar mags for use any time I actually want to pistol to run error free.

IIRC Sarco does have bare BHP frames, but if you are going that route you would probably save money by building a 1911 instead. There are inexpensive builders kits and more aftermarket support for the 1911 platform. I am in the process of starting one of those now myself.

If you do decide to build (or at least assemble) your own you might also want to check out the Home Gunsmith Forum. There is a wealth of good information available over there. Good luck!

 

[hardhit777]

damn i was hoping that the HP had a following similar to the 1911 but it would seam its more of a B-movie type of pistol. Hmm ill have to looking into it and hope i can figure it out. Thanks for the info guys.

HH

hey guys i was looking for parts online and ran across this
http://www.sarcoinc.com/fm-hipower1-new.html#2
its a kit for the HP to use a shorter slide and barrel. have any of you guys had and experience with these?

 

[falling leaves]

Hardhit777 - My "Hi-Power" is an FM Detective (the short slide version of their Hi-power). I am pretty happy with it. It is very accurate it is easy to carry around for me. I have not had any problems with the pistol related to the shorter length slide - all my few and minor issues have had to do with the magazines as related above. The short slides do no have a firing pin safety like FM's regular length models and the MkIII Brownings, if you are concerned with that sort of thing.

I suggest you go check out the webpage of Mr. Stephen Camp (http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/). He has an incredible amount of great information there. He is also a member here, and may have answers for your questions. Good luck, and have fun with your research.

 

[Jim K]

The big complaint on the BHP has always been the trigger linkage and resulting trigger pull. It can be improved, but it is VERY difficult to bring it up to the quality of a good 1911 pull. That design was not one of Browning's better ideas.

Given that caveat, the BHP is a fine gun and should work well. (I have no experience with the Argentine-made guns, so I cannot comment on those.)

Jim

 

[hardhit777]

well me being a poor starving college student i think ill end up either A. finding an FM detective either locally or at a show:
B. buying a full size FM HP and finding a detective slide for it.
or there is always the Filipino HP clones....
Thanks for the link falling leaves that will do me some good.

HH