Stephen A. Camp
Moderator In Memoriam
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2002
- Messages
- 2,430
Hello. Rightly or wrongly, the 9x19mm has seen "duty" in military, police, or plain, ol' honest citizen scenarios for the majority of the last century and continues to this day. It's been present in very public wars all over the globe as well as "private unpleasantness" perhaps known only to involved SAS personnel or other special operations groups around the globe.
A 9mm pistol that's seen a good deal of such might be Browning's Hi Power in one variation or the other. No longer one of the few choices in a "high-capacity" 9mm, Browning's Hi Power remains a most popular pistol with many and remains my favorite all-around handgun.
I bought a Mk III a few years ago and had it customized a bit even though the unaltered Mk III did everything I asked once the hammer spur was bobbed and the less-than-grand trigger pull, addressed.
The Pistol: Bought NIB by me, this Mk III 9mm still has its original factory "matte" finish, but has had a Cylinder & Slide hammer and sear fitted, magazine disconnect removed, bbl blued, Novak sights added, skateboard tape added to the front grip strap, and Butler Creek (Uncle Mike's) black, checkered rubber grips replace the nylon thumb rest grips that came on the gun. The trigger breaks very crisply at just over 5 lbs. While I like the factory extended, ambidextrous thumb safety, ambis get in my way with the Hi Power so I had the right side removed with the safety pin rounded off.
Unlike all of the HPs that I'm aware of in the past, this newer version of the Mk III's bbl does NOT have the protrusion at the rear upper end. So far as I can tell it makes no difference, but the breech face still retains the cutout for it, meaning that older barrels could be used if desired or needed.
This older Mk III bbl shows the protrusion.
The Mk III bbl in the pistol fired today does not. Both worked well and fed well with a variety of bullet shapes due to the factory treatment of the feedramp. Case support can also be observed.
There's also a slight cutout at the bbl's chamber such that the glint of a brass case can be seen, I suppose as a form of loaded chamber indicator.
Here's the pistol tested today in the form described above. All firing was done with a KRD SA 17 round magazine to see how it functioned with this particular Hi Power that's been reliable with all Mec-Gar and Browning factory magazines to date.
Note that the chambered round can be seen outside the pistol.
This pistol has a Wolff conventional 18.5-lb recoil spring in place as well as a brand new Buffer Technology's buffer.
The only change made to the factory 1:10 bbl was that it was blued. No accurizing has been done to this pistol.
Novak rear sight as installed by gunsmith, Lou Williamson. This is the version originally designed for the Hi Power and it works well. It's my understanding that today, some use the slightly larger Novak's intended for the 1911 such that a higher front sight can be used for a possibly quicker sight picture. I did that very thing when having a set of Novak fixed sights put on a Pre-B CZ-75 as the front sight would have been particularly low w/o doing so.
The C & S hammer is also clearly shown. This one, commonly referred to as the "Type I ring hammer" does alleviate hammer bite for me.
Plain, black, serrated front sight...
Continued...
A 9mm pistol that's seen a good deal of such might be Browning's Hi Power in one variation or the other. No longer one of the few choices in a "high-capacity" 9mm, Browning's Hi Power remains a most popular pistol with many and remains my favorite all-around handgun.
I bought a Mk III a few years ago and had it customized a bit even though the unaltered Mk III did everything I asked once the hammer spur was bobbed and the less-than-grand trigger pull, addressed.
The Pistol: Bought NIB by me, this Mk III 9mm still has its original factory "matte" finish, but has had a Cylinder & Slide hammer and sear fitted, magazine disconnect removed, bbl blued, Novak sights added, skateboard tape added to the front grip strap, and Butler Creek (Uncle Mike's) black, checkered rubber grips replace the nylon thumb rest grips that came on the gun. The trigger breaks very crisply at just over 5 lbs. While I like the factory extended, ambidextrous thumb safety, ambis get in my way with the Hi Power so I had the right side removed with the safety pin rounded off.
Unlike all of the HPs that I'm aware of in the past, this newer version of the Mk III's bbl does NOT have the protrusion at the rear upper end. So far as I can tell it makes no difference, but the breech face still retains the cutout for it, meaning that older barrels could be used if desired or needed.
This older Mk III bbl shows the protrusion.
The Mk III bbl in the pistol fired today does not. Both worked well and fed well with a variety of bullet shapes due to the factory treatment of the feedramp. Case support can also be observed.
There's also a slight cutout at the bbl's chamber such that the glint of a brass case can be seen, I suppose as a form of loaded chamber indicator.
Here's the pistol tested today in the form described above. All firing was done with a KRD SA 17 round magazine to see how it functioned with this particular Hi Power that's been reliable with all Mec-Gar and Browning factory magazines to date.
Note that the chambered round can be seen outside the pistol.
This pistol has a Wolff conventional 18.5-lb recoil spring in place as well as a brand new Buffer Technology's buffer.
The only change made to the factory 1:10 bbl was that it was blued. No accurizing has been done to this pistol.
Novak rear sight as installed by gunsmith, Lou Williamson. This is the version originally designed for the Hi Power and it works well. It's my understanding that today, some use the slightly larger Novak's intended for the 1911 such that a higher front sight can be used for a possibly quicker sight picture. I did that very thing when having a set of Novak fixed sights put on a Pre-B CZ-75 as the front sight would have been particularly low w/o doing so.
The C & S hammer is also clearly shown. This one, commonly referred to as the "Type I ring hammer" does alleviate hammer bite for me.
Plain, black, serrated front sight...
Continued...
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