Four years ago I went shooting with a friend who was new to the sport. He brought a Browning Hi Power and I brought a Colt Delta Gold Cup and a Springer TRP. We punched paper a bit and he was not having fun. He could hit paper but it was sporadic and unpredictable. We swapped guns so I could see if the trouble was his or the weapon. Oh baby. It was mostly the weapon.

His gun had been in a basement flood and sat in it's case in 4 inches of water for two weeks. By the time he discovered the disaster and got around to this gun it had rust on the slide and guts. He's not a gun guy really, but he is a guy. So out came the dremel and he cleaned it up. Git 'er dun.

When I fired it, the gun was dry.....as in no lube. It was ugly.....as in UGLY. It was not fun at all. I have been shooting since the late 60's and by now, accounting for old eyes, am a pretty consistent shot. I could hit paper where I was aiming but my groups opened way up. Mean while he is shooting my TRP and loving it.

We are good friends and he has helped me on my house and some other things and never accepts payment. So I determined I would buy him a TRP brand new that he could enjoy and I'd take the junker and see what could be done with it. I told him at the the end of this if he wanted his Hi Power back I'd take the TRP and he could have it.

Here is the gun with slide dremeled (experimental pic size)


I received the Hi Power in pieces that he had taken apart to 'work on' and he skipped off with his new TRP in a hurry "before I changed my mind". Happy as a clam. I tried to reassemble the gun but knew very little about Hi Powers so in a box went the parts and in the safe went the box where for four years it sat occupying real estate.

Two months ago I decided to work on it again. I found a local guy who does Cerakote work and after some research decided that was the finish for me. I dropped off the slide and frame, he gave me a ticket and off I went to learn what I could about the gun and how to tune that awful trigger and reassemble the whole thing. Took me about as long as the refinishing process to learn what I needed to do and how to determined what exactly I had since Hi Powers are varied in generation and configurations.

Mine is a MKII made in 1988. Assembled in Portugal configured for police and military. I learned the French spec'd that a magazine safety be designed and added for their military contract. It was not part of the original Browning design and it added pounds to the pull as well as creep. So I removed it.

When the slide and frame were done I reassembled the gun, lubed it and what do you know? The trigger was perfect. Clean predictable break with no creep. Hallelujah. I added some walnut grips for fun. Below is the finished project. Not bad for four years.



Edit to add: The local Cerakote refinisher did such a thorough and expeditious job I feel compelled to share his business name and website. He is Paul at The Real McCoy Arms Therealmccoyarms.com He does more than refinishing but that is what he did for me. The color is Titanium something.

Also, I offered the Hi Power back to my friend last Thursday. He admired the work and improved trigger but won't part with his TRP lol

Wow! Very nice save. Good looking Hi Power.

Nice looking gun. If I'm not mistaken, they have stopped production, so value will only go up on it.

Salvaging a classic like that is a worthy endeavor - and you did a good job too! Congrats.

Jerry

Good story. The Cerakote look is fantastic. Reminds me of some Parkerizing I had done once on a 1911.

classy !

Looks great. Good job.

Thats great, brother!

Looks great!

Looks good. I had one years ago and the only thing I didn't care for was the hammer, only because it like to bite me . My big mitts always cause issues with some platforms.

quote:

Originally posted by PorterN:
Thats great, brother!

Thanks, Porter! And thanks to all who posted. I kind of always looked at the Hi Power as a step child since JMB died before it was in production and changes were made to the design. So I think that this kind of deal would be the only way I would have owned one. Now I'm glad I did. After learning about them and working on one, I appreciate them more. I thought about doing other upgrades like improved trigger components and lighter springs even sending it to Novak for sights, but sometimes plans get so big they never happen and I like the more original look and feel of it as is. I might try to make my own presentation grade grips one day if I can't find them for sale elsewhere. I like the look of buckeye burl on this gun.

What is the wavy pattern on the pre-Cerakoted slide?

I wondered if someone would ask that question. The gun was stored in a generic case that had egg carton style foam in it. The foam absorbed and held the water the peaks of the foam contacted the slide and rust developed from that contact in the egg carton pattern. It actually looked kind of cool but I didn't want to leave it that way.

Cool story, you're a good friend. Glad you saved it, a HP is worth saving and a great project gun. If you're feeling froggy, FBT HRT used them before switching to the TRP. You could send it to a Smith to convert into an HRT spec HP and be the TRPs daddy!

That's quite well done.

One of the two guns I regret parting with was a Hi Power Practical. Really nice piece.

The other was an HK P7 PSP.

Such is life...

Very nice, everyone needs a HP.
I have a Mk III that has the mag disconector and it makes the trigger really hard. How do you take it out?

quote:

Originally posted by zeme05:
Very nice, everyone needs a HP.
I have a Mk III that has the mag disconector and it makes the trigger really hard. How do you take it out?

I watched a YouTube video about it. There are a few. Search terms: hi power magazine safety removal. I'd embed one but am on a diminished capacity device until later today.

The hardest part was getting the trigger pin out. I used a spring loaded punch called the Two Bit Snapper. Worked like a charm. There are only two parts to the safety, a spring and a shoe. They pop right out. Reinstall the trigger and you'll have an entirely different shooting experience.

Here's the video I liked to remove the mag safety.



Here is the two bit snapper by Spring Tools



This device really made removing the trigger pin simple and quick. Drive out from right to left. The pin is tapered so it needs to go back the way it came out drive from left to right.

thank you for the info

great save on a classic!