I recently rescued a neglected 1973 C-Series Browning Hi Power Sport from an LGS. Ordinarily I would have passed on a neglected example, but this one clearly saw very little use and was priced on par with the current flood of surplus military/police imports. After a thorough cleaning, which included removing some external surface rust, I reassembled the pistol and tested the trigger with a chambered snap cap. Even with the magazine disconnect safety installed, the trigger pull is crisp if not somewhat heavy. After a dozen or so snaps, I ejected the cap to discover the spring inside the cap was stuck forward about 1/4". I know the Hi Power has a rather heavy factory mainspring (32#) which, combined with a previously used cap, may have contributed to this problem. Has anyone else experienced this? Here are some photos. Thanks!

1973 Browning Hi Power Sport


Top cap - spring stuck forward


"Primer"

It's been a while, but seems to me I've had that happen a time or two over the years. The heavy mainsprings in the high power have been strong enough, within my humble experience, to ignite every primer in any and all 9mm ammunition I've ever encountered. And the Hi Power is one of the pistols that had no malfunctions in Chuck Taylor's cold weather tests some years ago. I think that poor little used snap cap died an honorable death

I've had that happen with the similar Pachmyr snap caps, but not with a Hi-Power. I just assumed the spring wore out from use.

the plastic ones suck. I like the A-Zoom ones.

All snap caps fail at some point. A-Zoom have their rims chip and even rip apart. The 'primer' of the Tiptons break much like how you discovered. You sacrifice the snap cap to spare yourself from potential damage to the gun itself.

Not sure about the snap caps. But I really like the gun with the wear and all......it has character and haven't seen a nickel one with factory wood grips in a long time.

Have that very same gun from my dad. Great gun, replaced the extractor spring and recoil spring. They have the nicest blueing of any pistol.

Great looking pistol

I use A-Zoom for this reason. However, I have to rotate them also for the reasons mentioned earlier.

BTW, sometime between 1966 and 1976 FN [who makes BHP for those who don't know] changed the hammer spring in the 9mm Hi Power from 26lbs to 32lbs [current weight].

One theory was for the ability to ignite harder primers if there is a shared ammo supply with SMG 9mm ammo [which frequently has harder primers to avoid slam fires].

I don't know if the reason is accurate, but the change is.

I don't know what year yours is, other than that I really doubt it is a MK III, so it is older than 1989.

My guess would be a 1970s or 1980s model, but that is a WAG.


I have a 1959 FN GP35 [BHP] made for the Austrian national police, and a 1994 BHP MK III.

In .40, I have two FN Hi Powers made in 2004, and there are only 19 digits between serial numbers.

I kind of like these pistols!!!