Browning P35 Sloppy Safety and Other Carry Issues

[Jaywalker]

I've owned my Browning P35 since 1981 and am only now considering it for CCW. I had the trigger worked on some time ago and am happy with it, but there are two or three things I'd want to consider for carry use, and I'd like input on them.

First and most important is the sloppy, spongy safety - I basically have to look at it to see if it's in the "fire" position. I'd like to have it worked on locally, i.e., by a 'smith, not by me; what can be done to fix this? Just as importantly, is there anything with the safety I shouldn't let a smith do to it? I'd rather not replace it if working on it would correct most of the problem.

Second, while the spur hammer has never bitten me, it does stick up a ways when on safe and looks like it could catch on clothing. Does the round hammer improve on that?

Third, my barrel still has the humped feed ramp. It's never caused me any problem - it didn't load first generation 147 gr bullets when I tried them so I avoided them, but it's never bobbled anything in the 115/124 gr range. Is there any particular reason to get this hump erased for carry?

Thanks, and feel free to elaborate or change direction if I've missed something.

[Wendell]

Check out http://www.garthwaite.com/.

[JAD]

Garthwaite is pretty high end. Lots of good gunsmiths can fit a new safety, but it is mostly a gunsmith thing. You might enjoy an extended safety -- you do ride it while shooting, right?

A ring hammer will fix the issue. I have no problem with a lightly deburred spur hammer, even aiwb.

If the gun is reliable I wouldn't mess with the feed path.

[Jaywalker]

Garthwaite is pretty high end. Lots of good gunsmiths can fit a new safety, but it is mostly a gunsmith thing.

Is fixing the existing safety to be less mushy within the capabilities of most local gunsmiths?

[JAD]

I don't know. Somebody smart here will, though.

[Edwin]

My local gunsmith was able to afix the extended and wide safety from Cyclinder & Slide pretty cheaply. It comes with all the instructions.

http://www.cylinder-slide.com/index....how&ref=BHPsaf

[Rosco Benson]

Actionworks (Don Williams) and Novak are good P-35 smiths. The mushy thumb safety can probably be addressed by deepening the detent "dimples" in the frame.

The biggest issue with the P-35 is the weak and non-tactile trigger reset. If you're pushing for speed, it is very easy to flub the reset. The magwell makes it difficult to hit reloads quickly, despite the magazine itself being a tapered double-stack. There's not much frame material there, so any beveling will be minor and not much help.

I have big meaty hands and a stock P-35 bites me. Not only does the tip of the hammer spur whack my web until it beats a hole in it, but I also get pinched between the base of the hammer and the frame. The Novak "no bite" hammer mod helps on both counts. I've actually had the hammer hit the web of my hand and fall to half-cock due to the interference. This is especially bad on a P-35, because you can apply the thumb safety with the hammer on half-cock, so you have no tactile indication that the pistol is in a non-fireable state. You could whack a bad guy, have the hammer fall to half-cock, apply the safety to continue with the search/raid/escape, encounter another bad guy, present your pistol, thumb off the safety, press the trigger, and NOTHING. It might take you the rest of your life to figure out why your pistol ain't working.

I like P-35's. My Novak is a great pistol...lots of fun to shoot. However, there are better choices for a defensive handgun.

Rosco

[Jaywalker]

Actionworks (Don Williams) and Novak are good P-35 smiths. The mushy thumb safety can probably be addressed by deepening the detent "dimples" in the frame.
...

Rosco

Thanks, Roscoe, I'll ask locally.

[Jaywalker]

Just to close this issue out, my P-35 safety now works okay, with a "click" that was absent before - a local gunsmith cleaned the gunk out of it.