Care, Feeding, and Maintenance of La Grande Puissance (aka Hi-Power)

[MDFA]

I'm old and forgetful, but which model JM Custom holster would fit the HP with minimum modification?

5 inch 1911 2.5 AIWB. The Mag pouch is for a Beretta 92.

[revchuck38]

I'm old and forgetful, but which model JM Custom holster would fit the HP with minimum modification?

Tony was on another guy's IG feed expressing great interest in the SA-35 and making noises about making holsters for them. I'd email him before ordering a holster for something else.

[Evil_Ed]

If I remember correctly, like the 1911, the BHP's firing pin stop went through a revision where the radius on the bottom changed to make it easier to cock...the hammer spring was lightened as well IIRC? Or did the hammer spring go the other way, and was made stronger...I can't remember

As far as Bar-Sto barrels go...I'm %50 on those. My first one was a "drop in" threaded barrel, that while it dropped in...the chamber was cut too long. Like, every 4th or 5th shot was a flyer, too long, consistently. It was bad enough that even my potato handed poor shooting ass noticed it. I sent it back with a question mark, and they called me...and accused me of going at the chamber with a reamer to make it longer. Uh, no...a) I don't even have a reamer, b) I wouldn't know what to do with one, and c) I bought it as a drop-in because I WANTED IT TO DROP THE FUCK IN, without me having to mess with it. They did wind up replacing it with a gunsmith-fit version, which was fine; at the time the base gun was out at Novaks anyway...so I sent them the barrel and they were kind enough to fit it to the gun. So while the story ended well...I probably wouldn't use them as a first choice. Not when Jarvis and other makers (including Brownells!) are now selling threaded BHP barrels.

YMMV, sample size of 1 2, feel free to discard the useless anecdote...

Anyway, basic maintenance -

Buy BROWNING extractor springs. Not even kidding; I think Midwest Gun Works or Midway or Brownells will stock them. Buy several. On my beater gun I was having extraction issues so I replaced the extractor spring with a Wolff spring. It went from mostly extracting, to only sometimes extracting. Put the worn spring back in, back to mostly extracting. Bought a factory Browning extractor spring...went to %100 extraction. I don't know what the difference in springs was...but aftermarket springs are not the same for some reason. I have not tried any of the BHSS springs; they were not a thing when I was going through my BHP phase, so I don't know how their extractor or other springs compare to Browning springs.

Extractors can wear too...maybe buy a spare.

Like a 1911 in some ways, minor fitting might be needed on parts. Not that you'll need to swap a whole bunch out, but there's usually one or two things people like to swap out, including triggers..

When you get your gun, do the click test on the thumb safety - Cock the empty gun, put thumb safety on, pull the trigger like you mean it. Take the thumb safety off, and thumb the hammer back some more like you're cocking it again...if you see the sear drop (you can see it from the back of the frame), or hear it click down...the thumb safety needs to be refit/replaced; it's allowing the sear to move too much when the safety is on. I have one gun that has this issue...it's not a carry gun and I just haven't gotten around to buying a replacement safety and fixing it yet.

Lube points are similar if not identical to a 1911, and lube requirements are again just about the same.

I don't have any issues with activating the slide stop mid-mag on mine, but I also have a set of palmswell grips on it...if you run into issues where the slide is locking open and you have thin (VZ, etc) grips on it...switch to thicker grips and if that doesn't work, switch to palmswells. Maybe even the factory 2x4 grips if you can find a set. It might upset your ergonomic hold on it a little bit but it also might be enough to prevent that issue from happening, for those of us with larger hands.

It's a huge pain in the ass to work on compared to a 1911 btw; detail stripping the frame is a lot more fiddly and you really need a tool to hold the hammer back under spring tension for a bunch of operations. A non-marring clamp, some bent coat hangers/wire...I know there's some pictures of tools similar to that among Stephen Camp's articles. You only need to attempt to detail strip once to figure out it's a must-have

[Tokarev]

The BHP is often given a "thumbs down" because the gun may not stand up to a constant diet of +P. But do we really need to worry?

I'm a fan of the Speer 124 +P Gold Dot. But is it significantly better than the standard pressure stuff for general defensive use?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Oldherkpilot]

99.9% of HiPower knowledge worth knowing was covered by the great Stephen A. Camp (RIP).

His site https://hipowersandhandguns.com is still alive thanks to Mrs. Camp as are his excellent reference books.

For those of you that aren't familiar with his work, he was a Texas police officer (and more importantly a great shooter and lover the HiPower) who carried P-35's on duty from the 1970's through the 1990's and ran them hard. I've owned three HiPowers in the past and currently own a MkII tuned by Don Williams. Nothing in my own experience has ever been contradictory to anything Mr. Camp wrote on them.

Anything I would list would be simply re-hashing things he already covered.

KevH has said it all. Buy the book.

[Oldherkpilot]

The BHP is often given a "thumbs down" because the gun may not stand up to a constant diet of +P. But do we really need to worry?

I'm a fan of the Speer 124 +P Gold Dot. But is it significantly better than the standard pressure stuff for general defensive use?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

I carry the +P Gold Dots in my HKs and CZs but use standard Gold Dots in my late HPs. It might not be optimal, but pretty close is pretty close. Additionally, I load the old Federal Classic 115 gr JHP (9BP) in my old Brownings with the curved feed ramp. Feeds like ball ammo. Pretty sure this was another recommendation from Stephen Camp.
I should add that I have fired more than a few of the +P GDs in my late HPs with no adverse effect, but you certainly should upgrade to an 18.5 lb spring if you go this route.

[Stephanie B]

Since the use of nato and +p ammo question is going to be asked

My Mk.III is marked for 9mm NATO.

[M2CattleCo]

I’m curious to see where this goes. There’s reasons why they were never popular with the actually shoots the gun crowd.

Poor ergos. They’re just too little, even with a welded on beaver tail and extended safety. Without, the hammer will chew up your right hand and your trigger finger will hit the trigger at the middle joint.

The dustcover on the slide stop gets in the way. It will ding your left thumb and cause failures.

Complicated trigger mechanism that really doesn’t get good. I’ve felt some of the best HiPower triggers out there and they’ve always felt ‘vague’.

Square magwell opening that requires welding to get a magwell on.

Kinda difficult to manipulate the slide. The slide is little bitty and the springs are stiff. It’s just hard to deal with if you’re sweaty, wet, oily, whatever.

Hard to detail strip.

[serialsolver]

[QUOTE=Oldherkpilot;1280937]KevH has said it all. Buy the book.

(Echo) Buy the book.


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[fatdog]

Stephen A. Camp was the man, his books and guides are priceless, and THE definitive work on the gun from a practical/shooters point of view, as far as I know. Best armorer level guidance in print.

a couple of spare recoil spring guides in your parts kit.

Firing pin stop is a desirable spare part, only thing that has ever broken or cracked on me.

Wes Dahl at Privateer Leather is the best holster maker I have encountered. He has molds for both the full size and detective versions.

BHP Spring solutions is a great vendor to work with. Cylinder & Slide complete trigger/sear kits and their non-mag disconnect triggers are the path to a better trigger pull via the armorer route, since few local gunsmiths still know what the HP is about.

SFS kits are an armorer level install in many cases (has worked for me on FM, FN made platforms without any fitting) but that tiny spring that goes in the safety lever on the SFS versions is a pain in the ass, buy spares.

Tripp Research and Accurate Plating & Weaponry (APW Cogan) are great sources for hardchrome refinishing.

VZ grips offers a variety of grip types and textures in G10. I found their palm swells produce the best shooting results for me in the category of timers and targets don't lie when the gun goes off, but subjective feel of the grip (handling and dry fire) can fool me.

With the loss of Jim Garthwaite, I think Bob Cogan at APW and Karl Sokol at Chestnut Mountain Sports would be my go to gunsmiths for the BHP. Both know their way around the platform very well. Sokol's work is very high quality, in my experience Bob Cogan is just as good on the BHP, and his turn around times are much faster. Cogan has done 5 BHP projects for me now.

People who's trigger management is "ride the reset" are doomed to be frustrated with the platform because the feel is simply not there and not going to be distinct. Trigger freeze will be a consistent symptom of trying to ride the reset. "Press and flip" or "trigger slappers" however will be more likely to find the gun working for them.