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

[TiroFijo]

Just a remainder for you all on what "9 mm NATO" means...

The original 9 mm loadings were not really hot, according to all the old ammo and firearms manuals I've read. The "hot" loadings started previous to WWII (finnish, italian, the later Canadian, perhaps someone else) in an effort to increase range of the 9 mm SMGs, but most loads in WWII were just like normal SAAMI loads of today (115 gr at 1140-1200 fps, or 124 gr at 1070-1120 fps, out of a 4" barrel). Today's better SAAMI +P loads beat/equal even the hotter loads used in WWII, with lower pressures.

The Thompson-Lagarde tests of 1904 lists a luger 9 mm, 4" barrel, 8 gram (123.5 gr) bullet at 1048 fps.

Now that most submachine guns have been replaced by assault rifles 9 mm "superloads" have largely disappeared... the NATO rounds are normally loaded just a hair hotter than normal SAAMI specs, but below SAAMI +P pressure in most cases. That is the case with most modern (made in the last 15 years or so) M882 ammo and similar euro 9 mm NATO loadings.

To complicate things, the method used to evaluate pressure in the NATO standard is different from the SAAMI, so you cannot correlate both easily. Just like with the 5.56x45 vs 223 and 7.62x51 vs 308.

NATO spec for 9 mm (STANAG 4090) allows for a VERY wide margin of power: the test barrel is 7.85", the muzzle energy must be between 400 and 600 ft·lbf, and bullet weight between 108 and 128 gr.

This means that a humble SAAMI spec 115 gr 9 mm load that has about 1140 fps in a 4" barrel, but probably does about 1260 fps in a 7.85" barrel (with 405 ft-lbs) also meets the NATO spec. at the bottom end.

[Stephanie B]

KevH has said it all. Buy the book.

Check's in the mail.

[RevolverRob]

The HP has a 4.7" barrel; most quality HPs will meet FBI standards from it. And why are you guys trying to shoot anything besides standard pressure 147-grain HSTs these days anyways?

RE: Brownells threaded barrels. I've heard reports that the threading may not be appropriately concentric and some guys are getting baffle strikes. I'd proceed with caution on those. If Barsto is problematic, Jarvis is great to deal with, except they don't show a BHP barrel on their website. Of course a call to them might be fruitful.

[serialsolver]

Hp field service manual

https://stephentaylorhistorian.files...ower_field.pdf


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[Evil_Ed]

The HP has a 4.7" barrel; most quality HPs will meet FBI standards from it. And why are you guys trying to shoot anything besides standard pressure 147-grain HSTs these days anyways?

RE: Brownells threaded barrels. I've heard reports that the threading may not be appropriately concentric and some guys are getting baffle strikes. I'd proceed with caution on those. If Barsto is problematic, Jarvis is great to deal with, except they don't show a BHP barrel on their website. Of course a call to them might be fruitful.

Hrm you're right, they don't show it anymore...or maybe I was confusing them with another barrel maker. TR-Enabling/Remsport seems to sell BHP barrels now as well though...

[theJanitor]

Most P35 barrels shoot well enough to not warrant an aftermarket upgrade. Sometimes, when a smith builds a "full house" gun, a barrel change is part of the package, as customers feel shortchanged without a special tube. My Garthwaite, Heinie, Sokol pistols retained the factory barrel. I think my Yost was the only one with a BarSto

[theJanitor]

Garthwaite zeroed my pistol (with factory barrel) with 124 lawman. So I sourced 124 GDHP for it





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[Wondering Beard]

The HP has a 4.7" barrel; most quality HPs will meet FBI standards from it. And why are you guys trying to shoot anything besides standard pressure 147-grain HSTs these days anyways?

124gr +P Gold dots or HSTs because those are what I have in stock.

[Chuck Whitlock]

My first BHP was a MKIII in .40, with the epoxy finish, when they came out in the mid-90's.
The only real issue I remember having, beyond hammer bite, was that carrying it IWB in south Texas, my sweat would induce rust inside the frame around the magazine catch, which required removing the magazine catch to clean up.

My current 9mm MKIII is...I want to say...a 2016 version, which is beautifully polished and deep blued. I had the factory mouse-trap magazines NP3'd.
As I've been carrying it at work, I've been keeping a close eye on the exterior......and neglecting that same close eye regarding the inside of the gun. The inside of the magazine well / back side of the front strap is not so well polished or finished, and a little rust was developing. Also, behind the lockup area of the muzzle was getting rusty....keep in mind that the factory barrel isn't stainless, just steel left in the white. It cleaned up, but I need to make a point of checking it every week or so, instead of every couple of months. The SA-35's barrel is stainless, so it shouldn't have that issue.

[4RNR]

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.

A lot of that seems to be shooter dependent.

I'm far from "actually shoots crowd" but I've never experienced hammer bite and I don't think it matters how many rounds are fired. I've owned my HP for a few years and have about a case of 9 through it. I don't think another case is going to make a difference in experiencing hammer bite. I also don't get hammer bite from military 1911s.

Being left handed I use the slingshot method on every gun so the slide stops are irrelevant be it Glock, HK of HP.

No argument about the trigger but a lot of guns are like that and I'm not into accessories or playing with legos. At most a red dot. I know guys like to get a leg up with light triggers and large magwells. I'm more interested in beating myself than some random guy at the match and I prefer to use what I carry, which is 99.9% of the time bone stock.

Agreed that the grips are a little thin but Im probably in the minority who prefer G21 HK USP45, Sig 226, Beretta 92 grips. But this is a personal preference



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