Interesting issued H.P.

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recce

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All the pistols at work were finally changed out with re-furbs from depot. One of the guys was issued this one. There was also one with a CH serial number, but I didn't think to check the rear sight to see if it was originally made with the fixed sight or had the tangent one replaced.

DSCF0715.jpg
 
CZ85Combat said:
Is it a HP intended for China but with the end of the war, stayed here?
I didn't know that the CF keep some like that
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All the BHPs in Canadian service were originally meant for China. Hence the Chinese on the sticker. ;)
 
Interesting

By the translation on the slide, it is for the Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan). Not People's Republic of China (i.e. Mainland China).

I wonder what is on the other side of the slide.
 
All Inglis HP's were made between 43 and 44. At the time there was only one China as Mao didn't take over until 48 or 49 IIRC.

Not all were meant for the Chinese only, though they were the original contract. The T series went to Britain and Russia as well as Canada which is why the sticker has those 3 languages on it. The reason why it is in Cdn service is probably due to it being a left over batch of parts that during wartime would have been used to fill any contract.

The really interesting one was the CH serial number, though it did not have the Chinese chop on the slide. I would have thought that at least the #'s would have been changed.
 
What is really interesting is the collector value of these pistols. They also fetch a rather commanding price.
The best part of all is that the CF just throws them around.
 
Can I ask a (stupid) question - what does the CH in the serial number indicate?
The reason I ask (I'll stop now, and ask you not to hate me) is that in the firearms safety training kit I have (I repeat, don't hate me - it was either the firearm safety kit or the crusher for it) there is a Hi-Power with a tangent rear sight and a CH serial number.
 
That is a really early slide, you can tell both from the characters, and the length of the "dust cover" (sort of the bulge ahead of the frame on the slide).

It would be REALLY interesting to have the slide be an original No2 (T series) slide rather than an FTR updated No1 slide (CH series).... as No2 slides were not supposed to have the Chinese characters.....
 
The joke's on us Kanuckistanis!! LOL

That's an old proverb my grandad used to tell me:

Never pick your nose with the same hand you scratch your ass with....

I'm serious :)
 
At the shop I worked at in Edmonton, (Base Armament) before it bacame an army base, we controlled all the small arms for the base destruction team, one of the hi powers we had in the locker had the tangent sight assembly removed from the slide and a fixed rear sight assembly beautifully milled into the same area. The lower still had the slots for a butt stock. It was really neat.

Scott
 
recce said:
All Inglis HP's were made between 43 and 44. At the time there was only one China as Mao didn't take over until 48 or 49 IIRC.

Not all were meant for the Chinese only, though they were the original contract. The T series went to Britain and Russia as well as Canada which is why the sticker has those 3 languages on it. The reason why it is in Cdn service is probably due to it being a left over batch of parts that during wartime would have been used to fill any contract.

The really interesting one was the CH serial number, though it did not have the Chinese chop on the slide. I would have thought that at least the #'s would have been changed.
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The Inglis HPs were actually made in 44 and 45. Initially it was towards Chinese lend lease, and when it was realised that the aid was not going to help them, the remaining guns that hadn't been shipped yet were held back. At the same time, the British and Cdns adopted the no2 HP with the hump back. Since the pistols were being mass produced, there would have been partially completed frames and slides which would have then gone towards no2 production. That is why you can find early no2s (I had one with a 1T serial number) with the slot in the back for the shoulder stock.
The early ones were always a problem for the army, and it got rid of them wherever it could. Some were sold to other countries, and when the Cdn Navy wanted hi-powers, the army gave them more of the Chinese contract ones.

Post war, the Chinese wanted the rest of their contracted for pistols, and production continued to fullfill their request. These ones did not have the Chinese script on them.

Any Chinese ones which were in Cdn service would have at some point had the tangent sight removed and a hump back sight milled in and soldered into place.

The museum here in Shilo has a no2mk1* with the Chinese script and a T serial number on it.

The stickers were fairly universal for any equipment which was subject to lend lease. I have seen examples on things like radios right up to the hood of trucks.

Nice photos of the Hipowers by the way. Shame virtually all of the DND ones will end up swimming in the red sea of a smelter some day.
 
recce said:
Thanks for the correction on the dates. So the navy getting the Chinese ones accounts for a CH serial number then?
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Any CH serials found in service today may well trace their lineage to the Cdn Navy. In Clive Law's book "Inglis Diamond", he actually lists a few hundred of the known serial numbers that were held by the Cdn Navy. In 1966, the navy had:
Model On Issue In reserve
no1mk 244 117
no1mk1* 420 1,954
no2mk1 6
no2mk1* 1

On unification, the RCN requested that these pistols be exchanged for no2mk1* models.

All the serials listed in the book range from CH95 up to 1CH6630, and one in the 4CH serial range.

It would be intersting to know of any CH serials in service today to see if they correspond with the numbers given in the book. Only a small portion of the total holdings of the Cdn Navy are listed, mind you.
 
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