School me on Hi-Power pattern pistols

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diegocn

CGN Regular
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Waterloo, Ontario
I've always been fascinated by the browning hi-power design given it started as John M Browning's vision of improvement to 1911. I wasn't that keen in picking one up until I held a one in my hand last week in LGS. One was a Girsan hi-power clone and the other is an engraved commemorative edition. The Girsan grips very nicely in my hand, and the overall size of the pistol feels smaller than a 1911.

This got me into looking for the hi-power on EE, and I was soon confused by all the different variations of hi-power pattern pistols ranging from sub $6~700 to a couple thousands.

What's a good base gun for me to pick up? I'm looking to get a shooter gun for ipsc / 3 guns and I want to be reasonable competitive (i.e. not timing out on a stage but not necessarily competing for 1st). Preferably not too expensive as this is going to be a gig gun for competition.

I know springfield has a SA-35 coming out but sadly they probably won't make it before the government takes our rights away.

Also the trigger is pretty heavy on both the Girsan and even the $10k browning commemorative edition. Is there anything I can do (beside disabling the mag safety) to lighten the trigger to 3.5#-ish?
 
If you can find a Browning Hipower MK 3, quite a few Israeli Surplus ones out there, that's a good place to start. I would pull out mag safety, that should reduce trigger pull to a crisp 5-6lbs. This pistol does not lend itself to super light trigger jobs like the 1911. Take-up and reset are also very long unless a gunsmith does some fancy work that requires modifying other parts of the pistol, no smith in Canada does this.

Stock gun and trigger is pretty good as is, once you pull out magazine safety. The trigger takes some getting used too compared with a 1911. If you want something with better trigger a 9mm 1911 Commander is slightly shorter than the BHP.
 
Israeli Mk3 HP would be a good start, if they are available.
Then you know that you can always find parts to keep them going, as they are the FN Belgium made guns
Been collecting HP's for decades
 
I fell down the Hi Standard rabbit hole a while back. If you like a grip angle like a 1911, go for the Military model. If you like a more traditional target grip angle (like me) go with supermatic or Olympic. Then there is the variant numerical code (kinda like S&W does) start at 101 and go up from there. Each time they modified the design, they changed the last digit ie 102,103etc
Then there is the significance on which factory the pistol was produced in. The original plant in Hamden Connecticut burned down. The pistols that were made in that plant were made to a “higher standard” and command a higher price to some collectors.
A Hamden made Olympic with barrel weights is what the name suggests, an Olympic caliber pistol. (Literally won gold)
They also made some budget pistols for big box stores. Duramatic, and Victor. Whilst they are decent shooters for the price, I wouldn’t recommend them as a competition pistol.
I own a Supermatic Citation 104. It’s a tack driver and fits my hand like a glove. Has a bull barrel vs barrel weights (because I ain’t made of money)
The only thing that I see as a down side is the price of spare magazines (if you can find one)
There is a sell off going on with these pistols. And prices are coming down because they are uncommon.
 
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