Why can't I find any modern commercial Browning or FN Hi-Powers, new or used?

--Terry--

--Terry--

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I recently got bitten by the Hi-Power bug, but I couldn't find any commercial versions of the Browning/FN Hi-Powers for sale, new or used. It seems that they are quite rare in Canada?

I see some dealers used to have them but are now sold out. I see some old Inglis that are very expensive, and some Israeli police surplus with the horrible enamel paint finish. Other than these, nothing. Where are they? Were they rarely imported in Canada? Or does everybody hold on to their Hi-Powers, and won't sell?

And I heard that the Canadian Military is phasing out the Hi-Powers. So where will the pistols go? Is there any chance that they are sold to the civilian market?

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6 or 7 years ago they were selling the Mk111 with polymer grips, my boy bought one then, i have shoot it and it's a joy to shoot. They are out there but i bet they are keeper JP.
 
No new ones being made as they have been discontinued, there are used Israeli surplus, usually a few used commercial around in various gun shops across Canada, there are the newly made Turkish Canuck HP's that seem to get decent reviews if that's up your alley.
 
--Terry-- said:
Oh...... Apparently there is much more homework for me......

I was talking about any modern Hi-Power commercial blued versions, but not including any Turkish or Chinese copies.
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I could be very wrong on that, but my understanding was the FN factories were destroyed during the war and didnt go back into production.
 
Browning discontinued production 4 or so years ago, I bought one when I heard, on sale too, it is awesome and should have bought one 30 years prior.
 
--Terry-- said:
Oh...... Apparently there is much more homework for me......

I was talking about any modern Hi-Power commercial blued versions, but not including any Turkish or Chinese copies.
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I believe blued is not so common on newer production. The ones I have seen are black paint coating.
 
--Terry-- said:
I heard that the Canadian Military is phasing out the Hi-Powers. So where will the pistols go? Is there any chance that they are sold to the civilian market?
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They will go to the smelter because the UN says so... AFAIK they torched any of the L-Es the Rangers didn't want to keep as "gifts".

OP: modern BHPs do pop up on the EE from time to time, but they are generally fairly pricey. They weren't overly common with most steel shooters opting for "modern" designs like the Sig, Beretta or CZ offerings. There are two on there right now...
 
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--Terry-- said:
And I heard that the Canadian Military is phasing out the Hi-Powers. So where will the pistols go? Is there any chance that they are sold to the civilian market?

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Hitzy said:
FN has owned Browning since 1977.
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Ah. I don't know much about the manufacturing history of the company.

I bought a FN Browning Hi-Power once, thinking it was modern (that's what the seller thought), and in searching serial number archives discovered it was a prewar Belgian made Browning.

Have all the 1997 onward FN Brownings been made in Belgium?
 
--Terry-- said:
And I heard that the Canadian Military is phasing out the Hi-Powers. So where will the pistols go? Is there any chance that they are sold to the civilian market?
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Time and hard use is what is phasing out the Military's Hi-Powers. The military is taking their sweet time figuring out what to replace them with.

Round about zero % chance the Military sells them in a usable state.
 
Cameron SS said:
Ah. I don't know much about the manufacturing history of the company.

I bought a FN Browning Hi-Power once, thinking it was modern (that's what the seller thought), and in searching serial number archives discovered it was a prewar Belgian made Browning.

Have all the 1997 onward FN Brownings been made in Belgium?
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I'm not sure of the actual dates of different phases of Browning's production of their various guns, but my Hi-Power pistol (blued with wood) is Browning-branded and stamped "Made in Belgium Assembled in Portugal." FN has a facility in Portugal, so the manufactured parts were shipped there for assembly. I think there was division of global markets which had Browning sell the Hi-Power in N.America branded Browning and the same pistol sold in other parts of the world as an FN P35, but FN made them all.
 
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Cameron SS said:
I could be very wrong on that, but my understanding was the FN factories were destroyed during the war and didnt go back into production.
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No, when Germany occupied Belgium they took over the FN facilities and kept them in production for their own purposes. In fact, the High Power was the only handgun which was issued to military forces an both the Axis and Allied sides during WWII ...

http://www.acant.org.au/Articles/GermanBrowningHiPower.html
 
Here are a few of mine, along with the double-action and double-action-only variants that followed (with minimal commercial success). Note that FN continued to manufacture BHPs and the BDA-9 well into the 1970s, if not considerably later. I am no FN/Browning historian, so cannot say precisely when Fabrique Nationale ceased production. I do know that all of the "modern" BHP Mk IIIs were manufactered in Belgium and Assembled in Portugal, right up to the final production guns....

Canadian Inglis BHP MK I*:

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Browning Mk II manufactured by Fabrique Nationale Belgique:

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Browning Mk III manufactured by Fabrique Nationale Herstal / Browning SA, Belgium

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Browning Double-Action 9mm (BDA-9) manufactured by Fabrique Nationale Herstal Belgique

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Browning Arms Company, Morgan Utah & Montreal, PQ-Manufactured Browning Dual-Action (BDA) switches from Double-Action to Double-Action-Only "Police" mode:

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