laststandonzombieisland

If you have followed this blog for over five minutes, you will know I’ve had a 40+ year love affair with the Browning Hi-Power and its clones.

With the passing of the OEM P35 in 2017, now some seven years later we have crossed a rubicon of sorts as the Browning Arms Co. has officially discontinued its Parts & Service program for the FN/Browning Hi-Power.

Luckily, perhaps the BHP custom shop that is doing the best work when it comes to the platform, BHSpringSolutions, has acquired Browning’s remaining inventory of Browning Factory Hi-Power function parts– including slide stock– and is using them both in its custom work and to produce a line of what they term Dual Caliber BH Advanced Masterpiece Hi-Powers.

And this from BH Spring on why it is a big deal about having Browning’s parts cache: 

In the history of the Hi-Power, I count at least 12 manufacturers who created well over 30 different models and versions and variants – and All of those Hi-Power Models are Serviced at the BHCustomShop Service Dept. For most of those various Hi-Powers, replacement parts are long gone.

So, one reason we wanted Brownings’ HP Parts: BHSpringSolutions uses Browning’s Factory HP Parts at our BHCustomShop Service Dept to keep over 30 different HP models running – they generally drop in everywhere and do the job.

Another reason: The consistency of quality and adherence to tolerances everywhere in the Hi-Power design is of utmost importance. Brownings’ quality of consistency in their HP parts production was very strong and commendable.

Another reason: There are still Hi-Power clones being imported into the U.S. that need certain Browning HP Parts to achieve correct function, so there’s no parts supply from that direction that interests us.

Probably the most influential reason, though, was because we know that FN/Browning is not going to ever make any more Hi-Power Parts again. In other words, when Browning decided to release their remaining inventory of Hi-Power parts, we knew “this is all there is”.

So, these are the primary reasons we wanted to acquire the remaining Browning Factory Hi-Power function parts.

Back to my question: What is the Service Life of a Well-Maintained Hi-Power pistol? If you ask Google this question, it probably references Stephen Camp’s Book where he estimated HP Service Life as 30,000 – 50,000 rounds, and barrel life to be 20,000 – 25,000 rounds. And I think those sound like reasonable guesses. However, we currently have at the BHCustomShop Service Dept a FEG Hi-Power that has a one-owner known round count of 108,000 and is on its third barrel. We’re rehabilitating his 108,000 round FEG because it doesn’t look or feel very presentable anymore – and it’s going to take replacement of all or most of the internals.

I think our friend with the 108,000 round FEG Hi-Power has gotten a lot of service-life-benefit because he concerned himself over the years with keeping his HP as well-maintained as he could.

I seem to remember that the Service Life expectation of the Beretta 92 (M9) was 50,000.

Many parts/components in the Hi-Power, or any other handgun, will not go 50,000 rounds without replacement. We refurbish and beautify a lot of Hi-Powers where the owners’ intentions for their Hi-Power is to be a family heirloom to be passed down to heirs someday. With a BHSprings Optimization and Servicing now, and a small supply of replacement springs and parts for the future, many Hi-Powers could be passed down to multiple generations and remain in perfect functional condition.

The Hi-Powers’ place as one of the Most Influential Semi-Auto Handgun Designs has already established history and is not subject to change – making them worthy of “family heirloom status”.

So, this is the complete answer about why BHSpringSolutions wanted to obtain the remaining Browning Hi-Power Factory Parts.

It is our pleasure to serve you,
Mark & Slav
BHSpringSolutions’ Co-Founders