Tag Archives: FN Herstal

The Short-Lived (Shorter Than You’d Think) Browning Classic Hi-Power

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John Browning’s swan song handgun design, the Hi-Power, had reached its zenith by the mid-1980s, and a special run from that heyday is breathtaking. 

Mr. Browning filed patents in 1923 for what would become the Hi-Power just three years before he died in Liege, Belgium, his workshop at FN left empty. This final concept pistol, finished by Belgian firearms designer Dieudonné Saive– the man from whose mind later sprung the FN FAL– entered production in 1935 and would remain a staple of the company until 2018 when it was discontinued. 

Across that 83-year run, the Hi-Power, like any firearm platform, evolved through several generations with the Belgian-made T and C-series pistols of the 1960s and 70s often regarded as the high water mark of the design. By the late 1980s, the Belgian-made/Portuguese-assembled guns shipped with a magazine safety which typically meant a gritty trigger, a much plainer finish, and plastic grips.

To celebrate the Hi-Power, which was coming up on its 50th year of production in 1985, FN produced the Browning Classic series which included engraved “1 of 5,000” pistols and gold-inlayed “1 of 500” pistols, with some set aside for sale in limited three-gun sets with similarly engraved Auto-5 and a Superposed Superlights. However, actual production numbers fell short of the monikers, with less than 2,850 engraved Browning Classic Hi-Powers of all types constructed between 1984 and 1986.   

The standard “1 of 5,000” Classic Hi-Powers featured multiple engraved scenes and fine leaf, floral pattern scroll with black background along both the slide and frame, a special silver-gray “French” finish, presentation walnut grips, a gold trigger, and a matching walnut presentation box. The engraving, which included a portrait of Mr. Browning, was signed by the in-house engraver on the bottom right of each slide.

Check out this one that recently came through the Guns.com warehouse. 

A closer look at Jolly’s new guns

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The new Jolly runs FN’s updated EGM on both sides of the airframe

The next generation of “Jolly Green Giants” ride shotgun with a new gun mount system that was developed for the Air Force by FN. 

The mission of Combat Search and Rescue, or C-SAR, helicopters for the Air Force dates to Vietnam, where large camouflage-painted Sikorsky HH-3Es were given armor and machine guns for protection. Nicknamed the “Jolly Green Giant” for obvious reasons, the HH-3E was replaced by the smaller but more modern HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters in the 1980s. Then, with the Pave Hawks showing their age, the Air Force in 2016 embarked on a program to field the new HH-60W Jolly Green II Combat Rescue Helicopter. 

And the service wanted the next generation of Jolly Green to tote a better weapons suite, with FN getting the call from HH60W contractor Lockheed Martin to come up with something special.

Whereas FN already made the fast-firing (1,100 rounds per minute) M3 .50-caliber machine gun – which the Marines had already fielded as the GAU-21 – and a Medium Pintle System to mount it on helicopters, the new flexible mount on the HH-60W was made capable of carrying either the Air Force’s legacy GAU-18 .50-caliber machine gun with a 650- to 800-rounds-per-minute fire rate as carried on the HH-60 Pave Hawk, the M3/GAU-21, and the GAU-2, a 7.62mm NATO caliber electric M134 minigun with a 3,000 rounds-per-minute fire rate.  

The Air Force performed live-fire testing on the HH-60W Jolly Green Giant in August 2020 at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida “to verify the weapons systems functionality, accuracy, and to demonstrate the guns are safe to employ operationally.” (U.S. Air Force photos by Tech. Sgt. John Raven)

Further, the new mounts allowed the helicopter’s left- and right-side mounted guns to rotate independently, providing an almost 360-degree firing arc – including straight ahead. 

“This unique hybrid solution offers the user the capability to maximize the use of the machine gun in a wide firing window, allowing both lateral and fixed forward protection or target engagement,” notes FN. “It allows suppressive fire against light armored vehicles, suppressive fire in landing zones, and ground and aerial threat suppression.”

FN announced this month the company delivered 10 prototype mounts between 2016 and mid-2019 for use in initial flight operations and Air Force validation tests.

This was followed with 25 shipsets (each of two mounts in left-hand side and right-hand side configurations along with dedicated ammunition boxes for each caliber) delivered by October 2022, at which time the Air Force declared the HH-60W “combat ready.”  

The company began full-rate production of what is now dubbed the FN External Mount Gun System last November. Soon after, the Air Force announced that the 347th Rescue Group, operating with HH-60Ws, rescued two U.S. service members from a battlefield in the Horn of Africa in late December, the aircraft’s first CASEVAC mission.

Ultimately, the Air Force program of record calls for 113 helicopters to be delivered. 

Meet the FNH HiPer, not to be confused with the Hi/High Power

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Belgian-based FN Herstal this week announced its all-new 9mm NATO handgun pitched to defense and security markets: the FN HiPer.

A clear play on words from the old Browning/FN Hi-Power, which was the most prolific handgun in the Free World for most of the last half of the 20th Century, the new HiPer was fully designed, developed, and manufactured in Belgium. This is a change from the Hi-Power, which was assembled in its final years in Portugal, and from the newly-announced FN High Power which is made in South Carolina by FN America.

Basic specs of the polymer-framed striker-fired pistol are a 3.94-inch barrel with a 7.08-inch overall length and a 15+1 magazine capacity. Weight is 25.75 ounces, unloaded. This puts it about the size of a Glock 19, S&W M&P M2.0 Compact, or CZ P-10 C. For that matter, these specs read almost identical to the FN 509 Midsize.

Among the more advanced facets of the HiPer are what FNH says is a straighter, more optimized grip angle, which helps with the controllability of the pistol’s low bore axis.

The surface controls are also curious, featuring an ambidextrous slide catch located where a frame-mounted safety normally is, thus, according to FNH “prevents any accidental activation by the user,” and a rotary magazine catch rather than a push-button, paddle, or heel release. FNH contends the new-style release allows the user to “reliably change magazines in seconds without shifting grip while staying aligned on the target.”

So, in other words, the big sliding lever on the grip is a mag release, while the manual safety lever isn’t– it’s the slide catch. Talk about a Belgian waffle…

More in my column at Guns.com.

FN Teases new HiPer Combat Pistol

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Belgian-based FN Herstalis teasing a new full-sized 9mm pistol, intended to be the heir to the vaunted Hi-Power, the HiPer. 

“Since its inception over 130 years ago, FN Herstal has continuously brought innovative, small caliber oriented solutions, with most of them becoming world references on the Defense and Security markets,” noted the company in a statement on Tuesday. “One of the most legendary examples is the FN Hi-Power, which was the reference pistol for military and law enforcement for a long time.”

Of note, the Hi-Power was the default military sidearm for most of the Free World (and some of the guys on the other side) from World War II until the Glock 17 came around and dethroned it in the 1990s. Legacy stocks of Hi-Powers soldier on in the militaries of Australia, Canada, and India, among others. 

Speeding past any mention of this year’s new High Power, unveiled at SHOT Show in Las Vegas in January by FN America, the Belgians this week released a 42-second sizzle reel showing off elements of the FN HiPer to include a magazine capable of holding at least 15 rounds, a very slim straight grip, forward slide serrations, an optics-ready slide, and what appears to be a sliding magazine release. The overall profile is much different from current FN models such as the FNXor 509 series. 

About the best image I  could get from the HiPer teaser video. Alternatively, the sliding surface control on the grip or the apparent switch to the rear could be a selector switch, which is very cool but drops the possibility of it ever reaching the U.S. to about zero.

The official release is set for May 31. Plumbing the depths of trademark and patent filings, FN Herstal secured the HiPer trademark with the USPTO last September.

I reached out to FN America and were told that the HiPer, for now at least, is an FN Herstal product, and they will not have it on display at the upcoming NRA Annual Meetings.

Either way, stay tuned for updates.

FN Keeps Raking in that Sweet, Sweet, Machine Gun Money

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FN had several advanced models on display at last month’s SHOT Show in Las Vegas.

Including an MK48, or Maximi, which blends the M249 SAW/Minimi program with a 7.62 NATO caliber.

Developed in conjunction with SOCOM, it only weighs 18 pounds. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

FN also had one of its new Evolys platforms on display, which offers either a 12-pound belt-fed machine gun in 5.56 NATO or a 14-pound model in 7.62 NATO.

I’ll take 10 for starters, please. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

It seems to be good money if you can get it. Speaking of which, the U.S. Army Contracting Command just awarded FN another $50 million contract for M240 Lima models.

Of note, the company set up its U.S. franchise in 1981 specifically to make M240s for Uncle Sam, and the line is still going strong 40 years later.

More Vulcans

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The Pentagon on Wednesday announced a 10-year contract to General Dynamics-Ordnance & Tactical Systems for new M61A1 Vulcan 20mm guns.

The firm-fixed-price award, for $88,275,000, was granted to Gen Dyn by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, based at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. Classified as an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity requirements contract, it will cover the purchase of new M61A1s in support of the F-16 fighter aircraft. Of this amount, some $7.8 million in funds set aside for Foreign Military Sales were obligated. Notably, 25 overseas allies fly the aircraft along with Venezuela, which probably doesn’t rate FMS dollars anymore.

Battlefield Vegas’ 20mm Vulcan nicknamed ‘The Hand of God’ at the Big Sandy Shoot October 2018. (Photo: Ben Philippi / Guns.com)

More on the Vulcan contract, and Gen Dyn’s work on the Next Generation Squad Weapon for the Army, in my column at Guns.com.

Blue Devils with SCARs

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The famed “blue devils” of the French Army’s 13e Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins (13e BCA) date back to before the Crimean War, when they were initially raised as the plain old 13e Bataillon Chasseurs à Pied (13e BCP), fighting as such in Algeria, the Italian unification wars, and the Franco-German War.

Transitioning into crack mountain infantry in 1888, they guarded key Alpine passes in peacetime, then in the Great War fought in the Vosges, the Somme, in the Italian Alps against the Austrians, and generally everywhere they were needed, earning seven unit Croix de Guerre by 1918.

“Les Diables Bleus” WWI Chasseurs Alpins by Georges Bertin Scott, circa 1915

The blue devils received their name due to their dark blue uniforms and large berets, retained to this day in their service and dress uniforms. Hard fighters, their motto is “Jamais être pris vivant,” (Never to be Taken Alive)

French blue devils Chasseurs alpins uniforms by Hector Large

French blue devils Chasseurs alpins marching order uniforms by Hector Large

Interbellum, they remained on the move for the Occupation of Germany, with vacations in sunny Tunisia to fight insurgents for the glory of the Republic.

Chasseurs alpins during the Occupation of the Ruhr in Buer (now Gelsenkirchen), 1923. Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-09896

In WWII, following honors in the battle for Narvik against German mountain troops trying to hold on to Norway, they returned home to be dissolved by the Vichy government, leaving most of its members to shrug and quietly join the maquis resistance. Reforming their battalion in August 1944, they fought for and captured the Grand Roc Noir (11,752 ft) from the Germans before descending into the Aosta Valley in Italy by the end of the war.

French Chasseurs Alpins showing off a captured MG42 in the Alpine mountains, January 1945.

Since then, they fought in Algeria, prepared for mountain combat in the Cold War, and, since that thawed, have been very busy in recent years with deployments to Bosnia, Lebanon, Chad, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Djibouti.

Why all this about the 13th BCA?

Well, they were chosen to be the first unit of the French Army to receive the FN SCAR H PR series precision rifle in 7.62 NATO, for use by their designated marksmen and snipers out to 800m.

The guns will replace the old MAS-derived GIAT FR F2 bolt gun that has been the French standard sniper rifle since the 1980s.

In several ways, the fusil à répétition modèle F2 is really just an updated MAS-36 in 7.62 NATO

More in my column at Guns.com.

Incidentally, the Chasseurs Alpins wear a distinctive piece of headgear: an oversized beret they call la tarte, or ‘the pie, ‘ and it is actually more useful than you think.

1st Lieutenant Clement from the 27th Brigade Chasseurs Alpins unit explains the various uses of la tarte, from keeping your feet warm to protecting your eyes from the sun. Clement and his fellow mountain infantry soldiers deployed to Rena, Norway, for Exercise Brilliant Jump 22, which tested the ability of the very high-readiness component of the NATO Response Force:

Cracking the Army’s Budget Book on SmallArms

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The Army’s recently announced budget request for the fiscal year 2022 includes at least $114 million for new rifles, handguns, and the next generation of small arms. 

While the overall FY2022 Defense Department Budget is $112 billion, most of the non-operational dollars are for high-level R&D and big-ticket items like the F-35 fighter. The Army’s budget book for weapons and tracked combat vehicles meanwhile has a low nine-figure ask when it comes to individual small arms. 

The bulk ($97 million) is to go to the Next Generation Squad Weapons, with much of the balance to acquire new Barrett-made Precision Sniper Rifles, and a few crumbs for M4s, M17s, and the like.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Army Publically Reaffirms Their Love of the M240

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The adage for the past couple of decades among Joes (skip this if you are sensitive as it may be NSFW) is that the 5056 NATO-caliber M249 SAW is like a high-maintenance first wife: you have to pamper and court her and maybe, just maybe, she will work out. The 7.62 NATO-chambered M240 on the other hand, is just a dirty whore: no matter what you do to her, she’ll keep on working through the night, rain or shine.

Thus endith the addage.

There may be some smoke to that, as, in my experience, I have never seen any but a factory fresh and over-lubed SAW run a full 200-round belt without a stoppage under field conditions whereas I have also seen some downright grungy and funky M240s chew through belt after belt. This may be why the Marines have largely dumped the SAW for the M27 IAR and the Army is looking to move on to the NGSW-AR to put the M249 in the rearview.

As further reinforcement to the M240 not going anywhere any time soon, Picatinny Arsenal just issued a five-year $92 million contract for more deliveries of that beautiful FN-made GPMG.

I got to see how the magic happens on FN’s 240 lines back in 2019, and these things are built like a tank.

Could the Army Ditch Brass for Plastic?

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The hybrid polymer-cased cartridge, developed by Texas-based True Velocity as part of the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program, is compatible with legacy firearms as well.

The 6.8mm TVCM composite case design, coupled with the Army’s 6.8mm (.277-caliber) common cartridge projectile, was originally developed and optimized for use in the NGSW-Rifle and NGSW-Automatic Rifle submissions submitted to that military program by General Dynamics-OTS. It performs better ballistically than 7.62 NATO and weighs 30 percent less.

However, using what True Velocity characterizes as a “switch barrel” capability, they have demonstrated it can work with much of the Army’s currently fielded small arms including the M240B belt-fed machine gun, the M110 semi-automatic sniper system, and the M134 minigun.

Which could mean that, even if NGSW tanks, there could be a revolutionary advance in the ammo used by U.S. troops in the near future.

More in my column at Guns.com.

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