Tag Archives: hi-power

Ukraine Tepid on Surplus WWII-era Hi-Powers, Canadians May Scrap

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Canada built its own, more Maple Leaf, version of theBrowning Hi-Powerin Toronto during World War II and may torch the survivors, as Ukraine apparently doesn’t want the vintage pistols.

The classic 9mm pistols were manufactured during the War in Ontario by John Inglis & Company, with a little help from Dieudonne Saive, the Belgian firearms engineer who helped design the gun in the first place.

Canadian-made No. 2 Mk1* Inglis Hi-Powers, produced between 1944 and 1945, are distinctive period BHP clones with the “thumbprint” slide, high rear sight, and internal extractor, features that FN discontinued by the early 1950s. (Photo: Canadian Forces Combat Camera)

These Browning-Inglis No. 2 Mk1* pistols remained in service until 2023, when they were replaced by the new C22, a variant of the SIG P320 ordered the previous year.

The Canadian Browning-Inglis production was aided during WWII by FN’s exiled staff, with the BHP’s co-designer, Dieudonné Saive, helping with the technical package, making these unofficial clones. Ultimately, an agreement was reached to pay FN a royalty of 25 cents after the war for each gun produced. (Photo: Guns.com)

With 11,000 surplus Inglis-made guns on hand in 2024, the Canadian government did what the Canadian government typically does and, saving 500 for museum pieces, moved to recycle (um, scrap) the rest. Then came the idea to instead offer them as military aid to Ukraine. I

t was a win-win for the Trudeau government, both saving the cash that would have been spent to destroy the guns and earning some kudos on the international stage by helping the embattled Ukrainians.

The thing is, flush with more than $61 billion in much more modern munitions given to Kyiv by the Biden Administration, and with major European arms makers setting up local production in Ukraine proper, those 10,500 very well-used Hi-Powers just didn’t seem that attractive, and the deal never happened.

So, as recently reported by the Ottawa Citizen, the Canadian government has returned to the original plan and has scrapped 2,000 of the highly collectible war veteran handguns and is once again asking Ukraine if they want the 8,500 or so guns still on hand.

If not, well, you know how this song goes.

Cue the Indiana Jones, “It belongs in a museum,” memes.

Royal Regulator: The “Inglis” L9A1 clone

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Tennessee-based SDS Arms, whose umbrella of brands includes Military Armament Corporation (MAC), Tisas, Tokarev, and Spandau, is bringing back the Inglis name to the American market.

At SHOT Show ’24, the company announced the L9A1 clone to include a black Chromate finish and plastic grips as well as three more commercial models: a black Inglis P-35B with walnut grips, the satin nickel Inglis P-35N with black G10 grips, and a color-case hardened Inglis GP-35.

We caught up with Jahred Gamez at the time to check out these new guns, which were “coming soon.”

Now, the Inglis guns are shipping, and we made sure to get a production model to review.

The L9A1 feels like a well-built BHP from the 1980s and mimics what would be marketed at around that time by Browning/FN as the Mk. II series gun. It is close to the T-series guns used by the British Army from 1964 to 2013 but with the benefits of more understated markings and an ambidextrous manual safety lever.

I say toss some beans on toast, grow your mustache out over your top lip, and cue up “God Save the Queen.” The only true Dr. Who was Tom Baker, and I’m not apologizing for it.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Back Again: Inglis Hi-Powers

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The original John Inglis and Company dated to 1937 (and even further back to the 1850s as the Mair, Inglis, and Evatt concern) and was based in Toronto.

Primarily a maker of home appliances – the firm was bought in 1987 by Whirlpool, Canada, and still operates there under the old banner – during World War II they did their part to help win the war and produced Bren light machine guns and Hi-Power pistols, making over 100,000 of each for the Allied cause, largely for KMT China and the Commonwealth. 

The Canadian Browning-Inglis production was aided during WWII by FN’s exiled staff, with the BHP’s co-designer, Dieudonné Saive, helping with the technical package, making these guns unofficial clones. Ultimately, an agreement was reached to pay FN a royalty of 25 cents after the war for each gun produced. (Photos: Library and Archives Canada/City of Toronto Archives/Canadian Forces)

A WWII-era Canadian-made Browning-Inglis No. 2 Mk1* Hi-Power, as found in the Guns.com Vault. Note the internal extractor and “thumbprint” slide, hallmarks of 1940s BHPs. These were imported in the 1980s by Navy Arms for like $300

Browning-Inglis No. 2 Mk1* Hi-Powers that had been produced in Toronto during the conflict remain in service with the Canadian military and are set to be retired shortly by a variant of the SIG Sauer P320, which will be type classified as the C22 in Canadian service.    

Other Inglis Hi-Powers went to the British military, who liked the pistol so much that it went on to adopt a slightly improved Belgian-made model in 1963, type classified as the L9A1, to finally kick the wheel gun habit the Brits had picked up back in the Crimean War with the Adams revolver. These Hi-Powers remained in service with the Brits until very recently when they were replaced by the Glock 17 while the Australians opted to go with a SIG-based replacement in 2022. 

The British (and Australian) L9A1 Hi-Power was generally more along the lines of the post-WWII Browning “T” series Hi-Power, typically with an external extractor and plastic grips. (Photos: Imperial War Museum/Australian War Memorial)

Now, SDS Imports, the Tennessee-based firm that includes the brands Tisas USA, Tokarev USA, Spandau, and Military Armament Corporation (MAC), has rebooted Inglis and intends to bring some period-correct Hi-Powers to the American consumer market.

The new company plans an L9A1-ish clone to include a black Chromate finish and plastic grips as well as three more commercial models: a black Inglis P-35B with walnut grips, the satin nickel Inglis P-35N with black G10 grips, and a color-case hardened Inglis GP-35. 

The planned Inglis L9A1 clone. Likely made by Tisas in Turkey but, if their past work is anything to judge, it is probably well-done

“The market demand has not been met for historically accurate Hi-Powers,” said Military Armament Corporation/SDS CEO Tim Mulverhill. “We’re planning for the L9A1 to influence the Hi-Power market the way the Tisas U.S. Army did in the 1911 market.”

Prices will range from $489 for the L9A1 to $649 for the GP-35. 

I’ll have the full details from SHOT Show later this month.

America’s Hat Gets its SIGs

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The Canadian Armed Forces have received its first batch of new 9mm pistols from New Hampshire-based SIG Sauer.

The CAF last October announced the planned acquisition of SIG Sauer P320 modular handguns in a $3.2 million deal for 7,000 pistols with an option for as many as 9,500. The SIGs are replacing World War II-vintage Maple Leaf-marked Browning-Inglis No. 2 Mk1* Hi-Powers that had been produced in Toronto during the conflict.

The Canadians adopted the Hi-Power in 1944.

The Canadian Browning-Inglis production was aided during WWII by FN’s exiled staff, with the BHP’s co-designer, Dieudonné Saive, helping with the technical package, making these unofficial clones. Ultimately, an agreement was reached to pay FN a royalty of 25 cents after the war for each gun produced.

The SIG pistols, type classified as the C22 in Canadian service, will equip the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, and Military Police.

As I have been covering in past years, the country has been trying to replace the aging classics since at least 2007 with the government and military officials running hot and cold on the process numerous times since then.

The C22 is a P320 modular, full-size, 9mm striker-fired pistol. The C22 contract pistol enhancements included an improved ergonomic design, 17-round capacity, and a loaded chamber indicator that is visible to the user at any angle. (Photo: SIG)

Verdict on the New (and Improved) FN High Power

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FN one-upped the now resurgent Browning Hi-Power race by distancing itself from the clone wars to deliver an improved and modern take on the pistol, the High Power (note the difference in spelling).

I’ve been looking at this new generation of the pistol over the past few months and, with 500 rounds and lots of careful evaluation and testing, have a lot to talk about.

Stoked with 17+1 rounds of Federal Hydra Shok Deep 135-grain JHPs in condition one, the High Power hit the scales at 43.5 ounces. While a hefty carry, for those who are fine with a full-sized pistol, you could do much worse than the High Power.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Last Inglis Hi-Powers Set to Fade Away

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Canada was the center of Allied Browning Hi-Power production during World War II with an estimated 150,000 crafted in Toronto by the John Inglis Company– which is now Whirlpool Canada.

Originally built for the KMT, complete with 300M sights and a wooden stock/holster, most Inglis Hi-Powers went on to be made in a simpler No. 2 format sans stock and with simpler sights.

While Nationalist China accepted 40,000 No. 1 models, the British took almost 50,000 simplified No. 2 models, and further deliveries were made to other allied countries, the Canadians kept around 20,000 No. 2s for themselves and have been using them ever since.

Canada has kept their No. 2 MK I  Inglis Hi-Powers in operation since 1944, using commercial BHP parts to keep them running.

Well, that is set to change next year as the last of these veteran Maple Leaf-marked Browning-Inglis models will be turned in, replaced by new SIG Sauer P320s.

The contract, announced last week by Canada’s Minister of National Defense, is valued at $3.2 million (USD) and will be for an initial batch of 7,000 P320 handguns with an option for up to 9,500. The pistols, type classified as the C22 in Canadian service, will equip the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, and Military Police.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Ever wanted a red dot on a BHP?

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EAA over the past couple of years has been bringing in the new MC P35 platform from Girsan in Turkey, and the guns, essentially clones of the old Mk III BHP, have proven to be popular. Not content to rest on that, the company has responded to calls to update the classic and earlier this year delivered the OPS series, which adds an accessory rail to the frame and a flat-faced trigger without the mush of a magazine safety plunger to overcome.

Now, the logically named new MC P35 OPS Optic goes one better and comes from the factory micro red-dot slide cut in the RMS/RMSc footprint.

Better yet, they even throw in an optic.

You have to wonder what John Moses Browning would think of such a creature…

More in my column at Guns.com.

FDE Times Two

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So on my plate in the next few weeks are these beauties by way of Fabrique Nationale’s hipper new American subsidiary, FN USA. I met both of these hoglegs in prototype/first run format at SHOT Show/NRAAM earlier this year and finally got hooked up with production versions of them for T&E purposes. 

The guns are the FN Five-seveN Mk3 MRD, the company’s third generation take on the 20+1 capacity 5.7x28mm pistol, and the new 17+1 9mm FN High Power, which looks a lot like Mr. Browning’s/M. Saive’s Hi-Power of old (notice the difference in spelling) but only looks that way.

Expect more on both very soon.

Battle of the (Hi-Power) Clones

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I’ve been kicking around a pair of 21st-century Hi-Power clones with two different origin stories, and we have a few things to talk about.

John Browning’s GP design, as delivered to the firearms world in 1935 via Fabrique Nationale’s resident gun genius Dieudonne Saive, was given its gold watch by FN in early 2018, and BHP fans the world over wept. While Turkish gunmaker Tisas briefly sent their Regent BR9 clone over here, other one-time Hi-Power clones such as Israeli-made Kareens and imports of the same branded by Charles Daly, Dan Wesson, and Magnum Research were history.

Then came 2021.

In September of that year, EAA announced they were on the cusp of bringing in the Girsan-made MCP35 from Turkey while Springfield Armory in October started hinting around at the gun they would soon introduce as the SA-35. Both were different takes on the classic Hi-Power of old, offering new ways to satisfy that eager fan base that was left with separation anxiety after FN exited the BHP biz.

Since then, I’ve given each of these newcomers a series of tests and evaluations, including putting over 1,000 rounds through each model. With that, let’s see how they stack up against each other – and the ghosts of Hi-Powers past with which they must contend.

At the end of the day, it boils down to why you want a Hi-Power in the first place. Both guns are better clones than I have seen in some past efforts under other banners (see the FEG, PJK, and the Bulgarian Arcus 94). Heck, even when stacked against late-model FN MK IIIs assembled in Portugal in the 2000s, there is little to grouse about. This is firmly an apples-to-apples comparison.

More on said apples in my column at Guns.com.

The Hi Power was Dead, then came the SA-35…

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A modern and attractive reboot of a classic complete with new features for a 21st Century market, Springfield Armory’s SA-35 has a lot going for it.

Introduced late last year, the SA-35 isn’t a page out of the old FN/Browning catalog, although it generationally has a lot in common with the latter’s 1960s “T/C-series” Hi-Powers. This includes an external extractor (a little foreshadowing is due here), ring hammer, and “smooth” slide, lacking the earlier thumbprint take-down scallop seen in guns prior to that time. I personally think the T/C-series was the summit of BHP evolution, so that’s a wise choice on Springer’s part.

When Browning halted production of the Hi-Power in 2017– let’s just admit they allowed it to wither on the vine for 20 years beforehand– it started the clock running for someone else to pick up the design and run with it. Cue Springfield.

So far, I’ve put 1K rounds through the SA-35 since last November, and have a full report in my column at Guns.com.

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