Rarest of the High Powers | Collector's Guide

Super scarce FN High Power, one of the first 1100 pistols made with an oval ejection port, fully matching, for military evaluation/testing, prior to initiating large scale production. In the “FN Browning Pistols” by Vanderlinden, copyright 2013, only eleven examples had been reported to the author. VG-EXC original condition with sharp edge wear as one might expect from a holstered pistol that has seen careful use. An exceedingly scarce oval port FN Hi Power as trialed by the Belgian Military.
The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic handgun available in the 9mm and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized. FN Herstal initially named the design the "High Power", which alludes to the 13-round magazine capacity, almost twice that of other designs at the time, such as the Luger or Colt M1911.
During World War II, Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany and the FN factory was used by the Wehrmacht to build the pistols for their military, under the designation "9mm Pistole 640(b)". FN Herstal continued to build guns for the Allied forces by moving their production line to a John Inglis and Company plant in Canada, where the name was changed to "Hi Power". The name change was kept even after production returned to Belgium. The pistol is often referred to as an HP or BHP,[8] and the terms P-35 and HP-35 are also used, based on the introduction of the pistol in 1935. Other names include GP (for the French term, "Grande Puissance") or BAP (Browning Automatic Pistol). The Hi-Power is one of the most widely used military pistols in history,[9] having been used by the armed forces of over 50 countries. Although most pistols were built in Belgium by FN Herstal, licensed and unlicensed copies were built around the world, in countries like Argentina, Hungary, India, Bulgaria and Israel.
After 82 years of continuous production, FN Herstal announced that the production of the Hi-Power would end, and it was discontinued in early 2018 by Browning Arms. From 2019 to 2022, with new Belgian Hi-Powers no longer being built, new clones were designed by various firearm companies to fill the void, including GİRSAN, TİSAŞ and Springfield Armory, Inc. These new Hi-Power clones began competing with each other by offering new finishes, enhanced sights, redesigned hammers, beveled magazine wells, improved trigger and increased magazine capacity. However, in 2022, presumably to compete with the sudden surge in Hi-Power popularity, FN announced they would resume production of the Browning Hi-Power. The 2022 "FN High Power" incorporated a number of entirely new features such as a fully ambidextrous slide lock, a simplified takedown method, enlarged ejection port, reversible magazine release, wider slide serrations, different colored finish offerings and 17 round magazines.
Video produced by the Historic Investments, LLC team.

[@bopeacock1943]

I love John Browning but he had very little to do with the high power. Please don't take the credit away from the man who actually designed the gun. Dieudonne Saive give credit where credit is due

[@richardlahan7068]

Browning started the design but he died in 1926. Saive completed it.

[@FoxtrotFleet]

@@richardlahan7068 "Saive completed it." completely undersells his part in the design. Saive designed the magazine and turned JMB's rather strange sketches from a striker fired design into hammer fired streamlined Hi-Power we have today. It would be a radically different pistol if it were not for Saive.

[@randygroves1114]

Have a MK ll ,appreciate the recent enthusiasm in this pistol , thank you for your insight & knowledge

[@cheesenoodles8316]

Very nice. My 2nd favorite WWII pistol.

[@john2244]

Greetings from South Africa. Enjoyed the video. Thank you very much.

[@Qingeaton]

Now I know a bunch about something I will never see. Works for me, thanks.

[@davidstevens6117]

Beautiful pistols! Where does the "1000 Meter Hi-Power" described in Blake Stevens' book fit into this lineup? I know it was a very early version of the pistol, but I don't remember if it was a Belgian Army Trial Pistol or an early production example.

[@alinazht7063]

I consider myself an expert and lover of this pistol... But you added more to me... Thank you

[@mag318]

Now I know how to pronounce that correctly, thank you good Doctor.

[@historicinvestments2587]

You are welcome!

[@ipanzerschrecku4732]

Another great video. Have you seen one of the early Browning prototypes, in the flesh so to speak, before Saive took over? Not a very pretty pistol but striker fired with a different locking system made before the "1911" patents sold to Colt expired.
Also how do you rate the trigger pull of the FN Hi-Power compared to a 1911?
Do you know if there was any gentleman agreement between FN and Colt regarding divvying up the pistol market so Colt wouldn't move in on the doulble stack 9mm market and FN wouldn't move into Colts 45 honeypot? after all Colt had 1911 9mm Commander and a 9mm single stack alloy framed Combat Commander trialed by the British but Colt never went hang on the 9mm 1911 we have here could be double stack and would sell like hotcakes. Just wondering why they never ventured into the double stack 9mm market.

[@IBRAHIM-wq2cb]

It's amazing ❤

[@Attached_Alex_G_fan]

So my granpa has a browning high power from 1942 and it was my great granpas in the battle of Warsaw and It was really nice to shoot I was very excited

[@PYRO-ON]

Love ur channel…..I’ve got a 9mm MK1 HP INGLIS all matching serials w original Butt stock attachment ….what a joy to shoot, but don’t shoot hollow points out of them , for best preservation of the gun shoot quality normal rounds as it was intended for ….what do u think mine in very good condition will bring in todays market? I payed a pretty penny ($1,100) 20 years ago to get a collector to part with it. Do u think the entire package will bring over 2k nowadays?

[@douglasmcdowall5006]

I've been trying to nail down a production date on my Hi Power for years.. Its serial number 37510 with "Fabrique Nationale D'Armes De Guerre Herstal Belgique Browning's Patent Depose" on the slide. It has no German proof marks, it has a blade style sight and not the tangent, no stock groove, The Proof marks on the frame and slide are Lion over the letters PV (Poudre-Vive) and a star over a U (I would imagine this was an inspector's mark?) The barrel has the ELG over a star, inside of the oval with the crown (Conformation with German proof law of 1891), Poudre-Vive and the inspectors mark again and "CALm/mP" on the area of the ejection port, the serial number 37510 on the opposite side, as well as proof markings "W with a line under it" (I don't think this is 1984 or 1999 as it has an internal extractor.), S (1940 date code maybe?), with an upside down P or a lower case B. There is a proof mark on the butt of the pistol but it is too faint for me to determine. there appears to be a proof mark on the safety as well as on the original 13rd magazine (maybe a cursive lower case t a similar lightly stamped lower case t is in the slide behind the barrel) and the pistol has Checkered wood grips.

[@robertbrandywine]

How do you spell grande rond de ma? How is the front sight attached to the pistol you show at 00:59? Or is it machined as part of the slide?

[@absolutestubbornness6367]

My brother stumbled upon one of these for in the middle east. It’s gold and silver color with a lot of engravings and writings on it. Would you be able to identify an estimate value if I send you pictures?

[@claudio491970]

saludos !! . busco el pavonado original de la gp35

[@454FatJack]

AT 6:39 Free dropping magazines. Only USA has money to supply unit's with fresh pre loaded mag's, sorry. All other Armies do not want to loose their 2 usually issued with gun. FN does not even fire with out magazine, why.. You guessed it ,we others are not in Eldorado
Even orig Cz-75 had that same style in 15rds mag, New one's made for USA market I'm not so sure

[@33Luger]

I had read the idea of not firing without a magazine was a safety feature. Interesting note, of the several surplus hi-powers I own all still have their magazine safety installed.

[@j.murphy4884]

@@33Luger Ironically makes the gun less safe, to finish the reassembly process you have to insert a magazine in to the gun and pull the trigger to drop the hammer. Magazine safeties are always demanded by officers who've never actually been in the field.

[@juliankemp7038]

Excellent information!

[@azadwlat8359]

My dear friend..I am from Syria and own a Browning pistol..I want to know about my gun..because it does not look like any I have seen..

[@kodiakkeith]

What of the aluminum High Powers? A few of these have come in during the last 15 years. They have a GV and GVB prefix serial # and the one in my hands has an '84' presumably for 1984. Nobody seems to know how many were made or who they were originally made for. One story is that a contract for 2000 was made by the Austrian Border Guards, but was cancelled before delivery though there is no provenance for that story. Nobody seems to know much of anything of these High Powers. Even Ian of FW says only one prototype aluminum was made, but there are a few of them floating around the surplus market, usually sold by importers that don't even notice that the frame is aluminum.

[@jonathanvickers7169]

I have a nickel plated one, can you help me to date it please

[@user-of8ks9fp8o]

👍

[@Jun36521]

I like the second world war vintages

[@eliettedada6464]

Minesweeper@10000 bullets chargers#5chargers

[@mackenziemcintyre1378]

0:39 that's a canadian produced gun for the Chinese

[@phillipegner3343]

I have a 9mm hi power I wanna sell. It's not slotted and has the Nazi symbol

[@ferdiegonzales06]

for how much

[@Timmy2Tough]

My buddy has that exact one too

[@bobbyarnette1911]

Did you sell it