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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, 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, 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 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. Although new Belgian Hi-Powers are no longer being built, clones are still being built in several countries, including India and Turkey.

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