Ammo for Browning Hi Power

[gmerkt]

I got five Browning Hi Powers in the stuff that came from Dave. Four 9mm and one .40 S&W. One 9mm was a fancy nickel plated gun, I never fired it before I sold it off. The .40 I've fired and no issues. It's the three remaining 9mm's that concern this post.

In the past, I've owned a couple of Hi Powers and don't remember these issues. What I'm talking about is, these pistols don't want to work right unless I fire full power loads. I shoot a lot of 9mm that I've reloaded myself. I don't load to the high end of powder charge. My Glock G19 will shoot anything. The Smith & Wesson Model 39's will shoot anything. My Colt Gov't Model doesn't like wide, blunt nose bullets but everything else will go down the tube. The Walther P38's will shoot most anything but one with a phosphate finish on the ramp gags on wide hollow points. Oh, the newly acquired Sig Sauer P225 will shoot anything.

The Brownings I think come with a 17 pound recoil spring. 18.5 is recommended for hot rod loads. 15 and 16 are available. I think I will look into softer springs for shooting lighter loads.

One of the 9mm's I had to clean well. Dave was a hoarder, not a shooter. He'd buy a gun and put it away and never look at it again. The oil in one of them had turned to varnish over the years, the slide was sticky on the rails.

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[dangerranger60]

My WWII Canadian HP would only function with euro spec or 124 gr Mil spec ammo. My newer [ 90's era] clone would feed most any ball ammo. DR

 

[gmerkt]

Of the three Hi Power's mentioned above, blued one with target sights made in 1975. Another blued one with standard sights, made in 1986. Third one, Parkerized with standard sights made in 1988. None of them have a ring hammer, all have the spur design hammer.

The .40 S&W was made in 1999. This one is low end, it has what looks like a black enamel paint finish. Browning made a higher end version in the usual deep blue finish. The .40's are kind of strange birds. The frame is different from the 9's. Here is a reversal of conventional wisdom: After they started making these with the usual forged frames, it was discovered that after XX number of rounds fired, some of the forged frames cracked. So they re-engineered the frame, making it out of cast material. Which was stronger and didn't crack. The change was made around 1992, so mine has the cast frame. The .40 has been discontinued. Considering the wind-down of popularity of the cartridge in the US, it probably won't go back into production.

As nice as blued Hi Powers look on the outside, when you take one apart and look around the inside, they have somewhat of a semi finished look to them. The edges on parts aren't clean and smooth like you'd see in just about any contemporary 1911, for example. I'm talking about the ones I own, maybe the ones made today are different.

 

[uberguy]

I got five Browning Hi Powers in the stuff that came from Dave. Four 9mm and one .40 S&W. One 9mm was a fancy nickel plated gun, I never fired it before I sold it off. The .40 I've fired and no issues. It's the three remaining 9mm's that concern this post.

In the past, I've owned a couple of Hi Powers and don't remember these issues. What I'm talking about is, these pistols don't want to work right unless I fire full power loads. I shoot a lot of 9mm that I've reloaded myself. I don't load to the high end of powder charge. My Glock G19 will shoot anything. The Smith & Wesson Model 39's will shoot anything. My Colt Gov't Model doesn't like wide, blunt nose bullets but everything else will go down the tube. The Walther P38's will shoot most anything but one with a phosphate finish on the ramp gags on wide hollow points. Oh, the newly acquired Sig Sauer P225 will shoot anything.

The Brownings I think come with a 17 pound recoil spring. 18.5 is recommended for hot rod loads. 15 and 16 are available. I think I will look into softer springs for shooting lighter loads.

One of the 9mm's I had to clean well. Dave was a hoarder, not a shooter. He'd buy a gun and put it away and never look at it again. The oil in one of them had turned to varnish over the years, the slide was sticky on the rails.

You sound pretty knowledgeable, so maybe you already understand this, but 1911s and Hi-Powers can be sensitive to round load types, as related to any of 3 things or in combination: Recoil Spring Weight, Mag springs and extractors. You said "don't work right" not specifying failure to feed, or eject. I'd try messing around with the first two spring types for the best load balance, only lastly the extractor if failing to eject.

 

[gmerkt]

You said "don't work right" not specifying failure to feed, or eject.

In this matter, the lower charge cartridge loads and fires okay, it extracts but fails to eject before the slide wants to close back into battery. Higher charge cartridges work just fine.

 

[Retrokickz]

I had this same issue with my Hi-power with hand loaded 9mm. Seems to be kinda temperamental with hand loads. Mine is a later model than yours, i don't remember the exact year but mid-late 1990s. I never made any mods to my gun, just started loading my rounds a bit hotter. I suppose a light recoil spring should help though, ive seen other people do that and it seemed to make the gun function better across various handloads.

 

[monkeybutler]

I've never had ammo related issues with either of my Hi-Powers. Though I have shot nothing other than nicer brass cased FMJ target and JHP, all in 124gr.

One is a 2008 mk3 and the other is a 1973 with a full workover by Novak's. So neither is an older stock pistol.

 

[aasbra]

Although not a Browning, I have/have owned two clones. A Tisas Regent BR-9, and a Springfield SA35. I only shot my handloads in both of them, maybe a bit of factory FMJ 124 grain RN in the SA35. Both guns were stock as far as all the springs go. Don't recall ever having an issue with feeding cartridges. My Dad has a 90s vintage Browning Hi Power. I've shot it a decent amount over the years with his handloads. It worked fine also, but he does like to load stuff more on the hot end that I do. Not sure how his gun would do with the ammo I load for mine, which are more moderate, target/plinking loads that run around 1,100 FPS +/-

 

[titsonritz]