Simple Action Work On the Browning Hi-Power

For many years, I regarded the Browning Hi-Power as a more complicated handgun than the Colt 1911 and avoided working on the pistol. As it turned out, most of what I thought to be fact was simply myth. The Hi-Power is little if any more complicated than the Colt 1911, and much of the basics I’ve learned in working with the Colt pistol served me well in exploring the Hi-Power.

There are several generations of the Hi-Power and more than a few clones and copies, but these instructions have proven accurate for each and every Hi-Power I’ve worked with. The pistols are true classics, well designed and often beautifully executed. Like many otherwise good pistols designed in the previous century, it has certain points that can be improved. The trigger action is often heavy and can be improved considerably by careful hand work.

The need to feed modern hollow point ammunition should also be addressed. Modern pistols are very good in this regard, but quite a few vintage guns feed nothing but ball ammunition. And there are the occasional troubles associated with long wear and hard use. Basic Upgrades Be certain the pistol is cleared of any ammunition and remove the magazine. Pull the slide to the rear and move the safety into the second notch in the slide. This will secure the slide. Pull out the slide lock from right to left.

When the safety is released from the second notch in the slide, the slide will run forward off of the frame. Move the safety lock to the fire position. You can now push the sear pin out from right to left. The ejector will then pivot down. With the ejector in the downward position, the safety can be pressed out. If you want to fit the extended safety from Cylinder & Slide Inc. now is the time.

Many like the looks and feel of this safety better than the modern extended Browning type, and, in my opinion, it is a must-have on older handguns. Next, the magazine catch is removed. Hold the catch in and use a small This gun is true to the Browning template; if you can work with the Browning, the FM presents no problems. screwdriver (I use the Chapman tool) to turn the magazine-catch spring guide and lift the magazine catch, button, and unit out of the frame.

To address the trigger action, start by looking into the trigger assembly. Study the relation of the parts as they sit in the frame, then begin by pulling the trigger pin from right to left to remove it. I use a small punch

and a minimal tap to begin the pin moving from the frame. Hold the pistol right-side up, and pull the trigger forward and upward. This allows the complete trigger assembly to come out of the gun intact. When you reassemble the pistol be certain the trigger pin is properly installed or you will have a walking trigger pin. The trigger pin can be reassembled backwards and the pistol will still function. See whether the groove in the pin is facing the muzzle or the butt.

The trigger-return spring fits into this groove; it’s a simple matter to look into the frame and see if the part is assembled correctly. Cross pins in the trigger body hold the trigger spring and magazine safety. Be certain to get a good look at all of the trigger parts before taking the assembly apart.

When working with the Hi-Power trigger, it’s important to be able to cut a flat surface with the honing stone. (See Chick Blood’s article on "Target Triggers" in the September 05 issue.) The trigger and sear should be squared as much as possible. I use a Spyderco stone. This operation takes some skill, but with time and a few repetitions, you will be able to give the trigger a smooth let-off. During the work, I unfailingly replace the factory hammer spring with a W. C. Wolff spring.

Be certain to use the #26 spring, as this is the spring designed for duty use. You will probably also wish to replace the trigger spring with a Wolff spring. After taking the trigger assembly apart and taking a hard look at the pieces, arrange them in the order they fit together in the pistol. The hammer strut will usually be rough with sharp edges. Stone these parts for better fit and smoothness. The sharp edges should be rounded.

The face of the hammer notch should be polished, but easy does it here; it should be smooth, but the angles should remain unchanged. The full-cock notch of the hammer can be shortened—almost impercep tibly—by careful stoning. Moving to the sear, note the 90-degree angle of the sear. The sear should be polished to as near a glass-smooth surface as possible.

The engagement face of the lower edge of the sear is usually chamfered at this point, an overlooked part of the process that adds up to a pleasingly smooth overall action. The sear spring should be polished where it contacts the sear and on the surface that is the point of contact. The trigger bar should be addressed next. The trailing edge of the trigger bar rides in the frame. This point should be polished lightly, or until the tool marks often present are gone.

With this work done and the pistol reassembled, the trigger action is often notably improved. I lubricate all contact surfaces with Tetra Lube and allow for a short break-in period. An important step in achieving a truly good trigger let-off is to "marry" the magazine safety and the magazine. The trigger assembly must work on a tangent to accommodate the Hi-Power’s high-capacity magazines in such a compact grip, and often this will result in friction against the magazine.

The magazine must be carefully polished and some metal removed to prevent this problem—and this means every magazine that will be used with the piece if good function is to be maintained. This is a "cut and try" operation, proceeding slowly and trying the magazine frequently. I do not recommend the removal of the magazine safety. The magazine safety is designed to prevent the pistol from firing if the magazine is not completely inserted; it doesn’t matter if the magazine is loaded or not.

The magazine safety bar bears against the magazine itself, and this can result in a poor trigger action. Many shooters report that simply removing the magazine safety results in a better trigger action. I prefer to polish the bar that rides on the magazine and "mate" the bar and the individual magazines by careful honing. This is the difference between working with a custom gun and a personal-defense pistol. All safety devices should remain intact with a personal-defense pistol.

Sure, many pistols don’t have a magazine safety at all, but any handgun that was built with one as part of the design should retain that feature if the gun is destined for service use. That being said, removal of the magazine safety for personal use is fairly simple to accomplish. Remove the trigger pin from right to left, and take the gun down as normal. Push the magazine safety inward, then rotate the trigger down and out.

There is a small pin at the rear of the trigger that holds the safety plunger and spring in place. Drift this pin out and remove the magazine safety and plunger. It is unimportant whether the pin is replaced or not. I find the trigger is softer in initial take-up with the mag safety removed, but, again, I feel that a smoothed trigger with the magazine safety intact is still a better choice—and is certainly a better idea for the gunsmith from the liability standpoint.

Throating for Hollowpoint Ammo Many Hi-Powers will effectively feed practically any bullet design, but not all of them will. My personal 1972 Hi-Power and every FM license-built clone I’ve owned feed the majority of modern ammunition without fail. But I occasionally run across a balky Browning. Sometimes the magazine is weak, allowing the bullet to take a

This is a nice setup that makes the Hi-Power well suited for concealed carry. nose dive on the feed ramp. Just the same, standard technique calls for removing burrs and polishing the feed ramp mirror smooth. I once experienced an interesting malfunction of the Hi-Power that calls for logging into the "anything-can-happen" book. After a trigger job, I found that one of my original FN pistols would occasionally lock the safety in the down or off position and not return to the on or safe position.

After firing the gun a bit, the problem would go away until the next range session. I could not get the pistol to malfunction in this manner at home in dry fire. Eventually, I discovered the source of the problem. The trigger bears against a lever that presses the sear, which strikes the hammer’s full-cock notch, dropping the hammer. The safety moves into position to stop all of this from happening. The safety cannot bear against the pressure of an out-of-spec sear or one that is not properly engaging.

I stripped the handgun and found not only a raised burr I had missed but several pieces of shaved brass from some of the ammunition I’d been firing. Cleaning and polishing was the answer. I don’t know how common this malfunction might be, but it has not reoccurred with this pistol. Parts Interchangeability On several occasions, I’ve fitted Cylinder & Slide Inc. triggers on FM clones, and worked with several FEG type Hi-Power clones. I have also done an action job on the Arcus pistol.

Overall, the principles and procedures are the same, but the parts are not interchangeable. The FM is a license-built clone and I have enjoyed excellent luck with these pistols. The parts are usually high quality internally, and the handguns take to improvements well. The Arcus parts seem harder than those of the FM, and more difficult to work with, but mine was an early example and I must reserve comment with a single example in my experience.

The FEG pistols often require more time in fitting an extended safety or a barrel, as they are not quite as close to the FN guns as the FM clones are. Of the Hi-Power clones, I’ve found the FEG guns to be considerably rougher internally than the FMs. They are reliable, but require more fitting than the FM guns will. There is also a short-slide FEG known as the Detective version available from the Dealer Warehouse The FM pistols are offered from the factory in this configuration.

There is considerable It’s easier to work with than either the 1911 or the P-38, pistols that came along before and after the Hi-Power. Reassembly is not tricky, if you memorize the position of the internal parts before disassembly, but may require a few tries to master.

effort required in managing to make a short-slide version of any pistol work well, but the Detective comes off quite well. There are differences including a full-length recoil guide rather than the enclosed spring of the standard Browning, which is retained in the full-length FM guns. Among the differences in the short FM is that the ejector is taller than on the early production Brownings.

As a result, the Detective-version slide will fit early Browning pistols, but the longer Browning slide will not fit an FM Detective because the ejector is taller on the FM pistol. This is no drawback, as few shooters will wish to do this sort of switch, but quite a few shooters may wish to put a short slide on the older Browning. This switch instantly produces a shorter, more compact carry gun, with excellent high-visibility sights and a barrel that is usually throated for hollowpoint ammunition.

I’ve had no problems at all with this setup on my older Hi-Powers. Conclusions The Browning Hi-Power is sometimes referred to as John Moses Browning’s second-best pistol—or his best pistol, depending upon which side of the fence you’re on and how great an affection you have for Browning’s Colt 1911. Personally, I enjoy working with both handguns very much and find the Hi-Power to be a serviceable and capable handgun.

In my estimation, the Hi-Power is an easier gun to work with than the 1911, and a fine all-around pistol that can be improved greatly with a small amount of attention. ■