Posted: 1/13/2007 4:55:44 PM EDT
| Dealer at a recent fun show had a what-looked-to-be NIB HiPower that had a bobbed hammer and was labeled as a "DAO HiPower". All visible aspects looked correct, even the stamping on the slide. Since when does/did FN/Browning make a DAO HiPower, and does anyone have any experience with same? Thanks |
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K.B.I. Inc. imported a look a like HP years ago made by FEG. Sorry, but I can't remember the model number. Haven't seen one in quite sometime. (late response): Browning also made the BDM which was a DAO only with a unique selector that would switch it back to SA. Can't remember exactly how it worked but I'm sure a engine search will answer all your questions. |
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Browing developed the HP-DA in 1983 (the year I graduated). It was called the Browining Double Action in the US. It was basically a high power with a shortened hammer spur, and a squared off trigger guard to improve two hand hold, and a decocking lever. Due to the unpopularity of a double action Hi Power (heresy) and a less than wonderful trigger pull it was out of production by 1987 (the year I got my B.S. degree). A few years later Browning re-introduced the concept with the BDA9 and BDAO. The BDA9 was a double/single action pistol like the BDA, but with a larger decoker lever and new trigger design. The BDAO was a double action only pistol with no safety or decocking lever and an all but flush hammer. As far as I know it is still available, although I can't remember the last time I saw one. |
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The FN HP-DA and BDA9 both share a hammer shaped like the one on the HP-SFS. However, the HP-SFS is in all other respects a Hi Power while the FN-DA and BDA9 have a larger squared off trigger guard and a longer obviously DA trigger. The cuts where the slide and frame thin toward the front of the gun are also vertical on the Hi Power while they are angled forward on the HP-DA and BDA9. The HP-DAO looks a lot like the HP-DA and BDA9 except it uses a hammer that is bobbed to an even greater extent with no real spur at all on top. The HP-DAO is also very Glock like in that it has no safety or decocking lever while the HP-DA, BDA9 and HP-SFS all have something in the spot where the frame mounted maunal safety or decocking lever normally lives. |
| I don't have much personal experience with one, having only handled but not shot one, and haven't heard much about them. What I have heard, and felt, is that they aren't a Hi Power, ergonomically speaking . href=Browning DA / FN HP-DA / BDA9 / BDAO (Belgium) |
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In my opinion if you want a double action Hi Power, get a CZ 75. Grip wise it is very much like a Hi Power and in fact Pachmeyer grips for the Hi Power fit the CZ. The major difference is that the CZ grip is slightly longer to accommodate an honest 15 round magazine. Otherwise, in single action mode the trigger is in a nearly identical location and the overall ergonomics are very similer. |