Posted: 11/5/2013 7:20:32 PM EDT
| Ive been looking to pick up my first HP from Coles and it seems he offers either standard Hi-Powers or HP35s. They look ver much alike to me, is there a difference? Is one better than the other for the casual shooter, or for collectors value? Again, apologies if that is a dumb question. |
Except for the Hungarian FEG P9/PJK-9HP, FEG made but Luger/Mauser/Parabellum marked P9s, FEG made "FN" Counterfeits, Kareens...made mostly with FEG parts and the odd Inglis...all the Browning High Power pistols sold by Cole's were manufactured by FN, regardless whether the slide is marked Fabrique Nationale or Browning Arms. Browning Arms was just the North American distributor for FN up until 1977 when they became part of the FN conglomerate. Keep in mind, many of these pistols saw the armorers bench and sometimes there is no telling what parts were replaced...and whether those parts originated in Belgium or Hungary. Cole's BHP pistols have an excellent reputation throughout the BHP forums though...I've go "several" of the FEG and genuine FN variations myself 
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WADR, if I may offer: The name Grande Puissance…meaning High Power, has nothing to do with FN's earlier efforts to win a pistol contract from the French government. The Grande Puissance is named Grand Puissance simply because the official language of the Belgian manufacturer Fabrique Nationale is French. GP35…as well as P35 as pointed by Avidrook, refers to the official adoption of the Grand Puissance by the Belgian Military…in 1935.
By way of explanation: the French released what would be called today an RFP…Request for Proposal, for a new military pistol shortly after WWI. FN had Dieudonné Saive develop a 15 round magazine to fulfill a requirement of that RFP. The Saive magazine and his modified FN M1903 pistol were provided to JMB who then designed a pair of pistols to utilize the Saive magazine design and forwarded them to FN with his son Val. FN chose the locked breech design, modified it and built trials pistols which were shown to the French Military in 1922. This was BTW, a large striker fired pistol with an en-block mechanism and a slide running inside the frame ala’ Sig P210/CZ75. To make a long story short, the French jerked FN around for years through changes in the RFP, and FN modified that original JMB design several times through the 1920's. FWIW, JMB applied for US patents for the FN improved version of his locked breech design in 1923, JMB died in 1926 while @ FN working on his final effort…a shotgun. The US patents weren’t granted until 1927. FN eventually tired of the French games and instructed Saive to design a new pistol for the world market, a pistol that might still also appeal to the French…in the unlikely event they came to their senses, though their RFP had by then morphed to favor domestic French designs. Saive incorporated the JMB barrel lock-up and articulated trigger design…from the 1922/1923/1925 trials pistols offered to the French, combined with elements of his own design, and even some elements of the...by then expired, Colt 1911 patent, to come up with his FN Model of 1928. Saive continued to make minor tweaks to his 1928 pistol...which, unlike the original JMB and 1922/1923/1925 designs, actually looked like a BHP of today…so much so that it would fit in a BHP holster of today. FN first offered that pistol in their 1929 commercial catalog...though, as per FN's business model at that time, no production pistols were going to be built until they secured a substantial contract. The Great Depression popped up and put a crimp in FN's plans...until the Belgian Military professed an interest in the pistol in 1931 and ordered a thousand field trials pistols in 1933…FN called these pistols the Grand Rendement. The Belgian Military suggested minor changes to include making the MDS more of a magazine brake, and adopted that improved pistol as the Grande Puissance in 1935. FWIW, BAP in Irish Service stood for “Browning Automatic Pistol”…I understand they use the HK USP now. |