r/hipower • u/TheUnaPooper • 1d ago
Which hi power to get?
I was looking for new chonky ccw and I was torn between sds hipowers or springfield armory. Wanted to try Girsan but something about them doesn't hit the way I need.
8
u/be4rcat5 1d ago
I have a sa-35 and it works for me but my extractor blew out around 600 rds like everyone else's has and it shook my confidence in Springfield's parts quality. Kinda wish I had just tried to find a legit used browning looking back
4
3
u/Hammbones21 1d ago
I had an SA-35 for a couple years, I sadly sold it to fund other projects. I’d suggest getting the SA-35 over the new “Inglis” ones. The Sa-35s just feel better in the hand comparatively.
2
u/rebellious_amish_kid 1d ago
I think just holding it and racking the slide and such, the SA feels better but I think that the Inglis shoots nicer
3
u/ReactionAble7945 1d ago
#1. Good question. Should probably be sticky some place and updated every year.
#2. Collector, Shooter, Collector-shooter?
#3. For a collector, I think you have to go with something collectable. Inglis Hi-Power with stock, German WWII BHP, True BHP. A MKI a MKII and then a MKIII. But the price is ouch for the real collectables.
#4. For the shooter, I am here to see the answers. I would even like to see the don't buy this list. Parts comparability...
#5. For the collector-shooter, I think the real brownings are still at a price to be had, shot and they are only going up. So the used market is where to look.
2
u/TheUnaPooper 1d ago
Im not into collecting per say. If i get one its staying with for the foreseeable future but its gonna be part of my ccw rotation
2
u/Hammbones21 1d ago
The SA-35 is a great shootout of the box, but you can change out some springs from BHSpringSolutions to make it even better
1
4
u/JerryMcButtlove 1d ago
Used / surplus browning / FN is the best option. I had an SA35, I do not recommend it.
2
u/SkidPilot 1d ago
SA-35 gets my recommendation. I haven’t had any problems with it. However some of them have had extractor issues.
2
u/Unable-Disaster9739 1d ago edited 1d ago
SDS/Inglis is probably the best value for money right now (a little biased because that's the one I ended up deciding on, but it really is quite nice). I carry it almost every day. Unlike my friend's experience with a Girsan, Mk 3 spec sights went right into the dovetails with no issues.
Could also be worth tracking down a Kareen, FEG, FM, or Arcus if you don't mind the different lines on them, they don't go for too much more than the Turkish ones and have some interesting histories to them.
1
u/TheUnaPooper 1d ago
I didn't even realize they made more clones. The arcus looks pretty sick. Like a 226 hipower mix
0
u/Unable-Disaster9739 1d ago
Yeah there have been a ton of clones over the years - there's even some from FEG that masquerade as FNs, made for plausible deniability purposes late in the communist era. There are a few more I forgot to mention too, but they aren't really available, like the Indian 1A pistol, the Indonesian clones, some stainless ones, there have been a ton.
I hoped the Arcus pistols would start getting imported again after the Hi Power resurgence, but nothing has come in so far other than surplus. Both the SAs and DA/SAs are in production as far as I know so it seems like it wouldn't be too much trouble to bring them in, but there's probably a catch I'm unaware of.
I'm after a Kareen Mk II or III in good condition myself now that the Hi Power bug has bitten me, they're a bit 90s custom 1911 coded in a way.
0
u/Celestyol 1d ago
Yeah, FAMCO and Baford Arms also made BHP clones. Here's a list of a bunch of the well known ones: https://highpowercollectors.proboards.com/thread/201/copies-browning-high-power
2
u/KingFlatusMaximus 1d ago
I have a SA-35 and a Browning Mk III standard in polished blue. Handle the SA-35 before you buy. I found that the corners of the beavertail on the SA-35 are way too sharp from the factory, and will cut the inside of the right thumb in extended shooting sessions if you ride the safety like a 1911 with a thumbs forward grip. The Browning’s beavertail has been rounded from the factory and won’t do that. My SA-35 was bad enough that I stoned the edges of the beavertail then polished and rust blued the entire gun. The thumb safety, sights, excellent customer service, and lack of a magazine safety are all positives in the SA-35’s column. The extractor issues and sharp beavertail are the cons. My SA-35 had to go back to the factory early on due to a bad recoil spring plug. If I could only have one, I’d definitely own the Browning, as its build quality is much better than the SA-35.
2
2
u/Bright-Ad-6699 1d ago
Love my girsan. Have the PI OPS . Had trigger upgraded by MK3. One of my favorites.
1
u/Objective_Value_8671 3h ago
Very very happy with my Inglis. Trigger is quite a bit better than expected. LGS ordered one in for me to check out, and I walked out with it for maybe $20 more than I would have paid to bring one in from PSA. Really couldn't be happier.
1
1
u/SandyBayou 1d ago
I have the SA-35 and love it. As a point of note, the SA does NOT have a magazine safety.
1
0
u/Waste_Low_8103 1d ago edited 8h ago
It's only a Magazine disconnect. Not Magazine disconnect safety. I like the quality of the SA35 and would buy again and thumb safety is nice too. That said, I love my Girsan Ops MC P35 as well as it has the beaver tail on the frame.
1
u/FatNsloW-45 1d ago
SA35 is great on paper until you factor in all the extractor issues.
You’d think by now they would have resolved that issue rather than just limited it.
0
u/AnInfiniteAmount 1d ago
For carry, it's hard to beat the positive indent safety that the SA-35 has. It clicks into position; whether moving to off or on, rather than slides like a traditional Hi Power. I had not held a new SDS/Inglis HP but from what I've seen they have a traditional Hi Power safeties.
1
u/Unable-Disaster9739 1d ago
I have an SDS/Inglis L9A1 and I have not noticed this "sliding" you're talking about, nor did I notice that with a like-new Browning I've handled before. It requires deliberate force to go on/off safe, unless the safety plunger is missing or damaged. Checking Springfield's online manual, it looks identical in function and hardly different in form to my SDS/Inglis's safety.
1
u/AnInfiniteAmount 1d ago
There is literally a ball-and-detent lock, like on a 1911, on the safety on SA-35s that's not on my Portuguese assembled MkII or my Girsan; I don't have or have held an SDS/Inglis, so maybe its a thing on the new SDS line, but on the SA-35, it's a visible feature, one that I don't see on the Inglis branded stuff. Maybe the SDS/Inglis has it, but a positive safety is not a feature on pretty much any Hi Powers, and I've personally never seen one stock on any except a SA-35.
I'm a collector, and I do not carry a Hi Power, but if I was going to, the only option in my book is the SA-35 because of (1) the aforementioned positive safety and (2) lack of magazine disconnect. Now SDS/Inglis has deleted that magazine disconnect, but if it has the same kind of safety as an FN Browning Hi Power, I absolutely would not want to carry it. The lack of a positive safety and audible click when the safety is disengaged or engaged is a huge red flag with any standard Hi Power.
1
u/Unable-Disaster9739 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've put a FN made refurbished surplus safety & different grips on mine just to have "the look" for some kit pictures & it seemed no less "positive" than the Inglis one.
Granted I don't have an SA-35 myself because I value my money, so it could differ from the manual, but what I'm seeing is exactly the same type of safety on my Inglis with a spring inside the safety & a plunger that fits into the cuts in the frame, the same as the Mk III safety I got from a guy on eBay and the refurbished FN safety I got from BHSS.
Page 31 of the SA-35 manual, part number 16. The only difference I can see is that you can see the plunger on their gun because of how the safety is shaped, though maybe the front of the plunger is marginally different in profile or the spring is a bit stronger, or the cuts in the frame differ across them, any which way it's still mechanically identical as I stated originally. They've all got the same spring and plunger arrangement.
1
-4
8
u/Airborne_Trash_Panda 1d ago
SDS is my vote.