From: wwarf@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (wayne john warf)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: I have a few questions on Browning 9mm
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:17:32 GMT
Organization: Indiana University

In article <53201@mimsy.umd.edu> bobd@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob DeBula) writes:
#In article <53025@mimsy.umd.edu> chan@seattleu.edu (Anthony K.B. Chan) writes:
##What are the differences between the Browning 9mm Hi-power, 9mm Hi-power
##Practical and the Hi-power mark II ? Which one of them is better
#<deleted for brevity>
#The High Power Mark II is presumably the High Power Mark II NATO model.
#I would suspect that this is really the High Power Mark III NATO of
#which you speak (to my knowledge, I've never seen a Mark II, only
#the follow-on Mark III).

There was a Mark 2, very briefly. I owned one a few years ago. It 
had a very easily scratched off phosphate looking gray finish. 
There were also a few production errors on the gun. I traded it
in when I got the next gun I'm going to mention.
#FN apparently originally introduced these as
#some sort of NATO production overrun (this is what I was told the
#first time I saw one) and later decided to make a variation of this
#model part of their production series for marketing under Browning
#in the US. Differences include (but are probably not limited to)
#Pachenmeyer wrap-around grips, black matte finish, three white dot

They're not Pachmayrs. It's a black thermoplastic, not rubber,
with a small thumb rest on bost grip panels

#fixed sights, ambidextrous extended safety. The original Belgian
#models were also odd in that they are stamped "9mm Luger" on the
#barrel rather than "9mm Para(bellum)" as were previous High Powers (this may
#still be true as far as I know, I haven't had a chance to examine one
#since they went "production" in Portugal).

The Portugal assembled guns still say 9mm Luger, I carry one of these.


#This model is still produced and is now assembled in Portugal. Apparently,
#according to what I've been told, very few Belgian Mark IIIs made it
#into the US before the change over (they first came in on the
#factory overrun just about the same time as FN moved assembly to
#Portugal). Of those that made it in (supposedly 1,000 or fewer)
#only about 250 or so were stamped "Browning" (you'll find that a lot
#of the Competition model High Powers also lack the Browning stamp).

I bought a Belgium made Mark3 a couple of years ago. The shop
hadn't noticed it was anything special and I got a good price.
What immediately drew my attention to it was the lanyard ring
<which the Portugal produced don't have>. Mine is stamped
in large letters BROWNING S.A. so I must have been doubly 
lucky in finding this gun. I think its chamber may be marked
9mm NATO but it's locked away unfired and would take a bit of effort to
get to it to check. I traded my Mark 2, which I disliked, on this
Mark 3 so I could carry it. When I saw that it was different from
the Portugal Mk3's I locked it away and bought a Port. MK3 for carry.
It gives good service. I do think that the slide stop, safety lever,
hammer, and magazine release are overly subject to rust though.

#
#As a combat weapon, I would rate the NATO Mark III very highly
#amongst High Powers in that it seems to have most every important
#enhancement one could want in a combat variation of the High Power pistol.
#I am basing this, of course, on a Belgian (i.e. virtually unobtainable)
#Mark III, not one assembled in Portugal (although a lot of folks have 
#reported satisfaction in this forum with the more recent models assembled
#in Portugal). Incidently, the slide millings and the inards of the slide
#look somewhat different to me on the Mark III than on previous models 
#with which I am familiar. I do not know if these were functional changes,
#or production simplification steps which FN took.
#
#There are far, far too many variations of the High Power to go into
#here.

I'd like to mention the Argentine Hi-Powers. I used to carry one of these
as I didn't want to expose my Belgian "Mk1"  high polish blue w/walnut grip
Hi-Power <which is also NIB next to the Belgian Mk3>. The finish on
the Argentine models though not pretty is very tough, I never had
any rust problems as I do on the Portugese assembled gun. It shot
well and was just as reliable and well made as the current Mk3's.
Don't hestitate to buy one, especially now that they have come
out with models with "Mk3-type" sights.








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