Browing Hi Power
 

After telling a neighbor about my luger and all the information I had found on this site he asked if any one might be able to tell him a little about a gun his father-n-law had given him a few yrs back. He as told his father-n-law took it off a german prisoner and sent home. He also has the paperwork dated 1944 to go along with it. He is wondering a value due to being chromed? All the numbers match and bore looks good as well.

It is an early Hi Power, but I don't see any Waffenamps on it. Are there any German acceptance markings? Even if there are no marks, it would not have been unusual for a german to have been carrying an ALL Belgian pistol, as they captured the plant in full production and thousands were distributed to the German army before they started producing their own at the plant.
Value as pictured $750, give or take.

On the left side right above the triger is a swastika with wings? Thats the only markings we could find.

Serial number 25080b. The "b" suffix would put it 1944 production.

As mentioned the serial number places it as a late WWII German Hi Power.

Sadly, the value is probably $400 to $500 since it would be classified as a low grade shooter due to the fact that it was chromed. (The chrome work was not done by the Germans.)

the chrome job has greatly reduced the value of this fine bhp, but none the less thanks for posting it.

there's a couple of my bhp's i decided to pinto up a bit. Seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Nice pistol with some personal history, but definitely in the $400 ballpark.

+ 1

Back in the late 70's, a LGS had a Hi-Power that a serviceman had brought back from Viet Nam...It had deep engraving on the slide; nothing personal, just the usual acorns, leaves, etc...The vet told the owner he had it done in Thailand...A shame, as the rest of it was excellent...IIRC, it went unsold for months...Finally got taken to a regional show in Ohio and traded for something... :(

It is a shame that this old Hi Power got chrome plated, but that was very common with bring back weapons many years ago. The chrome shops really "leaned on" the buffers when preparing the steel for the chroming vats, sometime to remove pits and flaws. They came out shiny, and all were happy. Now, many, many years later, we lament the chroming, but that was the trend.

Doesn't look like a very heavy polish on this one though, I'd say that it can be stripped and reblued with good result. It would still be a refinished gun, but it would look much better.

Dan - Can you recall if you had any problems with chrome (or nickel, whichever it is) buildup on the rails or any other part??? If so, how did you remedy the problem...

It was back in the 80's, but I had a couple Colt autos nickle plated, and I had to use valve grinding compound/rubbing compound/polishing compound on the rails specifically, just to get the slide to, er, slide... :rolleyes:

I like Browning Hi-Powers, you find the strangest markings on them :)

??? !!!! ??????

What's this???

A FEG manufactured Hi Power ??

Correct. In the late 1980s Mauser ran out of ideas and decided to market FEG's HP copy under their own name. Brought to market as the 'Mauser model 80 SA', 'SA' standing for 'Single Action'. Few were made, as FN appears to have complained about it.

Oddly enough, after war chromed or nickeled German Army weapons have developed a small following and they do sell at the prices mentioned!

When the bhp was all nickle it worked just fine, it is a 1969 manf. i won in a card game while in asia, who knows when it was nickled. never had a problem with it. when i decided to switch it to a blued upper i did have to fit it an lap it in till it was smooth an worked right. Same thing when i found a blue bhp to put the nickle upper on, but they both shoot and fuction great. but the original nickle bhp always worked well when i got it somewhere around 1971.

I like the HP35. Here is mine wartime rig, also from the "b block", just a couple of thousand guns before yours. I enjoy the rough look of it...
I also own a "T series" made around 1963-64.

Douglas.

And here is my T-series.
According to Vanderlinden's book, "FN Browning Pistols", it was the last series made with the "old" quality standards made famous by this Belgium gunmaker.

Douglas