I recently got turned onto them and picked up a mint 2002 model. Put a set of Spegel grips on it as soon as I got it home. While it’s a looker, I don’t know how I’m going to get along with the blued finish, being my first all steel pistol. Going to shoot it for the first time tomorrow.
Anyone else own one - post up some pics and/or opinions of the BHP.
I’d love for the price of a new one to be less so I could purchase one!
For the finish, use a soft paint brush to lightly wet the the exterior with quality oil (for storage) and wipe dry for shooting. Then reoil to store again (after cleaning of course). Was given an Astra A80 (blued) with some minor pitting 34 years ago. Have always done this and it has not gotten any worse.
I’ve got one, that I like a lot. The only problem I have with it, is that I don’t have another one.
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On this site, there is a lot of love for the Browning Hi-Power, but most guys don’t know it because they have redirected that “love” into Glocks, SIGs, M&P’s, etc.
If you read a good description of almost every modern pistol in the last 50-years, it is stated that they have a “…modified Browning design…” or “…Browning-type action…” which refers to the Browning Hi-Power. So, they are all based on the Hi-Power to some degree.
They are great guns.
Don’t hate… 
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The Browning Hi-Power is a fine pistol… do you own another pistol that’s as pretty as your BHP? I’ve got one and it’s absolutely beautiful, and definitely ‘old school’. 
Actually that refers to the method of locking and unlocking the barrel in the slide - look at a Luger or a Mauser to see the difference.
Browning Hi Power - no thank you, but to each his own.
B_C
i wish mine was blued like y’alls
I’ve got a two tone with night sights. It fits my hand better than ANY other pistol. It’s a great shooter too. Little big for CC on me but one of my all time favorites!
The P-35 is a good pistol. It comes with a magazine “safety”, but this is fairly easy to remove. The trigger has a long and indistinct reset. This, as well as the pull weight, can be addressed to a degree by a good pistolsmith. However, the trigger will never measure up to a good 1911 trigger.
The early pistols featured a tiny and difficult to use thumb safety. This has been addressed to some degree in more current production. The current “banana-shaped” ambi is okay. Better still is the unit Novak uses (which looks to be the old Hoag design) or some of the custom welded-up units from Yost and others.
The P-35 also can bite the hand that feeds it. A user who has meaty hands and who uses a proper high grip will often find the hammer spur beating a hole into the web of his hand with each shot. One can also have flesh pinched between the base of the hammer and the grip tang. In some cases, a malfunction can be induced wherein the hammer hitting the web of the hand causes the sear to miss the full-cock notch and the hammer follows to half-cock. This is generally only seen in pistols with tuned triggers, wherein the sear/hammer engagement has been reduced and the sear spring’s pressure on the sear has been lessened. This malfunction is especially bad in that the P-35’s thumb safety can be engaged with the hammer at half-cock. Thus, one could engage a threat, have the hammer-drop to half-cock, and then engage the thumb safety to continue moving through the danger area, with a pistol that feels like it is ready for use, but is not. Threat #2 pops up, you bring the pistol up for a flash sight picture, thumbing down the thumb safety, press the trigger, and nothing. Think you’ll sort that out before the threat sorts you out? Unlikely.
The hammer/tang problem is not insurmountable. Beavertails can be welded up onto the frame. A simpler approach is just to shorten the hammer’s spur significantly. Also, if one gets pinched by the base of the hammer, hogging out the back of the hammer (Novak’s “no bite” mod) will address this.
As number9xd noted, the Spegel stocks for the P-35 feel and look great. They can be a bit fragile, because of their thinness. Spegel sometimes makes the same stocks from Delrin. They’re not as pretty, but are top choice for a hard-use P-35.
It takes some work to address the P-35’s shortcomings, but once they’re addressed it is a nice pistol. Given that one can get a box-stock G17 and have a fine combat 9mm, it boils down to whether one just wants a P-35 (I have 2 ;)).
Rosco
FWIW, there’s a well-appointed P-35 for sale currently here…
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=66893
Not mine, but pretty and pertinent to the discussion.
Rosco
I recently got a Mark 1* Canadian Inglis with the 500m tangent rear sight and posted some pictures in a thread on BHP’s. I think mine is from around the 1940’s but I know very little about these tbh. After shooting it a few times with some friends we were amazed at the accuracy we could get out of this pistol. The tangent rear sight works good and with adjusting the tangent rear sight we could make hits on man size targets with ease at long distance.
I was running it pretty hard like I do my carry guns(glock19/26) the first day I took it out and it ran great till I got it past 200rds then it had feed issues. I didn’t have extra lube on me and we just got done hiking/varmint hunting in the desert so it was dusty to say the least before I started shooting. I’m taking it easier on it now do it being a recreation gun for me. I just got new springs to put in it so we’ll see how it does in the future.
One of my long time friends is hardcore on one type of pistol only when it comes to pistols and this is the first pistol out of our shooting group that he really likes outside of the only platform he likes. I left the type out so the thread doesn’t get dog piled with platform compares. I told him I’ll probably sell it at some point do to not really needing a recreation gun and he told me I need my head examined.
My first handgun in 1969. Shot it until the front sight fell of, without a hitch. Traded it and regretted it for years. Just this year I came across an unfired 69. I just had to have it, so I do.
I also have one I sent to Cyl, & Slide and it runs great. Just a little longer trigger reset than my 1911 Wilson but accurate and smooth.
A little heavier than the Poly guns but carries well, or better, IWB as any gun I own.
I bought a BHP a couple of years ago solely based on it’s nice looks and history. I wanted to have one just for collecting. It does shoot very well and I never experienced any kind of malfunction with this gun, but it never quite fit my hands very well, the grip always felt too small for me and I didn’t like the smallish safety on mine. So I decided to give it to my brother who just recently started shooting and always like my HP.
I really like the BHP but after I buy one, I don’t shoot or carry it very much. I get them “PRETTIED” up and I just look at them. Next one, I am leaving it alone and then shoot the C— out of it! Great Gun!
BHPs, like 1911s, are pretty and have a certain mystique for many shooters, but ultimately require too much time and money in modification and hand-massaging to make them adequate combat weapons.
In short, if you don’t lust for one, they’re a pretty crappy way to go. You can have a better weapon for far less money and effort.
So no, no BHP love from me. Especially since I consider the 1911’s ergonomics to be vastly superior.
I’m a Glock/SIG/H&K/Walther man.
Ya gotta bob the hammer; your right hand will love you for it.
Yeah as history points out, they’re crappy combat weapons
I’d like to own a really nice Hi-Power one day, but it will never become my “go-to” defense handgun. There are far better pistols available for that role.
I think most people that like handguns have a soft spot for the P35. They point well and shoot like a dream. Are they as reliable as the Glock, M&P, or HK, of course not, but they were not designed in 1935 either. I sometimes wish I still had mine but at the same time it was nothing but a safe queen since I carry my M&P40.
My first handgun was a Charles Daly HP. It was a good pistol for the most part although the finish was the worst I have ever seen on a gun. It was completely reliable but was not very accurate. 5 shot groups and 25 are usually around 5 inches. I believe a lot of this is the fact that it has xs sights on it however. I had my gunsmith refinish it and clean up the magazine safety and the trigger and now it shoots a little better. I wound up graduating to glocks because they are more durable and I can shoot them much better. I gave the HP to my Dad for a gift and he carries it everyday with a lot of pride. He absolutely hates polymer pistols.