The New FN High Power Forgotten Weapons Review

The new FN High Power is a bit of a sad commentary on FN's corporate greed. While the new gun is okay in its own right, FN should have given it its own name or identity rather than trying to pawn if off using the revered High Power name.

What may be worse is that it has already been featured on Forgotten Weapons (another of Ian's fans here).
 
Last edited:
"Unserviceable" and "outdated" are two different things. Unserviceable means it is unable to be used...i.e. "My cars battery died; therefore it is currently unserviceable to take my kids to school."

Outdated means there are possible enhancements to something that makes one thing preferred over another. i.e. "My playstation is outdated because they are now selling playstation 5's."

To many, the 1911 is an "outdated" design...but she keeps on tickin along, kickin tail, and not paying attention to the haterade.
 
I agree the video was spot on. The High Power was never a great commercial success in the US in its hayday of the 70’s and early 80’s so it doesn’t make sense to reintroduce a failure.
My recollection is that while you would see an occasional commercial High Power in the case it was Beretta 92’s, 1911’s and S&W 59’s that sold.
They have fixed the three main failings of the design:
poor trigger
hammer bite
poor, non replaceable sights

We shall see if the new one can make a go of it. It looks nice but not $1350 nice.
 
wvsig said:
Poke around and you will find there is not another member of this forum who loves fhe BHP more than I do. Ask around seriously.
Click to expand...

I doubt that.

I banged a BHP once.

Banging a BHP is TIGHT!

That BHP banged non-stop all night long, too. I'd grip her from behind in my favorite position and let her know who's boss! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Man, to feel her buck in my hands as she went off time after time after time!

*sigh*

I still remember how a light caress of my finger on her trigger would set her off time after time. Sometimes she got so hot I'd have to let her lay there for a while and cool down.

Then I'd stuff another full load into her from the bottom and we'd go another 13 rounds before I was bone dry again.

The way her rack would just slide back and forth, back and forth all night long was mesmerizing. It was truly a sight to see.
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
I doubt that.

I banged a BHP once.

Banging a BHP is TIGHT!

That BHP banged non-stop all night long, too. I'd grip her from behind in my favorite position and let her know who's boss! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Man, to feel her buck in my hands as she went off time after time after time!

*sigh*

I still remember how a light caress of my finger on her trigger would set her off time after time. Sometimes she got so hot I'd have to let her lay there for a while and cool down.

Then I'd stuff another full load into her from the bottom and we'd go another 13 rounds before I was bone dry again.

The way her rack would just slide back and forth, back and forth all night long was mesmerizing. It was truly a sight to see.
Click to expand...
ok, that was...disturbing...
 
Chdamn said:
Ok. But I’m not sure how any of that falls into the category of unserviceable.

To me that’s like comparing a Ferrari to a WWII jeep.

The first is really nice and really fast. As long as you pay to service it and put the most expensive fluids in it.


The other can go anywhere. Just not as prettily.
Click to expand...

B00ger said:
"Unserviceable" and "outdated" are two different things. Unserviceable means it is unable to be used...i.e. "My cars battery died; therefore it is currently unserviceable to take my kids to school."

Outdated means there are possible enhancements to something that makes one thing preferred over another. i.e. "My playstation is outdated because they are now selling playstation 5's."

To many, the 1911 is an "outdated" design...but she keeps on tickin along, kickin tail, and not paying attention to the haterade.
Click to expand...

You have point from the commercial end user stand point that it might be more outdated than unserviceable but from FNs stand point and from a military standpoint it is unserviceable. The tooling at FN was designed at time when labor was cheaper than complex machines. The process there was labor intensive. All the major parts were made in Belgium and then assembled in Portugal. On top of that the tooling was also was at end of life. FN either had to redesign it for modern equipment or retool the old way. All of the military contracts for the BHP also ended around the same. They were what kept the original BHP around. Without those the cost to retool for the pistol did not make much sense. I would be willing to bet that the new one is made on the same equipment that the FNX is.

If you look at the other clones of the BHP that have been brought to market all of them are being produced in low cost labor countries. The current ones seem to both be Turkish. The FEG was from Hungry. The SA 35's parts are being manufactured somewhere outside the US and then sent here for final assembly. This allows SA to claim they are made in the USA. This is the same way they produce low cost 1911s.

Also I am in no way a huge fan of the new design. A lot of it misses the mark for me personally but from FNs perspective it makes sense. The BHP craze is FOMO at its best. I have been shooting them for a long time now. When I first got into them you could find clean excellent examples in multiple places for around $500. NIB ones sat in display cases forever. When I lived in KY there was one marked $999 the first time I went into the LGS and it was there the day I left 3+ years later. The demand for the SA 35 is already dropping. The Girsans are everywhere for cheap. Its ne found popularity will be short lived IMHO. I have to assume FN believed that the new platform has more legs and time will tell if they are right.

My biggest issue with the new one is price. It is a $1200 gun. For a SAO gun of its size and caliber the CZ Shadow SAO seems like a better value.
 
Slimer said:
I've thought if it has been modernized, then where's the RDS mount and 1913 light rail?
Click to expand...

That's the v2.0 that will come out with the extra backstraps that were hinted at in the video. You don't put out the best design first, you put out one missing some key features and the faithful will just buy a 2nd time when the fully featured one comes out.
 
If I had an original, it would have been sold or modified after the first hammer bite.
I think the new one would be more desirable if they'd kept the original width, the extra few rounds aren't worth it.

Is @BatteryOaksBilly OK?
A multi-page BHP thread and he hasn't jumped in.
 
Last edited:
Jayne said:
That's the v2.0 that will come out with the extra backstraps that were hinted at in the video. You don't put out the best design first, you put out one missing some key features and the faithful will just buy a 2nd time when the fully featured one comes out.
Click to expand...
Taking a page from the Glock playbook!
 
The old grips were pretty much crap as well. The plastic were just as ugly and the wood are poorly shaped making the pistol fatter then it should be. Pachs which came on some models are decent for shooting but rust the frame all too often and don’t look great.


99% of my BHPs have replacement aftermarket grips on them. Spegels or Navidrex.
 
Last edited:
wvsig said:
The old grips were pretty much crap as well. The plastic were just as ugly and the wood are poorly shaped making the pistol fatter then it should be. Pachs which came on some models are decent for shooting but rust the frame.
Click to expand...
Not sure what grips the clones I've handled had, but it fit my hand like a glove, although it did offer my webbing up as a blood sacrifice if I shot it.
 
Last edited:
Good God imagine the reaction if this had been brought out in a polymer frame? While I’m not the biggest fan of the “chunkification” of the original sleek sexy design esthetically I’m glad they’re still working with an all metal frame. It still has the biggest issue I’ve always had with the Hi Power which is the price tag.
 
NCLivingBrit said:
Not sure what grips the clones I've handled had, but it fit my hand like a glove, although it did offer my webbing up as a blood sacrifice if I shot it.
Click to expand...
Which clones? SA 35s have Turkish walnut which are decently shaped. The Girsan has MKIII like grips.
 
wvsig said:
Which clones? SA 35s have Turkish walnut which are decently shaped. The Girsan has MKIII like grips.
Click to expand...
I honestly don't remember. My brain is a leaky sponge these days, I think it was one of the Extra stuff models of Girsan.
 
wvsig said:
Which clones? SA 35s have Turkish walnut which are decently shaped. The Girsan has MKIII like grips.
Click to expand...
Spegels are the best but hard to come buy. If you get them directly from him they’re not too expensive if you get them on the secondary market they can go for as much is $300
 
NCLivingBrit said:
I honestly don't remember. My brain is a leaky sponge these days, I think it was one of the Extra stuff models of Girsan.
Click to expand...
Those come with VZ style micarta grips which are a big improvement over the MKIII plastic.

MCP35-Ops-Right.png
 
Last edited:
If the hammer bit you it was not one of the models with the beavertail. Most likely the standard model but maybe in a different color.

MCP35-Black-Right.png
 
Last edited:
The logistics thing that Ian said was the most important for me.

They were still using the old tooling from the 30's. It was old, worn out, and taking up valuable floorspace and manpower to continue running.
It reminds me of the Luger. Also according to Ian, only three tooling sets for the Luger were ever made, and when they wore out, there wasn't enough financial interest to build another set.
Or the Valmet. The tooling wore out, and instead of making new tooling, they just stopped making the Valmet.

Tooling is expensive. Expensive to design, expensive to make, expensive to run, expensive to maintain, expensive to take up space.

The old tooling probably doesn't cut it, anymore. Its not that they don't want to make the Hi Power, it's that they can't, not and make a profit. So, I'm all for it.
 
Last edited:
My thought is that if the new version doesn’t do as well as they projected then they may reconsider and bring out the “classic” version so as to not let Springfield and Girsan continue to feast off their iconic design.
 
Cataphract said:
My thought is that if the new version doesn’t do as well as they projected then they may reconsider and bring out the “classic” version so as to not let Springfield and Girsan continue to feast off their iconic design.
Click to expand...
No. There is just no market for that design. Second tier manufacturers with the tooling in place can scape a profit from the small market share but it is a bad business decision to spend time and money being that design back.
I suspect Ian is correct, the business plan is to expand the new design into competition models.
 
Probably a few things:

Frame:
a lot wider and more material removed for bigger full length guide rod
A bit wider to fit new takedown procedure
I bet future models might have pic rails on the bottom, so they might want it a bit wider to fit that, too

Slide : wider to fit changes to frame

1664640141279.png

That's my guess.
 
Last edited:
pinkbunny said:
Probably a few things:

Frame:
a lot wider and more material removed for bigger full length guide rod
A bit wider to fit new takedown procedure
I bet future models might have pic rails on the bottom, so they might want it a bit wider to fit that, too

Slide : wider to fit changes to frame

View attachment 529844

That's my guess.
Click to expand...
weight reduction perhaps?
 
keepcalmandcarryon said:
No. There is just no market for that design. Second tier manufacturers with the tooling in place can scape a profit from the small market share but it is a bad business decision to spend time and money being that design back.
I suspect Ian is correct, the business plan is to expand the new design into competition models.
Click to expand...
You’re probably right. I don’t run a large scale manufacturing concern and Ian seems to be much more knowledgeable than I on that. Personally if I had a product that for many people was symbolic of my company I wouldn’t risk changing it in the way FN did, and I definitely wouldn’t let other companies make my original product “better” (which is subjective I know) than I do…and my end product would probably have been closer to Springfield’s offering…more evolution than reboot. Then again, I might also go out of business following that logic, especially if the original tooling was no longer profitable - though it does seem like they had to tool up to make this new one anyway.
 
Last edited:
It seems odd to see such a "resurgence" of High Powers lately given they never went away- even when the surplus ones faded out in availability, the turks picked up the slack. Those old Charles Daly branded ones never got the credit they deserved either, and they were very inexpensive.

Most of the desirable modernizations have been available to the end user for a long time and cylinder and slide has been doing god's work for almost as long. I just don't see spending that much money for what this is.

I'm skeptical that match version Hi-Powers are going to cut into the gamer gun space very much.

Is the Springfield model made in the US or cast in Brazil and assembled here or something?
 
Last edited:
Echd said:
It seems odd to see such a "resurgence" of High Powers lately given they never went away- even when the surplus ones faded out in availability, the turks picked up the slack. Those old Charles Daly branded ones never got the credit they deserved either, and they were very inexpensive.

Most of the desirable modernizations have been available to the end user for a long time and cylinder and slide has been doing god's work for almost as long. I just don't see spending that much money for what this is.

I'm skeptical that match version Hi-Powers are going to cut into the gamer gun space very much.

Is the Springfield model made in the US or cast in Brazil and assembled here or something?
Click to expand...

The Tisas did not sell great and were only imported for a few years. The old Charles Daly guns were FEG parts kits assembled here by Dan Wesson and then Magnum Research. The Girsan is from Turkey.

As for the SA 35 no one knows where the parts are coming from. My initial thought was Tisas but the frames and are different. The barrels in the Tisas are right hand twist while the SA 35 is left like the original. Sight cuts are also different. The are forged frames, slides and hammer forged barrels. SA no longer imports frames from Brazil. There is lots of speculation on the origins of the parts but they are doing enough of the work to call them made in the US.
 
wvsig said:
Man you have no idea who you are talking to. Poke around and you will find there is not another member of this forum who loves fhe BHP more than I do. Ask around seriously.

To quote some guy with the last name of Yost once told me the BHP is a good pistol to make it great it needs a trigger job, great sights and a great thumb safety.

Any of the ones I have in my stable have just these modifications if they are for real use. Keep doing you I will keep doing me… I love FNGs

PS JMB was long dead when the gun we call the BHP was developed. He did the original design based on Saives mag and then never worked on the project again.
Click to expand...
anchorman-ron-burgundy.gif
 
Cataphract said:
So they can sell new holsters? That does seem a curious design choice
Click to expand...
No, it was necessary because of the removal of the 2nd and 3rd lugs from the barrel.

They had to make the only lug massive enough to take the pounding and spread the stresses out over a wider area.

The three radial lugs only engage horizontally between 10 and 2. If two of them were removed, it wouldn't take long for the first lug to deform and set back...and the barrel lug set forward.... increasing headspace by a like amount. This is exactly what Glock and others have done in order to keep from having to hold to close dimensions with three lugs.
 
John Travis said:
No, it was necessary because of the removal of the 2nd and 3rd lugs from the barrel.

They had to make the only lug massive enough to take the pounding and spread the stresses out over a wider area.

The three radial lugs only engage horizontally between 10 and 2. If two of them were removed, it wouldn't take long for the first lug to deform and set back...and the barrel lug set forward.... increasing headspace by a like amount. This is exactly what Glock and others have done in order to keep from having to hold to close dimensions with three lugs.
Click to expand...
Yes the video mentions removing the radial lugs. I assume this saves them time and money in manufacturing. It most likely mirrors the design present in the FNX line. Today economy of scale and being able to leverage the same machinery for multiple platforms is essential to being profitable. IMHO
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom