[Sarge]

I was in a gun shop when a young dude walked in wanting to sell a Hi Power because he was broke and needed the money. He is desparate and I am always looking for good deals. Where is the best place to research these guns? Is there a Hi power expert on here? Serial # is 72C55XXX. It is the basic blued model with fixed sights and in pretty darn good shape except for minor surface rust on the grip area. The slide is nearly perfect though. I told him to give me some time to try to find out about the gun before he lets it go to the shop guy for next to nothing. I think he was offered around $200 for it. I know it has to be worth more than that unless there was an era where even Hi Powers were cheaply made.
He also had a Stainless Colt DA .45 Auto. Any info on this gun?
Thanks.

[Sean Gaines]

buy em both, gun shops dont give you anything if you are selling a gun, and pawn shops if you are lucky maybe 20%of value. make sure to go throught the gun transfer process, to make sure the guns are not stolen.

[Hi-Power Jack]

sandman, on Jul 31 2009, 08:52 PM, said:

I was in a gun shop when a young dude walked in wanting to sell a Hi Power because he was broke and needed the money. He is desparate and I am always looking for good deals. Where is the best place to research these guns? Is there a Hi power expert on here? Serial # is 72C55XXX. It is the basic blued model with fixed sights and in pretty darn good shape except for minor surface rust on the grip area. The slide is nearly perfect though. I told him to give me some time to try to find out about the gun before he lets it go to the shop guy for next to nothing. I think he was offered around $200 for it. I know it has to be worth more than that unless there was an era where even Hi Powers were cheaply made.
He also had a Stainless Colt DA .45 Auto. Any info on this gun?
Thanks.

Sorry, I don't know about the serial numbers, but be careful - there were two different BHP's - the old ones
had an internal extractor (like a 1911), and they're not available anymore. Mine was perfect for about 6 - 8,000 rounds,
and then the extractor went - I tried having it tuned by a local gunsmith and it didn't work. It's at EGW now
trying to see if they can get it going ??? So, I bought a "new" BHP (not sure when they made the switch,
but it was sometime between 1966 when I bought the "old " one and 2007 when I bought the "new" one
probably quite a while ago since no one has new extractors for it. The new BHP has an external extractor,
and they're a dime a dozen. Not worth too much without an extractor.

Good luck.

Jack

[sfinney]

Any BROWNING made HiPower is probably worth in the $600 to $1000 Retail range depending on model, condition. Knock off Brownings (Charles Daly, FEG, etc are worth maybe $250 to $300). If the gun is rusty as decribed, knock off some more.....

Colt Double Eagle pistols (I assume thats what the double action Colt 1911 is, not a Seecamp frame with Colt slide) are not very common, and somewhat "collectible"..... at least $500 to $700, if new in box and perfedt maybe over $1000. Now, they are somewhat collectible, but don't confuse that with DESIRABLE. They weren't that popular when new, and if you want a double action pistol to actual shoot, there are many more modern designs.

There are books of Gun Values in most book large stores, you could try looking them up in one of those.... even if you give him something about half of the low ranges above, its more than he will get in a gun store or pawn shop more than likely, and still a decent deal for you.

I'd offer him about $300 each and sleep pretty good about it. But thats me.

[Joe4d]

Cylinder and slide had aftermarket internal extractors, I would only want it if it was a Belgium Hipower and not a clone or copy, the serial number doesnt look right for a Browning, but they made alot of special runs with different serial numbers. Give me alot more details and I can give you some pretty decent info, What type of sights ? where is the serial number ? what markings on the slide ? does it it have a mag disconnect ? firing pin disconnect ? rib on the slide ? dovetailed or pinned front?

[Sarge]

From what I read on the BHP forum it is a keeper. It is a 72C "Made in Belgium" on the slide. Wood grips, Magazine safety, fixed sights(preferred from what I gather?)pinned front, no rib, wood grips, SN on front of hand grip, left side safety only. I was trying to decipher the info on the 72C being right on the edge of the great BHP and so so BHP faultline. I saw some 72C's on gunbroker in the high hundreds(over $500)

[pjb45]

You can go to the Browning Website and look the number up. I purchased a similar gun in Omaha for $400. It was in excellent shape. Ensure the gun is not stolen then do the transfer but document. You do not have to go through an FTL but it is wise to totally document the deal. Get a copy of the driver's license and make him sign a receipt.

$200 is a reasonable price. You can got to Shotgun News for an idea of prices. The non-Belgium were worth about $250. BTW: BHPs are a black hole. You can invest a lot of money in them but will never get out what you put into it. You have to really like them to put dough into them. My second one was done by Ralph at C&S. I invested to much in it. But recently, some guys were looking at it and loved it. They remarked it is the only gun I never offered anyone to use or borrow. Also Irv at BarSto fitted the barrel with Bill L. looking on. It does not have a flier. The SAS issued BHP to their lads, many prefer it to the HK or Sig.

If you buy it and have a smith look at it, you can only send it to a few in this country that can do a decent job on it. Most really good 1911 smiths just do not do a good job. John Browning once said all the faults of the 1911 were corrected in the HP. They point really well. They are awesome to shoot.

[Joe4d]

There were some Hungarian fakes made in the iron curtain days that fit the description of your gun, The FEG's eventually improved in quality and quit using fake markings and started selling them as a copy or clone. You can buy oone today from Charles Daley and they are actually pretty good guns. The tell tale of these early 70's fakes is the rear sight. FN always used a square notch. For some reason FEG copied the gun but used a U notch rear. Probably was easier to drill, These were marked FN though so yours is a good example of a 70's era pre MKII pistol. This gun is equal in quality to the T series but the T series tend to command a premium in the collectors market.

[Duane Thomas]

Quote

John Browning once said all the faults of the 1911 were corrected in the HP.

Untrue. John Browning died in 1926 and the "Browning" Hi-Power (actually designed by Dieudonne Saive) was introduced in 1935. The Hi-Power was descended from a VERY different Browning patent of 1922, but by the time Saive was through with the design the only feature left from the Browning patent was the basic short recoil operating system. Every other feature on the gun, including the high capacity magazine that for decades made the Hi-Power the capacity champ among service auto pistols, came from Saive. However FN used Browning's name to sell the gun. John Browning never even saw a Hi-Power since it was still nine years away from even existing at the time of his death, much less said, "All the faults of the 1911 are corrected in it."

[Jadeslade]

sandman, on Aug 1 2009, 09:04 PM, said:

From what I read on the BHP forum it is a keeper. It is a 72C "Made in Belgium" on the slide. Wood grips, Magazine safety, fixed sights(preferred from what I gather?)pinned front, no rib, wood grips, SN on front of hand grip, left side safety only. I was trying to decipher the info on the 72C being right on the edge of the great BHP and so so BHP faultline. I saw some 72C's on gunbroker in the high hundreds(over $500)

80% in Blue Book is 400 for the High Power. What model is the Colt? Some of those are rare. Especially .45.

[Duane Thomas]

Actually, the Colt Double Eagle (when the OP says, "Stainless Colt DA .45 Auto." I can only imagine that's the gun to which he refers) was produced primarily in .45 ACP. Though 10mm, .40, 9mm and .38 Super versions were apparently also produced, I've never seen one.

http://en.wikipedia....lt_Double_Eagle

[Sarge]

Yes that is the one. It is .45 ACP.

This post has been edited by sandman: 03 August 2009 - 11:43 AM

[safarihunter]

In most areas of the US $400 is a screaming deal for a hi power as you mentioned

[Jim Watson]

Quote

Every other feature on the gun, including the high capacity magazine that for decades made the Hi-Power the capacity champ among service auto pistols, came from Saive.

Ol' Dieudonne was a pretty smart cookie, no doubt about it. But one of his main contributions to the eventual P35 was to plow Browning design features back in as Browning patents licensed to Colt ran out. When Browning submitted his first effort to FN (In response to a French RFP.) he had to work around his own earlier ideas because Colt held all the rights. Things like the slide stop keying assembly, the thumb safety design, and the barrel bushing (Late Saive prototype BHPs had removable barrel bushings like 1911, production guns have one permanently installed.) were Browning all the way.