Just bought my first HP!

[Substance-P]

Well, I have bought several guns recently and told myself it was time for a break. Yesterday I was helping my Dad clean some of his new guns before we took them to the range for the first time and I was working with his Browning HP. I was really impressed with the build and feel of it and thought: "this will be my next 9mm". A friend of his called and said that there was a small gun show in town and asked if we wanted to go. I said was game for a quick look and said the only way I would buy something there is if they had a used HP....guess what?

The first table I went to had a used HP with its original box and, instruction booklet, etc. It has definitely seen some use but seemed to be very solid. He wanted $450 for it and I told myself I would not spend over $400. I looked at every other table and found some Browning replicas used but no other Browning HP. On my way out I asked the lowest the guy could go on the HP and He said $400 and he'd eat the tax. At $400 OTD I have no idea if I got a good deal or not because I am new to world of HPs and only know what the new ones are selling for, but I am very pleased with my purchase.

So......here he is.146972

146973

146974

[smith10]

Nice HP!!

[rgregoryb]

as we say in the deep south..............."ya done good" !!! :wavey:

[Substance-P]

Well I took it to the range today...I couldn't wait.

I brought 150 rounds of ammo, 50 magtech and 100 federal. One of the magazine feed 25 rounds from magtech just fine with now problems. However, the second magazine consistently failed to initiate slide lock back after the final round.

When I moved on to the federal ammo, the first magazine shot pretty well but had a couple of FTEs. The second magazine consistently had failure to feeds along with failing to initiate slide lock back at the end of the magazine.

I am assuming that these 20 year old magazines likely need some attention (and maybe just need to be replaced). Any other ideas as to what might need to be tended to?

[Magicmanmb]

Try cleaning the mags and lubing with a little graphite, replacements aren't that expensive either. I just ordered a few from Natchezz the UPS cost more than the mags.

[bhp9mm]

nice hp good deal id buy a hp in good shape anyday for 400

[yotecaller]

That is a real good deal on the Browning.Since you got it so cheap,it won't hurt so bad to get some new mags for it.

[Azjeeper]

That is a great deal all the hi powers out here in Az are like 700 and up.

[Substance-P]

Well, I went back to the range. This time with two new magazines and a new recoil spring.

The new magazines worked flawlessly, not FTFs, FTEs, etc.

The worst of two original magazines still failed to lock back the slide but did not have any FTFs. The better of the two original magazines worked very well with the exception of one FTE on the final round. I hope that replacing the springs in each of the original mags will get them up to speed.

Additionally, it is amazing how much better my accuracy was with the HP with the new recoil spring. My only problem now is that it seems to have a somewhat inconsistent trigger pull. So, I took my HP into the gun shop to see if they had any ideas about the inconsistencies in trigger pull. They could all notice it as well (glad its not just me). In essence, the trigger pull would begin as you would expect and then reach a hard stop about 2/3rds of the way through the pull and then force you to increase pressure to continue the pull. So a better way of saying it is that the pull is consistently abrupt with a seemingly misplaced hard stop.

At first they thought that it just needed the magazine disconnect removed, then they realized that it had already been removed and was not responsible for the problem. They took it apart and could see some fit issues with the sear and think that someone installed a new trigger and hammer but did so poorly. They are going to fix it for me, finish installing all of the wolf springs I received in my replacement pack and....refinish it for me.

So here is the big change: I am going to have it duracoated with an OD Green frame, black slide and controls and then add Mil-Tac black grips. Almost all of my guns are all black (with the exception of a two-toned Sig 220) and I have been wanting to try duracoating on some of them. I figured that since this HP was pretty beat up, it would be a good first candidate for the change and that the od green/black combo would pay some homage to the HP's combat roots.

The only problem is that it will take a couple weeks for everything to be finished...it felt like I was dropping a kid off at summer camp when I left the gun there yesterday. I'll be sure to post pics of the refinished gun and range report with the modified trigger.

[Berto]

Make sure you don't have any crud around or under the sear lever in the slide. You can look at the hammer sear engagement with the slide off as well...should be easy to see any issues with sear interface.