The Browning Hi-Power pistol is the latest creation of the weapons genius. Browning pistol: an overview of the main modifications

(latest commercial variants)

The design of the pistol is based on the locking scheme developed by John Moses Browning with an interlocked bolt and a short barrel stroke. After Browning's death in 1926, the design was completed by Didier Saive, chief designer of the Belgian company Fabrique Nationale.

The gun was created under the terms of reference of the French army, but was not accepted into service in France. Various variants were used by many countries during the Second World War and later.

The name of the pistol is somewhat misleading, as it actually reflects the high magazine capacity of 13 rounds: in 1935, it was more than one and a half times the capacity of its closest competitors - the Luger P08 (8 rounds) and the Mauser 1910 (9 rounds).

Most often, the gun is simply referred to as " Hi power”, even in Belgium. It is also common to see the names HP(from "Hi-Power" or "High-Power") or GP(from the French "Grande Puissance"). The designations under which the pistol was introduced in 1935 P-35 and HP-35, also apply. Sometimes there are other names, such as BAP(Browning Automatic Pistol), in the Irish Army, or BHP(Browning High Power).

The original High-Power P35 is still manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium and Portugal, and under license in Argentina by DGFM. Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares , FM).

Browning HP (Finnish) stock.jpg

Pre-war HP with one of the attachment-holster options

Browning HP Inglis.jpg

Canadian made HP with solid wood stock holster

Design

Automation works according to the scheme of using recoil with a short barrel stroke. Barrel locking according to the Browning scheme with a lowering breech using a figured groove located in the tide under the chamber. When the barrel moves back under the influence of recoil, the groove in the tide interacts with the axis of the barrel lag, as a result of which the breech breech decreases. In this case, the lugs of the barrel disengage from the grooves of the shutter-casing, the barrel stops, and the shutter-casing continues to roll back, removing and ejecting the spent cartridge case. The return spring is located under the barrel.

Trigger mechanism kurkovy, single action. When all the cartridges in the store are used up, the feeder presses on the slide delay, which, rising, enters the corresponding groove of the shutter-casing. As a result, the shutter-casing is fixed in the rearmost position and thus indicates to the owner of the weapon the need to reload. After attaching the equipped magazine, the arrow must be pressed down on the shutter delay lever, and releasing the shutter-casing, thus sending the cartridge into the chamber.

Flag, manually operated fuse, the lever of which is located on the left side of the frame in front of the butt plate of the handle, locks the sear and the shutter-casing. The weapon is equipped with a disconnector that does not allow a shot to be fired when the shutter is not fully closed. Automatic magazine safety blocks the trigger when the magazine is removed. An early version had an ejector located in the inner opening of the shutter-casing. Starting in 1965, the pistol received an open ejector, which simplifies production and reduces its cost, and the trigger received a knitting needle instead of a massive head.

The double-row magazine has a single-row exit, which ensures that the cartridge enters the chamber in a straight line, which increases feed reliability. The store is attached with a latch located at the base of the trigger guard. The pistol grip has excellent ergonomics, providing a deep and tight grip, which stabilizes the weapon during aiming and improves stability when shooting.

The declared sighting range for modifications with an adjustable sighting device when using an attached butt-holster is 500 m, for the base model 50 m.

In service

• Denmark 22x20px Denmark
• Lithuania 22x20px Lithuania: a number were purchased before the outbreak of World War II
• Netherlands 22x20px Netherlands: a number were purchased in the period before 1940
• Romania Kingdom of Romania: Adopted by the army before World War II
• Third Reich 22x20px Third Reich: after the occupation of Belgium, the production of pistols was continued, they entered service under the name Pistole 640(b)
• Great Britain 22x20px United Kingdom: used during World War II, later variant Pistol No.2 Mk.1 was adopted by the British army and special forces, remained in service during the Cold War (in particular, the model L9A1 remained in service with the SAS until at least the early 1990s).
• Canada 22x20px Canada: In service with the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• USA 22x20px United States: In service with the FBI's FBI HRT anti-terrorism unit

see also

Write a review on the article "Browning Hi-Power"

Notes

Links

• M. R. Popenker. // site "Modern weapon peace"

Browning pistols are one of the few weapon systems that got their name from the name of the inventor. John Browning is simply a master of his craft, a great inventor. Back in the 19th century, he developed and revealed to the whole world the main schemes for the operation of weapon automation:

• use of barrel recoil with its short course;
• use of free shutter recoil;
• use of recoil of powder gases.

Since 1895, designer Browning has been developing self-loading pistols. Already in 1897 he received a patent for the invention of this type of weapon. When creating a classic browning, he chose a blowback scheme. In 1898, he introduced his first pistol model - and immediately a Belgian company seized on its production. This company managed to produce three thousand pistols of this type, and Browning decided to improve its design. The pistol of 1900 had a shortened and compact barrel, the weapon used 7.65 mm cartridges. The official name of this pistol is "Browning 1900".

The 1900 Browning pistol was in great demand in Russian Empire and later in the USSR.

Model 1903 and 1906 Brownings

The pistol, released in 1903, was adopted by the Belgian army.

The Browning pistol, modified in 1906, is a conventional pocket pistol in 6.35 caliber and is quite small. It is also called "Lady's Pistol". By the beginning of 1914, about 50 thousand units were produced.

Model 1910 and 1935 Brownings

Model 1910s were designed for two types of cartridges. In 1922, Browning modified these models. He simply increased them by making the barrel and handle longer. Both the first and second type of pistol were in great demand in Europe before and after the Second World War. They were produced by the same Belgian company until 1983.

The Browning High Power pistol was developed in 1935. The main advantages and features of this model:

• short stroke of the barrel;
• single action with open trigger;
• magazine capacity - thirteen rounds.

These pistols are still in production today.

After German troops occupied Belgium, the company that produced all Browning pistols began producing the High Power modification in 1935 under the new name P-640. It is "High Power" that is considered one of best pistols twentieth century.

Over and over again, the designer Browning created compact and at the same time reliable weapon systems that surpassed all pistols and revolvers that existed at that time.

On March 29, 1911, after much testing, the Colt M1911 Browning pistol, also known as the Government Model, was adopted by the US Army. This is the longest-lived army pistol - in America it lasted until the mid-1980s, in some countries it is still in service. Browning managed to create a convenient and practical weapon for all occasions, combining strength, unpretentiousness and simplicity with excellent accuracy and ergonomics. With its impressive, "brutal" appearance, this gun is very easy to use, which contributed to its popularity.

Pistol video

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

Shortly after the end of the First World War, the legendary American gunsmith John Moses Browning (John Moses Browning), intending to improve the Colt M 1911, began to work on the creation of a new pistol. The development was initiated by the Belgian company Fabrique Nationale (FN), which acted on the initiative of the French military, interested in obtaining combat pistol with a magazine capacity of at least 10 rounds, an effective firing range of 50 meters and a weight of no more than 1.0 kg.

As a result, in 1921, a model appeared with a striker-type mechanism and a single-row arrangement of cartridges in the magazine. In the new weapon, an improved version of the barrel disengagement with a cam was used, which differs from the Colt M 1911 connecting earring in that under the chamber there is a barrel tide with a special-shaped slot that slides along the curly ledge of the frame. When the barrel moves backward, the slot causes it to decrease, due to which the lugs of the barrel are disengaged from the grooves inside the shutter-casing.

In 1922, John Browning offered his design to the Belgian firm Fabrique Nationale (FN), with whom he had been cooperating for a long time. However, FN's lead designer, Dieudonne Saive, convinced Browning of the need to use a trigger trigger and a double-row magazine. John M. Browning worked on the development of this weapon until his death at the end of 1926. And after his death, Didien Save was engaged in fine-tuning the pistol. In the end, by the spring of 1929, a new pistol chambered for 9x19 mm Parabellum appeared, which had a trigger trigger, a magazine with a two-row arrangement of 13 rounds with rebuilding them upon exit, as well as a rather original disengagement mechanism, significantly different from all previous Browning designs. Instead of the diagonal rods characteristic of Browning, passing on both sides of the walls of the channel for the store, the pistol used a gear lever mounted in the shutter-casing, which also serves as an uncoupler.

The French military considered the new FN pistol to be quite successful and in line with their requirements, however, they adopted a pistol created in France, abandoning the Belgian model.

In addition, the panic on the New York Stock Exchange that broke out in October 1929, and the subsequent deep crisis in world trade, prevented the success of this weapon. It was only in 1934 that the leaders of the Fabrique Nationale decided that the world was finally in the right conditions to throw it on the market. new brand pistol. In the same year, work was carried out for series production pistol.

The Belgian military was interested in the high combat qualities, and in its time simply unsurpassed, of the new pistol, which received the designation “Pistolet Automatique Browning FN Modele 1935 de Grande Puissance”, and in 1935 it was adopted by the Belgian army. He also became known with a shorter designation - "GP-35" (Grande Puissance (fr) - high power) or "P-35" (pistol of the 1935 model). Since that time, the triumphal procession of the 1935 Browning pistol of the year began, which soon received another name - "High Power" or "Hi-Power" (High Power (eng) - high power) or abbreviated "HP", by which he became known throughout the world.

Section of a Browning pistol model 1935: 1 - frame, 3 - magazine latch base, 4 - latch pins, 5 - trigger, 6 - trigger pull, 7 - mainspring, 8 - adjusting screw, 9 - trigger spring, 10 - trigger, 11 - axis trigger, 12 - sear, 13 - fuse, 15 - barrel, 16 casing-bolt, 17 - return spring, 18 - guide rod, 19 - drummer, 20 - drummer spring, 21 - stop, 22 - trigger lever, 23 - axis of the trigger lever, 24 - switch, 25 - uncoupler, 26 - trigger spring.

According to the principle of automation, the 1935 Browning pistol of the year refers to weapons with barrel and bolt recoil with a short barrel stroke. The full rollback of the shutter after disengagement from the barrel is carried out due to the acquired speed of the joint movement. The barrel bore is locked by skew the barrel in a vertical plane. It is locked and unlocked not with the help of an earring, but due to the presence of special protrusions.

The pistol consists of a frame, a shutter (shutter-casing), a barrel, a return mechanism.

The complex frame of the pistol is milled from a steel forging. Mounted on the frame is a bolt delay, trigger mechanism, cheeks of the handle and a push-button magazine latch

Casing-shutter - is a heavy part with the main mass located in the rear and forming a shutter. Notches are made on the left wall: the front one is for placing the bolt stop tooth, the middle one is for fixing the position of the bolt housing when the bolt delay is inserted, and the rear one is for locking the bolt housing when the pistol is turned on. An output window is made on the right wall, in the back there is a notch and a cutout for placing the trigger.

In front of the housing-bolt is placed and moves the barrel. Its movement occurs in such a way that the muzzle slides in the opening of the front wall of the casing-bolt, and the thickened breech - in the internal socket; the cutouts of the barrel are located under the locking projections of the middle part of the casing-bolt. The barrel with a thickened breech has a massive tide, the front part of which is an unlocking ledge, and the rear part is a locking one, equipped with a bevel on top for guiding cartridges, and two semi-annular grooves for connecting to the casing-bolt. The internal rifled part of the barrel has six grooves, winding from left to right in increments of 248-252 mm.

A return spring is placed under the barrel in the hole of the tide of the casing-gate tube, resting in front against the wall of the tide, and behind through the guide rod into the tide of the barrel.

The assembled casing-bolt together with the barrel and return spring is placed and moves on the frame.

USM single action. Hammer-type percussion mechanism with an open trigger arrangement. The primer is broken by the energy of the mainspring mounted on the trigger rod in the back of the pistol grip. The trigger mechanism is not self-cocking, it works only with a preliminary cocking of the trigger (manually or due to the movement of the shutter). The trigger pull of 2.5-3.0 kg meets the desire to make the combat pistol as safe as possible when worn.

Protection against accidental shots is carried out by placing the trigger on the safety platoon, and when the trigger is cocked, by a fuse acting by hand and locking the trigger and the casing-bolt at the same time. The lever of the manually operated safety lever is located on the left side of the frame in front of the butt plate of the handle. Protection against premature shots is carried out by the very design of the trigger mechanism, which works only with the front position of the casing-bolt. In addition, an automatic magazine safety locks the trigger in the absence of a magazine.

The long slide stop lever, located on the left side of the frame, is easily controlled by the thumb of the shooting hand.

The weapon is fed with ammunition from a magazine with a capacity of 13 rounds, with a staggered two-row arrangement and an exit neck for one cartridge, due to which the cartridge enters the chamber in a straight line, which increases the feed reliability. The magazine is placed in the handle and is locked by a latch located at the base of the trigger guard. When all the cartridges are used up, the casing-bolt stops in the rear position on the slide delay. Extraction of the spent cartridge case is carried out by a spring ejector, and reflection by a special reflector mounted in the rear of the pistol frame.

When you press the rocking trigger, the back of the trigger lever is brought under the front end of a long horizontal, with a hinge in the middle, the sear lever attached to the bolt. This disengages the sear from the trigger, the trigger turns and strikes the firing pin. During the shot, the pressure of the powder gases pushes back the bolt, which drags the barrel along with it, because. the two upper semi-annular lugs of the barrel enter the grooves of the shutter-casing. After 5 mm of recoil stroke, the tide of the barrel meets the rod and the breech is lowered. In this case, the lugs of the barrel disengage from the grooves of the shutter-casing, the barrel stops, and the shutter continues to move back, compresses the return spring located under the barrel and cocks the trigger. A spring-loaded ejector mounted openly on the bolt pulls out an empty sleeve, which hits the reflector ledge and is ejected through the window. The shutter, having reached the limiter, stops and, under the action of a return spring, returns forward, while extracting a cartridge from the magazine and sending it to the chamber. The bolt pushes the barrel forward, it rises and engages with the bolt - the bore is locked. If the magazine is empty, its feeder raises the barrel delay, it locks the shutter-casing in the rear position. After replacing the magazine with an equipped one, the shooter lowers the delay lever, the bolt returns to the forward position, loading and locking. When the magazine is removed, the trigger lever is automatically blocked.

Detachable cheeks of the handle (wooden on the first pistols, then plastic) are fastened with screws. The back side of the pistol grip has a bend at the top under the fleshy part of the palm, which ensures a sufficiently deep landing of the pistol in the hand and its stability when fired.

There were two modifications of the Browning pistol of the 1935 model of the year: regular, with a constant open sight, and a “variable sight model” that had a sector sight, notched for shooting at a distance of up to 500 meters, as well as a groove on the back of the handle for attaching a wooden one. There was also a variant of this model with an enlarged sector sight for firing at a distance of up to 1000 meters, however, in this case the optimism of the developers can only be surprised.

There is information about other versions of both modifications: for example, there was a regular model of 1935 with a nine-round magazine chambered for 7.65 mm Parabellum and chambered for 7.65 mm Longue, intended for testing and testing, respectively, in the armies of Switzerland and France. Neither one nor the other option was commercially available. Some sources also mention the existence of another version of the “model with a variable sight”, which was supplied with a butt and a fire mode translator and, if necessary, could turn into a submachine gun.

In the second half of the 1930s, orders for the supply of FN Browning GP-35 pistols followed from Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Estonia, China and Peru. However, the Second World War, by the beginning of which the FN company managed to fulfill new orders only partially, in addition, the Belgian armed forces, of course, enjoyed priority in this matter.

In 1940, after the occupation of Belgium by the troops of Nazi Germany, the Fabrique Nationale company was transferred to the German owner, who produced the Browning of the 1935 model under the name "Pistole 640 (b)". These pistols were used in the German Wehrmacht as a limited standard weapon, and by the end of World War II, their number was about 319,000 pieces.

At the same time, in 1940, when it became clear that the production of the FN would fall into the hands of the Germans, the documentation and drawings of the Browning pistol were sent to the UK.

In order to provide the allied armies with Belgian pistols, the British attracted the Canadian company John Inglis and Company (Canada, Toronto) to the production of Browning pistols of the 1935 model. The pistol, produced in Canada, was originally produced for deliveries to China, and then began to be manufactured for the needs of Canada, Great Britain and Australia.

In the British and Canadian armies, pistols produced in Canada received the designation "Browning FN 9 mm Mk I". They differed from the base model in the shape of the sights and had four grooves in the bore instead of six, and were produced in four versions:
- No. 1 Mk I - with a sector sight, designed for a distance of up to 500 meters and grooves for attaching the butt;
- No. 1 Mk I * - a variant of the No. 1 Mk I model with an improved ejector and a modified sight;
- No. 2 Mk I - with a permanent sight and without grooves for attaching the butt;
- No. 2 Mk I * - variant of the No. 2 Mk I with an improved ejector.

At first, work on the production of Browning pistols in Canada moved slowly, but from February 1944 to September 1945, 151,816 pieces of this weapon were produced.

After the end of the Second World War, the Belgian firm Fabrique Nationale resumed production of the 1935 Browning with a fixed sight for sale to the military and with an adjustable one called High Power for the civilian arms market.

In 1954, the Browning M 1935 pistol was officially approved and adopted by the UK, and in 1962, its upgraded version with the designation No. 2 Mk I or L9A1.

Over its long history, the Browning pistol has been repeatedly upgraded, during which sights have changed, slots for the buttstock have been introduced and removed, etc. For example, in the 1980s, the Browning High Power Mk II and Mk III models, as well as the BDA with a double-action trigger, in the 1990s the pistol was converted to the .40 S&W cartridge, with a reinforced bolt to ensure the reliability of weapons with a more powerful cartridge, and the North American branch of FN began to produce the Hi-Power Practical with a non-adjustable sight and plastic grip cheeks and Hi-Power Standard with adjustable scope and wooden grips.

Browning High Power (commercial version)

AT different time The FN Browning Modele 1935 pistol was adopted by the armies and police forces of over 50 countries, becoming one of the most common combat service pistols and deserving the title of one of the best pistols of the 20th century, along with another creation of John Browning - the Colt M 1911. different countries this pistol was called differently, however, the English-language name of the system "High Power" became the most common.

The pistol became popular not only as a military and police weapon, but also as a weapon for self-defense or for sports shooting, having become widespread as a commercial model in the United States and several other countries.

For decades of service and combat use in the military and law enforcement agencies around the world, the High Power pistol has proven itself with better side, as an easy-to-handle and trouble-free weapon, showing such qualities as high reliability in difficult operating conditions; simplicity, convenience and safety in handling; ease of care for weapons; shooting accuracy; high firepower.

The total number of FN Browning High Power pistols produced was more than 1 million pieces. In addition, in a number of countries, the production of various modifications of High Power was launched, both under license, for example, Fabricaciones Militares in Argentina, and without it by Norinco in China, Arcus in Bulgaria, FEG in Hungary, and many others around the world.

• Weapons » Pistols » Belgium
• Mercenary 17173 3

Pistol Browning High Power

Browning High Power Mk. III is a modern modification for the police and military.

Browning High Power is the modern commercial version.

Characteristics

USM: single action
Caliber: 9x19mm Parabellum, 7.65mm Parabellum (commercial variants), .40SW (latest commercial variants)
Length: 200 mm
barrel length: 118 mm
The weight: 885 g
Magazine capacity: 13 rounds (10 rounds for .40 caliber)

The Browning HP pistol (High Power 1935) has been produced by the Belgian company FN Gerstal since 1935. The pistol is based on the locking scheme developed by J.M. Browning in 1926 with an interlocked bolt and a short barrel stroke, later modified by the Belgian designer Didier Saive.

Key features of this model:
— USM single action with an open trigger
- Scheme of automation with a short stroke of the barrel. Disengagement occurs due to the interaction of an inclined cutout in the tide, located in the rear lower part of the barrel, with a special part in the pistol frame. After the barrel, together with the bolt, moves back a few millimeters, the barrel drops, disengaging from the bolt; the barrel stops, and the bolt moves back, extracting the spent cartridge case and completing the reload cycle. Engagement is carried out with the help of protrusions-hooks on the breech breech and on the inner surface of the bolt.
— store in the handle with a capacity of 13 rounds

The pistol was produced and is produced both with fixed sights and with adjustable sights (notched from 50 to 500 meters), in the version with a detachable holster-butt. Currently, both the traditional version and the improved High Power Mk.III are being produced, which have modified plastic grip pads and a double-sided safety. The variant, designated as HP-SA, is identical to the Mk.III variant but additionally has an automatic fuse that blocks the firing pin until the trigger is fully pulled. In addition, the same models are also available in .40SW caliber, with a reinforced bolt to ensure the reliability of weapons with a more powerful cartridge.

At various times, it was in service with the armies and police of many countries, including the countries of the British Commonwealth (Great Britain, Canada ...), produced in Belgium, Canada, Egypt and many other countries. Until now, it is in service in the UK, Belgium and many other countries.

On the basis of this pistol, FN created the HP DA pistol, which features a double-action trigger.
Browning High Power is deservedly considered one of the best pistols of the twentieth century, along with another creation of John Browning - Colt M1911.