Interestingly, one of the Browning's greatest weaknesses is also its best asset. The 9mm Luger (and yes, I know the Hi Power is also available in other flavors, including .40) is a caliber that's available anywhere. I won't go into the supposed feebleness of the 9mm too much, except to say that yes, I'd rather have a .45 too.

But the 9mm is a world-class cartridge. China and Russia now issue the 9x19mm to their armed forces, while it's a staple in Europe and South America.

The solution to the problem of using a pistol in a possibly less-than-adequate caliber is simple - training and practice. Because the ammo's so readily available and less expensive than other, more exotic calibers, it allows for additional range-time. You use what's on hand and make the best of it. And usually, what's on hand works quite well.

The late gunwriter Col. Charles Askins once said that the battlefields of Europe were littered with graves of people shot with the "puny" 9mm. Yeah, I know there are better calibers, but finding ammo for your pistol when you're in Iraq or Somalia is far more important.

Author's favorite P35 MKII, shown with a box of M882 GI ball - not the best defensive load but easily found worldwide. (Photo: Robert Kolesar)

And like the 1911, the P35 is utterly reliable when cared for properly, when fed good, clean ammo and when used with quality magazines. Shooting it with GI ball (which is what it was designed for) makes feeding problems a non-issue.

My favorite (a Belgian-made MKII) has had the feed ramp polished and the magazine safety removed. Nothing else has been done - I intend to leave it alone. It's never malfunctioned and probably didn't need the feed ramp smoothed. The newer versions (like the MKIII) will feed hollowpoints with no problems.

The P35 was never intended to be a target pistol, but shoots more than acceptable groups for a service weapon. Both of mine will hold 2-inch groups at 20 yards with commercial ball or hollowpoints, and that's pretty good for a duty gun. Anything less than that will probably be beyond the capabilities of most 9mm ammo, anyway.

Accurizing Hi Powers has been tried, but usually doesn't achieve much in accuracy gains.

Master gunsmith Jim Hoag of Los Angeles, Calif. once told me that the slides on Brownings tend to be "soft" and won't hold an accuracy job for long (accurizing usually entails fitting and lapping the slide to the rails, plus fitting the barrel-locking lugs to the slide). Hoag's gotten better results by using his own proprietary screw-in bushing in conjunction with a good muzzle crown. The Browning will never be able to compete equally with a well-tuned 1911, though.

Two favorites - a Colt Series 70 .45 and a Browning P35 in 9mm. Both are superb, but the Browning is smaller, lighter and uses a cartridge that's distributed worldwide. (Photo: Robert Kolesar)

My MKII still wears a set of British plastic stocks, given to me by a friendly Parachute Regiment armorer. Many countries have "upgraded" to newer, striker-fired pistols, but Brownings are still literally everywhere.

I acquired an Iraqi Hi Power on a TCP (traffic control point) north of Baghdad in March of '04. A nice Haji Imam donated it to me after a cordial explanation that he shouldn't be packing a weapon around Coalition Forces. I carried it for a couple of months in a shoulder rig on patrol, until I traded it to a South African Blackwater employee.

Almost daily I ran into Brownings, usually owned by Iraqi officers. Most were the older types with the rowel or ring hammers, tiny sights and right-handed safeties. I shot a few, just for fun, with M882 GI ball, and all worked perfectly, even one that had seen better days maintenance- and finish-wise.

When I worked with the Brits for a short while south of Najaf, I looked over their issued Brownings too. All were brand-new MKIIIs with the ambidextrous safeties and stocks.

I shoot and carry my favorite Hi Power often, usually with GI ball. It's boringly accurate and prints its rounds to centerpoint of aim at 20 yards.

My other Browning 9mm is a later, Portuguese-assembled "Capitan" with the rowel hammer, tangent sights and checkered wood stocks. Nice gun, but I prefer my older, Belgian-made "plain Jane" MKII. The older gun has a rough, parkerized-type finish, good fixed sights and an excellent ambidextrous safety that's positive and unobtrusive. Most of the time I carry it hammer-down, round chambered (condition 2) because I'm used to it. I usually forego a holster and tuck it into my waistband, butt forward. This was how I usually carried one overseas, under my uniform shirt, when I was supposed to be "unarmed."

Author's preferred method of carry - butt forward, hammer down on a loaded chamber (condition 2). The Browning usually doesn't slip down under the belt as it's lighter and has a slightly thicker grip. Not the best all-purpose carry method, but it works in certain situations. (Photo: Robert Kolesar)

Since I only own two, I'm thinking of having my buddy Jim Hoag in LA make up a really nice one for me - my "last" Hi Power. I'm on the hunt now for a used one for the project. I'd like to find a newer MKIII. These have cast frames that are supposedly stronger than the old Belgian forged ones. And I like the ambidextrous safeties and barrels on the newer ones, too - hollowpoints feed fine in the new guns.

It'll wear Novak fixed sights, a nice set of Spegal thin Cocobolo stocks and will be finished in a soft, matte blue. Much too pretty to be carried overseas, though.

But I'm sure I'll find a good one wherever I am to keep me company during my next tour.

Comments (0)