Got my Hi-Power.
 

Belgium made "Type 73" dated 1976, retaining the C Series date code. I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep it or try and sell it, as there is some wear on the right side of the slide that might not be fixable. All the same I've had a chance to get a feel for the gun and I have to say I will definitely own one of these, even if not this one.

Here are pics:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...-PowerLeft.png


http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...PowerRight.png


http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...Hi-PowerCL.png

Damn, two guns in a month! You're on a roll. Congrats on buying the world's first "wonder nine"

Congrats. While the earlier Hi-Powers have small sights and safety. Good guns either way. Is it just wear on the top of the slide? Or bad pitting? Hard to tell from the pics. You could always send the slide to someone and have better sights installed and get it refinished at the same time. The triggers can be kind of crappy with the magazine safety. Both of mine still have them, but I plan on sending them to the Action Works to have that taken care of and some other stuff.

Oh! I didn't see the wear on the top of the slide. I need to start paying more attention

Actually it is pitted. There are several tiny holes in the slide, which I don't think would be taken care of by rebluing. I've seen/heard about some ways to fix the pits, but I honestly have no idea. Gonna take it to a few stores and see what they say. I tried to take the disconnect out myself today as it's an eays procedure, but the trigger pin is stuck in really hard and I'd rather have a smith look at it. As far as the sights go, I actually think they'r eperfectly adequate. They aren't Novaks but they are a ways bigger than the Government Model sights, and they look damn cool.

Other than the pitting, it looks perfectly fine

A little wear gives it character. Gusn are meant to be used. Just take out the mag disconnect and you'll have a beteer trigger, and well, you wont have a stupid mag disconnect.

I don't think I even own a non worn/scratched guns. It's not because I'm not careful, but because I'm too cheap to buy anything new

I've gotten to the point where I don't care much about finish wear or rub marks, but pitting is in a league of it's own. It's kind of like the difference between scars and zit pop marks.

I do agree that the magazine disconnect is kind of a dumb idea but I never minded it in my 5906 because I could lower the hammer with the decocker. Since the Hi-Power is single-action and has no decocker, if I want to lower it, the mag hast to be in, which is really annyoing.I definitely intend to get it taken out once I have the means.

How would you go about taking out the mag disconnect? The one on my 4506 is getting on my nerves

All you have to do is take out the trigger group and then pull out the mag disconnect, from what I understand. It's relatively simple, I just couldn't get the trigger pin out after a few taps with my punch and hammer, so I gave up before I damaged the gun.

A HP can be done with a pin removed and slide it out...the smith, no idea. I hate mag disconnects since they give you a disadvantage. If you bend feed lips on magazine and cant get the mag to seat right or feed, you may need to load one at a time into the chamber.

It's a beautiful gun

I love it! Actually, I have a slight preference for the circular hammers, but don't get me wrong...still a beautiful gun.

Yeah I was steering toward a round one initially (I even wanted to replace my 1911s hammer with a Commander style) but I was having so much trouble finding one at a good price that I decided I didn't care what type of hammer spur was on it. I might save up and get a round hammer too sometime down the road.

The FN and Smith & Wesson Disconnects are very different, and while I understand how to remove the disconnect from the Browning, I never figured out how to do it on the Smith & Wessons. In hindsight I believe placing a pin where the ejector spring is to keep it propped up would work, but I'm not sure.

Both my personal and issued Hi Powers still have the mag disconnect (one's a collectible, the other would lead to some very one-sided questions from the quartermaster) - it's not condusive to a good trigger, but frankly you're never going to have a match trigger on a Hi Power anyways. You actually can drop the hammer without putting in a mag, just stick your middle finger up the mag well and press in the disconnect in the front.

I hate mag disconencts and grip safetys, more useless stuff to go wrong.

I'm not aiming for a match trigger so much as I'm just aiming to have the Hi-Power behave like the 1911. As for the middle finger thing, I just tried it and couldn't reach it. I'd need a tool for that. From what I've read, though, removing the disconnect does tend to smooth out the trigger, as you're removing a spring in the trigger group that works agasinst the pull. I think the trigger's performance right now is fine, but I would like it to mirror the 1911s function, and if the trigger pull does imrpove, that's good too.