Hey guys I have a question about this gun I may pick up.
According to the serial number the gun is a 9mm from 1986 which according to my research should be a Mark 2 with the fixed/dovetailed sights and a ambi safety. This one has adjustable rear sight, staked front and a right handed safety. We’re there classic Hi Powers being made in 86? What do I have here?
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I found this on another forum.
"The way Browning designated the various models of the HP over the last 25-odd years is a bit confusing, but I'll provide a "thumbnail sketch":
Between 1954 and 1982 Browning marketed in this country a polished-blue finished HP with either fixed or adjustable sights (the adjustable sights being available starting in the early 1970's). Aside from some mechanical and minor external changes over that time, the item was the same that FN had been producing in Belgium since the end of WWII, which wasn't much different than the initial 1935 item except for the sights.
In 1982 FN/Browning introduced the Mark II Hi-Power with an ambidextrous thumb safety and high-profile "combat" fixed sights. Insofar as I am aware, all had utilitarian Parkerized finishes. (The model is most readily distinguished by a small rib running the length of the top of the slide.) Some to many of the Mark II's imported into this country had the passive firing pin safety ubiquitous to the later Mark III-series HP's and that Mr. Camp has illustrated above. (Both of my Mark II's have this feature.) Concurrent with production of the Mark II, the regular HP (referred to as the "classic" HP by some) continued to be manufactured and marketed right along side the newer item without any changes. At that time, to differentiate it in the marketplace from the newer model, Browning began referring to it as the Standard model, has done so in it's catalogs ever since, and does so to this day on their website. There never was an FN/Browning HP officially designated the Mark I.
In 1988 or 1989 FN/Browning terminated the Mark II and upgraded the Standard model with the ambidextrous safety of the Mark II, and even better, higher-profile combat-type fixed sights than the Mark II had. The passive firing pin safety that had appeared earlier in the Mark II was also added to the Standard Model
Starting at about the same time and over the next several years other HP models were introduced: The Mark III model with fixed sights and a utilitarian black epoxy paint finish (this basic and utilitarian model replacing the the Mark II in its marketing niche). The Silver Chrome model with a matte hard-chrome finish and Pachmayr rubber grips and either fixed or adjustable sights (basically a matte hard-chrome finished Standard model with Pachmayr grips). The two-tone Practical model with matte hard-chrome finished frame and dark-finished slide, Pachmayr grips and with fixed or adjustable sights. Very limited runs of the Capitan model with polished-blue finish and the flip-up, ladder-type sight that pre-WWII HP's had. All of these new models had the passive firing pin safety, the ambidextrous thumb safety and (except for the Capitan model with it's long-range pre-war rear sight and most, earlier Practicals that had a serrated-ramp front sight) the new higher-profile combat-type fixed sights the Standard model got in 1988/89; the up-graded Standard model and these new models are collectively referred to as the Mark III-series HP's, primarily due to the presence of the internal firing pin safety in all of them.
The Silver Chrome and Capitan models haven't been imported for several years and it appears that the Practical is now gone as well.
Getting into FN's commercial production elsewhere and their post-war military contracts substantially complicates things, but the above will cover the vast majority of the HP's you will see stateside."
According to the serial number the gun is a 9mm from 1986 which according to my research should be a Mark 2 with the fixed/dovetailed sights and a ambi safety. This one has adjustable rear sight, staked front and a right handed safety. We’re there classic Hi Powers being made in 86? What do I have here?
I found this on another forum.
"The way Browning designated the various models of the HP over the last 25-odd years is a bit confusing, but I'll provide a "thumbnail sketch":
Between 1954 and 1982 Browning marketed in this country a polished-blue finished HP with either fixed or adjustable sights (the adjustable sights being available starting in the early 1970's). Aside from some mechanical and minor external changes over that time, the item was the same that FN had been producing in Belgium since the end of WWII, which wasn't much different than the initial 1935 item except for the sights.
In 1982 FN/Browning introduced the Mark II Hi-Power with an ambidextrous thumb safety and high-profile "combat" fixed sights. Insofar as I am aware, all had utilitarian Parkerized finishes. (The model is most readily distinguished by a small rib running the length of the top of the slide.) Some to many of the Mark II's imported into this country had the passive firing pin safety ubiquitous to the later Mark III-series HP's and that Mr. Camp has illustrated above. (Both of my Mark II's have this feature.) Concurrent with production of the Mark II, the regular HP (referred to as the "classic" HP by some) continued to be manufactured and marketed right along side the newer item without any changes. At that time, to differentiate it in the marketplace from the newer model, Browning began referring to it as the Standard model, has done so in it's catalogs ever since, and does so to this day on their website. There never was an FN/Browning HP officially designated the Mark I.
In 1988 or 1989 FN/Browning terminated the Mark II and upgraded the Standard model with the ambidextrous safety of the Mark II, and even better, higher-profile combat-type fixed sights than the Mark II had. The passive firing pin safety that had appeared earlier in the Mark II was also added to the Standard Model
Starting at about the same time and over the next several years other HP models were introduced: The Mark III model with fixed sights and a utilitarian black epoxy paint finish (this basic and utilitarian model replacing the the Mark II in its marketing niche). The Silver Chrome model with a matte hard-chrome finish and Pachmayr rubber grips and either fixed or adjustable sights (basically a matte hard-chrome finished Standard model with Pachmayr grips). The two-tone Practical model with matte hard-chrome finished frame and dark-finished slide, Pachmayr grips and with fixed or adjustable sights. Very limited runs of the Capitan model with polished-blue finish and the flip-up, ladder-type sight that pre-WWII HP's had. All of these new models had the passive firing pin safety, the ambidextrous thumb safety and (except for the Capitan model with it's long-range pre-war rear sight and most, earlier Practicals that had a serrated-ramp front sight) the new higher-profile combat-type fixed sights the Standard model got in 1988/89; the up-graded Standard model and these new models are collectively referred to as the Mark III-series HP's, primarily due to the presence of the internal firing pin safety in all of them.
The Silver Chrome and Capitan models haven't been imported for several years and it appears that the Practical is now gone as well.
Getting into FN's commercial production elsewhere and their post-war military contracts substantially complicates things, but the above will cover the vast majority of the HP's you will see stateside."
