P35 (late 1936 or early 1937) FN Hi-Power

[steveTA1983]

Cool gun with a great history and a great family connection. I wish I could see the proof marks. As you probably know, Inglis made Hi-Powers like yours for Britain and China under contract during the war.

Thanks for posting.

I'll get some proof mark close ups later today

[Lee Enfield]

She shoots great too, but after having the claw on the extractor break while shooting, I found a NOS replacement and have not shot it (and probably will not shoot it) anymore. Those extractors, especially legit FN ones, are extremely hard to find

Early Brownings had the extractor hang (if you will) from the firing pin retainer plate.

This was one of the improvements that Inglis made in the * version.

Does your FN have the round barrel cam or the angular one?

[browningautorifle]

Early Brownings had the extractor hang (if you will) from the firing pin retainer plate.

You mean like the 1911? Retained in place the same way?

[Lee Enfield]

Quote Originally Posted by Lee Enfield View Post

Early Brownings had the extractor hang (if you will) from the firing pin retainer plate.

You mean like the 1911? Retained in place the same way?

Sorry, to clarify, initially only the plate stopped the original design extractors from moving forward through the slide tunnel.

The * (star) improvement to the extractor created a forward stop within the tunnel to support the extractor - or redesigned the extractor to stop within the tunnel - the documentation isn't all that clear.

The other *(star) improvements were the higher ejector & angular cammed barrel.

As documented in Clive Law's book "the Inglis Diamond", the Inglis High Power was solely by Inglis reverse engineered from Val Browning's personal gun, and several supplied by the Chinese delegation. All the reverse engineered FN guns were early and the last FN improvements were not available to Inglis. The Inglis reverse engineering drawings actually predate the Enfield (same purpose but separate project) drawings.

This changed after the Inglis pistols were already in production, when ex FN engineers were finally introduced into the project - they supplied the new barrel cam design and related the ejector height increase.

I'm not sure whether the extractor improvement was an Inglis or FN innovation...

However I believe that the revised Mk2 hammer was an entirely Inglis invention, adopted by FN post-war.

[steveTA1983]

Early Brownings had the extractor hang (if you will) from the firing pin retainer plate.

This was one of the improvements that Inglis made in the * version.

Does your FN have the round barrel cam or the angular one?

Round cam

[BruceHMX]

Nice pistol Steve and a great history behind it. Since you are not going to shoot it maybe install it in a shadow box with the bring back document, a photo of your Grandfather and a Third Army patch. Find a special place to hang it where it will be safe. Just a thought.

[mrclark303]

Superb museum Worthy Hi Power, just lovely.