ltwguns.com

I got my Hi-Power back from Don on Friday and took a couple quick pictures of it today. I only wish that my rather poor photography skills could do the quality of work justice.

The gun is an FN Mark III chambered in 40 S&W. It originally came from CDNN with walnut stocks and a polished blue finish, neither of which did anything for me. While deciding on what work I wanted to have done I came to the conclusion that less, in this case, would be more. I intend to carry this gun when I am in jurisdictions that allow me to do so. To that end everything I had done to gun was done with the sole purpose of making the gun more functional to me.

Before I sent the gun to Don I shot the gun quite a bit to figure out exactly what was acceptable and more importantly what wasn't. I found that the gun was very accurate and boringly reliable with quality factory ammo. So decided that the factory barrel would stay in the gun as I cannot out shoot it. Right out of the box I knew the gun needed new stocks (the Spegel rosewood stocks feel and look much better than the original walnut stocks) and the polished finish had to go. When it was all said and done I also decided that the magwell in its factory condition was a no-go, as were the sights, the trigger and both the front and back straps needed texturing.

I had Don remove the factory hammer and sear and replaced them with a C&S no bite commander hammer and EGW hard sear, and then I had him do a trigger job on the new parts. I must say that the new trigger is much better than I expected it to be and light years better than the one that came right out of the box.

I then had Don fit the gun with plain black Heinie sights, bevel the mag well, stipple the front and back straps, preform his reliability package and refinish the gun in a nice matte blue. I suppose at some point in the future the bluing will be replaced with EGW's E-treat but I wanted to shoot the gun for a while to be sure it was exactly as I want it to be before having the final finish applied.














I really enjoyed this build and Don was a pleasure to deal with considering that I am probably not the easiest customer to deal with. I had a really bad experience with a Hi-Power I had built several years ago and I blame myself partly for not making sure the smith knew what I wanted exactly and what my expectations were. I had no problems with dealing with Don, who is the consummate professional in every regards. Though he is probably glad he won't be seeing my telephone number on his caller ID for a while.

Pete

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"Domari Nolo"

Very nice HiPower. All they need, and nothing more.
It's too bad they come "so close, but so far" from the factory. They have the basis for being an ideal carry gun (in the sub-45 caliber class, anyway) but just need a little nudge in the right direction. When they get there, they are a joy.

That's good stuff right there. A very nice build.

Don's a great guy to deal with.

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Looks wonderful, and congratulations!

Hey Don... think you could build me something similar in 9mm?

Pete,

Very nice build. Thanks for posting pictures. I just got a call from Don to send mine in. This will be my first custom pistol. My build list is very similiar to yours (including the rosewood Spegel's), although I'm going with original style Heinie sights and I am keeping the spur hammer.

One functional question, is there a big difference with the beveled mag well? I was going to forego that because of the tapered magazines.

Thanks,

Mark

I haven't gotten to dry fire the gun much yet but from the few reloads I have done it is much faster now than it was before the work was done. Keep in mind there isn't much meat to work with there so you'll never have a super slick mag well but as a practical improvement I wouldn't carry a Hi-Power with out it. YMMV.

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"Domari Nolo"

They're more like "half-tapered". They are tapered at the top rear, but squared-off at the top front. That's where people get them hung up sometimes. I know I would on occasion.

My Y-B BHP has a beveled magwell. I've only had it back about five or six weeks, so only have 850 rds and some dry practice with it, BUT I've yet to blow a mag change with it.
There really isn't a whole lot there to bevel, but apparently a little bit helps a lot.

Over the past 10 years I have owned 5 action works pistols. They all looked great and ran with boring reliability. Don is a great guy to deal with, I can't recommend him highly enough.

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"The most effective armor is to keep out of range"-Italian proverb

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Pete and Barry,

Thanks for the giving me your thoughts on the benefits of a beveled magwell on a Hi Power. This is my first Hi Power that I have owned (an almost NIB 1981 that I bought from Hilton Yam). I am really looking forward to getting it back after Don has performed his magic on it.

Mark

Congrat's Pete! Very nice! Don has my Colt Commander and I'm really looking forward to the day it comes home. As said, Don is a pleasure to deal with and is very patient with customers who ask alot of questions and make changes. (Sorry Don )

Pete G

Nice looking pistol! Don does great work, and is definitely one of the nicest guys in the business.

Must be something in the name. If we keep it up Don will break in to hives every time he hears the name Pete.
Mark,

You are most welcome. This board is the single best resource on the net for info about custom gun work. Best of all you won't find any of the childish nonsense that you find else where on the net. I hope you are as pleased with Don's work as I am.

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"Domari Nolo"

great looking bhp. what would be the reason for going to the EGW finish?-cam

The more I see BHP's the more I want one!

A couple of reasons. Bluing doesn't resist rust very well and E-treat will keep the gun looking newer longer.

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"Domari Nolo"

Very nice. I had similar work done by Fletcher Customs. Mine was chambered in 9mm from cdnn though and I ditched the ambi safety. The BHP sure are gorgeous when they get all dressed up.