ltwguns.com

I really am trying to quit Hi Powers, well at least Surplus Hi Powers, but the few that remain on the docket must be done and is the first in a batch of 4 wrapping up, 3 of them came together and the 4th is still out for finishing. This first pistol was the only steel frame in the group, and rough as a cob as they all are, but cleaned up nice. Welded up rails, checkering, beavertail, KKM Pipe, 2 Tone and a ring hammer cherry on top. Second is Another Surplus Hi Power, this one an Alloy framed Lightweight, paired with an additional FM Detective topend it becomes an all metal, SAO, G19 form factor in size, weight, caliber and capacity. Finished in wall to wall matte Hardchrome. And lastly Another Surplus LW, all black DLC, I quite like the look of this one, the Custom made Thumb safety was fun to learn/do as well. Hand Stippled front and rear. OEM barrel and BHSS Threaded barrel.

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www.kgbcustom.com

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www.kgbcustom.com

Great-looking BHP's Karl. Definitely a resurgence in interest in these, eh? At least SA is kinda hoping so. If someone sends you one let us know how it is. Thanks for sharing these..... I'd like to know more about the "Detective" one. Do you think that format is viable?

I think SA while perhaps a year or so late to the party, will sell as many as they can make at the $$ point they are, and I am hopeful they expand the line, and have little doubt they will. One glaring issue SAI seems to have dropped the ball on is frame thickness in the front corners. . . seemingly a place where, in the MFG of 'new forgings' you could have added another say .010-.025, not just for those of us butchering them, but for your own future texture applique (I think a TRP level SA35 would sell by the truckload).

The Detectives are cool, a Commander of sorts, originally sprung with a dual recoil spring, the 3 I have 'built' I replaced that arrangement with a single flatwire spring (the FM slide tunnel is bigger than the FN pistols). I think the market is certainly hungry for 'Detective' sized HP's, I know I get 10-12 requests for them a year by folks that see my work on them and think I am offering the shortening of FN slides as a service. I hope to distance myself from taking too much more HP work, really only as I enjoy building 1911's more, but they can be a nice change of pace from time to time.

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www.kgbcustom.com

The gunsmith who taught me the trade remarked more than once "You get just one chance to properly checker a BHP frame." mess it up, and it would mean the frame got stippled. And maybe even need some welding. But that was in the 1980s.

Yes, that is a ball-drop for sure. Even just another .020 would have been worth doing. I mean, .020 is probably less than the variance to be expected gun-to-gun but manufacturing methods being what they are, it would be easy 'nuff to hold that thickeness to, say, at least .060. But I get it that on the manufacturing side, now were going to extra trouble, maybe $2-$4 per gun, to hold a dimension that is going to completely meaningless in 995 of every 1000 guns made. $2 to $4 per gun is huge when the bean-counters get involved..... that'll never get by them.

I did put that bug in the ear of my contact at Springfield, however. We'll see.

I mean, when their own custom shop gets to working on the SA35s, they might have a few choice words as well.