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The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic pistol. It is based on ideas conceived and patented in 1922 by American firearms inventor John Browning, and later patented by Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Herstal, Belgium. more...

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Browning died in 1926, before he had finished developing a production version. The design was fully developed and realized by Belgian arms designer Dieudonne Saive, working at FN.

The Hi-Power pistol was named for its 13-round magazine capacity, which was almost twice that of contemporary designs such as the Luger or Mauser 1910. The Hi-Power had the first functional double-column magazine of 9 mm rounds, and was capable of holding 13 cartridges, with a 14th loaded in the chamber. Flush-fit 15 round magazines are now available, as well as higher capacity magazines which extend past the end of the butt.

The pistol is often referred to as an HP (for "Hi-Power" or "High-Power" ) or as a GP (for the French term, "Grande Puissance"). The term P-35 is also used, based on the introduction of the pistol in 1935. Another common nickname is the "King of Nines." It is most often called the "Hi-Power", even in Belgium. It is also known as the BAP (Browning Automatic Pistol), particularly in Irish service.

Development

The Hi-Power was designed in response to a French military requirement for a new service pistol, the Grand Rendement (French for "High Yield"), or alternatively Grande Puissance (literally "high power"). The French military's requirements were that the arm should be compact, have a capacity of at least 10 rounds, a magazine disconnect device, an external hammer, a positive safety, be robust and simple to disassemble and re-assemble, and be capable of killing a man at 50 metres; this last criterion was seen to demand a calibre of 9 mm or larger, a bullet mass of around 8 grammes, and a muzzle velocity of 350 m/s. It was to accomplish all of this at a weight not exceeding 1 kg (2.2 lb).

FN commissioned John Browning to design a new military sidearm conforming to this specification. Browning had previously sold the rights to his successful M1911 U.S. Army automatic pistol to Colt's Patent Firearms, and was therefore forced to design an entirely new pistol while working around the M1911 patents. Browning built two different prototypes for the project. One was a simple blowback design, while the other was operated with a locked-breech recoil system. Both prototypes utilized a new staggered magazine design to increase capacity without unduly increasing the pistol's grip size or magazine length.

The locked breech design was selected for further development and testing. This model was striker-fired, and featured a double-column magazine that held 16 rounds. The design was refined through several trials held by the Versailles Trial Commission.

Read more at Wikipedia.org