I’ve mentioned my plan on the “What have you bought in the last 48 hours” thread, but here’s the story.
I love the Browning HiPower, and I’ve carried one for most of the last 28 years.
About three years ago, I gave in and accepted my eyes were forcing a switch to a red dot on my carry gun. I had been resisting because I didn’t see a way to get a BHP with RDS at the time.
When I threw in the towel I took the easy route and got a Sig P320 with the factory red dot. With the Wilson grip frame, it was sorta kinda HiPower-ish feeling if I used my imagination. I had to ignore the relatively huge girth and overall size to get there.
There is nothing wrong with the P320, but I’ve never been very happy with it. How could I be? It’s not a HiPower.
I still wanted a BHP with a red dot. I was starting to see this work being done, but I wasn’t going to send one of my Brownings off to be ground on since they had been dropped from production and values were climbing.
Then SA came out with the SA-35. There was my candidate. As we know, it took a while to get them circulating well, and for the initial extractor bugs to be worked out. Only recently did I see prices coming down.
By chance, I met a local part-time gunsmith/machinist and ran the project by him. He has done a lot of RDS slide installations, but never on a BHP.
But he was willing to try.
That was it! That was all I needed.
I took the plunge and bought an SA-35 off Gunbroker. I shot it once for only 75 rounds to make sure it didn’t have obvious problems. Satisfied there, I ordered a Trijicon RMRcc.
I had put some thought into that sight choice. I don’t know if it was necessary, but I gave it plenty of thought anyway.
I didn’t know how much trouble it would be to get a RDS on a HiPower. There is less fore and aft space on the slide than a lot of guns. Could I get a tall rear sight squeezed in? What about width? Would the standard RMR overhang a slim HiPower slide?
I played it safe and got the smaller RMRcc.
I also ran across a rear sight from Parker Mountain Machine that mounted within the RMR body itself, which saved the need for space for mounting a sight behind the RDS.
www.parkermountainmachine.com
With the pieces all here, I delivered them to my new pal.
He texted today saying it was done, and he was pleased at how it came out.
Here it is:
To me, it looks “right”. A standard size RMR might have looked huge on the svelte HiPower.
Here is an upward look at the overhang:
Not bad, I think.
He did a fantastic job. I can’t see any light between the RDS and slide at any joint. The sight is well supported.
He did not sight it in, so I hurried off to the range to settle that important task. That only took three clicks down.
I shot it more anyway.
I had some concern about how easy or hard it might be for me to pick up the dot in the smaller window of the RMRcc, but it went OK. I don’t think it was any harder than using the regular sized RDS on my P320. I don’t know how much of that was from being accustomed to shooting a HiPower. Perhaps if the sights and guns were swapped so I had the smaller sight on the P320 it would have gone different.
So there. I finally have my red dot-sighted HiPower. I hope it works as well as I’ve always hoped.
I am going to have to get a new holster. My Summer Specials won’t clear the sight.
I love the Browning HiPower, and I’ve carried one for most of the last 28 years.
About three years ago, I gave in and accepted my eyes were forcing a switch to a red dot on my carry gun. I had been resisting because I didn’t see a way to get a BHP with RDS at the time.
When I threw in the towel I took the easy route and got a Sig P320 with the factory red dot. With the Wilson grip frame, it was sorta kinda HiPower-ish feeling if I used my imagination. I had to ignore the relatively huge girth and overall size to get there.
There is nothing wrong with the P320, but I’ve never been very happy with it. How could I be? It’s not a HiPower.
I still wanted a BHP with a red dot. I was starting to see this work being done, but I wasn’t going to send one of my Brownings off to be ground on since they had been dropped from production and values were climbing.
Then SA came out with the SA-35. There was my candidate. As we know, it took a while to get them circulating well, and for the initial extractor bugs to be worked out. Only recently did I see prices coming down.
By chance, I met a local part-time gunsmith/machinist and ran the project by him. He has done a lot of RDS slide installations, but never on a BHP.
But he was willing to try.
That was it! That was all I needed.
I took the plunge and bought an SA-35 off Gunbroker. I shot it once for only 75 rounds to make sure it didn’t have obvious problems. Satisfied there, I ordered a Trijicon RMRcc.
I had put some thought into that sight choice. I don’t know if it was necessary, but I gave it plenty of thought anyway.
I didn’t know how much trouble it would be to get a RDS on a HiPower. There is less fore and aft space on the slide than a lot of guns. Could I get a tall rear sight squeezed in? What about width? Would the standard RMR overhang a slim HiPower slide?
I played it safe and got the smaller RMRcc.
I also ran across a rear sight from Parker Mountain Machine that mounted within the RMR body itself, which saved the need for space for mounting a sight behind the RDS.
PMM IDRS (Independent Drop-In Rear Sight) - Parker Mountain Machine
PMM IDRS (Independent Drop-In Rear Sight)
www.parkermountainmachine.com
With the pieces all here, I delivered them to my new pal.
He texted today saying it was done, and he was pleased at how it came out.
Here it is:
To me, it looks “right”. A standard size RMR might have looked huge on the svelte HiPower.
Here is an upward look at the overhang:
He did a fantastic job. I can’t see any light between the RDS and slide at any joint. The sight is well supported.
He did not sight it in, so I hurried off to the range to settle that important task. That only took three clicks down.
I shot it more anyway.
I had some concern about how easy or hard it might be for me to pick up the dot in the smaller window of the RMRcc, but it went OK. I don’t think it was any harder than using the regular sized RDS on my P320. I don’t know how much of that was from being accustomed to shooting a HiPower. Perhaps if the sights and guns were swapped so I had the smaller sight on the P320 it would have gone different.
So there. I finally have my red dot-sighted HiPower. I hope it works as well as I’ve always hoped.
I am going to have to get a new holster. My Summer Specials won’t clear the sight.
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