Browning Hi-Power Belgian 9mm 4 5/8″ Semi Auto Pistol MFD 1977
SOLD FOR: $2,076.00
LSB#: LSB260627TM020
Make: Fabrique Nationale, for Browning
Model: Hi-Power, Factory Adjustable Sights
Serial Number: 245RR62628
Year of Manufacture: 1977 / Modern
Caliber: 9mm Luger
Action Type: Single Action, Semi-Automatic with a Detachable Magazine
Markings: The left side of the slide is marked “BROWNING ARMS COMPANY MORGAN, UTAH & MONTREAL P.Q.” above “MADE IN BELGIUM”. The frontstrap is marked “245RR62628”. The exposed barrel chamber is marked for the 9mm caliber.
Barrel Length: 4 5/8″
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a tall fixed blade with a serrated rear face. The rear sight is a factory square-notch sight adjustable for windage and elevation.
Grip Configuration & Condition: The grips are two-piece checkered walnut panels with smooth borders. They have scattered light handling marks, small scratches, and light wear to the checkering and lower edges. There are no cracks or chips. Overall, the grips are in Very Good condition.
Magazine Quantity & Condition: One blued steel 13-round magazine is included. It has light insertion wear and scattered small scratches. Overall, the magazine is in Very Good condition.
Type of Finish: Blued
Finish Originality: Original
Bore Condition: The bore is mostly bright with sharp rifling. There is no erosion in the bore, but there is a little stubborn fouling. In this writer’s opinion, the bore rates 9/10.
Overall Condition: This pistol retains about 98% of its metal finish. There are scattered light scratches and small handling marks, with minor wear at some edges and contact surfaces. The markings are clear. Overall, this pistol is in Excellent condition.
Mechanics: The action functions correctly.
We did not fire this pistol.
As with all used firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance requirements.
Box, Paperwork & Accessories: One magazine, described above.
Our Assessment: The Hi-Power began with a French military requirement and became one of Belgium’s most enduring firearm designs. In the early 1920s, Fabrique Nationale enlisted John Browning to help develop a new service pistol with a magazine holding at least ten cartridges. Browning died in 1926, before the project reached its final form, and FN’s Dieudonne Saive carried the work forward. The finished pistol combined a staggered-column magazine with a refined short-recoil action, bringing substantial magazine capacity into a manageable service-pistol frame. Belgium adopted it in 1935, even though the French commission that had set the project in motion never adopted the design. Its development was a sustained collaboration across national boundaries, with Saive turning Browning’s last pistol project into a mature production arm.
This Belgian-made 1977 example belongs to the Hi-Power’s established American commercial life. Browning began importing the model for U.S. sale in 1954, and a contemporary American Handgunner account records the addition of a fully adjustable target-sight version in 1972. The factory adjustable rear sight on this pistol places it in that expanded commercial offering, with a sighting arrangement tailored to more deliberate adjustment than the familiar fixed-sight service pattern. Its Morgan, Utah and Montreal address, followed by “MADE IN BELGIUM”, expresses the relationship clearly: Browning’s North American business presenting a pistol manufactured in FN’s home country. More than forty years after Belgian military adoption, the same underlying design was still being developed for a distinct civilian audience, and this example preserves that transition in its factory configuration.