Got my Browning Hi Power Today- how did you refinish your old Hi Power?

[Courtney.cj.chen]

*I reposted my thread from a different account, onto here- forgot my pw to this account for a minute...

Hi All-

Got a call from my FFL today- & my Browning Hi Power has arrived! I got lucky and got my hands on one- from AIMsurplus- the FN Belgium- with an Israeli mark (a n-like notation, with a circle around it)- my serial number starts with 245PP------- my question is- 1) does anyone know the story behind this Hi Power- was it used by Police, military- or what kind of service? 2) What year was it probably manufactured?

The wear on it- is mostly from holster wear- and besides superficial wearing on the bluing- it is in excellent condition. A couple things i want to do to it-

a) Replace the grips, with the same grips- just brand new ones exactly like the ones on it currently (new owner, new grips)
b) beadblast and then re-blue it. Anyone reading this from the St. Louis (mo) area- please tell me of a place that you recommend that can do refinishing work- (besides Defensor in valley park (i heard horrible stories), and Browning/midwest in Arnold (more than i would like to spend))
c) remove the magazine disconnect

This is my first refinishing project. I just want to restore it back to its original. Nothing fancy- however- if you have any pictures of what you did with your Hi Power- please send- I am not very familiar with the various finishes... I know i don't want to parkerize it. But the rest- blueing- (cold and hot)- duracoat, hydrocoat- it all makes my head spin.
I'm not too keen on Cerakoting- but thats because i don't think a gun should be a bright glossy yellow, pink, purple, blue... but if any of you have cool earth toned colors of cerakoting- i'd love to see those- please and thanks!

 

[Courtney.cj.chen]

Lots of good Hi-Power info here: The Hi Power Forum - Handguns and Ammunition Forums

Thanks nosreme

I was able to look up my serial number on here (the first 5 digits-) - and found that my gun was manufactured in 1988. Making her 26. Maybe I will be able to find out more about her now that I know what country she was a service pistol in, & how old she is- I just might be able to find out a little bit of her story. She has that Israeli lower case n, aka mem, with a circle around it (as opposed to the mem with a Star of David around it). If anyone knows more about these (I purchased her from AIM Surplus) - please let me know.

And holy cow- sorry for the huge pics... I need to figure out how to shrink these pics- my goodness.

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