FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

Swinging by FN’s booth at SHOT Show, we put hands on FN’s new, 17-round High Power and played with the re-release of their commercial market, semi-auto M249S.

FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

Available in stainless, FDE, and blued, the new High Powers have classic FN styling with a few modern touches.

FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

Two sets of grips are included with every High Power, and FN is offering seven other versions in both wood and G10.

FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

A waffle style texture is found on the front- and backstrap.

FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

Single action only, of course. FN went back to the original drawings for much of the new High Power.

FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

The new High Powers felt smooth and extremely solid and well-made. All steel, baby. Fit and finish is very nice. The single action trigger is crisp and the modern size sights in FN 509 dovetail patterns is a great touch.

FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

M249S with paratrooper stock is so darn cool.

FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

It’s also available with the standard, polymer buttstock. Both versions are available in either black or FDE. It’s the real deal, just semi-auto.

FN High Power Hi Power Hi-Power

While the M249S is priced out of reach of most folks ($9,999), the $1,269 High Powers are more attainable for collectors and shooters wanting a real deal, classic High Power from FN tweaked slightly for the more modern user. I think they’re going to do very well.

 

63 COMMENTS

    • Hahahaha!
      Beat me to the Canadian comment because that was exactly what popped into my head also.

    • Who cares what these two countries buy anyway. In the end they are just going to use them to murder their own people.

      • Only until we start murdering em right back. Nice thing about up here is their carcasses will stay frozen where they drop. Pricks. Love me my recent production Hi Power. Shiny. Really liking that stainless model too, even more so if it had black controls and trigger. Would fit reeeal nice into a higher end black horsehide rig. Thank$ FN…

    • This rehashed mutant hi power wouldn’t even meet the requirements of what the Canadians want. They want polymer, striker fired and modular.

    • It’s going to be a very small battle. Most of us have moved away from Single Action Pistols, to Double Action Pistols with de-cockers; Walther PP and PPK in 1929, Walther HP and P38 in the 1930’s and the S&W Model 39 in the 1950’s and finally to the SIG P226 and P228 in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

      Now all those fine pistols have been supplanted by the Striker Fired Polymer framed guns. People try and turn back the clock, but technology, like it or not, continues to move forward.

      • Yeah, what about those? I thought they were supposed to become available in Nov. I haven’t seen any yet.

  1. Quality should determine market share, but there are a lot of people out there that can’t see past a price tag.

    • True. We’ve all been spoiled by the $600 plastic fantastic pistols and a lot of people don’t seem to realize that a century old, but still very much relevant, design, with a metal frame and hammer fired, simply takes more resources (in terms of materials, skilled labor, etc) to produce. Plenty of people will say “why the hell would I pay 1200 dollars for this when I could get a Glock for half that?” But those who actually know their weapons, and understand the economics, will be happy to fork over the cash. If this new Hi Power is as good as FN claims, and once it’s been out long enough for a few to make their way into the wild, quality will win out. It will never have the market share of Glock, but based on what little I’ve read about it I predict this gun will do very well. FN doesn’t make garbage

      • Its kinda both isn’t it? I understand why this type of pistol costs substantially more than a $400-600 polymer Glock/Ruger/Smith/or even a $250-300 Taurus. The materials are more expensive, and the manufacturing process is more complicated. On the other hand, the polymer pistols are perfectly functional, and will get the job done just fine.

        It just depends what you want. Some people would like to have one of these, while others don’t see the point of them. It is a matter of personal preference and priorities.

        I won’t buy one, but I do think they look pretty cool.

  2. I like the High Power “improvements”- can’t find anything to complain about with their choices (really dig the front/backstrap texturing). I’m now wanting to add a new FN High Power to the collection (including for EDC rotation), and would still like to someday replace the Belgium/Portugal Browning Hi Power I foolishly let go a couple of decades ago.

    I don’t look at it as a “this one or that one” proposition- I want one of each.

    • Wonder why they went with a dedicated take down lever, seems a needless complication. Glad to see the Magazine Disconnect Safety finally eliminated, which they should have done after the French military trials in the 1930’s, when the gun was passed over for a French design.

      Complete mystery why they didn’t opt for a modern alloy frame, as this would really have given them something over the Clones and most of the old guns. I know they made a few alloy frame version of the pistol in the past, but they are super rare and very expensive today.

      • The take down lever was most likely required because of the ambi slide stop/release. I’m just thrilled they used a rotating lever and not one those irritating Glock-like tilting-nub slide lock thingies that I HATE.

        I wouldn’t be surprised to see an alloy frame version in the future if sales go as anticipated, but if they started out with a lightweight frame people would be shouting from the rooftops about how FN “messed up” a classic steel pistol.

        People are strange.

      • My experience with aluminum frames on a variety of pistols has taught me its not a question of if the frame will crack but when.

  3. So the important question is what was changed in the M249S and was the “Mandatory Safety Recall” the result of a real safety issue or BATFE wanting the old guns and new guns modified in some way???? “Inquiring Minds Want to Know”

  4. Not sure if I’d still call it a Hi-Power. The barrel lockup is different with the barrel lugs removed; the take down is different. At least when people significantly changed the 1911 they had the sense to give it a different name like 2011 or EDC. This just seems like a new pistol pretending to be a Hi-Power based on overall external looks; only in a more disingenuous way than the new Python does to the old Python.

      • I noticed that, too. The old ones were “Hi-Power”, these are “High Power”.

        I guess that provides a bit of license to stray from the original design.

  5. I was hoping they wouldn’t make this thing with 17 round mags. As a Coloradan, guess I’ll have to stick with the SA35.

      • Do they have a page on their website for specs? Didn’t see one listed in Jeremy’s article. His run-down was pretty complete, but it’s always nice to see a tabular set from the vendor.

    • Nobody cares about the magazine limit law here anyway, other than the big box chain stores like Cabela’s. Buy from a local non-chain place and they’ll have the standard capacity magazines

  6. Hmm..eaa/girsan msrp $549, Springfield msrp $699, and fn msrp $ 1300. Be nice to see a side by side comparison of all three.

      • Picked up a p226 BLACK Legion RX a couple of weeks ago. It took me 4 Legions to find one better than my 226 Dark Elite , but , now I have. Legion vs HP? Legion!

  7. Jeremy S. — You wrote, “Available in stainless, FDE, and blued…” but after looking over the FNAmerica[dot]com High Power page I think you are unintentionally misleading your readers. In particular, that “stainless” appears to be the PVD finish and not the actual frame and slide material. Plus, while you say “blued,” FN says “black.”

    FN says at one point that the pistol “is finished in black, stainless steel or the FN signature flat dark earth (FDE).” Later, it says the frame has a “Durable PVD finish, black, stainless steel or flat dark earth,” and the slide is described simply as having a “Durable, corrosion-resistant PVD finish.”

    I know that physical vapor deposition finishes are actual metal laid down on whatever is underneath, but in the case of the High Power the metal underneath is steel (but not stainless steel), and that “blued” finish isn’t from a traditional bluing process.

    I could be wrong, and I hope I am. I’d love to have a new High Power in stainless steel. REAL stainless steel.

    edit: I wonder what in the above text dumped me into moderation.

  8. all the glock pussies gonna whine about it being heavy. new generation needs to come off the crate and have better value on the guns they buy rather than going cheap. Sig 320 for $500 vs a sig 226 for a grand, which is better? take the 226. why do people by the expensive HK’s?

  9. If they were making a HP 2.0 I wish they had gone with a 4.5” barrel to keep it roughly the same size as a G17 or P226. While they’re at it, a 4” G19 competitor with a chopped grip. And a G19X version with a threaded barrel that fits into the regular full size version’s holsters. If these sell FN will probably be sucking money out of people’s pockets for a while with incremental changes.

  10. RE The last paragraph. Just because it is made by FN doesn’t make it a real deal classic. It is more akin to the reproduction Shelby Mustang from the movie Gone in 60 seconds.

    • Speaking of real vs fake, the real Gone in 60 Seconds was released in 1974. The 2000 fake was just the new standard Hollywood super hip vomit fest cover that was woke for it’s time if not by today’s standards. The ‘Eleanor’ Mustang in that movie wasn’t a fake. I dread the day when they again decide they can make Vanishing Point better by making Kowalski a non-binary Chilean peasant SJW played by a female and pontificating constantly.

  11. I have an original Hi-Power. It is a fine handgun and one of my favorite EDC. I was happy when Springfield announced the new Hi-power as it was compatible with originals.

    I am not seeing the market for this one. The gun is decent. But they are asking too much for a standard production item. If there were a lot of hand-tooling or something along the lines of Kimber-Ed Brown-STI sort of premium craftsmanship, I could understand it.

    This is not the standard “it costs too much” comment. I am saying they are trying to sell a Toyota at Lexus prices. Toyota is a fine car. But there is a premium to be paid for a Lexus.

    The Hi-Power (or High Power) is a fine, standard gun. There just doesn’t seem to be a justification for this price.

    • Bought a Indian made Hi-Power made on Inglis tooling they purchased from Canada. It was parkerized. The safety was just a little too loosy goosy for me. Otherwise just like the originals.

  12. Shame the new Hi Power isn’t compatible with most of the original parts, including magazines.

    This thing is priced rather high for what it is.

    Meanwhile you can get a CZ which is doing this design better, with a rail, optics cut, and decocker (if you want one) or SAO.

  13. Sights, slide, barrel, frame, grips, magazine, takedown/slide stop are all different than the traditional HPs, and FN made it heavier to boot. All for a higher price than it was selling the traditional HP before they ceased production and at twice the price of the SA-35.

  14. FN connoisseurs will not be breaking down doors to buy this pistol. Its bigger and less concealable and it is heavier. FN cheapened it by doing away with the barrel lugs. You can bet the gun is made with castings as well. Accuracy tests will prove if it is the equal of the original but I seriously doubt it.

    Considering how many used original High Powers are still out there if one is willing to pay the price and look hard I would go that route instead.

    FN did make a colossal blunder by discontinuing the original High Power and another bigger blunder by introducing a gun that is not a “real” High Power but an “ersatz” look alike similar to what Colt did with the new fake Python. Most people will not be fooled. After all the hoopla dies down and the suckers that bought both pistols find out the real truth both the new fake Python and the new fake FN High Power will quietly slide under the waters into oblivion and be just a footnote in firearms history.

    I am hoping FN redesigned the High Power trigger as that was the only glaring fault of the original gun as its reset was so long that if you tried to empty the gun quickly many novices would short stroke the trigger and the gun would suddenly stop firing. When the shooter then relaxed his pressure on the trigger and let it move all the way forward the gun then would of course rearmed itself and the shooter being unaware of this could and sometimes did end up shooting himself.

    Most people in the past bought the original High Powers because of their accuracy, workmanship and military history. The new gun has none of these and when you can buy a cheap junk modern plasticky pistol at less than half the price that is lighter in weight and has a frame that will not rust the average frugal (cheapskate) local hill person who is so tight he squeaks when he walks to the outhouse will opt for the cheap way out every time.

    I might add the outstanding outside bluing is long gone which will make most High Power lovers throw up all over their shoes.

    If you are a collector of all things FN, have excess cash, and are willing to take the chance that a new unproven design will not have the usually half a dozen recalls buy one now as the New Fake High Power will not be around very long.

  15. Makes me happy I bought that Belgian Hi-Power back in 78 at the gun show the ST. Paul Civic Center. $150 cash and no paperwork. Replaced worn springs and gave it a good cleaning. Been my favorite 9mm ever since. Second favorite is the Walther P-38 Dad sent home from Germany in pieces. Said he picked it up shortly before he shipped home in 48.
    Never asked any more about it. Still use my 1911 as my EDC.

  16. I had a browning high power but sold it like a fool in the late 70’s to get my duty revolver however I was trying to get the department I worked at to go with the high power . I did finally find a FN high power at at good price and I have it along with a Browning high power that jams on every 3 rd shot that was assembled in Portugal . Portugal was a very bad move . Can FN take a look at it ? I am so glad FN is back with the high power . I do have one suggestion . How about a shorty version ?

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