Springfield SA-35 Hi Power 9mm pistol Browning Hi-Power

From Springfield Armory . . .

Call it a legend, call it an icon, but whatever you do, don’t call it a classic… because we’re just getting started.

It’s had many names in its century-old history and today, we reimagine this renowned design for modern use. Based on one of the most prolific and popular pistols in small arms history, the Springfield Armory® SA-35 gives today’s shooters a modern take on a revered design.

Featuring subtle but significant upgrades to John Moses Browning’s original P-35, the 9mm SA-35 captures the appeal of the “wood and steel” era of arms making while offering the upgraded enhancements of today’s defensive pistols.

Springfield SA-35 Hi Power 9mm pistol Browning Hi-Power

Made in the U.S.A., the SA-35 features rugged forged steel parts for strength and durability, improved ergonomics and enhanced controls, modern sights, an improved feed ramp design, and an increased 15-round capacity. The factory-tuned trigger benefits greatly from the removal of the magazine disconnect found in the original P-35 design allowing for a smooth pull and crisp, clean break. Springfield SA-35 Hi Power 9mm pistol Browning Hi-Power

Call it a legend, call it an icon, but whatever you do, don’t call it a classic.

Specifications:

Caliber: 9mm
Barrel: 4.7″ Cold Hammer Forged, 1:10
Sights: White Dot Front, Serrated Tactical Rack Rear
Grips: Checkered Walnut
Weight: 31.5 oz
Length: 7.8″
Height: 4.8″
MSRP: $699

 

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86 COMMENTS

  1. The most exciting “new” release for me since the reborn King Cobra. Just need an ambi safety and it will be mine.

    • The “reborn King Cobra” can more accurately be described as a new gun than reborn. I have one of the originals. It’s comparable in size and weight to Ruger’s GP100, while the new gun is more in the class of guns like the SP101 and Kimber’s K6S. I would have liked it better if Colt had revived the larger gun.

      • Breaking: Hornady to impose the jab on employees ’cause they have gubmint contracts. Per Guns & Gadgets…🙁

      • I actually did not know this I’d assumed it was same size as the old. Thanks for the knowledge👍

      • Pity that it’s from Springfield. BHP’s are a superb design.

        But once again:
        Do not forget.
        Do not forgive.
        Do not buy from Springfield unless/until the traitors are gone, gone, gone.

        • CA ST, I have not heard this and I haven’t seen it reported anywhere. Do you have a link to provide? If it’s true it would be good news. I’d personally like to see them dump some of their money into overturning the law they helped pass however.

        • CA ST:
          Nope. SA and RRA threw their lobbiest under the bus, but the people at SA who were behind it *and who then lied about it* are still in control.

          So no, i don’t plan to “let it go.” If you want to fund the people who screwed over Illinois gun owners and have contributed to anti-gun politicians, knock yourself out.

      • It’d be nice… but I doubt it.

        I have long regretted letting the first handgun I ever purchased go (a Belgium/Portugal Hi Power) as well as the BDM that I replaced it with. The SA-35 might be a source of atonement for those errors.

        • Their web site says that the parts were engineered to be mostly backwards compatible. The barrel lug is different, so the barrel is not interchangeable.

    • I’ll wait till one of the local dealers has one in stock for a hands on look. At least I am not seeing a MSRP higher than $700. I’ve seen a Custom Built Hipower that had a tastefully enhanced beaver-tail, flared mag well and the rest of the tricks. It was almost too pretty to shoot but shoot it did. As for Springfield HQ shenanigans I will not suck my thumb, pout and throw rank and file employees under the bus. It’s like a newspaper. A few at the top make themselves appear to be many knowing foolish readers will fall for it.

  3. Always regret selling my Nazi-stamped BHP. It was not the best shooter, but it was gorgeous. I wanted one of those Regent copies, but the they went out of production. Any idea where these are made?

    • It says US I before seeing that I assumed they were rebranded Regents but guess not. Had you seen what the Regents had been going for? Absolute madness. I saw a new black one sell for over $800 bucks! These will out a stop to that real fast. These will prob actually bring the used price on all the knock offs down as they will be too close to a new one of these.

    • Well, first, the gun’s not nitrided, but blued. Blued or parkerized barrels on a delayed blowback semi-auto will look bad in short order. Second, if the steels is stainless, nitriding can make it more susceptible to corrosion depending on the choice of steel.

      • The Browning Hi-Power (a.k.a. P35, GP35, Grande Puissance, L9A1, 9mm Pistole 640(b), etc. etc. etc.) is not a delayed blowback firearm. It is a locked breech, short-recoil system.

  6. I’m for sure interested in this one….Need some shooting reviews of it. Hopefully street price a little lower.

      • that’s first thing that needs to be said.
        improved feed ramp, no mag disconnect would be next.
        and that recent discussion of “naturally pointing” ergonomics? yeah.
        i’m a fan. a hungarian clone since the ’80’s, finally found a nice belgian- only mod was extended safety lever, an improvement.
        still and all, longer than i like for carry. cz75compact.

      • Yep, I get that, and it would have to get some serious good reviews, even then a bit of soul searching would be in order. I own a Springfield milspec .45 I bought years before the troubles and I’m certainly not going to sell it even if their upper mgt is a bunch of greedy jackazzes.

  7. Springfield. The lobbyist using traitor who tried to squeeze out other smaller gun dealers through the legislature. They’re still dead to me. Don’t forget.

    • Agreed, – never forgive, never forget. Now, since lazy Springfield has done it, can someone I’d buy one from do one in stainless for around $800 ?

      • I want a stainless aswell or nickel would actually be alright aswell. Maybe U’ll wait for one of those but not sure if I can.

  8. Good luck in today’s market. My Argentine clone cost me about $250 and has provided excellent service.

  10. I wish this were RIA not SA. As a to be former Illinoisan the politics are crap.

    The idea of a BHP excites me though, one of JBM’s last works and something that really set the stage for the modern 9mm era.

    • It was JMB’s LAST project, and he said he believed the design was one of his very best, according to several different accounts that I have read.
      Of course, I want one.
      People can try to spank Springfield for their previous bad political moves, but all they are really doing is keeping themselves from enjoying some very good firearms.

      • I have an XD in .45 ACP, full size 5″ gun. I like it and really want to do a .460 conversion to it. I figure management/ownership will change one day and at that point we can be friends again. Kind of like Ruger and S&W.

        That said, there are plenty of people who have made the platform over the years, I don’t need a new one and would rather have one with some character anyways. I’d take a fairly ugly but good shooting Israeli gun for instance or an Argentine. I regret not picking one of the Izzy guns up when they were 400-450ish.

  14. Politics aside, I’m glad to see someone bring this pistol back. No firearms battery is complete without one. And this one looks nice. If I could only have one 9mm it would be a Hi-Power.

  15. Well, I was done buying new guns for awhile. MSRP seems downright reasonable for what it is. Definitely going to be checking this one out when I find it in person.

    • EAA is bringing in a Girsan HiPower clone with an MSRP OF $528. My local gun store owner says the the actual price will probably be in the mid to upper $400s. Search your favorite search engine for Girsan P35.

        • So? America is run (debatable as to who is actually running the country) by a demented nincompoop who also hates America. Nevertheless, Turkey is an ally.

        • Vs a company who supported the Illinois Democratic Supermajority. Pick your poison.

          I’d rather support the Turks than the fifth column.

  16. I’m in!
    Heading to my FFL momentarily to see if I can order one!
    I have a CZ 75 SA that I bought because I couldn’t get a BHP at a reasonable price. I have no regrets at all with that purchase and it is in fact one of my favorites.
    That said, I’m betting that the SA 35 will be my next favorite!

  18. Maybe buy one on the second hand market in a couple years. Will be looking at reviews. Would love to have one with blue slide and nickel or stainless frame.
    Now, will a factory I can actually buy from PLEASE bring back the HK P7M8 ?

  20. I have an FN original. Happy to hear that new magazines with an additional two rounds will soon be available.

  22. Is it rated for Plus P ammo? And how long until someone gets a flush fit 17-18 round magazine/ follower design out there?
    Please tell me that 1) they didn’t make it with a magazine safety and 2) that the actual safety is it set up for carry and use in Condition 1?

  23. Jeez. I really don’t need another pistol but a high power has been on my want list for a long time.
    Too bad Browning doesn’t make one.

    • Plus it has a 15 round mag, no microstamping technology, and no loaded chamber indicator. Either you have to have a parent or child living in another state, or you will just have to move. Me too. (But I do have a child living in Ohio….Christmas present anyone? There are ten round mags for the originals that will work, right?)

  26. Does it come in any other caliber beside 9mm I would like to see one chambered in .38 Super able to handle hot load +p and++p rounds

    • Browning used to make a .40 S&W version of the Hi-Power, which was significantly beefier than the standard 9mm version. Bar-Sto made .357 SIG barrels for the .40 S&W version, so that’s about as close to getting a Hi-Power in .38 Super as one can get in a factory frame. The .38 Super’s case length is 22.75mm, which is too long for the standard Hi-Power’s frame.

    • Copied from the SA-35 Instruction Manual: “NOTE: The information in this manual applies to all SA-35 models regardless of caliber unless otherwise noted”

      Maybe other calibers are down the road?

  29. tisas-a turkish company–has a zig that is a bhp – cz clone(?)—the company has reviews here, with alot of foreign gun protests—–however i found out my first turk gun was a discontinued berreta that the machine work were reassembled in turkey—stoeger—–a shotgun from a chinese company that was built and owned by remy-i also heard that the 365 originated with the kel-t then the sccy compact 9–i do have ruger–hi-point–phoenix-amscor .38—they all go bang when they have to—-i have had a lot of flak over not buying a move expensive weapon—but i would rather have 3 or 4 working ones

  30. If I was to buy a nine millimeter luger two pistuls come to mind, the browning hipower and the star bm.
    Gave the Star to my son. Now he needs to give me a browning hipower, it’s only fair right.

  33. I’m not a 9mm guy but that is a Hi Power and that Hi Power has every mod I’d want right out of the box and it has nothing I wouldn’t want… I’m getting THAT 9mm!

    Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me…

  34. In WWII my Father traded off his 1911 for an FN High Power and brought it home with him after the war complete with Nazi markings, two matching magazines and matching holster. He later sold it for $30 in 1962. Feeling outraged that he sold it when I saved enough money the first thing I bought was new High Power in 1968 and the cost was $100 plus $4.00 tax and I sweet talked the salesmen into giving me a free 50 round box of ammo. Not a bad deal even back in those days of wine and roses.

    The High Power was my favorite gun for decades before the lighter in weight plastic guns came about that had straight inline feed ramps and were much more reliable with a wide variety of expanding ammo compared to the old fashioned very steep feed ramp of the High Power. You had to chose your ammo carefully.

    One draw back to the High Power is its very long trigger reset. I have seen more than one Novice try to empty a High Power as fast as he could pull the trigger and being unfamiliar with the long trigger reset the gun invariably suddenly stops working. This is very dangerous condition as the fellow then relaxes letting the trigger go all the way forward, and then reset and arm the gun. If you are not aware of what just happened and not pointing the gun in a safe direction its a prescription for an accidental shooting. Yes if you are good, real good, you can shorten up the trigger reset which unfortunately also lengthens the trigger take up or what you would also call trigger “slack”. For the average moron I would recommend you take it to a professional gun smith and have him shorten up the trigger reset.

    I had one Moron want to shoot very low squib loads out of his High Power and I told him he could shorten up the recoil spring by a coil at a time until he got the gun to work with such low power loads and the dumb ass then went and cut the recoil spring in two. I laughed about that one for years.

    I had another Moron blow up his 22-250. I asked him if he loaded according to his Lyman reloading manual. He said yes he did. I said what load did you use. He pointed at the book and said “There it is I started with the maximum load and worked up”. I needed a drink and handful of tranquilizers after that episode.

    But I digress. The High Powers went through a lot of changes down through the years. The passive fringing pin safety was a total Rube Goldberg disaster as it left less than a 1/16 of an inch of metal under the the firing pin stop and a lot of dry firing would crack the slide.

    The magazine safety would increase the trigger pull by a good pound or two. Why FN did not use the better designed mag safety found on their short lived competition gun remains a mystery to me. One could and often did just remove the mag safety, throw it on the floor, jump up and down on it and then throw it out the nearest window.

    The later cast High Power (1994) came about to save costs. The .40 cal version was to powerful for the same heat treatment that the 9mm version got and to give the 9mm version a higher heat treatment so it could be used to build a .40 cal version would have been to hard on machinery so FN went to the cast frame which was also larger in circumference and it destroyed the feel and ergonomics of the gun. It no longer felt and naturally pointed like the original. I hated them. Not to mention that I hated the .40 S&W cartridge as well.

    The High Power went from a one piece barrel to a two piece barrel (soldered on chamber) sometime in the 1960’s.

    The solid extractor pin was changed to a stamped sheet metal one.

    The barrel hood extension was also done away with toward the end of its production life. There is raging controversy as to whether this was a detriment to the outstanding accuracy of the original barrel configuration. I have both and both seem to shoot accurately. Your guns may give different results.

    The name High Power was not just an advertising gimmick either because at the time it was invented in the 1930’s it really was proofed for high pressure loads although modern guns will last longer with plus p plus loads as I have seen High Powers with cracked slides. I hate to admit it but so far I have never seen a Glock with a cracked slide. If you have seen one let me know.

    At one time FN made a few High Powers with aluminum frames and a few High Powers in .30 Luger for sale to countries that banned the 9mm caliber. I had a chance to buy a mint one several decades ago and I regret I passed it up.

    Argentina made a short slide Detective Model and again I wish I would have bought one of those.

    Original Canadian John Iglis magazines hold one more round than FN mags do (14). I once stripped down both to find out why and it was in the taper of the upper part of the mag that let one extra round in.

    South Africa made a magazine that held 16 rounds and believe it or not they were quality and worked quite well but their springs were so powerful they gave you a steel mag loader that was sturdy enough to be run over by a tank. I have 4 and will never sell them. The mags are a bit longer than original mags.

    FN High Powers made in the 60’s (the round hammer) had outstanding trigger pulls once the mag safety was removed. Trigger pulls sometimes broke at less than 3 lbs while as time went on the trigger pulls got heavier. My 1991 High Power trigger pull breaks at 6 lbs but it is so crisp it seems much lighter.

    Some High Powers were slotted for a shoulder stock and FN made a commemorative with the stock lug cut out a couple of decades ago. It unfortunately was one of the cast models. I had a chance to buy one but the cast frame and internal parts turned me off.

    FN made a competition model with an extended slide and stamped sheet metal adjustable rear sight which was pretty shitty looking but it did work well. It also had a barrel tension spring at the muzzle end of the slide to enhance accuracy and a special mag safety that did not interfere with the trigger pull, again why FN did not make this mag safety standard is a real mystery to me.

    Although plastic guns may be lighter in weight, give better feeding with expanding bullets and be sometimes way cheaper in price if we are speaking of buying an “original High Power” owning a piece of history with outstanding workmanship is something few people will ever experience these days in the world of black plastic, castings and stamp sheet metal pistols.

    I do not look for the Turkish guns to have near the outstanding workmanship of the original FN guns but if the High Power is your desire the price is right.

    • I might add that in 1968 way before you could buy a High Power with adjustable sights I sent mine off to the Micro sight company and got the low profile fully adjustable rear sight and with a Baughman 1/8″ quick draw serrated front sight. The price including the labor to put the sights on and the re-blue of the top of the slide was just $30 bucks you read that right $30 bucks. Alas Micro Sight quit making these rugged sights many years ago. By the way if you think that price of $30 was cheap the gun cost me $100. In todays money which would be about $1,200 for a new High power if FN still made them the cost of that sight would be roughly $400.

      Even so the cost of living was so low back in the 60′ I rented an apartment for $30 a month all utilities paid for and the cost of my Ford Mustang was just $2,000 out the door. Top of the line wages at the Hercules engine plant then was $5.00 an hour and that was a lot of money. Gas was 21 cents a gallon and when it went up to .25 cts I almost had a heart attack. I said when will this ever end. Well it didn’t. Hamburgers at the then new McDonalds were .25 cents and fries were .15 cents. Yes I ate a lot of them. I can remember paying in grade school 5 cents for a Coca-Cola and 10 cents for a bag of chips and 5 cents for a really huge candy bar. Bubble gum was 1 cent. Yes you could buy things for 1 cent back then. A weeks worth of groceries cost $20.00 and fed a family of 5.

      This was America when it really was great. Most people today do not know it ever existed and will refuse to believe that it ever did.

      • America was racist back then. You are racist by praising this era of white supremacy. You now must now eternally apologize and atone to the Black Race, else you face eternal branding of being a racist.

        • Hey, I was the first member of my family to have the opportunity to attend college. We never owned slaves and present day blacks never picked cotton, so we don’t owe anyone anything. Take that chip off your shoulder. For current black Americans, it was their lucky day when their ancestors were brought here.

  35. Nope … In this country we have lots of choices as to who we give our money to. So I’ll pass on this gun … the HP never really interested me anyway. Like Dick’s and Benchmade, Springfield is not a business I want to deal with. Too many other choices …and we have to draw the line somewhere … I draw mine here … you do what you want. Oh… doesn’t Nighthawk make an HP clone …pricey but top drawer.

  36. This price seems reasonable if the quality is there. The last thing I need is yet another semi-auto, but this is beyond intriguing and may move up the line of “wants.”
    Behind a Model 29-2, Anaconda, and King Cobra. I have some wheel guns on the list that are moving from “wants” to “needs.”

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