I picked up an Argentine FM hi-Power a few weeks back. It shoots well for me, but had some cosmetic issues and the hammer bit the web of my hand pretty bad. I recently picked up a mid-80's FN Hi Power made in Belgium. I want to re-hab it to make a nice looking shooter. I decided to use the Argy as a test mule.
My list of items I planned to do were:
Strip and refinish
Sick up trigger group
New springs
Change or modify hammer
Bevel mag well
Bevel bottom and front of slide
I also need to get some better grips on it. It came with some rubber finger grooves, which I hate for multiple reasons. I put some old fake ivories I had around, to make it more useful for me. I'm trying to decide between some cocobolo or the Black Micarts from Navidrex.
Here is how it looked before I started
Notice the very small thumb safety and the rowel style hammer (which I actually prefer for looks)
Trigger pull wasn't bad, but a bit gritty. Average of ten trigger pulls
I tore the pistol all the way down and was going to swap out for a spur style hammer I had picked up off of ebay, but decided to try and modify the rowel hammer first. I cut into the bottom o the ring and started filing it down.
After some more filing and putting a bevel on it, I had something that looked decent and didn't bite my hand anymore
I sandblasted the frame and slide to remove the painted on finish
Then I set about removing all kinds of rough machining marks that were covered up by the epoxy finish The backstrap and front strap were pretty rough, you can kind of see the improvement here
Before
After
I hit the bottom edge of the slide on my belt sander to give it a nice bevel and did the same on the front of the slide to give it a similar look and ease its entry into the holster. I gave the sides of the slide a brushed finish with 120 grit sand cloth. I left the top and rear of the slide blasted to reduce glare.
I also beveled the mag well to help with magazine changes. I also lightly polished the inside of the mag well for the same reason. I rounded off a few corners, like where my thumb rests when riding the safety, just to make it more comfortable while shooting.
Next, I moved onto the thumb safety. I cut a piece of steel down to rough shape and squared off the back edge. I filed a flat on the stripped down thumb safety (that's one small roll pin!!) and silver soldered the extension in place. I trimmed it down, shaped it to my like and beveled the edges.
Next, I polished all moving parts in the trigger group and swapped out to a 26# mainspring. I then degreased all the metal and proceeded to apply Belgian Blue to it. This is where things went to hell! I've used the belgian blue before with respectable results., but I AM NOT HAPPY with this one!! I"m not sure if it's our city water, or if I didnt' card it off properly between rounds of applying bluing or what, but it came out splotchy and not very black. I lost count of how many rounds I went with it, but it's got at least 10-12 applications of belgian blue to it. I basically ran out of time to mess with it and put it back together.
the trigger was much smoother, although suprisingly not much lighter
The spring kit I bought came with an extra power recoil spring and matching firing pin spring. I"m going to take them with me to the range when I test fire it. I'd rather have stronger spring to lessen wear, but not at the cost of reliability since this is a carry gun for me.
This is how it sits now, although I can see it going to Havlin's for a real blue job sometime soon. Brett has done excellent work for me in the past and I think this one deserves his touch.
The Belgian FN will be getting a set of Heinie sights installed into the slide and new springs as well as a good refinish (probably Cerracote) and some VZ or Mil-Tac G10 stocks on it. It already has a spur hammer that does not bite me and also has factory extended, ambidextrous thumb safeties.
My list of items I planned to do were:
Strip and refinish
Sick up trigger group
New springs
Change or modify hammer
Bevel mag well
Bevel bottom and front of slide
I also need to get some better grips on it. It came with some rubber finger grooves, which I hate for multiple reasons. I put some old fake ivories I had around, to make it more useful for me. I'm trying to decide between some cocobolo or the Black Micarts from Navidrex.
Here is how it looked before I started
Notice the very small thumb safety and the rowel style hammer (which I actually prefer for looks)
Trigger pull wasn't bad, but a bit gritty. Average of ten trigger pulls
I tore the pistol all the way down and was going to swap out for a spur style hammer I had picked up off of ebay, but decided to try and modify the rowel hammer first. I cut into the bottom o the ring and started filing it down.
After some more filing and putting a bevel on it, I had something that looked decent and didn't bite my hand anymore
I sandblasted the frame and slide to remove the painted on finish
Then I set about removing all kinds of rough machining marks that were covered up by the epoxy finish The backstrap and front strap were pretty rough, you can kind of see the improvement here
Before
After
I hit the bottom edge of the slide on my belt sander to give it a nice bevel and did the same on the front of the slide to give it a similar look and ease its entry into the holster. I gave the sides of the slide a brushed finish with 120 grit sand cloth. I left the top and rear of the slide blasted to reduce glare.
I also beveled the mag well to help with magazine changes. I also lightly polished the inside of the mag well for the same reason. I rounded off a few corners, like where my thumb rests when riding the safety, just to make it more comfortable while shooting.
Next, I moved onto the thumb safety. I cut a piece of steel down to rough shape and squared off the back edge. I filed a flat on the stripped down thumb safety (that's one small roll pin!!) and silver soldered the extension in place. I trimmed it down, shaped it to my like and beveled the edges.
Next, I polished all moving parts in the trigger group and swapped out to a 26# mainspring. I then degreased all the metal and proceeded to apply Belgian Blue to it. This is where things went to hell! I've used the belgian blue before with respectable results., but I AM NOT HAPPY with this one!! I"m not sure if it's our city water, or if I didnt' card it off properly between rounds of applying bluing or what, but it came out splotchy and not very black. I lost count of how many rounds I went with it, but it's got at least 10-12 applications of belgian blue to it. I basically ran out of time to mess with it and put it back together.
the trigger was much smoother, although suprisingly not much lighter
The spring kit I bought came with an extra power recoil spring and matching firing pin spring. I"m going to take them with me to the range when I test fire it. I'd rather have stronger spring to lessen wear, but not at the cost of reliability since this is a carry gun for me.
This is how it sits now, although I can see it going to Havlin's for a real blue job sometime soon. Brett has done excellent work for me in the past and I think this one deserves his touch.
The Belgian FN will be getting a set of Heinie sights installed into the slide and new springs as well as a good refinish (probably Cerracote) and some VZ or Mil-Tac G10 stocks on it. It already has a spur hammer that does not bite me and also has factory extended, ambidextrous thumb safeties.
