There is even a version of the Hi-Power with an adjustable tangent sight and detachable shoulder stock that transforms the pistol into a pint-sized carbine.

When the British and the Argentines faced off during the Falklands War in 1982, both sides carried the Hi-Power – and frequently captured the pistols and its ammunition from each other. Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi owned a customized, gold-plated Hi-Power that had an image of his face etched into the grips.ĭuring World War II, both the Waffen-SS and the special operators who opposed them such as agents of the Office of Strategic Services or the Special Operations Executive often carried the pistol. Saddam Hussein carried one that he frequently fired into the air to excite crowds of his Iraqi followers. It seems like everyone wanted a Hi-Power. “It happened during World War II, it happened during the Falklands, and it will happen again.” “Soldiers will continue to face one another with a Hi-Power in their hands,” said Doug Wicklund, senior curator at the NRA National Firearms Museum in Virginia.

In fact, more than 90 nations used weapons genius John Moses Browning‘s last pistol design – at least 50 countries still have it in their arsenals. The Hi-Power is a pistol that has been on both sides of almost every world conflict during the 20th Century, wielded by the good, the bad, and almost certainly by the opposing force.Įven during the current age of pistols made of polymers and exotic metals, the Hi-Power is still in the holsters of many warriors. (Photo: Ministry of Defense)įor more than seven decades, if a soldier carried a 9mm pistol into battle as part of his weaponry there was a good chance it was a Browning Hi-Power.

A British soldier aims a Browning Hi-Power 9 mm pistol on a shooting range in Basra, Iraq.

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