#Browning high power serial number 245pv19813 serial numbers

#Browning high power serial number 245pv19813 serial numbers

If the piece has been refinished the serial numbers are refinished or blued not in the white. As such they were applied after the pistol was finished, and the numbers were in the white. The serial numbers of the Inglis High Power were pantograph engraved. Given that Inglis also produced Bren guns and other material and that production began in 1944 and ceased in 1945, production figures are respectable. It is clearly based upon the Number 2, not the FN High Power. India produced a clone of the Inglis High Power. The Dutch received 10,000 during their battles with guerillas in the pacific. After World War Two, many nations used the Inglis High Power including Malaysia and New Zealand. Over 42,000 went to the United Kingdom and 22,820 to Greece. Inglis started from scratch and produced 153,480 pistols. The Nazis took over an operating manufacturing plant. Interestingly, the Germans used some three hundred thousand Pistole 640 9mm handguns as they designated the FN produced High Power pistols. The Chinese version was sometimes diverted to Allied troops but by and large the Number Two with fixed sights was the standard Inglis High Power used by Allied soldiers. In defensive actions the stock is a modifier of accuracy potential but does not bring the pistol into carbine class by any means. The stocked handgun was the precursor to our modern personal defense weapon or PDW. The concept has some merit in arming artillerymen, tankers and truck drivers. The Chinese issued the High Power with a special wooden stock that was also a holster for carrying the handgun. The Chinese were among the last holdouts in deploying handguns with a fitted shoulder stock. The Number 2 is the Allied version with standard fixed sights. As an example the Number 1 Inglis High Power is the Chinese version with tangent rear sights and a slot in the handle for a shoulder stock.

Marks indicate differences in production such as changes in the ejector or extractor. It is important that the difference between numbers and marks are understand, as Number 1 and Number 2 and Mark *1 are not the same. The pistol was particularly popular with the British, who officially adopted the High Power for service use after the war. The original pistols were intended for use in China but many were diverted for Allied use. We do know that Inglis began manufacture of the High Power in 1944 and produced a good number of pistols in a relatively short time period. We do not know for sure, but it is an even bet that good drawings and specifications were available as the Inglis High Power and the commercial High Power often will interchange parts. At this point the story is more difficult to pin down and substantiate as some authorities have stated that the drawings were lost and that the Inglis pistols were reverse engineered from existing High Power pistols. Research indicates that Fabrique Nationale employees escaped to Britain taking with them drawings of the High Power pistol. Germany overran Belgium and the FN plant in 1940 and used the FN plant to arm the German Army and their allies. The events that led up to the manufacture of the Inglis High Power are interesting. During the First World War they produced shell casings. The company is a respected manufacturer and during the war they produced many tons of war material. The company is actually an old line Canadian company that has produced boilers for warships among other heavy manufacturing items. It is interesting to note that many of the reports in the popular press indicated that John Inglis Company was formed to manufacture the High Power. The history of the war and the manufacture of the pistol in Canada are clear, and production records exist that tell us how many pistols were manufactured. Just the same the important facts are there. There is much misinformation on the Inglis High Power and some of the facts are difficult to nail down after sixty years. The High Power has been copied and cloned in Argentina, India, Israel, Indonesia and Hungary.Īmong the more interesting variants of the High Power is the John Inglis manufactured pistol.

At one time the High Power was in service with some one hundred nations. The Browning High Power is the single most successful military handgun design of all time. The final version of the High Power or Grand Puissance or simply the “neuf millimetre’ is a great pistol and has become a classic handgun. Saive is credited with the FN 49, FN FAL and other rifles as well as machine guns and other implements. After Browning’s death the final work was undertaken by Belgian designer Dieudonee Saive. Most of the design work was accomplished by the American designer and inventor John Moses Browning. Not a committee gun by any means, the High Power was very much a human effort. The Browning High Power is among a very few handguns that owes its design to two of the finest designers that ever lived.