New from Springfield Armory ... SA-35

Glad someone is making them again, but SA can still suck a fart outta my ass.

As far as quality is concerned, I'm sure they can produce them just fine, and the couple of modern touches they added and issues they fixed sound great, but how about in a nice traditional high polish blue instead of that shitty looking matte finish.
 
The lack of back and front strap checkering makes it seem a little cheap for a classic and I'm surprised the barrel isn't crowned. External extractor... why ruin the lines?

A HP with the strap checkering and the top of the slide milled with glare reducing serrations would be highly sexy.

Not seeing why one wouldn't buy a CZ instead since SA didn't take the baby steps to make this a little fancier in a classic way.
 
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JRT said:
If they improved the trigger and made a few other changes this could be a way better pistol. People love to swoon at OG High Powers but they were far from perfect. For me my High Power is good enough, I don’t really have a need for it anymore but I won’t ever part with it either.
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To me the thing about the BHP is that... it's a BHP. Tisas or SA clones have no appeal to me. If someone wants a better pistol, they should get a G17, which does the same exact role but better in almost every way.
 
Dennis in MA said:
Hmmmm. An odd choice in a crowded market.
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Not at all. The Hipower continues to be wildly popular and in demand. That no reputable company currently manufactures them has driven up the price on the used ones quite a bit. It is a classic gun and one everyone should have in their collection. The MSRP on the SA-35 is well below what the browning hipowers are going for used. They ceased production in 2018.

I expect it will be extremely successful and impossible to keep in stock for a long time to come
 
Waher said:
The lack of back and front strap checkering makes it seem a little cheap for a classic and I'm surprised the barrel isn't crowned. External extractor... why ruin the lines?

A HP with the strap checkering and the top of the slide milled with glare reducing serrations would be highly sexy.

Not seeing why one wouldn't buy a CZ instead since SA didn't take the baby steps to make this a little fancier in a classic way.
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the grip frame is thin which is why you never see checkered front and back straps on high powers.

I love high powers. The issue is why to own one. I've had a couple but they don't get carried and there's better range guns.
 
ReluctantDecoy said:
True, but still nice option to see straight from the factory without it. I'd like to see the guts of the action to see if its just a delete like one would do prior to this gun.
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It's Nu-Springfield, I wouldn't expect innovation.

Their line up is:
- XD series, designed by a Croatian and built in Croatia
- The Hellcat, also designed by Croatians
- M1A series, which are M14 knock-offs
- The Saint-series, which are AR-style guns with no meaningful innovations I'm aware of
- Their 1911s, which they obviously didn't pioneer
- This Hi-Power knock-off

You buy Springfield for their Croatian pistols or their slightly-above-budget reproductions of iconic guns. You don't buy Springfield to expect innovative design or unique features, unless a Croatian is the one coming up with it.
 
The video states that Springfield eliminated the mag disconnect, flared the magwell, provides 15 round magazines standard, redesigned the hammer/beavertail slightly to eliminate slide/hammer bite, modern Novak dovetail sights standard, and the gun is made from forged metal rather than FN's MIM cast. So I imagine it is slightly lighter and stronger than FN's version due to deleted parts and forging vs. casting.
 
daekken said:
It's Nu-Springfield, I wouldn't expect innovation.

Their line up is:
- XD series, designed by a Croatian and built in Croatia
- The Hellcat, also designed by Croatians
- M1A series, which are M14 knock-offs
- The Saint-series, which are AR-style guns with no meaningful innovations I'm aware of
- Their 1911s, which they obviously didn't pioneer
- This Hi-Power knock-off

You buy Springfield for their Croatian pistols or their slightly-above-budget reproductions of iconic guns. You don't buy Springfield to expect innovative design or unique features, unless a Croatian is the one coming up with it.
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Can't really knock them for tossing their hat in the ring on AR15's and 1911's. Both are expired patents on two of the most popular and lucrative designs, so everyone makes those regardless if you actually bring innovation. They're trying to corner the market on non-boutique M1A's as well, and that's much of the same. Just a smaller audience. So I don't know if you can fault them on carrying more traditional pattern designs on these guns. They still sell and they don't have to pay any patent fees.
 
Waher said:
The video states that Springfield eliminated the mag disconnect, flared the magwell, provides 15 round magazines standard, redesigned the hammer/beavertail slightly to eliminate slide/hammer bite, modern Novak dovetail sights standard, and the gun is made from forged metal rather than FN's MIM cast. So I imagine it is slightly lighter and stronger than FN's version due to deleted parts and forging vs. casting.
Click to expand...

So what?

The people interested in BHPs buy them for the provenance and because people tend to buy what isn't available new anymore. Its a lot like Veprs and Saigas - Saigas were $200 guns new but sold for $2000 this past year.

Go to a USPSA or IDPA match, either pistol or multigun, and count the BHPs. I suspect it'll be either one or zero.

I like the BHP, but it's only going to go so far as a serious defensive or combat pistol. It was never intended to be a race gun. Seriously, a G17 does everything a BHP does but better.

ReluctantDecoy said:
Can't really knock them for tossing their hat in the ring on AR15's and 1911's. Both are expired patents on two of the most popular and lucrative designs, so everyone makes those regardless if you actually bring innovation. They're trying to corner the market on non-boutique M1A's as well, and that's much of the same. Just a smaller audience. So I don't know if you can fault them on carrying more traditional pattern designs on these guns. They still sell and they don't have to pay any patent fees.
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SA's problem is that they donate to anti-gun IL Dem politicians.

 
ReluctantDecoy said:
Can't really knock them for tossing their hat in the ring on AR15's and 1911's. Both are expired patents on two of the most popular and lucrative designs, so everyone makes those regardless if you actually bring innovation. They're trying to corner the market on non-boutique M1A's as well, and that's much of the same. Just a smaller audience. So I don't know if you can fault them on carrying more traditional pattern designs on these guns. They still sell and they don't have to pay any patent fees.
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I'm not really intending to knock them too much, you can do worse if you want a 1911 but want to find a middle ground between a Turkish Tisas or a Dan Wesson/Les Baer/boutique one.

Similarly, the Saint by all reports is better than an Anderson or $350-$500 AR, but it's also not an LMT/KAC or BCM, etc.

They're a mid-tier seller of other peoples' designs. There's a place for them in the market (if you hold your nose and look past their prior gun control supporting snafus), but it's not as an innovator. That's what I mean by not expecting SA to come up with anything fancy with their BHP clone.

As others have stated, if you can't or don't want to buy a real Hi-Power, then the SA-35 will probably work.
There's plenty of other similar situations, people have bought MSARs because they can't get or afford a real Steyr AUG, and other people buy the Turkish MP5 clones if they can't afford a real H&K one.

Their gun control supporting stuff irks me more than the fact they don't create anything original.
 
C. Stockwell said:
So what?

The people interested in BHPs buy them for the provenance and because people tend to buy what isn't available new anymore. Its a lot like Veprs and Saigas - Saigas were $200 guns new but sold for $2000 this past year.

Go to a USPSA or IDPA match, either pistol or multigun, and count the BHPs. I suspect it'll be either one or zero.

I like the BHP, but it's only going to go so far as a serious defensive or combat pistol. It was never intended to be a race gun. Seriously, a G17 does everything a BHP does but better.



SA's problem is that they donate to anti-gun IL Dem politicians.

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Yeah, I wasn't so much talking about the company as a good or bad company in that regard. More that they make guns everyone else also makes, on top of their own designs, so they shouldn't exactly be singled out on that end.
 
ReluctantDecoy said:
on top of their own designs
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I could be wrong, but I believe the only gun they designed is their bolt-action rifle, and I'm not entirely sure about who designed that one. Their 911 is arguable, I'm sure they're not the first company to shrink a 1911.
 

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