Mentioned earlier that Springfield Armory was making a Hi Power clone, and I was extremely interested. So prinCZess spent November and December on mailing lists from online sellers for one of the things, and regularly peeking-in at new arrivals in the pistol case at a handful of local FFLs looking for one to pick up as a Christmas present to herself. That desire was knocked a little bit when there were some criticisms of the thing's reliability from the internet gun-sphere, but since a majority of the reason I wanted the thing was sentimental value it'd have and function was a pretty distant third behind
appearance (that I knew would have to be tinkered with anyways), I wasn't overly-concerned about that and was all set on buying one.
PrinCZess was
not set on buying one for ~$400 more than the $700 MSRP, which was the only one she saw out-and-about on the net in stock. The whole attraction of the thing was the price supposed-to-be being closer to a normal handgun. So Christmas came and went with yours truly no closer to having SA's retinkering of Browning's last work. But an after-Christmas swing-by to a gun store presented me with an alternative possibility. One that was a bit more...original. A surplus Mark-III.
What frabjous timing, right?
But, not
exactly what I wanted, secondhand surplus and used so with a few imperfections, and, as even rough Hi Powers have become, pretty pricey. Not quite as much as the silliness that one of the SA clones was getting put at by grifters/supply-shortage-takers-advantagers, but still more than I'd planned to drop on a handgun for basically just the sentimental reason of the dad having one that got sold. So I spend the last few days of 2021 and some of the first on-and-off arguing with myself over dropping money on the thing. Until I look up the serial number to get a production date and...God's sense of humor or something...gives me a manufacturing date in the same year as the one my dad had.
That's heap-big juju, message from the heavens kind of stuff if prinCZess ever saw it. And so...
Since they're not making any more of them and GOD LITERALLY TOLD ME TO BUY IT, prinCZess is now the proud owner of a Hi Power. So my firearms-hipsterism has taken
even another level and shall become even more insufferable! Mwahahaha!
And hey, unlike the clone or the...original Hi Power, I guess...this one has the 'right' spur hammer that I remember. So it's better. Just need some wooden grips and, at some point, a good rebluing job on the thing. Functioned perfectly when I got out to shoot it on Wednesday...Other than it making me all blubbery and embarrassingly navel-gazey to anyone who would listen. Which isn't exactly it's fault, really.
On lighter note, I immediately took the opportunity presented to make a dumb joke:
Now the only thing I've gotta fulfill is the desire for an old-style, short-rail CZ75. Because an anime character told me so.