Welcome to M1911.ORG
The M1911 Pistols Organization Forums Site


John needs your help
Please read this message.


Sponsors Panel
If you intend to buy something from the companies advertising above, or near the bottom of our pages, please use their banners in our sites. Whatever you buy from them, using those banners, gives us a small commission, which helps us keep these sites alive. You still pay the normal price, our commission comes from their profit, so you have nothing to lose, while we have something to gain. Your help is appreciated.
If you want to become a sponsor and see your banner in the above panel, click here to contact us.

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 23

Thread: FEG Hi Power project

THREAD CLOSED
This is an old thread. You can't post a reply in it. It is left here for historical reasons.Why don't you create a new thread instead?
  1. #1
    Join Date
    25th February 2010
    Posts
    203
    Posts liked by others
    5

    FEG Hi Power project

    A while back, I bought an FEG clone of a Browning Hi Power - model P9m - some quick research shows that it's supposed to be almost an exact copy of the "real" Browning Hi Power - mine is in pretty rough shape, with lots of crud and gunk and some rust spots, and it has the same lousy paint job that my FEG AMD-65 (AK-47) came with - any suggestions as far as the best way to remove the paint? I was able to use vinegar to remove bluing from another gun, but I'm not sure that the vinegar will remove this paint - aside from using a traditional paint remover, what'll work? I'm ultimately going to bead blast the gun, but I don't want the paint flecks to contaminate the blasting media. THANKS !

  2. #2
    Join Date
    2nd June 2004
    Location
    Terra
    Posts
    22,286
    Posts liked by others
    906
    I would use paint stripper. Auto parts stores sell a version called Aircraft Stripper, which might work better than the stuff sold at Lowe's and Home Depot, which is geared more toward house and furniture paints.
    Hawkmoon
    On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside

  3. #3
    Join Date
    25th February 2010
    Posts
    203
    Posts liked by others
    5
    I've had the parts soaking in some household cleaning vinegar for several hours - the paint is loosening up, but not as easily as when I used vinegar to remove some factory bluing from a different gun - I'm gonna wait till morning and see how the vinegar did - I picked up some acetone for any stubborn spots.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    2nd June 2004
    Location
    Terra
    Posts
    22,286
    Posts liked by others
    906
    Paint is a coating. Bluing is a surface conversion of the actual metal. In reality, bluing is a form of rust. Totally different from paint, whether it's oil paint, latex paint, or any sort of epoxy or polymer-based coating.
    Hawkmoon
    On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside
    Likes (1) :
    Mister Coffee (25th August 2018)


  5. #5
    Join Date
    25th February 2010
    Posts
    203
    Posts liked by others
    5
    Sure, I know they're different - all I was saying is that I figured that I'd give the vinegar a shot - I like to experiment. I gotta buy a new spring set, too, for this gun.

    Update - well, I got the pistol completely disassembled and got almost all of the nasty paint job off the gun with the vinegar soak - I gave the slide, frame, and all of the parts a good thorough brushing with a steel brush to remove what was left and got off the surface rust - I use a couple of relatively inexpensive ultrasonic cleaners (Harbor Freight), one with a cleaning solution and one with an oil solution. With some other old steel guns I have where I removed the bluing, the oil bath approach ("Turbo Lube", specifically made for an ultrasonic cleaner) has kept those guns from developing any rust at all after three years or so - the guns are stored in a closet with AC inside the house. I'm waiting on a set of replacement springs from Wolff.
    Last edited by texas yankee; 25th August 2018 at 13:17.


  6. #6
    Join Date
    26th December 2015
    Location
    near Annapolis Maryland
    Posts
    133
    Posts liked by others
    26
    There's an alternate to Wolff for springs these days. https://bhspringsolutions.com
    Likes (1) :
    seagiant (27th January 2019)


  7. #7
    Join Date
    25th February 2010
    Posts
    203
    Posts liked by others
    5
    I bead blasted the frame and slide and any external facing parts, cleaned the parts in an ultrasonic, rinsed them off, and then ran everything through an ultrasonic with Turbo Lube - I let the Turbo Lube dry and started replacing springs and putting the gun together. I found an excellent YouTube about a complete re-assembly of a Browning Hi Power clone and that helped a lot.

    After detail stripping and cleaning all of my 1911s, I can't understand how some people say that the Hi Power is a "perfected" 1911 - not at all for me, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, the gun seems to function OK, but the trigger assembly is very loose and sloppy - there's a lot of lateral (side to side) movement, and it takes a bit of pulling back on the trigger till it gets to any resistance at all. After reading a lot of posts about these kinds of problems, I'm guessing that someone (maybe me, maybe someone before me) up the trigger axis pin and holes - but even with that, with the slide off and looking down at the top of the trigger assembly after it's in the gun, there's a fair amount of space between either side of the inside of the frame and the side of the trigger assembly. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    2nd June 2004
    Location
    Terra
    Posts
    22,286
    Posts liked by others
    906
    No suggestions, but some thoughts as to why/how it got to be the way it is. First, John M. Browning patented a number of the innovative design elements of the 1911. Those patents were still in effect when he took on the assignment to design what was to become the High Power. Because he had assigned the 1911 patents to Colt, he wasn't at liberty to use any of the patented features in a new design for a different company, so he had to design other ways to accomplish the same tasks. The cam slot for barrel link-down instead of the swinging link is just one example.

    Secondly, Browning died before the High Power was completed, and the design was seen through to completion by Didier Sauvier (sp?). That, alone, could be argued to have resulted in a kludge.

    But, overall, it's a nice kludge. But the trigger isn't anything to brag about.
    Hawkmoon
    On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside

  9. #9
    Join Date
    25th February 2010
    Posts
    203
    Posts liked by others
    5
    Thanks for that info - interesting - just curious about JMB - I know that he designed a lot of firearms - do most people feel that the 1911 was his "crowning achievement"?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    26th December 2015
    Location
    near Annapolis Maryland
    Posts
    133
    Posts liked by others
    26
    In small arms yes, but the machine guns mounted in airplanes and tanks really won WWII

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  



Sponsors Panel
If you intend to buy something from Brownells, please use their banners above. Whatever you buy from them, gives us a small commission, which helps us keep these sites alive. You still pay the normal price, our commission comes from their profit, so you have nothing to lose, while we have something to gain. Your help is appreciated.
If you want to become a sponsor and see your banner in the above panel, click here to contact us.

Non-gun-related supporters.
Thank you for visiting our supporters.