The Browning Hi-Power (A Love Story)

It's more Brad Pitt, not so much John Wayne

The first handgun I ever purchased was a Browning Hi-Power. It's still my favorite one. So, when I ran across this piece, I knew that I wasn't alone in my appreciation of the Hi-Power.

The Hi-Power was different. Whereas the 1911 is John Wayne, a big brawler with hams for fists, the Hi-Power is Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden in Fight Club. It’s lean, sleeker, all tendon and muscle. The way the slide and frame narrow towards the muzzle, the sides stepping down in that iconic Browning look. Everything about the pistol seemed refined to me, deadlier. It was a Fairbairn-Sykes to a Bowie knife. The Hi-Power would leisurely, coldly, smoke a cigarette while it watched its victim bleed out. The 1911 would spout off some 1940’s patriotic John Wayne/Captain America lines before stomping out to go punch some more Nazis and Japs in the face. I was at that point in my life where I was tired of punching Nazis and Japs. I wanted to spike my hair, flip the collar of my jacket up, and smoke a cigarette. It was so different. I was in love.

Here's my Hi-Power. It's still going strong, and I still love her. I'm never selling this gun.