Browning Hi-Power pistols are historically popular.
This Browning Hi-Power pistol was purportedly owned by the late dictator of Libya.
It proves, once again, that dictators and gangsters have no taste. Just look at that ugly grip. AAA grade walnut and a screw that matches the gold plating of the rest of the gun would have made it slightly more tasteful.
[ Many thanks to jdun1911 for emailing me the picture. ]
Gunner’s Journal has a very in depth post about the Hi Power pistol. Highly recommended.
Browning Hi Power Mk III
As much I as I like these handsome pistols for informal target work, small game hunting, or just knocking around in the woods, their original purpose was for “serious” matters in one area of the self-defense arena, military service. Like its Browning-born predecessor, the 1911, the single-action Hi Power’s initial reason for existence was as a military sidearm and not individual civilian self-protection. It is nice that both readily lend themselves to this, however.
Read it here.