FN Hi Power, pre-war, with board stock
Official wording
Belgian, Pre-war mfd. Hi Power pistols, cal. 9mm, having tangent sights graduated to 500 meters, slotted for shoulder stock, having S/Ns of less than 47,000 without letter prefixes or suffixes and accompanied by original Belgian mfd. detachable wooden flat board type shoulder stocks.
What this entry requires
- ATF REQUIRESAccompanied as the ATF wording requires: “accompanied by original Belgian mfd. detachable wooden flat board type shoulder stocks”
- ATF REQUIRESConfigured as the ATF wording states: “having tangent sights graduated to 500 meters, slotted for shoulder stock”
- ATF REQUIRESYour serial number is one ATF listsATF: “having S/Ns of less than 47,000 without letter prefixes or suffixes”
- INFOATF states no date; production was about 1935–1940.
Editorial facts · Our research
- Country
BelgiumBasis: the ATF wording - Manufacturer
- Fabrique Nationale, HerstalBasis: outside reference ¹
- Type
- PistolBasis: the ATF wording
- Action
- Semi-autoBasis: no citation
- Caliber
- 9mm ParabellumBasis: the ATF wording
- Made
- S/N under 47,000 · c. 1935–1940production; ATF states no dateBasis: estimate ²
- Service
- Military
Source
- Official wording
- ATF P 5300.11, April 2025 edition · Section III · PDF p. 22 ↗ · ATF original ↗
- Entries
- 1 line
- Verbatim check
- Checked against the PDF text before every release
- Editorial facts
- Confidence: Medium · Last revised 18 October 2026 (Evidence pass) · How we rate confidence
- References
- 1. Wikipedia, “Browning Hi-Power” ↗, maker: designed by Browning, "completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal"; pre-war pistols were made by FN in Belgium
- 2. Wikipedia, “Browning Hi-Power” ↗, years (estimate: range of the base model): infobox production date 1935-2018; adopted by the Belgian Army in 1935 and the FN plant taken over by German forces after the 1940 occupation, so pre-war production 1935–1940
- Fact tags
- ATF the ATF wording states it.
- REF ¹ an outside reference supports it; the number points to the list of references.
- ESTIMATE an approximate or indirect reading, for example the production range of the base model.
- NO CITATION we haven’t attached a reference for this fact; it’s our editorial reading, not ATF’s.
- Source checked
- 20 October 2026: ATF’s page still lists the April 2025 edition
- Corrections
- None
Historical context
Image: Wikimedia Commons, “FN Hi Power.jpg” by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Public domain. Retrieved October 2026.
Summary: Wikipedia, “Browning Hi-Power”. Text CC BY-SA 4.0.
FROM WIKIPEDIA
The Browning Hi-Power or 1935 Browning 9mm GP or Grand Puissance pistol is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol available in the 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized. FN Herstal named it the "High Power" in allusion to the 13-round magazine capacity, almost twice that of other designs at the time, such as the Walther P38 or Colt M1911. The Hi-Power was the only 9mm semi-automatic pistol available with a double-stack detachable box magazine from 1935 until the introduction of the 15-round MAB PA-15 in 1966.