Guy brought in a Browning HP that had been in a fire. Some of the springs were soft, some not. Metal seems to be decent shape, not pitted. Question is, how much damage was done?

He had the barrel, frame and slide rockwelled and came up with numerous readings between 26 and 28 on the C scale.

Can it be slavaged, maybe reheatreated? New spring kit?

Jim,

I think the HP is trashed. Slide hardness should be >40 I think (is that or better on 1911s).

You should check with a good pistolsmith or directly with Browning. When pistols cut loose it is not fun!

Some good smiths here:

http://www.americanhandgunner.com/Club100.html

A couple I like a lot:

KREBS GUNSMITHING
Marc Krebs
1000 Rand Rd., Unit 106, Wauconda, IL 60084; (847) 487-7776, FAX (847) 487-7778; web site: www.krebscustom.com

CYLINDER AND SLIDE SHOP
Bill Laughridge
245 East 4th St., Fremont, NE 68025; (402) 721-4277, FAX (402) 721-0263

JIM GARTHWAITE PISTOLSMITH
Jim Garthwaite
Rt. 2, Box 310, Watsontown, PA 17777; (570) 538-1566, FAX (570) 538-2965; web site: www.garthwaite.com

Well here's my 2 cents on what I'd do if it were mine and not someone paying money-

I'd look at the recoil spring, firing pin spring, the 2 bars in front & back of the lug on the barrel. If those appeared in good shape I think I'd rebuild it. The locking bar for the barrel is supposed to be hardened so I think I'd probably replace that as a matter of course along with the barrel.

As you know, we're not looking at a powerhouse of a round here so I can't see anything failing catastrophically and in a hurry.

How about suggesting something like a rebuild, clean-up and cold blue, then send it home with instructions to fire a couple hundred rounds and bring it back for an inspection and if all looks OK a proper refinishing at that point?

Mark,

The Highpower is not a particularly robust pistol. It does not have the slide strength of a 1911.

It is known ... and I have seen it for real ... that 1911 military slides (as opposed to 1911A1 units) were soft and tend to fail if used a little. They stress crack.

For an HP I'd call one or more of the smiths above and get the opinion of someone who has extensive experience with the HP.

Thanks for the input; I think it pretty much mirrors what I thought.

Jim

This type of problem is outside of most folks experience to make a good call. I will tell you what a/the design engineer would say....trash it.
In companies that that design, manufacture and sell products the design engineer has the last say in dispositioning discrepant material. And to a man (or woman for that matter) they will always err on the conservative side. After all it is just a burned up used gun and it is their job on the line if anyone gets hurt.

If someone wanted to play with it as a learning project I suspect there is something to learn from it. first of all most barrels do not depend on heat treatment for strength that is they are annealed. However the HP barrel has locking lugs on it. I would compare the Rockwell to another HP barrel and slide that is known to be good.

Then think about what you find for a while.

After that you might replace all the springs.
I suspect the small springs and any flat springs gave it up. If the recoil spring is dead too, be very wary about proceeding.

There is some financial risk as well as physical risk involved.
First there is the cost of a new set of springs.
Then I would make up some loads say 25 at about the level of .380 and test it in a Ransome rest.

Then break it down and examine it on the locking surfaces. Reassemble and try loading up in steps to max manual loads firing from a Ransome rest. If it lasts through 50 rounds of factory ammo then tear down again and examine it.
Basically you would be running engineering acceptance tests on a burned gun.

You might determine some level of proof load to try in it. If it passed all of that and the Rockwell numbers compare well with an original
you would have to make a judgment call based on what the locking and wear surfaces look like.
If you feel it is ok to use I would stick with light loads and leave it unfinished as a burned gun.

Do you have a photo of it? Many fires that involve burning plastics result in a lot of very corrosive gases that will eat the finish off of steel without over heating it. If the grips were burned off I would say it got too hot for more than just educational testing.

As you all know or should know , I know nothing about gun smithing .How ever I'm learning just enough to be a danger to myself and no one else .

I would not take the chance of working on it for no other reason than possible liability reasons later down the road !.

Shoot Straight Know Your target . ...

From what a armorer / crime lab guy who I greatly respected once told me the springs are the canary in the coal mine. The fact that they went soft means that there was enough heat to junk the whole gun.

Sorry to see a HP meet such a grim end...

Jim, tell the guy things happen for a reason and he should feel fortunate it was in a fire. Having been in a fire makes it all that much easier to toss. Of course there are some who would try to clean it up and offer it for sale.