Mark Allen
Co-founder of BHSpringSolutions LLC.
My Hi-Power malfunctioned – now what?
MY HI POWER MALFUNCTIONED – NOW WHAT?
The Hi Power design is legendary for reliability. Malfunctions are seldom related to ammunition – most Hi Powers can digest most any flavor of 9mm ammunition available.
It is our goal at BHSpringSolutions to help Hi Power owners enjoy thousands of rounds and many years of perfect function. When a malfunction happens, it can be quite unsettling – especially if your Hi Power is “in service” (serving any role that may involve your Hi Power being called upon for defensive use). Malfunctions create doubts about reliability that compromise the owner’s confidence in the weapon.
THE DEVIL IS ALWAYS IN THE DETAILS
When a malfunction occurs, the most important first action step is, to stop what you were doing, and start paying close attention to what just happened. For example, if an empty shell casing failed to leave the gun, causing a jam, snap a quick photo. Write down details about everything you can observe about the malfunction.
After safely clearing the gun, note the magazine in use when the malfunction occurred, and how many rounds were remaining in the magazine. Note the type of ammo and any unusual observations about the empty shell casings. Note the distance of extraction of casings that did exit the gun successfully. All of this information can become very important in arriving at an effective solution.
ELIMINATE HI POWER ENEMIES #1 AND #2
This step is critical. If any aspects of Public Enemies #1 and #2 continue to exist in your Hi Power, you can chase malfunction issues, indefinitely.
HI POWER ENEMY #1 – DIRTY GUN.
Clean your entire Hi Power, including magazines, until it is immaculate. With an oiled patch and a very tiny screw driver, be sure to clean the claw of the extractor until nothing black occurs on a patch. If you are unfamiliar with disassembly of your Hi Power beyond the basic take-down explained in your owner’s manual, get assistance from a gunsmith to perform a complete disassembled cleaning of your Hi Power.
HI POWER ENEMY #2 – LESS-THAN-OPTIMAL SPRINGS
If your Hi Power was in clean order when it malfunctioned, this is your Public Enemy #1. An extractor spring, or a recoil spring, that has out-stayed it’s useful life in your Hi Power, will cause malfunctions. It can accurately be understood that every spring in the Hi Power design, including magazine springs, holds the potential of causing one or more malfunctions. Install a complete BHSpringSolutions Optimized Spring Kit made specifically for your Hi Power make/model. Note any differences in relaxed length of each spring removed from your Hi Power, to the relaxed length of new BHSpringSolutions Springs.
Eliminating Public Enemies #1 and #2, will often restore 100% reliability.
MY HI POWER MALFUNCTIONS HAVE CONTINUED AFTER ELIMINATING PUBLIC ENEMIES #1 AND #2 – WHAT NOW?
Now, DOCUMENTING THE DETAILS, of each and every malfunction, becomes even more important. Consider some of these other Public Enemies as possibilities:
HI POWER ENEMY #3 – AMMUNITION
Most Hi Powers will reliably digest any type of factory ammunition you feed it. Brass and Nickel cased rounds are superior. Notes: Some steel cased ammo can experience “magazine-jam”, where the rounds get stuck and fail to feed, or advance, up the magazine. Some aluminum cased ammunition and some magazines are not friends either. Some 9mm ammunition with bullet weights of less than 115 gr do not create enough recoil to cycle the slide. Any ammunition that fails to fire due to primers that are too hard (rare) should be avoided. Ammunition with an excessively long bullet profile, like Remington Golden Sabre 147 gr JHP, is really asking your Hi Power to digest a lot.
HI POWER ENEMY #4 – DEFECTIVE MAGAZINE OR WEAK MAGAZINE SPRING
One critical reason to document any malfunctions is to eliminate trying to fix a gun when a defective magazine is the problem.
HI POWER ENEMY #5 – OVER-LUBRICATION.
HI POWER ENEMY #6 – WORN, INSUFFICIENT EXCTRACTOR CLAW AND/OR WORN/DAMAGED EJECTOR.
HI POWER ENEMY #7 – FAILURE TO FEED HOLLOW POINT AMMUNITION IN OLDER HI POWER MODELS WITH A HUMPED FEED RAMP
Written by:
