The semi-automatic 9mm pistol is now that standard for many military and police services around the world. One could arguably call the M1911 .45 calibre pistol the granddaddy of all the various weapons like this that have been produced over the decades. One which was John Browning's last design was the High-Power pistol.

This gun had a very slow start as it was not manufactured in the US. The US Army was not interested as they already had the M1911 and did not want to deal with 'European' calibre ammunition. Browning had a very close relationship with FN of Belgium which was the defacto Browning factory in Europe. The High-Power was pretty much developed by FN and initially, in the 1930s was only produced for the Belgian Army.

WWII brought a halt to production, but only for a short period of time as the Germans took over the plant and eventually produced over 300,000 examples for use by the German Army. Post-War, the demand for the gun really took off and production extended to several nations, some who reverse engineered the gun for local use.

Typical of the series, the book starts off with  the development of the type as it was improved from prototype to prototype. It also covers the various improvements and changes in the gun to make it cheaper to build and more reliable. A portion of the book is devoted to the operation of the weapon as well as the tactics used in different situations. This is all quite interesting reading  and adds to the book. As usual in this series, there are well chosen photos as well as some nicely done art work to help illustrate all that is covered. Fans of this series will find they have another winner on their hands.

March 2020

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