Great tutorial thank you. I'm about to buy my first hi-power and this is exactly the information I was looking for. I'm actually surprised UA-cam let us stay up for 6 months.
I wasn't interested in removing the mag safety just to lighten the trigger pull, and I don't have any particular bias against mag safeties because many pistols have them, and some are nearly impossible to deactivate without doing major surgery. But, I did have an issue with how the mag safety works - not that it rubs the magazine body, but that it protrudes into the mag well, and under stress, and the added physical strength that comes with it, one could, maybe, might forcefully insert a magazine while holding back on the trigger, and in this condition the mag safety blocks the magazine from advancing and could easily be bent in such a way as to block the magazine well. Since what you leave out, can't malfunction, taking out the mag safety makes sense. Initially I replaced the tiny pin that held it, but as I was reassembling the trigger, protruding edges on the pin would not allow the trigger full entry into the frame slot, so I removed it. Sure I could have honed it down but that's just the sort of thing that will suddenly work itself to one side or another under the repeated shock of firing and bind up the trigger! I don't find the empty hole disturbing in the least. Without the mag safety the trigger pull is definitely lighter by a pound or so and as they say in Russia, perfection is the enemy of good enough, and the trigger pull most definitely good enough for a combat handgun.
The type of finish on the magazine has a TREMENDOUS effect on the trigger "feel". The magazines for the Hi Power were available with two finishes. They could be had in polished blue, or they could be had in a kind of grey parkerizing. Knowing that the majority of the grittiness that is felt during the trigger pull is due to the friction of the spring-loaded "foot" on the magazine disconnect rubbing up and down against the front of the magazine, conventional reasoning infers, if your goal is to reduce friction then you should adopt the magazine finish that is "smoother". Guess what. It doesn't work that way! I have an FN MKIII High Power that still has the magazine disconnect installed. I also have magazines that are highly-polished blue and others that are parkerized. If I have a blued magazine in the pistol the trigger pull is simply HORRENDOUS. But if I simply change to a parkerized magazine, the trigger pull smooths out to the point that it is quite reasonable. Not the result that you would expect, but that's what I experienced with my FN MKIII. FWIW, I also have two FEG Hi Powers that I purchased from a surplus dealer that passed through the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces. One is rollmarked as an FEG, and the other is a Counterfeit FN that FEG rollmarked as an FN and sold to Tariq Azziz when Iraq was under an arms embargo and could not buy weapons from the West. (How that pistol came to be in Israeli hands is probably an interesting story. But getting back on subject, both of the FEG pistols had the magazine disconnects removed.
That is interesting. I know about the Iraqi fake FEG-HP's, I briefly talk about it in an earlier FEG video. These fake FN's were sold commercially and brand new in South Africa in the 1980's. How they got there is also unknown. Maybe sanctions also curbed the sale of real FN's to South Africa.🤷♂
Great tutorial thank you. I'm about to buy my first hi-power and this is exactly the information I was looking for. I'm actually surprised UA-cam let us stay up for 6 months.
The idea of the long pin working as Trigger stop is Nice!!!
Perfect trigger weight on the girsan after magazine disconnect taken out
I wasn't interested in removing the mag safety just to lighten the trigger pull, and I don't have any particular bias against mag safeties because many pistols have them, and some are nearly impossible to deactivate without doing major surgery. But, I did have an issue with how the mag safety works - not that it rubs the magazine body, but that it protrudes into the mag well, and under stress, and the added physical strength that comes with it, one could, maybe, might forcefully insert a magazine while holding back on the trigger, and in this condition the mag safety blocks the magazine from advancing and could easily be bent in such a way as to block the magazine well. Since what you leave out, can't malfunction, taking out the mag safety makes sense. Initially I replaced the tiny pin that held it, but as I was reassembling the trigger, protruding edges on the pin would not allow the trigger full entry into the frame slot, so I removed it. Sure I could have honed it down but that's just the sort of thing that will suddenly work itself to one side or another under the repeated shock of firing and bind up the trigger! I don't find the empty hole disturbing in the least.
Without the mag safety the trigger pull is definitely lighter by a pound or so and as they say in Russia, perfection is the enemy of good enough, and the trigger pull most definitely good enough for a combat handgun.
Very good comment, never even thought of it like that. Thanks for sharing.
They have a safety already having the mag block is like the Hillary Hole on a S&W revolver..
The type of finish on the magazine has a TREMENDOUS effect on the trigger "feel".
The magazines for the Hi Power were available with two finishes. They could be had in polished blue, or they could be had in a kind of grey parkerizing. Knowing that the majority of the grittiness that is felt during the trigger pull is due to the friction of the spring-loaded "foot" on the magazine disconnect rubbing up and down against the front of the magazine, conventional reasoning infers, if your goal is to reduce friction then you should adopt the magazine finish that is "smoother". Guess what. It doesn't work that way!
I have an FN MKIII High Power that still has the magazine disconnect installed. I also have magazines that are highly-polished blue and others that are parkerized. If I have a blued magazine in the pistol the trigger pull is simply HORRENDOUS. But if I simply change to a parkerized magazine, the trigger pull smooths out to the point that it is quite reasonable. Not the result that you would expect, but that's what I experienced with my FN MKIII.
FWIW, I also have two FEG Hi Powers that I purchased from a surplus dealer that passed through the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces. One is rollmarked as an FEG, and the other is a Counterfeit FN that FEG rollmarked as an FN and sold to Tariq Azziz when Iraq was under an arms embargo and could not buy weapons from the West. (How that pistol came to be in Israeli hands is probably an interesting story. But getting back on subject, both of the FEG pistols had the magazine disconnects removed.
That is interesting.
I know about the Iraqi fake FEG-HP's, I briefly talk about it in an earlier FEG video. These fake FN's were sold commercially and brand new in South Africa in the 1980's. How they got there is also unknown. Maybe sanctions also curbed the sale of real FN's to South Africa.🤷♂
Ì knew you could do it
Magazine disconnect... not safety. If you ever need to fire your weapon without a magazine inserted you are out of luck.