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Israeli Hi Powers

10K views 33 replies 21 participants last post by  cosmonot 
#1 ·
Heads up. Royal Tiger Importers are reporting a new shipment of Israeli Hi Powers.
 
#3 ·
Seems like a valid temptation @ $379.95 ea. I'm very curious as to condition since majority of Israeli import pistols I've seen need some cosmetic TLC. Internally pistols were excellent. I won't bite due to already I have one, but not with Star of David. Hopefully someone here takes the bait and posts pictures.
 
#9 ·
Hi, I am new here. I just bought one of these pistols. Mine was a CC&R vintage weapon and considering that it was a real field piece, it is complete with all numbers matching. There was still some fine desert yellow dirt in the nooks and crannies. After cleaning, inspection, and lube I shot the pistol today and was surprised with amazingly good target groups.

My contact with the Royal Tiger folks was quite positive, I felt they went out of their way to find me a selected good example of this fine Milsurp pistol.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I recently ordered one of the Royal Tiger Inport Israeli Hi Powers. I ordered one of the "Very Good" versions.

I picked the gun up today and offer the following opinion:
- It was "Fair" at best with worn bluing and surface scratches.
- It came without a magazine (I have contacted RTI to have them correct this problem)
+ It has the Star of David logo
+ Matching numbers
- It has the number 4 engraved on both sides of the trigger.

I went into this knowing I might need to have the pistol cerakoted. The bluing wear and surfaces scratches should not prevent me from doing this. I should end up with a nice Hi Power.

WDEagle
 
#12 ·
When you buy any of these imports you have to go in understanding that you are buying a shooter and nothing more. At the price that they are charging, you are STILL getting a great gun at a great price. I've had (and have) several and I've never had a problem with any of them. All were solid shooters and reliable and all had better triggers than most Browning-marked hi-powers that I've bought new. For the price, I don't think that you can get a better handgun (with the possible exception of a used Glock).

If you don't like the Mark II guns, I was told that paying for hand-select will also enable you to get them to pick a 1989 or 1990 gun, either of which SHOULD be a Mark III. I've been contemplating picking up a couple of these but I just don't know what I'd do with two MORE hi-powers.
 
#13 ·
My wife is getting me one of these Israeli Hi-Powers as one of my retirement gifts. I told a gunsmith friend of mine about the Israeli imports. Today when he checked the web site the price had gone up $20.00 to $399. I plan on replacing a lot of the internals with Cylinder and slide parts, new sights, and refinishing the pistol.
 
#19 ·
Nice looking Hi-Power 6285108. What all did you have Novak's do to your pistol? Novak's has been blessing guns for me since 1982 (I'm originally from Marietta,OH/Parkersburg,WV). Strayed once last year, but ended up having them correct local plumbers inexperience.
 
#20 ·
Reliability Pkg., Night Sights, Thumb safety, remove mag disco, trigger breaks at 5.5 Lbs....and the reblue
 
#22 ·
Mushinto:

I think I got one of the last ones in their stock. I ordered on Monday and Tuesday the $399 option was gone (only option was to add $150 for like new).

It appears the +$150 is still an option: http://www.royaltigerimports.com/co...flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=397&category_id=12

I picked mine up yesterday and spent the evening cleaning it up. Mine is an updated '68 T series that is a bit rough but not bad for $400.



 
#24 ·
Yes, that is an Israeli from Royal Tiger/IO. There are no Israeli markings that I can find. There was some of the "yellow dust" inside that others have reported with Israeli BHPs.

From what I've seen the Israeli BHPs cover multiple years from internal extractor 1950s to MkIIIs. Mine has been "updated" with the spur hammer, ambi safety and plastic grips.
 
#25 ·
Inter-Ordnance/Royal Tiger Imports can officially kiss my fuzzy rear-end!! And that's being seriously nice about it.....

Bought one of their Israeli Browning Hi Powers, advertised as being 'Like New' condition, excellent bore, 'various authentic markings', etc....
Yeah, no....:mad:

It's a 1986 Mk. II w/ a very old thumb safety (not the ambidextrous usually seen on these), no markings whatsoever, a bore that looks
serviceable (but *SO* not excellent condition), and a parkerizing job that looks like my 4 y/o did it. Some parts were sandblasted, then
parked, and some were parked right over the bluing. Some parts weren't even parked at all (some still blue), and from the trigger pull,
my opinion (and that of my FFL/gunsmith) is that they parked the frame w/o disassembling it.

Ever tried out a Hi Power w/ a 20-lb trigger pull?:grumble:

The finish came off of the thumb-safety when I rubbed it - and it's so tight, you definitely can't swipe it on/off w/ your thumb.
The grips are loose, even though the screws are tightened down. Oh, and the screws were mangled with a screwdriver, then blued over....

Looking at the box, I'm not convinced that they didn't pull a so-so example off of the rack, repark it, then throw it in the box to sell it as
'like new' - the bubble-wrap was wet (inside wrap), which then leaked onto the box and dried w/ a chemical residue. (And it's not Hoppes,
Break-Free or some other lube...)

The CS said that if I want to send it back (never mind that it's not as advertised), it'll be on my dime, and if they decide that it's
my imagination, they'll charge me a 20% restock fee. :eek:

F* that noise!! Will do some Google research tomorrow and see if I can get some e-mail addresses for some of the higher-ups, and
contact them. I'll probably get ignored, but on the off chance that the head-shed doesn't know how things are running in the
warehouse, I'll give it a try.

If nothing else, I guess I'll have a $550 project to work with my smith, to learn how to fix it up to how it should be.....

(And I've ordered an ass-ton of stuff from them in the past w/o a bit of an issue... No longer!)

(How's that for a first post....;))
 
#26 ·
Tanker06:

Sorry to hear about your experience. I saw that they had the $399 versions and the listing said something about different configurations so I called to see what they had. Was on hold for a quite a while and the guy came back and said they did not in fact have any of the $399 BHPs left, only the +$150 like new variety.

After hanging up I figured I would take a gamble and order the $399 from the website.

I figured there would be a few possible outcomes:

1. They would let me know they don't have any available and refund my money

2. They would send a nicer one for the $399 price (a guy can hope right? :))

3. They would scrounge up a $399 that the guy on the phone wasn't aware of

The next day the 399 option was gone.

Well after a week I hadn't heard anything...no shipping notice, no tracking number etc.

I was ready to call them but figured as a long shot I'd call my FFL and what do you know he had it.

I don't think I got a $550 for my $400 order but I do think it's worth the $400 I paid.

So I think #3 is actually what happened in my case but perhaps #2 actually happened and that's what they consider the $550 option which in my opinion probably isn't worth it.

Sorry to hear about your experience and that is just poor customer service and a bad way to do business.
 
#27 ·
Tanker06:

Sorry to hear about your experience and that is just poor customer service and a bad way to do business.
Definitely a bad way to do business. Doing some web-surfing today, I decided
to hit up the Better Business Bureau in their area, and file a complaint. Well, I
did submit a complaint, just so that I can say that it was done, but I think that
it was an exercise in futility.

Turns out, according to their listing on the local BBB, they had something like
8 unanswered complaints about purchased items not being as advertised.
Had an "F" rating....

Live & learn, I guess, as it seems that I'll be working with my `smith, and
getting it tuned up to the way it *SHOULD* have been for the $$ I paid....

:(
 
#28 ·
Tanker06,
I've never done business with IO/RTI before. I'm sorry to hear of your experience. I want to hear of their response to you., otherwise I will never do business with them.
 
#29 ·
After reading some of the posts about the importer, I feel like I got off really lucky. The finish on my pistol is a little rough. That's the only negative, my pistol is accurate, no hammer bite, and the trigger is not bad. I am in the process of getting the magazine safety disconnected.

My only question is when was my pistol made. I have looked on the different web sites but my serial number sequence is not listed. My serial number is T311516. According to what I have read, the T series stopped in the 260000 range. Does anybody have any info on my serial number series? Also my pistol does not have any Israeli markings.

I am pleased with my purchase. I plan to have the pistol refinished, new sights, thumb safety and some other up grades.
 
#30 ·
Not a bad savings, but $550 - $580 +shipping for a used gun that someone says is like new? Too risky for me (see Tanker06's post above). Unless the Star of David means that much to you, I personally think buying a brand new in the box Mark III for $699.99 +shipping from CDNN is the better deal. Just sayin. Now, if they were 'like new' and $300.... then it's a different story.
 
#31 ·
Be careful!!


You gotta be very careful with Royal Tiger. These are usually refinished
and thick enough to cover most markings I ordered two with Star of David
which could be seen only with maganifying glass. I returned and got shock with a 20% restocking fee!! Not in ad but buried on their website.
Refinishing also not anywhere in their ads Sarco is another importer but is
currently out of stock there BUT nicer firm to work with Unless I could buy in person I would avoid Royal Tiger...I also bit for Highest Quality AND hand
picked. Warning
 
#34 ·
You gotta be very careful with Royal Tiger. These are usually refinished
and thick enough to cover most markings I ordered two with Star of David
which could be seen only with maganifying glass. I returned and got shock with a 20% restocking fee!! Not in ad but buried on their website.
Refinishing also not anywhere in their ads Sarco is another importer but is
currently out of stock there BUT nicer firm to work with Unless I could buy in person I would avoid Royal Tiger...I also bit for Highest Quality AND hand
picked. Warning
I picked up one from my FFL earlier this week. Obviously reparked, with some pitting near the muzzle on the left side of the slide. Was full of blasting media and grit when I got it, took a while to clean up. Does have the star of david, but one thing I'm not sure about is the rear sight. It's drifted over to the left by about 1/16". Guess I'll take it to the range and see where it hits...
 
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