Recently, I had a problem with my old Browning Hi-Power: about 10% of the time, it didn’t go off. I could use all the force I had on that trigger, nothing happened. Racking the slide always solved the problem.

First I checked if maybe something was wrong with the safety or whether the gun went into full battery (maybe the recoil spring was worn). My next idea was that the trigger spring (48) was a bit worn out and didn’t push the trigger lever (46) snug against the frame anymore (my Hi-power has the mag safety removed which allows more side-ways travel on the trigger lever). If that was the case, the trigger lever would be hitting the slide when pulling the trigger rather that the sear lever (30). In a correct functioning Hi-Power, when the trigger is pulled, the trigger lever pushes the sear lever (in the slide), which in turn pushes the sear (in the frame), releasing the hammer. But also that didn’t check out, because when the gun was blocking I still could pull the trigger quite far, further than I would have been able if the trigger lever was really stuck on the slide.

Finally I found out that the problem was cause by a bent sear lever (30). The trigger lever pushed the sear lever correctly, however that being bent, it just bearily reached the sear, resulting in a failure to activate it about 10% of the time.

I’ve bent it back for now, the gun works perfectly again, but that quick fix will only temporarily hold I guess. I’ll have to buy a new sear lever. I thought I would share this for all Hi-Power fans out there who run into this annoying problem.