tinweasle Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 Hi everyone, for Christmas I was given a deactivated Hi Power, which as im sure you can appreciate im over the moon with. I believe its a Mk2 with steel action serial number 75c36129, and has two stamps that I cant make out, but look like a bomb or an oval with a crown on one end and something inside it. Im using it to stand in for an L9 which I just could not afford at the moment, but just out of interest I wondered if anyone was able to tell me anything about it's actual past or what the two stamps mean? Cheers Shaun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hall Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 Its a 1975 made Mk2 Commercial contract, the 2 marks are Belgian proof marks. Its doubtful you will find any L9s on the market, I've only ever seen 2 in the UK, I own one and the second had suspect markings from what I could see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinweasle Posted December 26, 2014 Author Share Posted December 26, 2014 Thanks Chris, so apart from the stamping how different is my example from an L9? Cheers shaun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowdrop358 Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 (edited) Hi, Nothing different, all the L9 were Belgian made and puchased in two big batches starting in 1967. The reality of service life was that the parts from these two batches were mixed up in servicing and overhaul , (we were happy if it worked and cared not for aesthetics) so the chances of finding a 'pure' L9 are slim. There were variations of hammers and grips for example, depending what came out of the packet in stores. Enjoy your gift, in almost every respect it's an L9. Edited December 28, 2014 by snowdrop358 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hall Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 As Snowdrop has said, they're nothing more than the markings and the fact that they were made to contract for the MOD. Your gun was a straight out of store gun sold on a commercial contract and could easily have gone to somewhere like Israel for the IDF. The later MOD purchased guns had no L9 markings but were still classed as the L9 in British service. It was the cost of buying replacement L9s and parts that pushed the MOD into purchasing Glocks. No one will admit it but the preferred replacement for the L9 was the Sig Saur but the Glock was cheaper so you can guess what happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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