Editing Browning Hi-Power (section)

===Development===
The Browning Hi-Power was designed in response to a French military requirement for a new service pistol, the "Grand Rendement" (French for "high efficiency"), or alternatively ''Grande Puissance'' (literally "high power"). The French military required that:
* The gun must be compact
* The magazine have a capacity of at least 10 rounds
* The gun have a magazine disconnect device, an external hammer, and [[Safety (firearms)|safety]] catch
* The gun be robust and simple to disassemble and reassemble
* The gun be capable of killing a man at {{convert|50|m|yd|abbr=on}}

This last criterion was seen to demand a [[caliber]] of {{convert|9|mm|in|abbr=on}} or larger, a bullet mass of around {{convert|8|g|gr|abbr=on}}, and a muzzle velocity of {{convert|350|m/s|ft/s|abbr=on}}. It was to accomplish all of this at a weight not exceeding {{convert|1|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.

FN commissioned John Browning to design a new military sidearm conforming to this specification. Browning had previously sold the rights to his successful [[M1911 pistol|M1911 U.S. Army automatic pistol]] to Colt's Patent Firearms, and was therefore forced to design an entirely new pistol while working around the M1911 patents. Browning built two different prototypes for the project in Utah and filed the patent for this pistol in the United States on 28 June 1923, granted on 22 February 1927.<ref>Gangarosa, Gene Jr. (1999). ''FN...Browning: Armorer to the World''. Stoeger Publishing, New Jersey. pp. 63–65.</ref><ref>{{US Patent|1618510}}</ref> One was a simple [[Blowback (arms)|blowback]] design, while the other was operated with a [[Semi-automatic pistol#Actions: blowback versus locked breech|locked-breech]] recoil system. Both prototypes utilised the new staggered magazine design (by designer [[Dieudonné Saive]]) to increase capacity without unduly increasing the pistol's grip size or magazine length.

The locked breech design was selected for further development and testing. This model was [[Firing pin#striker|striker-fired]], and featured a double-stack magazine that held 16 rounds. The design was refined through several trials held by the Versailles Trial Commission.

In 1928, when the patents for the Colt Model 1911 had expired, Dieudonné Saive integrated many of the Colt's previously patented features into the Saive-Browning Model of that same year. This version featured the removable barrel bushing and take down sequence of the Colt 1911.

In 1929, as an effort to find an alternative solution to the long-ongoing French trials, and with a pistol that they considered by then to be good enough to stand on its own to find other potential clients, FN decided to announce the "Grand Rendement", incorporating a shortened 13-round magazine, for sale in their commercial catalogue. They hoped to find a military contract which would in turn help them finance a production line, essentially through the same process as their previous [[FN M1900]] pistol.

By 1931, the Browning Hi-Power design incorporated the same 13-round magazine, a curved rear grip strap, and a barrel bushing that was integral to the slide assembly. The Belgian Army showed a definite interest and bought 1,000 pistols based on this prototype for field trials.

By 1934, the Hi-Power design was complete and ready to be produced. Ultimately, France decided not to adopt the pistol, instead selecting the conceptually similar but lower-capacity [[Pistolet automatique modèle 1935A|Modèle 1935 pistol]]. However, it was good enough to stand on its own as a service pistol for the Belgian Army and other clients. These would become the Grande Puissance, known as the High Power, in Belgium for military service in 1935 as the Browning P-35.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/before-the-high-power-was-the-fn-grand-rendement/ | title=Before the High Power was the FN Grand Rendement | date=8 August 2022 }}</ref>