Like any red-blooded American, I love John Moses Browning’s Hi-Power design. Last year I was quite excited to see variants from Girsan, Springfield Armory, and FN. This year the Hi-Power is still very much on people’s minds, and Girsan is delivering a rather novel design in the form of a compact model. The MCP35 PI trims about an inch off the barrel to make the pistol more compact and easier to carry if you so choose.
The PI in the name stands for Private Investigator, and it seems to be based on the Argentinian FM Detective model. That gun was known as the M90 and was a relatively rare model.
Girsan is making that Detective model a little more affordable and much easier to find. The Girsan Hi-Powers are Turkish guns and have traditionally been sold at a budget-friendly price. The MCP35 PI is no different, with an MSRP of $630.
The MCP35 PI features a 3.88-inch barrel, a 15-round magazine, and a full-sized frame. The gun weighs 1.6 pounds and is 6.25 inches long. It’s not quite the most compact or carry-ready gun, but it’s a decent trim job from the full-sized Hi-Power.
Optics? Yes Please
While range day only featured a standard model, the floor of SHOT Show revealed an optics-ready model. It seemingly comes with a rather cheap-looking red dot. I would toss it pretty quickly, and hopefully, it has a common footprint. I tried to find out what that footprint is, but due to some language differences, that isn’t really clear.
At the range, the gun proved to be very easy to shoot with low recoil and little muzzle rise. The gun is trigger-bite-free, which is a problem for some when shooting Hi-Powers. Sadly the Girsan preserves the Hi-Power magazine safety and the lack of drop-free magazines.
Personally, I wouldn’t make this a carry gun, but it allows me to experience a rare model of the Hi-Power without paying through the nose for it. We’ll work on getting one for a full review (and find out what kind of optic cut that really is).
