American Rifleman by Justin Dyal October 25, 2021
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Iconic firearm designs, no matter how universally recognized, eventually leave the market. When sales slow or production costs rise to a prohibitive point, they become a part of history rather than inventory. Early semi-automatics, such as the P08 Luger or Walther P38, long ago left the market, but their service-pistol contemporary, the P-35, or Browning Hi Power, endured until 2018. When Fabrique Nationale and Browning finally stopped offering the pistol under that trademark, many shooters were disappointed and hopeful that a major manufacturer would carry the design forward. In a surprising move, Springfield Armory has done just that.
Springfield looked at the market and, noting demand for the classic John Browning design, decided it would be a natural fit within its product lineup. The result is the SA-35, which hearkens back to the P-35 pistol that became one of the most prolific military sidearms from World War II through the Cold War era. Despite a host of specific designations, and appellations such as Grande Puissance, the design today simply goes by High Power.
According to Springfield CEO Dennis Reese, “The SA-35 represents a classic firearm design born from the genius of John Moses Browning. Just like the 1911 before it, this pistol was truly revolutionary and would influence firearm design for the decades that would follow, even through to today. Springfield Armory recognized there would be strong demand for an offering like this in the market and that a firearm like this would be a terrific fit for the Springfield Armory firearms family.”
The SA-35 is a faithful rendition of the classic, with those timeless and attractive lines immediately recognizable but with shooter-friendly enhancements tastefully included throughout. In the fashion of its M1911 progenitor, it is a locked-breech, single-action, semi-automatic design in which the hammer is cocked via racking the slide and the manual thumb safety engaged to ready it for immediate use. Such a cocked-and-locked condition allows a consistent, relatively light and crisp trigger break for each shot.
The Springfield pistol employs a forged-steel frame and slide and nicely shaped checkered walnut stocks. The original High Power design featured a 13-shot magazine, but the SA-35 ships with a magazine that features an improved follower design allowing for a 15-round capacity. Many iterations of the High Power design had caveats suggesting limited or no use of +P 9 mm Luger loads, but the forged SA-35 is fully +P-rated.
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The SA-35 is a full-size pistol, but it is trim and svelte in ways that might surprise shooters whose frame of reference is the boxy striker-fired genre. The SA-35 is similar in overall height to a Glock G19 and in length to a Glock G17. However, the SA-35 is barely 7/8" across at the slide—or as thin as many of the popular micro slimlines. This allows the SA-35 to carry very well and seem like a much smaller gun.
More:
https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/springfield-armory-sa-35-high-power-classic-modern-american/