All right! I'm going to kill two birds with two stones....one at a time.
Crudos, I've got a wad of Christmas money that needs to be spent. I've always kinda wanted an all-steel 9mm pistol. The British Hi Powers seem to be one of the rarer variants, and since Obama won't even let our OWN surplus weapons into the country, I doubt the thousands of pistols the Brits just swapped for Glocks will be coming any time soon. I'm aware of the FEG clones.
Having said that, I'm also looking at other options. Stoeger Cougar, SIG P6, etc. I love my Springfield 1911, so I'm already familiar with the platform in a sense. At the same time, I've got a girlfriend who wants to learn how to shoot. She did not like my Glock 21 at all (yes, I started her off on .22s first, she did better with a S&W 18 than my Marlin rifle). In the back of my mind I'm thinking, "I'll get something for myself, and if she likes it, I'll buy her another one as a gift when she gets her BA."
Johnny! See above.
As to your question, the Hi Power was originally adopted by the Belgians and French (the latter called it the P35, ie, 1935). It was called the "Hi Power" because no other pistol at that time could match its 13-round magazine capacity. Unless you had a snail drum for your Luger, the only one that even came close was the Mauser C96, with ten rounds.
