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Excerpt
taken from Ahrends Custom Hi-Power
By Cameron Hopkins Photos by Ichiro Nagata
Custom
Ambi Safety
 The
Ahrends custom Hi-Power shown here is a
“package” that Kim offers called the Browning
Tactical Conversion. All the features and custom
work described here are included in the package,
which costs $1,600 on a customer’s Hi-Power.
The
P-35, popular though it may be, runs a distant
second to John Browning’s glorious Government
Model when it comes to buying aftermarket parts
and accessories. Cylinder & Slide Shop of
Fremont, Neb., offers a trigger, a hammer, a sear
and an extended thumb safety. If you don’t care
for the style of the C&S parts, you have a
choice of C&S or maybe C&S or then again
there’s always C&S.
 If
the aftermarket parts business for the 1911 is a
“cottage industry,” then the parts business
for the Hi-Power might be called a “Mongolian
yurt industry.”
While
this dearth of parts may not encourage a local
“parts changer” to jump into the custom
Hi-Power business, it is just the sort of
challenge that a truly talented pistolsmith like
Kim Ahrends positively loves. Give Kim a car
bumper, a welding torch and a file and he’ll
make his own custom parts.
Kim’s
outstanding treatment of the ambidextrous thumb
safety is
an example of a real craftsman’s work. The stock
Browning safety is really too small for a
positive, no-fumble engagement that is vital on a
serious pistol. The C&S unit is much better,
but Kim still wanted to improve it, to
“Swensonize” it you might say.
Welding
up the levers on a stock safety, Kim completely
recontoured and reshaped the pieces to an
ergonomic shape. He serrated the levers by hand,
again in a style like the famous Swenson safety.
The
result, as you can see in Ichiro Nagata’s
detailed pictures, speaks for itself. Kim charges
$150 for this totally handmade conversion of an
ambi safety, which I think is very reasonable for
the obvious time and talent that it takes to make
one.
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