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I was browsing around a local gun shop today when I noticed a used FEG Hi Power clone sitting in the case. I always knew I was going to pick up a Hi Power sooner or later, and since the price was right, I went ahead and asked a few questions about it since it interested me. The guys there told me that FEG was one of the better Hi Power clone manufacturers, and that the majority of parts for a Browning/FN model would fit and function in the FEG.

Me being a lefty, I wanted assurance that the ambi-safety from a "real" Hi Power would work in the FEG model, and they said it would. So I went ahead and bought the FEG for around $300, and had them order an ambi-safety for it, which should arrive next week.

I took the pistol home, cleaned and lubed it, and went straight to the range to test it out. The pistol has extraction issues.

Every mag has a few failures where the spent casing either stays in the chamber, or is extracted partially. I took the slide off the pistol and slid a casing into the area between the breech face and extractor, and I found that the extractor is not applying any tension to the casing, so this indicates to me that I have a bad extractor. The hook end of it looks beat up, and it is either chipped, or worn out.

So I pack up and take the pistol home. When I get there I look over the pistol from top to bottom, and I notice that there is slide to barrel play on the muzzle end of the pistol. The barrel has less than a millimeter of up-down play, and about half as much side-to-side play. I spent most of my time at the range trying to figure out why the pistol was malfunctioning, so I wasn't really shooting for accuracy. Now I'm thinking that I should have, as I have never owned a pistol with a Browning locking system, that had any barrel-to-slide play, at all.

On top of all this, while I'm looking for information on this pistol on the internet, I'm seeing people reporting that not all parts are interchangeable between the Browning/FN Hi Powers, and the FEG Hi Powers, and one of these parts that is not interchangeable, is the ambi-safety.

So, what should I do?

I'm thinking of going to the shop tomorrow and swapping this for a "real" Hi Power, but considering the difference in price, this will likely cost me more than $500. I have the ability to do this, but I'm not exactly thrilled to do so.

Should I stick with the FEG model, and let the shop figure out if they do or do not have the ability to add the ambi-safety? I'll be paying for the gunsmithing and the part, and if they do manage to get it on there somehow, but it is not done exactly right, I may be stuck with a SAO pistol with a jerry-rigged safety. I don't know what's involved in adding a Browning/FN ambi-safety to an FEG clone. I'll also have to have them order an extractor too, which will more than likely, but also possibly may not, fix the extraction issues. Then that leaves the slide-to-barrel play.

Any thoughts on this are appreciated