It was to accomplish all of this at a weight not exceeding 1В kg (2.2В lb).ДЇN commissioned John Browning to design a new military sidearm conforming to this specification. The French military's requirements were that the arm should be compact, have a capacity of at least 10 rounds, a magazine disconnect device, an external hammer, a positive safety, be robust and simple to disassemble and re-assemble, and be capable of killing a man at 50 meters this last criterion was seen to demand a caliber of 9В mm or larger, a bullet mass of around 8В grams, and a muzzle velocity of 350В m/s. The Hi-Power was designed in response to a French military requirement for a new service pistol, the Grand Rendement ( French for 'High Yield'), or alternatively Grande Puissance (literally 'high power').

It is also known as the BAP (Browning Automatic Pistol), particularly in Irish service. It is most often called the 'Hi-Power', even in Belgium. The term P-35 is also used, based on the introduction of the pistol in 1935. The pistol is often referred to as an HP (for 'Hi-Power' or 'High-Power' ) or as a GP (for the French term, 'Grande Puissance'). The Hi-Power name alluded to the 13-round magazine capacity almost twice that of contemporary designs such as the Luger or Mauser 1910. The Hi-Power is one of the most widely used military pistols of all time, having been used by the armed forces of over 50 countries. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized. It is based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by DieudonnГ© Saive at Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Herstal, Belgium. The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.

Fn p35 serial numbers