WWII German or Canadian Hi Power Mag Question

I picked up a Hi Power mag today and am not able to determine whether it is German or Canadian. I have a beautiful a block Nazi Hi Power with two German mags. However I am stumped on this one. It has the aluminum follower and some markings on the back bottom of the magazine. I will attach some pics. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. It was a freebee so I am not gonig to be bummed one way or the other. Thanks

If the body is a parkerized type finish on the mag body then it could be pre-war Belgian or even postwar. It is definitely Belgian IMHO, which are exemplified by parkerized type mag bodies, aluminum followers, blued floorplates with "tails".

Ham,

That is exactly what it is, aluminum follwer, parked body, blued floorplate with tails. Thanks for the quick response. At least I know it is Belgian. I would assume pre-war is more desireable. Any way to tell?

I'm not much help but can confirm it's definitely not one of the WWII Canadian ones made by Inglis.

-Steve

USCS03 said:

Ham,

That is exactly what it is, aluminum follwer, parked body, blued floorplate with tails. Thanks for the quick response. At least I know it is Belgian. I would assume pre-war is more desireable. Any way to tell?

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Yes, by the inspection markings. It may be pre-war, USCS, that would not be a bad guess.

As Steve noted, the Inglis mags are distinctive as they are "JI" (John Inglis) marked on the front and on the floorplate, but look similar in that they are parkerized too.

The Belgian pre-war mags had definite known inspection markings, such as A, C, or H in square / circle / hexagon, and those can be tracked to production ranges. That doesn't look like any such markings. The later German GP.35 mags were blued, not phosphated bodies like the early Belgian and German controlled production. The GP.35 was (and is) and extremely prolific pistol, so many countries made mags for them. It is probably my favorite pistol.

I looked at the markings under magnification and paid particular attention to the box like cartouche. Under magnification it almost appears as if this is the letter V in a square box. The object in the middle looks almost like a downward pointing squiggle arrow. Would the letter V sideways in a box be appropriate for a pre war magazine? Did they even go up that high?

That I do not know. It could be a postwar mag as well as a pre-war. The same style was used by FN. Factory mags in no later than late 60s HPs are manufactured like this. Best bet is to get on an FN GP.35 site and ask. Let us know what you find out as I'm curious too!

Here is a pre-war hi-power mag for comparison, more of a greenish tint with a blued floorplate and aluminum follower. GR

Thanks George. The circle H is classic prewar Belgian inspect. The green phosphate / aluminum follower / blue floorplate mag is FN through at least the late 60s.

I thought they went to bluish look after WW2, I am not a expert at all, the HP one I have from 50's, is not green tint, could be contract or who knows, it seems everybody used them for awhile. As reliable as a 1911.

George R. said:

I thought they went to bluish look after WW2, I am not a expert at all, the HP one I have from 50's, is not green tint, could be contract or who knows, it seems everybody used them for awhile. As reliable as a 1911.

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The German occupation ones were mostly blued, after they ran out of the phosphate bodies I reckon. The original Belgian mag with my factory new '69 T series was green phosphate, alum. follower, blue floorplate. Later, like much later, they probably started using blue MecGar mags as OEM. The standard FN mag was phosphate body, alum. follower, blue floorplate. Even the good knockoffs copy this. There may have been contracts using the blued bodies.

I'd use a GP.35 no problem today. The later Mk.III series has a modified feed ramp for JHPs and is harder to handle +P though, with dovetails cut in the slide for sights, so you can use tritium inserts. That's about my favorite handgun for self defense, other than an M1911. I pretty much always have an XD subcompact 9mm though. It gobbles everything and won't rust.