Can anyone give any tips and tricks for selecting a HP from CDI? He has so many its a little overwhelming. I'd like matching barrel and slide and a decent finish. Other than that I like the models with the single side safety and spur hammer, just a personal preference as far as looks. Are the ambi safeties any better? Also, is there much difference in a $459 and a $479? Thanks in advance!

I'm not really sure how he prices them, you can usually get a nicer mk II for cheaper than you can get an equally nice mk III, not sure which one you'd prefer, but I'd get a mk III unless you plan to have aftermarket sights fitted.

I've seen some crappy looking ones with double markings (Y and star of David) priced higher than ones with just one of those marks, I think some of them are priced based on the markings.  I would just look at $450 and up, those ones all appear to be pretty nice.

As for the safety, the larger ambi safety is 100 times easier to use, I'm not a fan of the small safety, but that can be changed after the fact if you find that you prefer one over the other.

I would just take some time to look through a bunch and find a nice one.  I went a little overboard with mine, I spent like 4 hours and looked through every single one that he had

His stuff is all over the place. I've bought 5 HPs from him. On the FNs, look for the MKIIIs with all matching numbers (no re-stamps) and dovetailed front and rear sights. Those have all the modern upgrades and should be excellent shooters. Sometimes they label real FNs as "fake" FEGs. Most of the time they really are fake ones. I bought one of the fake ones for $199, at it was literally in mint condition, just reparked, with all matching numbers. Not sure how that happened. It outshoots my real FNs. I also bought a beautiful blued FN T-Series from 1963 from him for $479, not sure how that happened either. Just watch his auctions, and watch them often for the nice ones to pop up. They go quick.

Go with one that is all matching and has a solid trigger pin. Lots of his on there have roll pins for the trigger pin.

I prefer the MKIII with dove-tailed sights, ambi-safety, ramped barrel to feed JHP, and cast frame to handle +P ammo.

Here are a couple that I would snag:

MKIII
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=431287432

MKII(?)
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=431084454

Note both have solid trigger pins.


Lastly - the ambi-safety is a lot larger to than the single side safety. Larger controls are usually a good thing.

EDIT: make sure you carefully read the descriptions. I've bought 2 from him. Thought I was getting a deal on the 1st one, would've sworn it was all matching. Turned out slide was re-numbered. Maybe that is what I ordered? Anywho sold that one off to a buddy and bought a 2nd all matching one.

Seems like you need to get into that $429 and higher range to get an all matching. The $300 range will be non-matching or a Fake FN (FEG).
There are some pistols in the higher range with roll pins for trigger pins. I'd pass on those.

Decide what features you want (Mk II, Mk III, safety type) go with solid pin on trigger, and just look carefully at the pics.  He doesn't try to hide anything so if there's an issue (pitting under park job) you will see it.  I looked at dozens and wrote down the numbers on a pad of the ones I liked.  Then just kept going back looking closer and closer for flaws.  In the end I whittled it down to a couple and picked one.  Near mint, very happy.

Excellent info guys, thanks so much!

This, plus what another said about the solid trigger pins.

I have found the Mk III sights easiest to use, but the Mk II aren't all that bad if you paint the front post red with Testors model airplane paint.  And, my eyes are older than most BHP's out there.

Disassemble, clean the crap out of all the nooks and crannies, replace all the springs and jerk out the magazine safety, and you may find it much more than just adequate just like that.

This is pretty much exactly my experience with the pistol I bought the other week from him.

The solid trigger pin is really the only thing that I think is essential. All the others are all personal preference.

My criteria were:
Spur hammer
Ambi-safety
Dovetail sights
Solid trigger pin
Good/excellent bore
Israeli Markings

Secondary concerns:
Finish/pitting
matching numbers

I got a 1980 production MKIII with a replacement slide and barrel. Barrel is ramped and has a nice bright bore. The gun, overall, has good parkerization and only just a tiny bit of pitting under the handguards. Got it for $410 to give you a price bracket. This is a solid little gun and my FFL was pretty impressed with it.

Take it apart and clean clean CLEAN. My extractor was jammed full of cosmolene and sand. The mag catch wasn't much better. I took out the mag disconnect while I was in there and the trigger is a lot better.

I immediately bought some VZ grips and Mec-gar mags. As I found out the hard way, stay away from the Wolff Springs. I'm trying to source some Browning springs right now and will be painting the sights this weekend.

Replace the trigger spring on the MKIII with a 2 Coil Wolff trigger spring. It makes for a huge improvement on the reset over the standard 3 coil trigger spring.
That's the only BHP Wolff spring I'd recommend.