I stopped by a gun store today and got to handle an SA35 for the first time. It was a horrible experience, and leaves me speechless regarding all of the positive reviews that floated around when it was first released.

It has, in my opinion, the absolute worst single stage trigger I have ever felt on a pistol. That says a lot. It's not necessarily the pull that's bad, as that was definitely not good, but not horrendous in it's own right. A middleweight, gritty, and somewhat long press, it actually felt somewhat like a bad Glock. But after pressing the trigger and cycling the slide, there was distinct trigger slap, even when just dry firing, and an unbelievably long reset with no distinct or tactile feel on reset. Really, quite remarkably bad. It's funny that a selling point of this pistol is the supposedly better trigger than the original.

The upper portions of the beaver tail and grip panels were incredibly crudely edged, and in such a manner that the pistol was uncomfortable to hold. I was left with the impression that Springfield designers never actually held the pistol that they were designing before releasing it. Not only can I still easily get hammer bite, but the pistol is genuinely uncomfortable just to have in my hand.

The safety was mushy and blah. I don't know why it seems to be hard to make a tactile and widened safety like that on their 1911s.

Overall, extremely disappointing.

Sounds like a standard Hi Power trigger. They were always bad. Crazy long take-up and reset and a heavy, gritty pull once you hit the wall. I love the look but.could never stand them in actual shooting. Also the grip is generally smooth and shifts around in my hand. Not an SA35 problem but a Hi Power problem. That's just me though. Others feel differently about them.

The SA35 is a rebranded Tisas BR9 (Turkish) with some supposed tweaks to the sear/hammer by SA.

If you have little/no experience with the BHP platform and expect it to have a great trigger you'll be disappointed.

This 100%
Also Hi Power Triggers are even worse when the magazine safety is left installed.

I'll be contrarian here and say that I preferred the disconnect safety in. The reason is that the reset is weaker without the safety so trigger reset is even less defined and easier to short stroke with it removed.

To add to what others have said no Hi Power trigger is “good”.   Likewise the safety tends to be mushy.  Nature  of the beast.  Browning had to design around his own patents which were owned by Colt.  The trigger linkage is a bit of a mess.  

Deleting the mag safety doesn’t do much for the trigger.   It does allow the mags to drop free.  

Owned or own three HPs over the years.  The Springer is the best of the three.

Completely opposite experience as mine. Trigger was quite good on mine. Weak reset, yes, but that's the Hi-Power.

You guys are all painting with a wide brush. HP's are like any other production (non fitted) gun... some will always be better than others.

I have an actual FN Herstal HP from years back when CDNN was clearancing them out. A friend of mine also bought one at the same time. The gun I got wasn't all that great. Somewhat loose slide to frame fit and very unremarkable trigger. I removed the mag disconnect and that helped a lot but my friend's example was perfect and even with the mag disconnect still in, his trigger was much better then mine.

I had another friend that had the "Browning" version in nickel finish and gold trigger. That thing was a laser and had an awesome stock trigger. The point being, any of these older designed triggers need to be hand fitted or made from quality tool steel parts that are EDM cut for precision otherwise it's always going to be a crap shoot as to how good of a trigger you get? I don't buy 1911's or BHP's sight unseen because unless you are buying from a really high end builder then the variations from gun to gun can be substantial.

As for the online reviewers... Most of them were testing guns sent to them by SA for the review. You don't think SA hand picked which guns were sent for reviews?

I have an 80s hi power with a better than average trigger. You sound like me after my first range trip with it.

Beautiful, neat gun, but not much to get excited about at the range. I’ve noticed a lot of people feel the same way, but tend to avoid admitting it.

I've observed the same thing with stock BHPs and clones - nothing new.

Some are better than others right from the same factory.  Some are better than others.

Whenever I complain about the factory triggers (and note- I am not a trigger snob either) some BHP fan will speak up about how great it is.  I'm sure they can be tweaked nicely - but stock they are crappy-ish.  Still love the pistol and its elegant looks.

They are a bit of acquired test.  A legendary firearm but not without its quirks.  And for all the hullabaloo they get I don't think they were ever a huge seller in this country.  They had/have a following but it pales in comparison to say the 1911.  I think a lot of folks jump into the HP pool without doing a lot of research and perhaps having overly grandiose expectations.  I like them.  I understand the limitations of the design.  They're kind of like the British Sports Car of the pistol world.  Fun when all is right, not so much when things aren't.

I bought a old FN hi power a few yrs back had lanyard  and black grips its a old one nice worn looking blue maybe a 1970 gun got it for 475 , couldn`t pass it up but it has a real nice trigger , I looked and looked at the the new Springfield but went home with out one .

I've got one coming to my FFL, fairly low expectations.  I've owned a few high end custom Hi Powers from Yost and others, never been too impressed with the platform.  A lot of people expect a 1911 like single action and it's just not that.  Springfield SA35 is nice because unlike most FN Hi Powers it has workable sights and a decent sized safety (though I will be replacing the detent and spring immediately.)

If it scratches my Hi Power itch for under $1,000 I'll be happy.  

Got mine in hand.  It's the best representation of the Hi Power anywhere for under $1,000.  I suspect most people who are disappointed don't have much experience with a Hi Power, it's legend doesn't match up to its reality IMO.  The Springfield version is far better than the stock FN and Browning variations that were available for years.  

OK trigger, good sights and the safety is better than many customs I've had (I've always hated the ubiquitous C&S safety.).

The only change I made is switching out the stock safety detent and spring for a C&S version, this gave it a much more positive on/off snap.  Much closer to a 1911.

Got mine last month at a great price ($649). The only mods I've done is replace the safety detent & spring with C&S parts (stock one was too easy to manipulate, both "on" and more importantly, "off"!). And replaced the trigger return spring with C&S XP return spring, giving a more positive reset, but didn't affect the pull weight (my trigger pull gauge reads 4-1/4 lbs. consistently). It's now one of my favorite pistols...

I have disliked every 'hipower' that I have handled due to the trigger.

I was thoroughly impressed with the SA-35 and it has made many trips to the range.

Problem with the Hi Power is it gets compared to the 1911 as someone noted above. It isnt close, its never going to be close. The actual design of the trigger is the problem.
There are any number of plastic fantastic pistols out that have better triggers than a Hi Power in its best configuratiion. I cant shoot them because of hammer bite but to my eye they are one of the best looking Semi Auto handguns in the world. They point great (for me) feel great, Very Neat handgun. Just not what its hyped up to be.

OP, I’ll admit, I had the same feeling. The high power on paper seems like a win. But it felt dainty. Coming from a 1911, just underwhelming

I've recently acquired a sa-35 and actually like the trigger better than my gen 5 glock with a ghost connector. With my glock trigger, the gun tends to move slightly when the trigger breaks. Proper grip nd trigger finger placement for me must be 100% in the right spot to achieve no movement in my red dot after and during the break. Dry firing alot has helped this though.

Now compare that to my sa-35, it's very easy to break the trigger and get zero movement in the sights. It does have a longer and lighter trigger reset than the glock. Despite this I prefer the single action trigger. Now compared to my 1911 yea it's not great. It's definitely usable. I will say that.

My SA35 had been great. Decent trigger pull. It is the most accurate auto pistol I own from 30 yards . I own a lot. I got it for what it is.  A nice HP clone.     Attached File

This is my first foray in to Hi Powers and I am impressed with this pistol. The trigger has very little creep, basically unnoticeable when shooting, and it breaks clean with a manageable pull weight. The gun is extremely accurate. Groups nice on paper and easy to hit steel plates at 25+ yards. I also think Springfield did a great job on the aesthetics. The markings on the slide are in a similar configuration as a Browning and the matte blue with walnut grips go well together.