Tisas Regent (Browning Hi-Power Clone)

[billt]

I've been reading nothing but good about this pistol since it came out. Brownell's has them in stock in both black, as well as Stainless Steel. It's not hard Chrome plated like the FN Browning's, but rather a full Stainless Steel pistol. As you know Browning has discontinued the Hi-Power. So this Turkish clone by Tisas is the only one of it's kind in current production in Stainless Steel. (They also offer a model in black Cerakote for slightly less).

https://www.brownells.com/firearms/...s|Cartridge_1=APP_9+mm+Luger&avs|Make_3=Tisas

It arrived yesterday at my FFL, and I immediately drove over to pick it up. This is a beautiful gun! Especially for it's modest price of only $569.00. (Brownell's charged a $10.00 handling fee, and my FFL charged $30.00 for the transfer). So the grand total was $609.00 to get it from Brownell's to my kitchen table. Not too bad for a Stainless Steel Hi-Power.

Overall I'm very impressed. The machining and workmanship is impeccable. Very few tool marks on the inside of the slide and frame, and a nice slide to frame fit. The overall fit and finish on the pistol is beautiful! The gun field stripped very easily. It comes with 2, 13 round, polished blue Mec-Gar magazines. They interchanged with all of the other magazines I have for my other 2 Hi-Powers.

I gave everything a good cleaning and oiling. Except for the slide rails, which I greased with Weapon Shield Lithium Grease. It went back together without a hitch. I'm hoping to get it out to the range next week, assuming everything dries out. (It's been raining cats and dogs here for the last several days).

I ordered the Tisas BR9 Hi-Power Essential Reliability Kit from BH Springs Solutions. It gives you an extra extractor, and firing pin face plate. The kit also contains new springs and various roll pins required for installation. It's a good kit with quality parts that's nice to have on hand. I intend to shoot the hell out of this thing, so having a few extra parts for it in stock can't hurt. They could also come in handy for my other 2 Hi-Powers, should any small parts go south. Some of the very early production models of these guns had some issues with extractor breakage. But those were supposedly corrected, and these newer models are good to go.

https://bhspringsolutions.com/tisas-br9-hi-power-/358-tisas-br9-hi-power-essential-kit.html

If any of you guys are wanting a Hi-Power, but waited too long, and don't want to pay the high prices being asked for the used one's, don't be afraid to grab one of these. Quite honestly, for the price, I just don't see how you can go wrong. If this thing shoots half as good as it looks, I'll be a happy camper. Here are a few quick and dirty phone pics.

 

[amadera]

Wow, good looking piece! Eagerly await the range report.

 

[billt]

Tisas Regent Range Report, (400 Rounds)

I got to the range early this morning with the new Stainless Tisas Regent, and gave it a good workout with a total of 400 rounds of various ammunition fed through no less than 6 different magazines. I am happy to report the pistol performed flawlessly. Not a single FTF or FTE, or any type of hiccup of any kind!

Needless to say I was extremely pleased. The 6 magazines that were used were as follows. 2 original Browning Phosphate coated 13 round magazines, with the, "springy thingy" at the bottom, to assist in kicking the magazine clear of the gun. 2 gloss blued 13 round Mec-Gar magazines that were shipped with the pistol. And 2 gloss blued 15 round Mec-Gar magazines that were new in the box.

The magazines were all filled to capacity, and all fed flawlessly in the pistol, regardless of the type of ammunition they contained. With the exception of the Phosphate coated Browning magazines with the spring assist, they did not drop free when released. But all were very easily removed from the pistol when empty. All 6 magazines locked the slide back when the last round was fired.

The ammunition used was as follows. 100 rounds of CCI 115 gr. FMJ Blazer Brass. 100 rounds of Remington brown boxed 115 grain law enforcement training ammunition. (This ammo was the hottest 115 gr. FMJ Ball I've ever shot). 100 rounds of Federal 124 gr. FMJ. And finally 100 rounds of Federal 115 gr. 9BPLE +P+ Hollow Points.

All 400 rounds cycled the pistol perfectly. 4 magazines, (2, 13 round Browning's, and 2, 13 round Mec-Gar's), were shot rapid fire as fast as the trigger could be pulled. "Mag dumps", if you will. This was with the Federal 9BPLE, and was done to test rapid fire functioning. All 4 magazines fed perfectly. The brass was ejected cleanly and about 6 to 7 feet to the right, and 3 feet to the rear, in a nice neat 3 to 4 foot circle. I examined the cases as I gathered them and returned them to the box, and none showed any signs if denting or damage. I would call the extractor on this gun perfect. No problems with it what so ever.

All shooting was done at 25 yards. The sights were adjusted perfectly, printing dead center with a 6 O'clock hold. The gun was warm, but was allowed a substantial amount of time to cool as all 6 magazines were reloaded. The trigger was slightly gritty for the first 100 rounds or so. But it smoothed out nicely as the shooting progressed. And after the last box of ammo went through the gun, it was breaking cleanly and very crisp after a minimum amount of take up.

Overall I couldn't be more pleased with this pistol. It ran with 100% reliability for 400 rounds. With a good variety of different types of 9 MM ammunition. As you can tell from the picture, the gun got quite filthy after 400 rounds. But after a field stripping, and a good cleaning in Kerosene, followed by a good blow drying and re lubrication, it was as clean as when removed from the box.

I'm going to pick up another one of these pistols. I just don't think for the price you can beat them. They are well made, reliable, accurate, and very nice looking pistols. And with Browning ending Hi-Power production, these are as nice of a clone as you're likely to come across.

 

[mightymouse]

Nice range report! I don't know if I've ever taken a Hi Power (or various HP clones) to the range without first dispensing with the mag safety, but that would make the trigger pull a bit lighter. The Regent does appear to be a rather nice clone. FEG, FM, and Arcus all made clones of the BHP, with the Bulgarian-made Arcus giving the best bang for the buck if you can find one. All of those guns are since out of production, leaving the Regent as the top pick for someone wanting a new Hi Power style of gun. Keep us updated as you continue to put the gun thru its paces.

 

[neokshooter]

Hey thanks for the range report. I went to the range yesterday with mine which is also a stainless that I got off of Gunbroker for $495.00 factory new, in the box plus transfer fee. I only had three fifty round boxes of some MAXTECH steel case 115 gr. hard ball. That didn't go very well at all. Failure to feed, failure to extract, jams and some of my mags. didn't lock the slide back on empty. I have the two Mec-Gar 13 rd. and two other generic 13 rd. magazines. Have you got a source for that lithium grease? I haven't used any of that sense I broke in an AMT Hardballer several years ago. No more of that 3rd world steel case crap for this gun. Ordered a supply of a variety of good quality, brass cased ammo. I ordered some 115, 124 and 147 grain FMJ ball ammo. I love the gun and the fit and finish seems really nice. I just can't imagine that the problems I experienced didn't all come from the ammo. I'm considering ordering the BR9 Hi-Power Essential Reliability Kit also.

 

[okierider]

Hey thanks for the range report. I went to the range yesterday with mine which is also a stainless that I got off of Gunbroker for $495.00 factory new, in the box plus transfer fee. I only had three fifty round boxes of some MAXTECH steel case 115 gr. hard ball. That didn't go very well at all. Failure to feed, failure to extract, jams and some of my mags. didn't lock the slide back on empty. I have the two Mec-Gar 13 rd. and two other generic 13 rd. magazines. Have you got a source for that lithium grease? I haven't used any of that sense I broke in an AMT Hardball several years ago. No more of that 3rd world steel case crap for this gun. Ordered a supply of a variety of good quality, brass cased ammo. I ordered some 115, 124 and 147 grain FMJ ball ammo. I love the gun and the fit and finish seems really nice. I just can't imagine that the problems I experienced didn't all come from the ammo. I'm considering ordering the BR9 Hi-Power Essential Reliability Kit also.

Wait and see what the brass ammo does , buying a kit to fix something that is not broke will only be spending money better spent on ammo! IMHO, but I am a cheap bastard!!

 

[neokshooter]

Wait and see what the brass ammo does , buying a kit to fix something that is not broke will only be spending money better spent on ammo! IMHO, but I am a cheap bastard!!

Oh yeah me too. I am holding off to see what the change in ammo does. I think it will clear up all the problems I had with feeding and so forth. This is mine........

The black plastic grips are not original of course.

 

[billt]

Hey thanks for the range report. I went to the range yesterday with mine which is also a stainless that I got off of Gunbroker for $495.00 factory new, in the box plus transfer fee. I only had three fifty round boxes of some MAXTECH steel case 115 gr. hard ball. That didn't go very well at all. Failure to feed, failure to extract, jams and some of my mags. didn't lock the slide back on empty. I have the two Mec-Gar 13 rd. and two other generic 13 rd. magazines. Have you got a source for that lithium grease? I haven't used any of that sense I broke in an AMT Hardball several years ago. No more of that 3rd world steel case crap for this gun. Ordered a supply of a variety of good quality, brass cased ammo. I ordered some 115, 124 and 147 grain FMJ ball ammo. I love the gun and the fit and finish seems really nice. I just can't imagine that the problems I experienced didn't all come from the ammo. I'm considering ordering the BR9 Hi-Power Essential Reliability Kit also.

I'm betting it's the crappy ammo. What production number is your gun? You can tell by looking on the left side of the frame, just ahead of the slide release. Look at the last 4 numbers. (You will notice on the picture I posted mine is number 1,459. That designates it was the 1,459th gun manufactured. From the information I've been able to gather, it was the first 300 and under guns that were afflicted with extractor issues.

Another thing you want to check is the centrality of the barrel in relationship to the chamber. Again, some of the early guns got out with off center bored barrels. This will effect extractor positioning on the rim of the cartridge, if it is off center. Take a pair of calipers. (If you don't have a set, you can get a pair from Harbor Freight for around $15.00 that will work fine). Measure one side from the flat on the outside of the barrel, to the inside of the chamber. Do the same on the other side. Mine was within .001. If the barrel is out of spec, replacing the extractor won't help.

If the chamber checks central, then replacing the extractor is easy. The kit from BH Spring Solutions is good to have regardless. Having things like an extra extractor, firing pin retaining plate, along with all of the various springs can always come in handy. If your barrel is off, (and I'm seriously doubting it is), LKCI will replace any bad parts free of charge. Here is a video showing how to replace the firing pin retaining plate and extractor from BH Spring Solutions. It shows both from 17:00 to 28:00 in the video. Underneath the video is a link to the Weapon Shield Lithium Grease. The Weapon Shield Oil is very good as well. It's all I use now.



https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2756112298/steel-shield-weapon-shield-gun-grease

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2756220438/steel-shield-weapon-shield-gun-oil-liquid

 

[billt]

I don't know how you're fixed for tools, but installing the extractor requires a set of roll pin punches. I found this set on the Wal-Mart website. It is an excellent set made of forged steel. And it contains all of the smaller sizes needed to work on the Hi-Power design, as well as AR's and various other weapons.

It is of good quality, and really comes in handy. The best part is it's only $13.00 sent right to your door. Mine arrived in just 3 days. I also bought a couple of pairs of non marring pliers with both plastic and brass jaws to squeeze the roll pins to get them started straight in the hole without pounding them in. It helps to keep from mushrooming the end. They are inexpensive as well. This is the best way to install these small parts without damaging them, or your gun.

While it's nice to have, you don't need the tool for installing the firing pin retaining plate. You can use a wooden pencil, or else one of those wooden Shish-Ka-Bob skewers they sell at the grocery stores to depress the firing pin, and remove the retaining plate. A piece of small diameter 1/8" wooden dowel will also work well.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/9-Pc-Pie...-Roll-Up-Case-Rifle-Gunsmithing-9pc/862226191

https://www.walmart.com/ip/BRASS-JA...ASS-LINED-SOFT-JAWS-FORMING-HOLDING/451269334

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Eurotool-Nylon-Jaw-Pliers-Round-Nose-for-Jewelry-Wire-Work/577729374

 

[billt]

Failure to feed, failure to extract, jams and some of my mags. didn't lock the slide back on empty. I have the two Mec-Gar 13 rd. and two other generic 13 rd. magazines.

This could easily be from the ammunition being weak, and not pushing the slide fully rearward to the end of it's travel. Especially on a tight, new full sized 9 MM pistol. This will for sure cause failures to feed, as well as eject. It's crucial the slide operate through it's full length of travel each and every time the weapon is fired. And with enough velocity and authority to cause the weapon to cycle properly. Try a couple of boxes of quality +P ammo, and grease the frame and slide rails good. I'm willing to bet that will fix your problem.

Mec-Gar magazines are top shelf. And the 13 rounders in the Hi-Power always feed the best, because the followers are longer. On the 15 round models, they require shortening the followers in order to get the extra 2 rounds in. This can sometimes cause feeding issues in some Hi-Power models, because it allows the followers to tilt and cant, which can cause a FTF.