Girsan MC P35 PI: Hands On With the Compact Hi-Power

Officially, the Browning Hi-Power only ever came in one size, and that is full-sized. There was never an official compact Hi-Power, but Girsan is now producing the MC P35 PI, and we’ve got one to review.

EAA Girsan MC P35 PI 

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The PI model features a 3.88-inch barrel, but a full-sized grip. It can still rock and roll with your standard capacity Hi-Power magazine.

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The Compact Hi-Power

The PI in MC P35 PI stands for Private Investigator, a nod to detectives. In American gun terminology, the term “Detective” typically means smaller than normal, with the Colt Detective Special being the primary example. When it comes to the Hi-Power, the detective terminology was first applied by Fabricaciones Militares, an Argentinian arms manufacturer.

They produced the original compact Hi-Power and called it FM-95 Detective. Girsan seems to be referencing this with the PI moniker in MC P35 PI. FM no longer produces the Detective Hi-Power, and they sell for a small fortune. However, the Girsan MC P35 PI is fairly priced at around 400 dollars.

The PI model features a 3.88-inch barrel, but a full-sized grip. It can still rock and roll with your standard capacity Hi-Power magazine. It’s compact the same way a Glock 19X is compact. The MC P35 PI can hold anywhere from 13 to 17 rounds depending on who makes the magazines.

Other than the short barrel, it’s all Hi-Power. It’s a single-action-only, hammer-fired, 9mm gun with a double-stack magazine. The gun uses an ambidextrous safety and comes with standard black plastic grips.

While the MC P35 PI isn’t the most modern gun, it has an old-school charm. It recreates an extremely rare variant of the Hi-Power for a fair price. If you prefer bells and whistles, the OPs model is optics ready and has a Picatinny rail. Personally, I like the retro stylings of the standard model.

Girsan is a Turkish company, and I purchased this gun with a bit of trepidation. Turkish firearms can be a crapshoot. Some are fine, some suck more than a Hoover. Let’s see where the MC P35 PI sits on that spectrum.

Girsan MC P35 PI Features

1 Ambidextrous Safety

2 Single Action Only

3 Three Dot Sights

The MC P35 PI – The Mini Hi-Power

Let’s talk about reliability. As fun as it is to bury the lede, I figured the most important question to answer about this gun is its reliability. Is the MC P35 PI reliable? Did it break five hundred rounds into testing?

I can happily answer that yes, the gun is reliable. It chewed through a lot of steel and brass-cased 115-grain 9mm without any complaints. I had a few magazines for the gun; with the OEM magazines and with Mec-Gar magazines there were zero issues. I only had problems with one magazine that was marked KRB. It did not like the MC P35 PI.

The only other notable malfunction was a failure to fire. A tap-rack-bang solved it, and there were none to follow. Ammo malfunctions do happen, especially when most of the ammo you shoot is bottom-of-the-barrel steel-cased junk. The MC P35 PI chewed through everything else without complaint.

Hi-Power Problems

Girsan produced a Hi-Power clone and didn’t attempt to fix any of the classic Hi-Power problems. The gun comes with a magazine safety, which seems to be one of the reasons why the single-action trigger is nowhere near as nice as the 1911s. This can be removed, and there are plenty of tutorials on just how to do that.

Additionally, don’t expect your magazines to drop free. Hitting the magazine release results in the magazine popping about a fifth of the way out. To fully ditch the magazine, you’ll have to grip and rip. It’s well suited for shooters who prefer the tactical reload. The beavertail is standard length, and a nice high grip gets you a bit of hammer bite.

It’s what you expect from a Hi-Power, just a little shorter. We do still get the excellent Hi-Power ergonomics. This includes a fantastic grip and an easy-to-rack slide. The magazine release is easy to hit and find. The safeties are another easy-to-reach and manipulate control. The MC P35 PI keeps both the benefits and the downsides of the old-school Hi-Power design.

Shooting Fast

The all-metal design and hefty weight have their benefits. You can shoot fast without having any control problems. A short single-action trigger and the ability to get a nice high grip makes the gun beg to go fast. The shorter 3.88-inch barrel results in a little more muzzle rise, but not a ton. The gun remains controllable while working the trigger as fast as possible.

The MC P35 PI allows for accurate double taps in less than half a second. Pulling off a sub-1-second failure to stop drill is possible assuming you start from the ready position. The gun goes fast and shoots flat primarily. While the sights rise off target, they settle back down naturally and rapidly.

The three-dot sights might not be red dot fast, but they’re fast enough for adequate defensive use. The front sight is quite large and easy to see, which works well for a stress sight picture. At the beep, I see the white target and start letting it fly.

Those same sights make it easy to shoot accurately. At 25 yards, I can consistently hit an eight-inch gong with ease. At 15 yards, I can print sub-3-inch groups, and out to 50 yards, I can consistently hit an IPSC-sized piece of steel. The MC P35 PI does a fantastic job of hitting the target.

I want to thank Ammunition To Go for providing the 9mm ammunition for this test and review.

MC P35 PI Pros and Cons 

Although it comes with a few cons, overall it’s a good gun.

Report Card
Shootability	Muzzle rise and recoil aren’t a problem, but hammer bite can get annoying.	B+
Reliability	It doesn’t like KRD magazines, but Mec-Gar and more work perfectly.	A+
Ergonomics	It’s fine, but the magazine doesn’t eject fully, and the hammer bite rears its head again.	B+
Accuracy	For a little gun, it shoots well and makes me want to try the OPS model with a red dot.	A+
Value	As far as Hi-Power clones go, it’s an affordable option, and it’s even affordable compared to other firearms in general.	A+

EAA Girsan MC P35 PI 

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Reviewed by Travis Pike

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Best Ammo for your MC P35 PI Cheetah

I shot several kinds of ammunition that work well with this pistol, however, our top pick would definitely be the Federal American Eagle 115 Grain FMJs.

Federal American Eagle 115 Grain

Marketplace	Cost
Gun.Deals	$0.24 / per round
Firearms Depot	$0.25 / per round

Girsan MC P35 PI Accessories

The best part about accessorizing your Beretta 81 is the stuff that’s already on there. You can skip the stock, trigger, and rails and go straight to other goodies!

1. Hogue Browning Hi-Power Grips

Classic Wood Design Awesome Checkering Made From Coco Bolo

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How to Care for Your Firearm

Check out this video that walks through the detailed process of cleaning and caring for your Girsan MC P35 PI.

Important Links and Manuals

Need more info on this firearm? Don’t worry. There’s plenty out there. We recommend you get started with the following resources:

• Owner’s Manual: Check it out here