Per George's request, a review of a gun I own: Kareen Hi Power

The Kareen is an Israeli copy of the Browning Hi Power.  Mine was bought the day before the 2012 presidential election.  Lucky me...  It was sold by J&G Sales, and JesseL was nice enough to stop by their store on his lunch break to hand select one for me, according to my preferences.  Total cost, if I recall, was approximately $325, after shipping and transfer fees.

It required some initial parts and gunsmithing, by a qualified local gunsmith, to the tune of around $200.

Last May I was beginning to see some surface rust, so I sent the gun to Jesse for the Lambert Hi Power Package.  Jesse milled the slide for Novak front and rear sights, and had a local refinishing outfit coat the entire gun in Cerakote Graphite Black.  Both the sights and the finish were done with a high level of quality.  The sights were a plain rear and a tritium front.  My memory is failing me, but I believe the above was about $400, combined, including the cost of the sights.  I could be off...

A threaded barrel from EFK Firedragon - for about $225 - was added so I could mount my can.

Additional upgrades were Esmeralda grips, an Adams Texas holster, and, of course, several spare magazines.

All told, I am close to (if not more than) $1500.00 into a $275 surplus gun.

PICS:

Before:



After:




The good:
The ergonomics are superb.  The Kareen literally 'fits my hand,' rather than the other way around.  It fills my hand... Perfectly.  My thumb reaches all of the controls from a firing grip, so no shifting in the hand during reloads is necessary.  The trigger is excellent, beating anything but a good 1911... which is unattainable by any other gun. 

Being a Hi Power, it is slim, and conceals easily.

The bad:
The sights.  JesseL did a good job with the Novaks, but I find that I just dislike Novaks.  Period.  I also hate 6oclock sight pictures with a passion, and that is what these are set up for.  I should have had him cut the rear for an adjustable sight...

Accuracy:
6/10  Probably my fault more than the gun, but I don't shoot the Kareen as well as I do my Glock or Beretta.  I should, theoretically, because the fit and trigger are superb, but I just don't.

Reliability:
9/10  The gun initially had some issues with the hammer/safety/sear engagement, which caused some failures of the safety catch.  After the local gunsmith (who claims to specialize in BHPs) replaced parts and worked on it, it has been flawless.

Satisfaction of Ownership:
8/10  I love the gun, but hate the sights.  All of the fun times I had with it (groundhogs, rabbits) were pre-Novaks.  That is subjective, I know, because Novak's are very popular.  Maybe it's just me...



Kaso

Agreed. 

Best you cut your losses and start over from scratch.

Funny you say it...  I was thinking on this last night - how much I have in, vs how much I should realisticly expect to get back.  I figure $900 is about all I can ask.

Thing is, no one has cash right now.  Figure a way for one of these ↓ to show up at my dealer...  And the gun, grips, holster - everything - can be yours.



S&W SKU: 150715



Kaso

The grips are negotiable.  The 3" barrel is not.

To clarify, offloading the Kareen is not the purpose of this thread.  If any regular member wants to talk, they know where to find me.  Writing the review just got me thinking what I would want for it, so I posted that.



Kaso

FYI, changing the sight hold on your Kareen is as simple as dropping in a taller front. Easy to do now that it's dovetailed.

Yes, but does the tritium front come in a taller size?  I could also file the rear if I really wanted to.

If you recall, back when we were going to do the gold, the plan was for you to test fire first, then make any adjustments to height before installing the bead.  After we switched to tritium, that was called off because it was already a set height.

There are no problems with how the sights or dovetails were installed, just how high they sit.



Kaso