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6/8/2022 5:44:46 PM

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Section 8: Handguns
Subject: Browning BDM Msg# 1161127

From:

Harvey Goldman

Joined 1/9/2001

To:

Mark Freburg (Read) Forum Manager

Joined 4/3/2000

You hit it on the head -- too late to make a big splash in the LE market it was designed for.

I bought mine in 1992, and IIRC, they were introduced in 1991 after the FBI took a pass on the BDM in one of their trials. I paid about $525 at the time, which wasn't too bad considering a lot of the competition.

Personally, I still like the feel of the Hi-Power a little better than the BDM, but that's due to the BDM's factory stocks, which are the same style as came on the Hi-Power Mk.III, and which I also disliked. If the stocks could be changed out on the BDM it would be a gem, fit and feel-wise.

I don't think anyone ever came out with an aftermarket stock for the BDM as it really wasn't very popular and didn't stay in production very long. IIRC, it used a single piece wraparound style of stock with the retaining screw in the back rather than on the sides. Shrug

Not having a very large hand, the slim grip felt very good to me. And the pistol was accurate and reliable for me, but I just should have bought the TDA (only) version that came out a bit later.

Harvey

For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where:
I agree. I actually handled one at the last OGCA. Only one I saw but it was priced right--not too expensive but not cheap. I mulled it over during the show and ended up walking away, mainly because I own too many guns I don't shoot now, and a lot of them are 9mms.

Regarding the BDM, I like it, I think the R/P mode change is clever, but I think it came out a few years too late. A decade earlier and it would have sold to law enforcement much better in my opinion. By 1993 when it finally arrived, the semi-auto was essentially a done deal, heck, the .40S&W had already been created and Glock was challenging S&W for control of police duty weapon sales. Go back to, say, 1983, when more cops than not still carried revolvers but were considering pistols--then the BDM might have made more inroads into law enforcement. Anyway, that's my opinion.

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