Helwan 9mm Good or Bad

[bouncer50]

I have one i bought many years ago cheap [60.00] in really nice shape. The gun shop i bought it from was almost begging me to buy it they keep lowing the price to 60.00 then i snap on it. Weird part i was at a range shooting it and a another guy had one. And his was a jamamatic mine ran good and was accurate. Mine was imported from Navy Arms with Arabic writing witch i understand is a surplus Arabic Helwan. They seem to have a habit of breaking the locking block. Also they have a set screw for the locking block which will become loose. Other wise it seem to be a decent pistol for the money i paid. Any other have opinion on the Helwan.

[Ragnarok]

These are a clone of the Beretta Brigadier..I owned a really rough one that was worn and pitted with an awful looking bore. Despite it's wear and nasty bore the old pistol worked perfectly and shot quite decent...I was shocked!

I wish I had kept the battered Helwan but I traded it and kept an eye out for a better condition version...which I have not found yet.

I have never heard of these having any locking block issues worse than any other Beretta style pistol. I imagine hot ammo might account for any major issue there.

[condorjohn]

From what I've read, they were manufactured for Egypt. After the UN weapons ban they were marked with SN only, no country of origin or manufactures stamping, then smuggled in to Egypt. I had one of those unmarked examples. It was pretty rough but did function. There were also some 8mm Czech M48 same thing, SN only.

[bob208]

the problem with most of the surplus pistols was the springs are shot as in wore out. I had that problem with a browning h-p. it would not run or shoot. a set of new wolf springs cured it. it is now my every day carry gun. same thing with the argentine colt clone the springs were junk. the same story on most of the other import surplus pistols.

so yes they were good pistols if you put in new springs and the parts are in good shape.

[Texas by God]

I had one and it was accurate, dependable, and ugly. I even liked the crossbolt safety. Also cool was you could load the magazine from the top with it in the pistol. Like the Egytian made Hakim they are well made.

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[Der Gebirgsjager]

I once owned a Beretta Brigadier that I purchased new. One of the best pistols I've ever owned. Sold it, and still kick myself almost daily. The Helwan was an Egyptian-made close copy licensed by Beretta, and while not quite as nicely finished I'm convinced that it's handling qualities and durability are just as good. When I was in the gunsmithing business a fellow in his late teens brought one in just to show it to me. A couple of years later he brought it back and it was practically without finish and had obviously been used a lot, being his only pistol. He paid me to reblue it, and then doggoned if a couple of years after that, another teenager brought in the same pistol that he had traded from the first guy for a shotgun.
Once again, it looked pretty sad, so I got to reblue it a second time. If I recall correctly the slide had a tendency to turn out more plum colored than blue. Anyway, these two fellows really put that one pistol through their own torture tests, and the last time I saw it the Helwan was still functioning perfectly. I think I'd prefer it to just about any other pistol in that price range.

[Thin Man]

I have a Helwan that came my way about 20 years ago. It still had a quantity of sand in it so a total disassembly and cleaning were in order. After that pistol fired and functioned perfectly and has never had the first malfunction of any kind. With the amount of break-in the military gave it, that would be expected. I bought the Helwan because I had never found a Brigadier on the market. Then about 6 years ago a local pawn shop bought out the inventory of another pawn shop from out of our area. That stash included a 98% Brigadier still in the box with a cleaning rod and factory brochures. The shop owner wanted more for it than I would consider paying so I got more comfortable with my Helwan. Sometimes being "close" counts in more than just horseshoes and hand grenades.

[Drm50]

I bought and sold a good many. I have never shot one for accuracy, only function. I found them
with enough problems of customers bringing them back I quit buying them. Other customers still
bragging on theirs. Had same thing happen with French MABS in 7.65mm/32acp, sold a bunch of
them and got a bunch back with complaints. I would say you can't judge a pistol by arsenal rebuilds and I don't believe these were rebuilt for military. They were rebuilt for American civilian
market.

[GONRA]

GONRA sez keep eyeballing locking notches in the slide.
My Danshway arsenal (fortunately a rare factory) specimen arrived with 'em badly peened.
For me, just a "looker" not a "shooter".
Other 1951's, 951's, etc. shoot Just Fine.

[375supermag]

Hi...
I bought a Helwan from my son-in-law a few years ago when he needed some cash.
It functions just fine and is accurate enough for a plinking 9mm.
I have never had a jam or any other issues with it.
I will never use it as a carry gun or home defense gun. I have lots of other options for those needs.

[Combat Diver]

Most of my experience was been with licensed Beretta copies. First was in Egypt during Bright Star 85' where the Egyptian SF unit was using them. They worked without issue IIRC. Later I would run into Iraqi copies the Tarqi over there and again the military version run on hard ball. Never had any HP ammo to try in then. Currently have a parts gun I got in trade that needs a new extractor/spring and along with some grips and screws. We'll see how that goes once I get the parts.


CD