What is the value of a Browning BDM 9mm Luger?

Answer 1

The Browning BDM was not a commercial success. However for the price, it is reliable and accurate. Similar in some ergonomic respects to the Sig 226, it is thinner thus less bulky. The pistol's surfaces are smoother than the Browning high power, less likely to snag.

Market timing, a magazine capacity of ten rounds during the ban on higher capacity, competition with the Berretta, Glock, and Sig, as well as a new decocking safety arrangement contributed to the selection of other competitor's products by many defense and security agencies.

The decocker/safety, depressed with the thumb to drop the hammer, then raised to release the pistol from safe mode, is nominally different than on pistols where the thumb drops to release the safety, or the decocker and safety are separate.

However, once the pistol was decocked and released from safe mode, the pistol had a double action/single action functioning (a long trigger pull much like a revolver on the firing of the first round, followed by a shorter trigger pull thereafter), as common on many semi automatic pistols.

The arrangement in actual function was simple, although when choosing between a glock, Sig, or other pistols and the BDM, it is confusing to explain, presents an aspect that is limiting in marketing a pistol. Perceived simplicty makes the decision to purchase less of a concern.

Single action (SA) refers to cocking the hammer of the pistol before squeezing the trigger. Manually thumb cocking the hammer, or the motion of the slide once the pistol is fired, sets the hammer to be more easily tripped, resulting in less muscle effort by the shooter, thus less twisting and more hand stablity when sighting the shot. It requires less effort for the pistol to be fired, than in double action mode (DA), where the where the motion of the trigger through greater pulling effort, both raised and dropped the hammer, resulting in a longer trigger pull. After the first shot, in double action mode, the pitol's slide reset the pistol to single action mode.

Further, the pistol could be switched from double action/single action to double action only, so that the action of the pistol was more like that of revolvers in which the trigger pull both raises the hammer and drops it. This theoretically would appeal to shooters familiar with revolvers, or seen in semi automatic pistols designed and marketed as double action only or DAO.

Although using the pistol was not difficult, describing its optional functioning modes required an attentive audience. In actual operation it was less of a concern.

Prices for the pistol, which also had ambidextrous safeties, run from $300 - $500 dollars depending on condition and locale.