Korriphila HSP 701 .45 ACP

There are pistols built to a price, and there are pistols built to an idea. The HSP 701 belongs firmly to the second group. Edgar Budischowsky designed it, and Korriphila of Heidelberg hand fitted it in tiny numbers, which is why most collectors of German handguns have only read about one rather than handled it. This example is chambered in .45 ACP, wears the desirable 4 inch barrel, and arrives with the paperwork that tells you exactly where it came from.

The slide carries the Korriphila logo, the Mod. HSP 701 marking, and Made in Germany, all cut clean and crisp. Flip to the right side of the frame and you find System Budischowsky, the name that anchors the whole project. The finish is a deep, even blue across slide and frame, with the polished flats catching light against the matte top and bottom contours. Wear is minimal. A few faint handling marks on the high edges, nothing that distracts.

The grips are the detail your eye keeps returning to. Full wraparound walnut with a target swell and fine diamond checkering, fitted by hand and held with polished screws. They fill the palm the way a precision pistol should. Up top sits an adjustable rear sight paired with a square post front, and the trigger sits behind an adjustable stop.

And the documentation is what elevates the package. It comes with the original Korriphila shipping box marked .45 Automatic 4 inch, the company welcome letter dated 03/86 on Korriphila Präzisionsmechanik letterhead, the bilingual operating manual, the factory test target showing a tight group, and the original takedown tools still taped to their green card.

For a collector chasing the rarest of postwar German precision autos, a complete and documented 701 in .45 is the example to hold out for. This is that example.