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Browning High Power .40 cal: This was very nice straight out of the box. It obviously had the most modern sights and, that was a major difference. Having 10 rounds is nice, this is my first experience with the .40 cal and, I do not have enough experience or knowledge to make an informed opinion about the round. The pistol ran the 165 gr FMJ flawlessly and, came back on target very quickly. The trigger seemed to have about an 1/8th " of slack in it. I do not not if this is normal for Brownings or not. I sure do like the way it feels, it seemed a natural extension of my arm. Very good shot groups. They did seem to cluster a little low and to the left of my aim point but, I suspect this is my trigger control rather than the pistol. This pistol has a safety feature that requires a magazine (empty or loaded be inserted in the weapon before the hammer can be lowered. I am not a fan of this feature.
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I have a Browning P-35 in 9MM from Novak's and an FN P-35 in 40 S&W. My experience with both guns was that they were pretty accurate out of the box. I don't like the factory sights so the Novak one has Novaks sights, obviously and the FN is currently with Don Williams at the Action Works having Heinies installed and an action job.
The real failing of the Hi-power family is that god awful trigger that comes from the factory which is caused in part by that idiotic magazine disconnect. The magazine disconnect is the first thing that came out of the gun for me for two reasons. The first is that when a mag is inserted the mag disconnect applies pressure to the rear of the trigger causing a noticeably heavier trigger pull. The second, and more important, reason is that while it applies pressure to the trigger it also applies pressure to the magazine at the same time. That is why the new Hi-Power mags have that tiny spring just above the base pad. Without it the mag disconnect will prevent the mags from dropping free and I don't feel comfortable trusting that little spring to do it's job all the time.
Both of my guns weighed in at more than 8 pounds out of the box, felt fairly gritty and had a good deal of pre travel, over travel and a long reset. The good news is that a good Hi-Power smith can get you safely to 4 pounds and silky smooth while shortening the length of the pull and doing away with the over travel and much of the pre travel. While it will never be as good as a good 1911 trigger it still really nice and as you pointed out the Hi-Powers have always felt right in my hands.