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Something that's true about Hi Points: They go bang.
They go bang as often as guns costing a LOT more.
They're simple. There ain't much to go wrong, and what there is rarely does.
If you don't have much money and want a gun that goes bang in a readily available caliber, you aren't going far wrong with one.
There's many Youtubers who've tried, and failed, to kill one.
With that said, I don't own one and won't own one.
I think they're ugly and they don't interest me at all.
But that's a subjective reason to not get one.
Another one I guess I'm just not cool enough to understand... Never owned one myself, but several buddies of mine did in the old days when we were younger and broke(ish)... Worked fine, but they were ugly. Me, I was always into Milsurp and so went that direction, especially when I started to actually earn money... But, a working firearm beats no firearm...
ReplyDeleteI own one Hi-Point, the 9mm carbine. I too thought it ugly as hell, but I made the mistake of picking one up and actually shouldering it. Damn - it felt very natural and the sights were lined up well. Took it down, closed my eyes and shouldered it again. Same result. I put it down and tried to think why purchasing would be a bad idea. Ammo was stupid cheap at the time. I knew recoil would be extremely light. Very compact. But still ugly.
ReplyDeleteIt has not given me any issues, though I have not shot any lead bullets in it. Do not leave in full sun - your cheek will feel like grilled cheese on that slick black stock. Any regrets - I wish it were a .45acp. But it didn't exist yet so ...
jrg
The Hi-Point pistols are ugly, heavy and to me just feel awkward. Many of them use single stack mags in a size frame where most others would have a double stack, which, while it may be part of the reliability equation, the capacity trade off is not something I'd like. Anyway, there is a place for such products in the market, but it isn't one I'm interested in.
ReplyDeleteAs I said in another post, the only Hi-Point I have is a .40 S&W carbine. It's still ugly, but with a 3rd party stock (that tries to look like I think it's Beretta's carbine), not quite as gawky looking as the pistols. It would be a whole lot more useful with larger mags than what I have for it or if it was like the Kel-Tec carbines which take Glock mags. But the reason I bought it was to help out a friend... It certainly isn't something I'd have gotten otherwise. I was just surprised it actually works better than it looks.
When I was shooting frequently and heavily, I bought a C9 just to see. It did 1500 reliable rounds without cleaning, at which point it started to bobble infrequently, I still didn't clean it. I got some 9mm rounds very cheap and then found out they were Israeli rounds for the Uzi, which were not recommended for any pistol as they were supposed to be hot enough to damage said pistol. The Hi-Point picked up some recoil but handled them all. If I was poor and needed to defend myself and family, I could do worse.
ReplyDeleteI've always said that Hi-Point actually fills a market niche. There are people who like you say are poor and need to defend themselves and family. Their other legal choices in that price range would pretty much be something used, which might or might not be any good. Used is hit or miss. Quality handguns really retain their value well provided they aren't abused. Often they are not much less than the same thing is new, so there aren't many choices to be found under $200.
DeleteBut all that said... I'm not the target market for this, and I suspect you aren't either. You had a reason to buy one -- as a test. I actually suspect a fair number have been bought just because someone wanted to prove they were worse than they actually are... and many were probably surprised.
Reliability, despite the materials and workmanship apparent in these is not the problem. For me when I've tried the Hi-Point pistols what turned me off besides the fugly aesthetics is mostly the feel. They feel heavy, blocky and don't really balance or point well for me. To be fair, there are a lot of much more expensive handguns which don't feel great to me either. But I'm probably not in the market for most of those either. The other turn-off that I've mentioned elsewhere is the single stack mag with fairly limited capacity for the overall size and weight of the C9. As fat and blocky as it feels, I want to compare it with things like the Glock 19 (or P80 PF940C) or Glock 26 (or P80 PF940SC). both of which have higher capacity (15 and 12 respectively vs. 8 or 10 depending on mag in the C9). If I'm going to carry a single stack, and I often do... it is usually a P80 PFSS9 (Glock 43-ish), which has less capacity, but is significantly smaller and lighter.
I do understand that the weight and blockiness is largely due to the use of Zinc Alloy (aka "pot metal") for the slide instead of steel. And the use of single stack mags definitely is also a big cost savings. That's how they can make a functional 9mm handgun that retails for $200.
In a way I actually kind of respect the Hi-Point people who designed the C9. It's overbuilt enough to be durable and reliable even using cheap materials and manufacturing techniques. And I would also assume probably not highly skilled, talented or trained people on their manufacturing floor, because that's another place they probably have to control costs.