Pistols!
And Rifles!
Y'know, we all like to kid and joke about Hi-Point, but they must be doing something right if they're staying in business in this economy. They exhibit at the NRA convention and SHOT Show, so they're doing well enough to support a marketing effort. And, not for nothing, but they took a swipe at the anti-gun side in Chicago's gun ban right on their website. It's a bold stand for a manufacturer to make (although there is a point to be made that they're not about to lose any police contracts...)
I mean, you couldn't give me one of their handguns (no, I mean it, they're not on the MA Approved Firearms Roster; I literally could not take possession), but the carbines have a certain appeal...
That is all.
21 comments:
Y'know, they are heavy, and UGLY.....But they shoot well. Accuracy is great, trigger is clean and breaks well.
And the only drawback is that you have to have a firm wrist or they'll jam. They are blowback actions.
While they wouldn't be my first choice for a firearm, and you could never conceal one easily, they DO work, and work well.
I like my Hi-Point Carbine. It has never ever jammed on me. Accurate for what it is (home defense).
At some point I might buy their .40 cal pistol just because it uses the same mags - and costs about $200.
As many times as I have heard people complain about hi-points being ugly. I have never heard of someone that broke one.
My Hi-Point was my starter gun, it let me get into shooting and still have money to spend on ammo.
I've since bought nicer weapons but I still have my C9 in my nightstand because it has gone bang every time I've pulled the trigger.
I owned a Hi Point 9mm. It was ugly as sin, heavy, and with the ergonomics of a brick.
But it shot where I pointed it, and it never once failed to feed, fire or extract. Not ever, in over 2000 rounds.
Cannot beat the warranty either. Full lifetime replacement. For any owner, 1st or 15th.
I have one of the newer design carbines and really, really like it. I use it to chew up my flubbed reloads and anything else my more-respscted 9mm's don't like. I have a red dot on it, and it's as accurate as I can see.
My first pistol was one of their early 45 ACP models. Horrible muzzle flip as the slide is heavy and the barrel is fixed. Sights are poor, but I've not had any issues.
Sure it's cheap and ugly, but it shoots. When I was broke I still had a handgun in the nightstand. Still have it too
I like their carbines, I have two of them, and I'd join in the general thumbs up people tend to give their rifles. One more thing I'd say on them. Now that the day of the dirt cheap surplus SKS has passed, I figure the Hi Point carbine is the only centerfire caliber semi-auto rifle still in the same price range as some .22 caliber plinkers. Good bang for the buck I would say. Especially with the economy like it is.
As to Hi Points response to Chicago, various employees and even the wife of the boss have been active on some gun forums, and from everything I recollect the folks at the company all seem to be genuine gun guys. At least that was the impression I got.
I've got an older version of their 9mm carbine. I bought it with the ATI stock already on it.
Shoots good, feels good. Low recoil, pretty accurate, and just all around fun to shoot. I might have had 2 or 3 jams in the last 2k rounds I've put through it, all of which were reloads, so it might have been my fault.
Now if I could just get around to converting a Suomi 72 round drum to work with the carbine, I'd be satisfied.
People have tried. As I understand it the problem with kit bashing a high cap mag using the existing mag body attached to some sort of drum mags is the the feed lips of the stamped metal Hi-Point carbine mags eventually distort from the added spring pressure. At least that was the gist I caught from the gun forum chatter I saw on the subject.
If that is true, then a successful drum magazine design would have to be built from scratch. I took the easy way out and sidestepped the problem by buying a bunch of magazines.
Still, as popular as their carbine already seems to be, I think they could print their own money if they made a version of their carbines that would accept Glock mags.
Dave_H,
Yup. I read the same thing on Hipoint's forum.
I don't plan to use factory Hipoint mags if/when I do the conversion. I will make my own out of a thicker-than-factory 4130 sheet and harden them. I also plan to integrate a feed ramp, as part of the reason the mag lips are so weak is that they are bent in such a manner as to get the bullets to point upwards.
The mag catch is not a real problem, but I plan to add a strap or something to help support the weight. The area surrounding the mag catch just isn't very strong, and I don't want that much weight on it.
I know how I can make it work, I've just been too busy building my .50 bmg to mess with it.
WV: welde
I have a lot of welde-ng to do if I want to make a Hipoint drum.
I've got a 9mm carbine and have been seeing how long it'll go without cleaning until I get my first jam. 1200 rounds and counting!!!
Well, good luck with the drum mag when you get around to it. If you get a working prototype going you should consider making some for sale.
Judging by the mag cap discussion that usually goes on about the carbine I suspect a fair number of people would buy a drum mag like that.
Dave_H,
I guess I should get started soon. The biggest issue with offering one for sale is that there might be a need to add a feed ramp to the rifle, which would be difficult for some people to do themselves. The next problem is that by the time I had one developed, it would easily cost around 100 bucks. I don't see too many people spending that kind of scratch to feed a HIpoint. :)
If you're ever in AZ, I'll let you shoot my Hi-Point C9. It literally was my first handgun, and oddly enough, bred with a Mosin and gave birth to a S&W Model 10-5.
Maybe so. Considering the work that would go in to it, I expect the high side of a hundred would have to be the minimum fair price though.
I like to have a shitload of magazines on hand, so spending a fair amount of scratch on a custom mag wouldn't scare me off. I might be an odd duck though.
Count me in if things ever get to that stage.
Dave_H,
Not to be a link whore, but keep an eye on my blog.
Once I have one working, I would just build a jig for each part so it would be a simple fab, form, and weld job. This would keep the cost around 100 bucks, as long as Centerfire keeps the drums around 25 bucks each.
I'll open up a post later about this topic on my blog so I'm not stealing all of Jay's internets.
Stealing the internets. Heh. Yep we did hijack the comment thread a bit. I bookmarked your blog so I can keep an eye on developments.
Back to your regularly scheduled Jay G programming folks.
(Different Dave H here.)
Call me a sucker for the underdog, but in my life I've owned a Chevy Vega, a Ford Pinto, a Hi-Point .40 pistol, and most recently Hi-Point 9mm carbine. None of them are pretty (although the red Pinto wasn't too bad), they all needed a little TLC at times, but they all went BANG! when I asked them to.
Maybe Hi-Point is the old plow horse to Colt's racehorse, but how many people want a racehorse when all they need to do is plow the back forty?
Um, Dave?
Saying that a Pinto went bang probably doesn't help your argument any.
Just sayin'... :D
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