Hi Point Firearm

High Point

I had a .45,I picked it up for my brother and nephews to shoot.I traded it off when brother got his own 1911 and nephews could buy their own.Not a single FTF with factory,or my reloads.
I thought it was a little muzzle heavy empty,but loaded it felt fine.Much more accurate than I expected.I guess you could call it butt ugly,but it shot better and fit ME better than the Glock I used to own.I say if this is what you can afford to own,go for it.
 
There have been very few pure blowback handguns over .380acp, and with good reason. It requires a MASSIVE slide and a truck spring as a recoil spring.

The only ways to make a blowback 9x19mm (nevermind a .40 or .45) anything like handy or easy to use is to sidestep the monstrous recoil spring in the loading process. This has been done by either:

providing a means of decoupling the recoil spring from the slide/breech block as in the WWI German Dreyse 9x19mm service pistol.

ignoring the recoil spring in loading by having a tip up barrel for loading the first round as in the French Le Francais 9mm Browning Long pistol.

The Dreyse was not successful, the Le Francais only marginally more so.

As I said, full power blowback guns are rare, and for good reason.

If I DESPERATELY needed a handgun, I'd rather have a used S&W M&P revolver with bare metal showing like the one I got from Vivas a few years ago for less than $200.
 
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Beaver said:
Didn't Steve McNair get shot with one? I heard its the first time one shot five times w/o jamming.
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I keep hearing reports of how "reliable" these things are, but the last time I saw somebody bring a couple to the range, he didn't get more than a couple of consecutive shots off without a failure to feed of some sort.
 
I had a Constable bring one to firearms qualification during the course I taught at the academy. After inspecting it, both me and the firearms instructor refused to let it be fired on the range. I loaned the Constable a Beretta 9mm that he qualified with; then he strapped on his Hi-Point and went to work. As far as I know, he still has it, although I know he has never had to (or could) fire it on duty.
 
I think cmort666 is right on the money. I know some have used the guns with success, but if I were purchasing a firearm to protect my life, I wouldn't even think of going to the "junk" guns.

I would also buy the rattiest, most dogged out, beater S&W or Ruger for a modest price rather than spending good money on something that has the reputation of being junk, performs as junk much of the time, no body really has any faith in, and is marketed to the criminal element.

Yes, I know people that are extremely poor buy them, and if that's all they can afford, then power to them, but if you can afford better and know better, than I think that is a foolish mistake.

I could not defend something as blatantly bad as the High Point.
 
If I recall correctly, these were marketed under another name before they became the Hi-point brand, but without going back into my sales records, I can't remember that name. I once thought they were junk until a bunch of fellows from my wifes workplace decided they all wanted to buy one. This was back in the days when wholesale on these things were around 60-70 bucks each and I think at the time, they were only available in 9mm. As already said, they were bulky, butt ugly, and probably the poorest ergonomics of anything you can imagine. When the first order came in, I ran a clipfull through each gun and they never missed a beat..not once. Accuracy wasn't bad either. They all shot to point of aim with 124 grain FMJ and grouped well onto the small paper plates I used for targets at 25 yards. The only thing I could complain about was how ugly they were. I sold about a dozen of them and not a single complaint. Most of them had quite a few rounds put through them with no problems from any of them. I ran a few clips through nearly every order that came in and never had a single malfunction. My first impression was that they were probably junk and I kept checking them and waiting for one of them to fall apart but it never happened.I never tried anything other than round nose FMJ ammo but a couple of the proud owners told me theirs would feed hollow points just as well as the FMJ....I never tried it.
I'm sure there are plenty of Hi-Points that have malfunctioned in front of other witnesses, but I have to say I have never seen one malfunction. I don't think there is a single brand of semi-auto pistol that has not suffered a malfunction at one time or another. If I condemned every single semi-auto just because I saw one or two malfunction on the firing line, nearly every semi-auto pistol I can think of would have to be listed in the "junk" column. Call them unreliable if you wish, but I don't want anyone shooting at me with a Hi-Point. That said, I would never buy a Hi-Point simply because they are butt ugly and I do not like them and cannot imagine anyone considering a Hi-Point as a CCW.
 
Gutpile Charlie said:
I will guarantee you that these are not purchased by sportsmen, hunters, collectors, or target shooters.
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I guess I'm the exception, then. I shoot trap, hunt anything that NY allows, collect what interests, me, and shoot targets when I'm not hunting...

... and I own a HiPoint 995.

Yeah, it's ugly. Yeah, it's cheap ($225 out the door with a red dot). Yeah, it uses proprietary magazines.

It also feeds anything I've thrown at it (Wolf, WWB, FMJ, JHP, lead...) without a hiccup, and HiPoint guarantees it forever with no questions asked. I had a magazine fail and called them. They said, "send it in" - I had a new magazine the following week. Never jammed. Never failed to eject/extract. No double feeds. It's minute-of-steel plate as fast as I can pull the trigger.

I'd trust it with my life in a pinch, and wouldn't mind grabbing another as a truck gun. Not to mention... it's just plain fun to shoot.
 
ohiobuckeye said:
If I recall correctly, these were marketed under another name before they became the Hi-point brand, but without going back into my sales records, I can't remember that name.
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Stallard. I used to see them at gunshows back in the day.

They're a stockless, semi-auto Sten gun without the elegant good looks.

No thanks.
 
Gutpile Charlie said:
I think cmort666 is right on the money. I know some have used the guns with success, but if I were purchasing a firearm to protect my life, I wouldn't even think of going to the "junk" guns.

I would also buy the rattiest, most dogged out, beater S&W or Ruger for a modest price rather than spending good money on something that has the reputation of being junk, performs as junk much of the time, no body really has any faith in, and is marketed to the criminal element.

Yes, I know people that are extremely poor buy them, and if that's all they can afford, then power to them, but if you can afford better and know better, than I think that is a foolish mistake.

I could not defend something as blatantly bad as the High Point.
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I'd rather have a NIB Hi Point than a beat up looking revolver, and suspect that most poor purchasers would be even better served by a Hi Point. I know how to look for some - though by no means all, since I'm not a gunsmith - mechanical problems with a revolver. A poor person who can barely scrape together the price of a Hi Point probably won't. I'd expect a fair chance of problems on any name brand revolver selling for the same price as Hi Point.

I don't doubt the reports that most of them work and give good service - at least the current polymer frame ones. There's better choices for someone that can afford it, but eh... I'm still amused that my sub Hi Point quality Lorcin works fine.
 
Crazy K38 said:
any pics of that lorcin gator?
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IMG_1328.jpg


I put pink grips on it and added the missing grip screws since.
 
They look like garbage, but I have to ask, why are they so reliable?

Most of the reviews (not just on this site) talk about how they handle any ammo with little/no jams.

How is a junk gun able to be so dependable?
 
I have had four of them and only one of them ever gave a problem and cs fix it right away the c9 was very easy shooting and never jammed once, my daughters car gun, she has a smaller package for carry:cool:
 
I think a good used P85 Ruger or 3rd gen S&W would be a much better purchase, at least you know that they would retain their value. My local pawn/FFL has a lot of stuff come through his store and he will not take a Hi Point in due to the liability.

Last week I was in the local gunshop and they had a Hi-Point in the case. The guy laughed when I joked about it being the best one (there were Sigs, Glocks, M&P's, etc next to it). He said that a guy had come in earlier that day with a Hi-Point that had melted sights looking for replacements. I guess he decided to have the slide powder coated and if you know how that process works, it requires heat.

That being said, I was at the rifle range one day and a guy had a Hi-Point 45 along with a nice custom Remington and an AK-47. He was actually shooting it pretty well so I asked him about it. He said that he bought it because it was cheap and that he had actually taken a deer with it the year before. :eek:
 
I cannot believe that nobody has asked, "Does it have an internal lock?" The answer is no, as opposed to some more expensive handguns that shall remain nameless.

Hi-Point Firearms
 
I see a lot of them at our local range.

No one seems to have a functional problem with them that I have noticed. However, they do seem to have issues with hitting the target boards.

I haven't had the chance to try one myself but I think that has much more to do with the shooter than the gun. Kind of hard to focus on the sights and targets when your busy holding your pants up.
 
Some things are so ugly they actually begin to appear cute.... Hi-Points go full circle.

That said, I'm tempted to buy one simply as a novelty. For the price I wouldn't be hurting too much, and it might even turn out to be somewhat reliable.
 
Cannot field strip most Hi-Points without tools. Requires pushing out a little slide pin. That's a no-no for me. I want a weapon I can field strip and reassemble without tools and without itty-bitty little slide pins that can can get lost/dropped...

Hi-Point might work for some as a general lead thrower kept by the night stand, but doesn't work for me as a primary sidearm.
 
sjmjax said:
I see a lot of them at our local range.

No one seems to have a functional problem with them that I have noticed. However, they do seem to have issues with hitting the target boards.
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Based on my personal observations that same statement could be said about 95% of the new shooters I see who just purchased one of the latest batch of police trade-in DAO semi-autos. I've never fired a Hi-Point but every time the carbines go on sale I get real tempted.
 
Steave said:
Lock or not, still junk.
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I would not want to stand in front of any of mine :D they are ugly, cheap, and heavy but shoot to aim and never jam, at least mine dont --but there are them that say sw9ve and the MPs are junk and I would repectfuly disagree as I shoot all of them and enjoy the heck out of them
 
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Like many other dyed in the wool gun buffs, you could not give me a Hi-point. That being said, a knowledgable friend has two that have never failed to work and are reasonably accurate. He bought them to leave one in a remote cabin and the other on his boat{well hidden and secured of course}. If they are "lost" he is only out the modest cost and has not lost a more desirable model.
 
A friend of mine runs the local Gun Shop. They sell lots and lots of them. Both Pistols and the Carbines. They never have a problem with people complaining or bring them back UNTIL someone tries to take it apart. They even advise those who buy them not to mess with it. I see the 9mm carbines at the range a lot.

They are what they are. Cheap, Ugly but seem to work.
 
True enough they are not my cup-o-tea but folks with limeted income's deserve a functiong firearm for defence too!
 
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