Yesterday I wrote a post about five terrible guns you should never buy; noticeably absent from the list were Hi-Points. While I’m not a big fan of the Hi-Point, I do believe that they serve a valuable purpose in the gun market: if you absolutely need a gun for self-defense right now and only have 100 bucks, a Hi-Point will probably get through an entire magazine. I’d recommend a Hi-Point over a Taurus or a Kel-Tec, because those guns cost 300 bucks, and for 300 bucks you could buy a real gun. But that’s neither here nor there, because in yesterday’s post, despite it not mentioning Hi-Points in a negative light, one of the Knights of Ohio showed up to defend Hi-Point pistols.
Steve – I have got to say, Hi Points are cheap and ugly, but the damn things seem to function over and over. I watched a dude win 3 consecutive steel matches with a 9mm hi point. I won’t personally buy one, but I have to say, they go bang when asked to…
That got me to thinking: where are all these high round count Hi-Points? Every time there’s a Hi-Point thread, someone will pipe up that they have upteen bajillion rounds on their Hi-Point, or that some guy just ran his at a match and did ok. That’s all well and good, but I’ve seriously never seen a Hi-Point in the wild at a match, or even at a gun range (except for ironic use by gun hipsters). Even our own test gun went just 2000ish rounds and had numerous failures during that cycle.
A brief conversation with Shelley Rae reveals that during her time as a range manager, she saw more than a few Hi-Points through the range, but at the same time, not nearly enough to account for all these reports of incredibly high round count guns.
So here’s my challenge: Do you own a Hi-Point? Have you shot it a lot? If you have an actual documented record of the rounds you’ve shot through your Hi-Point, send it to me at [email protected] and I’ll post here on Gun Nuts. I want to see these high round count guns!
Bought my son one of the 9mm rifles, he’s got over 3,000 rounds on it with minimal cleaning over 3 years. Just a bore snake and some foam cleaner.
The Hi-Point carbine has a much better reputation for reliability than the pistols do.
There’s an IDPA DM in the Tulsa area who can tell you all about Hi Points in matches.
In the same place with all the police department issued XDs.
TCinVA —
That’s because the Hi-Point carbines (particularly in .40S&W) have physics going for them. 16″ barrel makes for more time at pressure, to ensure cycling with the same subtelty that allow a tricked out 1970’s muscle car to roar or a Kalashnikov to bang. Raw horsepower counts for a lot, by running the system at higher than normal pressures.
Ca;eb — where are these mythical $100 HiPoints as well? I do not recall the last time I saw a serviceable one for sale used, and new, they run nearly as much as extremely low round count, highly reliable, safer, and higher quality Communist Bloc milsurp pistols, like Tokarevs (in 9x19mm, to boot).
Sure, if it’s $100 for a HiPoint and your kids can eat that week, or it’s $300+ for a better gun and “We’re shopping out of the Piggly Wiggly dumpster tonight!”, then the Hi Point makes sense.
But if it’s $170 or $180 for a new Hi Point or $180 or $200 for a good used Tokarev (some in 9x19mm) or $190 for a decent .38 Spl revolver, price versus quality trade off no longer favors the Hi Point at all.
Cheap revolvers? Hard to find in my area unless you get lucky.
I can’t think of many guns for 300 bucks that you can buy that you should stake your life on. A police trade in model 10 or 64 might really be the only option IMO and they run about 300 nowadays.
You’d be hard pressed to find a decent .38 revolver for 190 bucks…
My hipoint 995 carbine has had many failure to feed malfunctions. Most with 147gr bullet. The mags I have have followers that allow bulet to sit at two different angles.
it is accurate and easy for a newbie to shoot. After 300 rounds the front sight screw wriggled loose. Annoying, but an easy fix.
I only count 1st shot as reliable 100% with good ammo 1 stoppage in 50 rounds.
As many fanboy’s will tell you, if it breaks, you can get it fixed under their incredible warranty that’s there because you will likely need it at some point. That said, they do seem to be a viable option for those who can’t afford better.
I never seen a Highpoint with my own eyes. Just saying.
When I got my Kel-Tec PF9 with a Laser, there were not any other Ruger LC’s or Smith Body Guards on the market, so I am tired of getting put down because I own one. Guess what? The gun will fill the 6 inch bulls eye at 7.5 yards all day long and I have yet to have ANY malfunctions after 200 rounds. And if it gets stolen, I am not out big $$.
I own the High Point 9 mm. It goes to the range once a week for at least 50 rounds. 99% of the time to use my own remote .I have owned the gun for three years. It does amaze me that it is the most accurate gun I own with the best trigger pull. The only gun that I own that comes closest to the Trigger point is my Stier . And if I would ever use it in a fight and I run out of ammunition I can throw it at the bad guy and hurt them.
200 rounds is not what I would consider a good round count to determine reliability. 7.5 yards is not a distance I would use to measure accuracy. Now 2000 rounds and 75 feet (25 yards), I would consider a better measure.
Maybe some gun nut sort of person with a website or something could secure a Hi-Point, shoot it ’till it breaks (or doesn’t) and document the experience on video.
I bought a Hi-Point 9mm for my wife for MY birthday a couple of years ago. It will average 1 failure to feed every 20 rounds or so. But the point of the exercise was to buy her something cheap and get her toes wet in shooting sports with me. She still loves it, even though we’ve upgraded her to a Ruger SR9c for her carry gun. I think the ergonomics are better on the Hi-Point than on my Beretta PX4 .45 or my own Ruger SR9c, but its not reliable. But it was cheap and a good way to get her feeling empowered and in to shooting with me, so I’ll call it a win.
“Decent revolver”.
Used Armscor (Filipino made) revolvers are available for $190. For example, from Centerfire Systems. I’ve seen them at gunshows recently for that same price.
Are the great revolvers? Um, nope. DEFINATELY not a S&W or Colt.
Is it a gun you will pass down to your children and grandchildren as an heirloom? Um, Nope.
Are they decent? Um, yup.
I inherited a Hi-Point C9 pistol.
I could not get through a single magazine without a feed or extraction failure. Hi-Point shipped me a new set of springs and firing pin. The gun felt and sounded better (dry firing), but only made it to the third round of the first magazine before experiencing a premature detonation.
The bullet lodged halfway down the barrel and the case split like a butterflied shrimp.
The wife won’t let me shoot it anymore.
The thing I like most about Hi-Points is the ghettoapocalyptic design sense.
I picked up a Hi-Point .45 ACP to just see what all the talk is about. No one is going to invest hundreds of rounds in a Hi-Point. It is a good shooter. But not fun to clean. So it just stays at home. I have no kids in my home, so its a drawer gun. I have other plans for it in the future.
I have a Hi-point in .380 I picked up used. I replaced the mag that came with it because it was badly dinged and had feed problems. In about 600 rounds since I replaced the mag (mixed reloads/new) I have had 2 FTF and both were with FMJ FP.
The recoil is low and the slide very easy to rack so I use it for new shooters and as a range toy.
Oh my god. Gun hipsters are an actual thing?
Caleb, I don’t understand your dislike for Kel-Tec guns, I own two, a P11 and a P32. I just traded for the 32 and so far shot 2 mags full, with no malfunctions, the P11 I’ve own for 4 years and the only problems were mag related, problem solved with the right amount of force with the butt of a Mosin-Nagant… You say you would recommend a Hi-point over a Kel-Tec…really.. why? .I like reading your blog, but not all of us are sponsored by ammo companies, or gun companies and have to purchase the guns of our choice…..I chose Kel-tecs because of cost, and I like them.. I am not a gun snob…just a working class guy….