Author Topic: Hi point pistols  (Read 1066 times)

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Offline hornady

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Hi point pistols
« on: June 21, 2010, 08:07:16 AM »

I don’t think you can go to a gun form on-line and not find an argument about Hi point firearms, talk about a love or hate related gun item, I have never owned one, or do not intend on buying one, My complaints with them are purely cosmetic, its just one ugly bulky gun to me.
But other than that, are there really any problems with them, in reading these post, the guys that own them,  all say they are just as reliable as guns costing 2 and 3 times as much with very few problems.
If you think about it, the same guys that are dead set against the Hi point for its low price, have no problem buying Lee reloading products.
And no I do not use Lee reloading products, but basically for the same reason, All that I have seen looked more like toys than tools, but then again the guys that use them swear by them.
So is there a real problem with Hi points.

Offline David D.

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2010, 04:08:14 PM »
I have never owned one and probably never will. I see things this way.

Spend cheap you get cheap.
Spend a little more you get more.
Spend a hole lot you get more and pay for a name.

I work at a Toyota plant that builds engines and transmissions. The same engines and transmissions go in both Toyota's and Lexus. That Lexus is going to cost a lot more than the Toyota. 
Dave D.

Offline Brett

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2010, 06:59:54 PM »
Recon I never will find out if they are a well made, reliable gun or not.   I just can't get past the ugly and bulky long enough to place any money down on one.   :D

Now if someone were to give me one I might try to wear it out.  Na... probably not someone might see me shooting it.   :-[ 
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Offline Mikey

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2010, 03:20:02 AM »
A fellow gun club member showed up at the pistol range a while back with one in 40 S&W.  Cosmetically I did not care for the pistol nor did I really enjoy shooting it due to the terrible trigger pull I felt it had.  It was however, utterly reliable and fed every type of bullet/cartridge the owner brought with him. 

Accuracy was dependent upon a mastery of the trigger pull, which was long and heavy but once you got over that or became accustomed to it the beastie shot well.

I would not carry one due to its bulk and would not purchase one due to the cosmetics and trigger but many are not all that concerned with those two aspects and these inexpensive but reliable pistols make excellent home defense firearms.  jmtcw.

Offline hornady

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2010, 03:46:42 AM »
The reason I posted this, the other day I stopped into a local gun shop, he was selling the  Hi point 380 for $149.00 in black or Two-tone, the closest competitor is the Bersa Thunder at $100.00 plus more, and everything else goes up from there, I have been in other shops, and you see a young guy come in, you know he doesn’t have much money, I know why they are talking them into higher price guns( profit), but some of the BS I have heard is just ridicules, Yes its ugly and bulky, and the trigger is not crisp, but I have read it settles down some over time. I just think a lot of the bad you hear about them is un dissevered. And no I do not have any intention on buying one, but not because of function ability or reliability, its just too ugly.   

Offline williamlayton

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2010, 06:43:14 AM »
If I wasin a battleand needed a weapon because I was out of ammo--I would certainly pick one up off the field.
It would not come home as a war trophy.
The nimba was such a weapon in WWII.
I have more respect for a Glock--but---I aint got one.
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Offline PKnTX

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2010, 07:36:59 AM »
Opinion only as never have so much as held a Hi Point:

The old adage "get as good as you can afford" comes to mind.
Problem is, there's as many different situations and circumstances
dictating what people can afford  as there are people. 
If my particular life situation was that food, shelter and medical needs
put my particular financial circumstances into dire straights I'd look
REAL HARD at a defensive tool that only caused me to miss
a few meals a week to save up for. 
For me, that would be a shotgun but others prefer a handgun
and since by all accounts the Hi Point seems to be
very high on the cost vs. reliable scale it would probably get my attention.
Aesthetics would be a VERY LOW factor.

Offline IKE

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2010, 12:26:15 AM »
Wanting a cheap truck & boat pistol a friend of mine bought one early last fall in 45 ACP.

We've ran close to 800 rounds through it using factory and handloaded ammo and have not had one failure to feed or fire plus it's pretty darn accurate.....it's butt ugly but it does go bang each time we pull the trigger.

Ike
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Offline NYRebel13

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2010, 04:08:03 AM »
I had one of their pistols in 45acp.  The key word is "had".  I got rid of it.  Too many jammed rounds for me.  In the last magazine full of ammo I put thru it I had 5 out of 9 rounds jam in it.  I bought it because I wanted a cheap .45 and I had read some good reviews about the newer ones.  Maybe I just got a bad one.  The extra weight to it does help with the recoil.
My biggest fear in life is dying and my wife selling my guns for what I told her I paid for them.

Offline williamlayton

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2010, 12:32:00 PM »
Reliability is not determined in hundred of rounds but thousands.
We will determine the reliability of this weapon in the future.
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TEXAS, by GOD

Offline Basicguy

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2010, 11:37:12 AM »
I have 9mm and a 45acp hi point pistols. They shoot as intended are reasonably accurate. Hi Point is a very straight up company to deal with.

I did have some light hits develop 3 years ago with the 9. I called them and they sent me a new firing pin assembly. They said I could sent the gun in but I chose to install them myself. They have an unlimited warranty policy and will fix any of their older guns free.

My 45 has been completely trouble free. Both shoot only hand loads and are quite insensitive to the charge weight.

The guns are cheap but they are effective. 45 ball ammo will protect you as well as if fired by a 1911.

Offline Redhawk1

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #11 on: June 30, 2010, 02:25:29 AM »
I owned one, and ended up using my 44 Mag to shoot it to pieces. It was pure junk. I worked in a gun shop for some time and seen some bough and then brought back. They are jamomatics.  Never again will I buy one..
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Offline Default_Required

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2010, 03:56:59 PM »
Butt Fugly is an understatement, I have not nor will I own one due to them being ranked right up there with Lorcins and Brycos. The safety on the Hi-points are the same on the afore mentioned.

 I have been the Young Buck with not alot of money wanting a pistola , And made the mistake of buying a Lorcin ONCE ! And it almost cost me my life.

 I will never ever buy a cheaply made gun again, And that is all I see when I see those " boat anchors" at shops and gun shows.

 Now I too have heard good things about these pistols in question. But when I consider that one can have a Makorov or any number of other military surplus pistols that are out there for pretty much the same price as the boat anchor ... Well that sums up my choice and was my conclusion after the Lorcin, You go and spend you 200 bucks on a Romanian Tokerov or one of the Polish or Czech Makorov ( these Czechs are pretty dang accurate too ) versions. Heck a good used ruger P series or Taurus pistol would only cost you a 50 to 75 dollar bill more then the Hi-point and in my line of thinking are a far superior/safer gun and a far better investment.

Offline Basicguy

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I like Guns!
« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2010, 05:02:50 AM »
Hi again,
Personally I like guns and unless a gun is broken and unrepairable it is a rather sin to destroy it. Sounds like something our government would like us to do. It can start with cheap guns then work your way up to something like Taurus then what, Ruger P89? You see them used for what 300 bux? A gun doesn't have to be expensive to shoot well.

Yesterday I was shooting my Kimber 1911, a gun that I truly love to shoot, light crisp trigger. Some of the reloads were old wolf steel cased ammo. For some reason they failed to chamber and got snagged on something. Other wolfs and all my brass cased stuff went through.

I got out my HP45 and shot the mag out of it, the loads were some 200 grain SWC that won't go through any other auto that I have. I reloaded it with regular RNFP  ammo and the two suspect wolf loads. Everything went through fine. I don't like my HP more than my Kimber. I like all guns.

Like the old cereal commercial "Mikey eats everthing", the HP doesn't choke.

I wouldn't ask anyone to purchase any particular gun.

Offline JeffDavis

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2010, 05:34:21 PM »
My very first handgun was a Hi point compact 9mm I bought for $110 in 1992. Was it bulky? Yes. Was it pleasing to look at? Many think not, but it was my first gun and I thought it was great!

Found out it shot great too, averaged 2 in groups. I ran over 500 rounds of assorted ball and JHPs through it. Only thing that gave me trouble was CCI Blazer; the aluminum case would swell on firing and jam the gun. Stuck with brass cases after I finally finished up the 2 boxes I had bought.

After 6 months, I was at a gun show and a dealer offered me $100 for it. I sold it and bought a Norinco Tokarev with 2 barrels in 7.62x25 and 9mm Luger. Been looking for that perfect gun ever since.

My only complaint about the gun was I never could find spare magazines for it. Scarce as hen's teeth then and now.

I might even consider buying another, just for the nostalgia (that and they have only gone up to $149 and tax 18 years later!).
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Offline John R.

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #15 on: July 05, 2010, 11:56:46 AM »
If you can't afford anything else maybe, but I would look hard for a good used gun over a Hi-Point. I picked up a S&W Bodyguard in pretty good shape for $200. I won't have one in my gun safe, but to each his own.

Offline hornady

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #16 on: July 10, 2010, 04:21:06 AM »
As I said earlier I do not and have or intension to ever buy one, and would never compare the Hi-point to even the Ruger or Taurus, but I don’t think they fall into the Lorcin, Bryco , Jennings or RG, class either, I had the mis- fortune   to own a RG and a Jennings, I know some have had good luck with them, but like cheap rifle scopes, once in a great while a good one will make its way threw, more the exception than the rule.
But to the Hi-Point, if it’s all you can afford at the time, I think it would be a good gun to start out with,

Offline Merle

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Re: Hi point pistols
« Reply #17 on: July 10, 2010, 02:07:18 PM »
As I said earlier I do not and have or intension to ever buy one, and would never compare the Hi-point to even the Ruger or Taurus, but I don’t think they fall into the Lorcin, Bryco , Jennings or RG, class either, I had the mis- fortune   to own a RG and a Jennings, I know some have had good luck with them, but like cheap rifle scopes, once in a great while a good one will make its way threw, more the exception than the rule.
But to the Hi-Point, if it’s all you can afford at the time, I think it would be a good gun to start out with,



That's pretty much my opinion of them too. I believe they are generally reliable, but suspect they may not be as durable as some more expensive brands.

 ;D ;D ;D