C9 Continues Running Great - Now at 310 rounds and counting!

As I wrote about before, I decided to get a Hi-Point C9 for a few reasons. I wasn't looking for a concealed carry weapon, primary home defense weapon, or anything like that. I wanted a handgun that would go bang every time I pull the trigger, wouldn't drain the bank account to purchase, and wouldn't eat me out of house and home for ammo, but would be more powerful than a .22.

I'm happy to say that I picked up my Hi-Point C9 at the Ace Hardware in Overton, NV last Sunday and was able to stop and put 50 rounds of ultra cheap factory reloads through it on the way home (gotta love a big, open desert!) This is the first handgun that I've owned and so far I'm pretty happy with it. I also have to give credit where it's due and give a shameless plug to the folks up there at Ace Hardware in Overton. They know their stuff, they're friendly, and great to deal with. Oh yeah, and they know how to stock a hardware store, too - everything from .22 pistols to an Armalite AR-50 .50 BMG rifle for sale

Sorry, but no pics yet - I still need to get them setup for posting here.

So here's the report so far.

Looks - There's only two things I really don't like about the looks which are the blocky piece of plastic at the bottom of the 10 round magazine and the look of the gun when viewed from directly in front of the muzzle. It's "unique" - yeah, that's it ! Honestly, without a guide rod below the barrel and most of the slide above it, it doesn't look like any other handgun I've seen when viewed from the business end. I figure if they're gong to make some part of the gun less than gorgeous, it should be the muzzle end as I won't be looking at it much It should be noted that neither of these affect the function or accuracy of the C9.

Weight and feel - No, it's not the lightest thing around, but it's not the heaviest by a long shot, either. The weight is comfortable and the grip fits my smaller hands well, but I could live with some rubber textured grips. I tried a Hogue Hand-All grip on it, but the palm swells didn't match up with my hands, so I'm off to Wal-Mart tomorrow for a bicycle innertube. Other than that, I like the way it feels. Some have criticized Hi-Points for being top-heavy, but I've noticed that this is only really noticeable with either no mag or an empty mag in the gun. The weight of the ammunition in the grip really balances things out and I don't notice a shift while going through a magazine, either.

External safety - yep, it's there. It's simple, easy to see, and easy to operate. It's kept the gun from going bang every time I've tested it - as has the magazine safety (the gun won't fire without a magazine in the grip). I'm not about to test the drop safety, but I can sure hear the counter weight in there if I shake the gun

Sights - red in back and yellow in front works well for me. Fully adjustable is a big plus in my book, especially on a $119.00 pistol - I've seen regular sights for other guns go for more. I haven't decided when, but I will try out the included rear ghost ring and see how well that works sometime before too long.

Mag Release - It's there! You sure can't miss it on the left side of the grip So far, I've only had to pull the magazines out a couple of times, but we'll see how this goes down the line. If they consistently show this problem, I'll call Hi-Point and see what's up. A quick trip to Ohio might be in order, but I doubt it.

Extras - You do get a couple of extras with the C9. Aside from the aforementioned ghost ring rear sight, you also get a "double trigger lock." A special tool from Hi-Point (included with everything else) both serves to operate the lock (press in and rotate to lock the "first lock") as well as working as a sight adjustment tool. The "second lock" is a space in the main unit where a user supplied key or combination lock can be fitted so that the trigger lock cannot be removed even with the special tool from Hi-Point. I really don't plan on using it that much, unless kids come over or something as I figure that both my roommate and myself are sufficiently aware of firearms safety to know what the trigger does, but that's me.

Function and feel when firing - As I said, I've only put 50 rounds of super cheap 115 grain factory reloads through my C9 so far. In that limited time, I have yet to have one failure to feed, failure to fire, or failure to eject It's been many years since I last fired my brother's 9mm, but I recall recoil on his Smith & Wesson 915 being more than the recoil I felt with the C9, probably due to the 915 weighing less. Rapid fire was easy and pleasant and accuracy was much better than minute of Pringles can at 25 paces

I'll be taking my new C9 out tomorrow, probably to a nice spot in the desert not too far from here along with my .22 and Steyr M95. I'd take the AK, but I'm still working on refinishing the wood and I'm also in the middle of moving. I've got another 50 rounds of the same cheap factory reload ball ammo I shot last week and I'm probably going to pick up some hollow points to see how well they work in it, too. The C9 is +P+ rated, but I don't anticipate using anything like that in it. I did, however, pick up some Glaser Pow'R Ball ammo the other day as I figure it's made to feed like FMJ and I know FMJ works so far. It's 100 grain +P and I intend to see just how well it works in the C9. If I wind up carrying this pistol (open carry is allowed in Nevada), this may well be what I use.

I promise to report any bad along with the good as I get to know my C9 better. Please ask me any questions you have about this pistol and I will answer them to the best of my ability. If I don't know, I'm sure I can find out.

Have a great day and shoot safe !

PS - I also picked up an Uncle Mike's Sidekick Ambidextrous Hip Holster (size 15) up at Bass Pro Shops a couple of days ago. The C9 fits perfect and it also carries a spare magazine, too. I figure as long as I have the pistol, I might as well have a good, safe way to carry it while I'm out in the desert shooting, right ?

 

Hi points cause cancer and E.D.

 

I'd like to send out a big thanks to everyone for the kind words and the information - it's a great help having guys like y'all around

OK, second report - should have been in the first one, but I was tired, it was late, and I copied my own post out of gun and game :wink:

Ammo - Fired 50 more rounds of cheap 115gr reloads, 100 rounds of WWB 115gr, 50 rounds of Federal 115gr JHP, and 10 rounds of the 100gr +P Pow'R Ball ammo.

Reliability - Only two failures to feed to report, both where the last round in the magazine nosed up. Still less than 1% failure rate and probably due to me loading the darn thing wrong. All 10 rounds of Pow'R Ball went without a hitch.

Accuracy - I still haven't put it on paper, but it's definitely good for minute of soda can at 25 to 35 Parrothead Paces and good enough to hit a kitchen sink reliably at about 100 yards and I know I hit it because I heard the rounds impact 8)

After re-reading my post about this outing over at gun and game, there's something I'd like to re-post here regarding kitchen sinks:

Ease of shooting and feel - Not bad at all ! Firing one or two handed I had no problems hitting what I aimed at and no discomfort or problems to report there. I may still go to WalMart for an innertube...

Overall impression - This cheap pistol is going to ding my bank account. I need more magazines so I can pre-load lots of ammo before going shooting and reload magazines less often - and I need more ammo !!! Heck, I might even clean it before I shoot it again!

The next trip to the range or desert spot might be delayed a bit due to moving this weekend, but I'll be sure to post afterwards

Pop cans, shaving cream cans, broken cellphones, and bad alarm clocks beware - the C9 is coming for you :twisted: !!!

Oh yeah - I have an old computer I'm getting rid of. I think I'll put the C9, the Steyr M95 and the AK to work on the hard drives to make sure they're good and destroyed so my data doesn't go floating all around. It may be a while (I'm still in the process of moving), but it'll happen soon enough.

I only have two pics of the C9 - both with yours truly holding it and only one in which you can really see the gun. Please don't laugh too hard at the sight of yours truly - I know I could stand to lose a few pounds, shave, and get a haircut

 

Newskate9 - Thanks for the words of encouragement

It's become habit for me over the years to lay my trigger finger along the side of a firearm - thanks in no small part to Dad :wink:

Thanks again and have fun!

 

Primal - No problemo and thanks for a great site! The shooting spot where the picture was taken is near Jean, NV which is about midway between California and Las Vegas. The "Nevada Landing" casino was just torn down recently (looked like a paddle wheeler), but the Gold Strike is still there.

Rather than just write out directions, here's lattitue and longitude:


N. 35.81362 degrees
W. 115.308065 degrees

Just feed 'em into Google maps or Google Earth to see my Southern shooting spot