I don't have much experiencing with firearms, but a while ago I thought about getting a handgun to play around with and have in case of emergencies and maybe even concealed carry. I asked my friend what the "Hyundai" of handguns manufacturers were, and he mentioned kel-tec and the simple makarov design and some other manufacturers. then he came back a few days later and said "wait wait, a Hi-Point is definitely what you're thinking of". I looked it up and was astonished by the price and warranty and did some poking around and read half of the reviews by the people who owned them saying they're great, and then the other half of comments by people who couldn't even be bothered with handling one. I recently stumbled across one in a private sale, just to my luck, and purchased it.
I'd been shooting my friends' glocks at the range recently, but I have had very little firearms experience.
it's a c9 which looks to be in great condition. I'm guessing it's one of the newer models, as it has the Lock Open on Last Round (and it works) and the chamber viewing port. The magazine loading is a little... loose compared to the glocks. you really have to give it some force for it to lock in. the slide release is fine though, the mag falls right out. the bottom of the mag doesn't look like it belongs to the gun. it doesn't "complete" the hand grip like the glock mags do. it definitely looks cheap from the bottom. there is some rattling in the gun, especially with the mag out, like i've seen addressed in a video review, but I'm not worried about it. the plastic removable grips also look cheap.
I finally got it to the range the other day and fired it. the first time i fired it, I was scared to be behind the slide (my friend told me about some post he read where someone knew someone whose HP blew the slide off into his face when firing it, and I think it got me nervous, along with all the "you can't trust those guns!" comments), so i just held the gun out to the side a bit and let off a wild shot (don't tell the range!). and oddly enough, I didn't die, and the gun didn't blow up. So i got the courage to actually look down the sights and fire. it feels like it has a lot of recoil, and the hand grip feel a lot thinner than the glocks. when I fire it, it feels like it slips a lot more than the medium sized glocks (g17, 19). those glocks also have double stack mags, so they have to be thicker. My hands are also on the large side.
so we put up a target at 10 yards and we started firing at it. my friend with his glock shot it up no problems. I fired some rounds at it and... nothing? i didn't even hit it? my friend isn't much of a better shot than I am, in fact we're very close in accuracy. the last two rounds in my mag also failed to feed, nose up, WWB ammo. I was using the mag at full capacity (8). I immediately blamed this crappy Hi-Point. the guy who sold it to me probably abused/damaged it and then made a quick buck off me like the sucker I was. but maybe not. we brought the target in to 7 yards, which is what i'm used to shooting at, and we did some more rounds. i would aim at the bullseye and I would be hitting.... 10 inches to the bottom left? well, at least it's consistent. maybe i just need to dial in the sights. so I kept firing, and dialing in with the screwdriver. up and to the right. and no more feeding problems. the gun still felt like it was slipping/jumping out of my slightly-sweaty hands so i tried gripping it pretty tightly. my groupings got much tighter and the accuracy based on the sights was MUCH better. I wanted to do some resting shots to dial it in better but the range wasn't well equipped for it. what had started off a very disappointing gun turned out to be great.
you all have problem heard this before, but I'm satisfied with this Hi-Point! and if you don't like hyundai, don't take offense. I mean that in "it's cheap and it does what it's meant to do most of the time". I've heard "any gun at hand is better than a gun you left at home" for open and concealed carry. for me, it's "a gun that's cheap enough for me to purchase is better than an expensive gun I wouldn't purchase". if all cars cost $60k, I would still be riding a bicycle. likewise, if all guns cost $400+, I would still be unarmed. call me cheap, because I am. I buy cheap tires, cheap brakes, and I'm much more likely to die in a car accident than in a shootout.
Now I want to get some more HP models, at the very least a carbine. I'll also have to become a better marksman so as to make more expensive guns with poor marksmen look bad. I've added some bicycle innertube as a grip, and it feels much better, though I've yet to test it at the range.
One question; what's the metal piece on the bottom left of the chamber that the top round in the magazine rubs against when loading? it looks kind of like a little bent paperclip.
I'd been shooting my friends' glocks at the range recently, but I have had very little firearms experience.
it's a c9 which looks to be in great condition. I'm guessing it's one of the newer models, as it has the Lock Open on Last Round (and it works) and the chamber viewing port. The magazine loading is a little... loose compared to the glocks. you really have to give it some force for it to lock in. the slide release is fine though, the mag falls right out. the bottom of the mag doesn't look like it belongs to the gun. it doesn't "complete" the hand grip like the glock mags do. it definitely looks cheap from the bottom. there is some rattling in the gun, especially with the mag out, like i've seen addressed in a video review, but I'm not worried about it. the plastic removable grips also look cheap.
I finally got it to the range the other day and fired it. the first time i fired it, I was scared to be behind the slide (my friend told me about some post he read where someone knew someone whose HP blew the slide off into his face when firing it, and I think it got me nervous, along with all the "you can't trust those guns!" comments), so i just held the gun out to the side a bit and let off a wild shot (don't tell the range!). and oddly enough, I didn't die, and the gun didn't blow up. So i got the courage to actually look down the sights and fire. it feels like it has a lot of recoil, and the hand grip feel a lot thinner than the glocks. when I fire it, it feels like it slips a lot more than the medium sized glocks (g17, 19). those glocks also have double stack mags, so they have to be thicker. My hands are also on the large side.
so we put up a target at 10 yards and we started firing at it. my friend with his glock shot it up no problems. I fired some rounds at it and... nothing? i didn't even hit it? my friend isn't much of a better shot than I am, in fact we're very close in accuracy. the last two rounds in my mag also failed to feed, nose up, WWB ammo. I was using the mag at full capacity (8). I immediately blamed this crappy Hi-Point. the guy who sold it to me probably abused/damaged it and then made a quick buck off me like the sucker I was. but maybe not. we brought the target in to 7 yards, which is what i'm used to shooting at, and we did some more rounds. i would aim at the bullseye and I would be hitting.... 10 inches to the bottom left? well, at least it's consistent. maybe i just need to dial in the sights. so I kept firing, and dialing in with the screwdriver. up and to the right. and no more feeding problems. the gun still felt like it was slipping/jumping out of my slightly-sweaty hands so i tried gripping it pretty tightly. my groupings got much tighter and the accuracy based on the sights was MUCH better. I wanted to do some resting shots to dial it in better but the range wasn't well equipped for it. what had started off a very disappointing gun turned out to be great.
you all have problem heard this before, but I'm satisfied with this Hi-Point! and if you don't like hyundai, don't take offense. I mean that in "it's cheap and it does what it's meant to do most of the time". I've heard "any gun at hand is better than a gun you left at home" for open and concealed carry. for me, it's "a gun that's cheap enough for me to purchase is better than an expensive gun I wouldn't purchase". if all cars cost $60k, I would still be riding a bicycle. likewise, if all guns cost $400+, I would still be unarmed. call me cheap, because I am. I buy cheap tires, cheap brakes, and I'm much more likely to die in a car accident than in a shootout.
Now I want to get some more HP models, at the very least a carbine. I'll also have to become a better marksman so as to make more expensive guns with poor marksmen look bad. I've added some bicycle innertube as a grip, and it feels much better, though I've yet to test it at the range.
One question; what's the metal piece on the bottom left of the chamber that the top round in the magazine rubs against when loading? it looks kind of like a little bent paperclip.
