Budget Buster

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Interesting article

John Taffin "Budget blaster: Hi-Point C9 9mm". Guns Magazine. Feb 2007. FindArticles.com. 15 Nov. 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_2_53/ai_n17094478

Budget blaster: Hi-Point C9 9mm
Guns Magazine, Feb, 2007 by John Taffin

Question time. How much would you pay for a brand-new, 9-shot, American-made 9mm semiauto with very easy to see sights, shoots to point of aim and total reliability thrown in? Would $500 sound reasonable? Sounds like a great bargain doesn't it? Now what if I told you it is possible to have all of this for only $149!!

That is not the sale price, that is not the wholesale price, that is not the best bargaining price--that is actually the retail price of the Hi-Point C9 9mm semiautomatic pistol.

OK, there is one drawback. It's ugly! Not as ugly as the pictures I've seen with the added comp and extended magazine, however it is not what you would call a swan, more like an ugly duckling. When I bring out my ivory stocked, engraved Colt Series 70 .45, the Hi-Point runs and hides behind the couch, when my Wilson .38 Super with giraffe bone grips enters the room, it peeks out from its hiding place. However, when someone enters with a Glock or some of the other similarly styled semiauto, the Hi-Point C9 boldly enters the room.

Wait! There's More

In addition to all of the other things mentioned, the Hi-Point C9 comes with a lifetime warranty and a second optional ghost-ring-style rear sight. The regular sighting system consists of a square notch rear sight with two red dots mated up with a sloping front sight with an inlaid white strip, both of which are very easy to see and set to hit point of aim.

The Model C9 is a straight blowback 9mm with a 3 1/2" barrel, polymer (tested) or aluminum frame, 1911-style magazine release, 8-shot magazine, magazine disconnect safety, easily operated thumb safety, and the slide locks back after the last round is fired. Grips are black polymer mated up with a grip frame with serrations both front and back and it fits my hand just about perfectly.

There are a few things not provided for the $149 price tag. There are no warning labels to be found anywhere on the C9, nor does it come with any kind of internal locking device. It does come with the now mandatory, or nearly so, trigger-locking device as well as a printed warning from the Massachusetts Attorney General. It also does not come with what one would call a great trigger. According to the Lyman Digital Trigger Pull Scale, the trigger pull on this single action semiautomatic is right at 11 1/2 pounds, yet it did not keep me from shooting some excellent groups.

The following results were obtained shooting the C9 at a combat-shooting distance of seven yards. All groups shot to point of aim and there were no malfunctions except one idiosyncrasy: the C9 will not feed the last round out of the magazine of Black Hills 115-grain JHP +P ammo. If I were to carry this particular excellent shooting round, I would place one round of 115 FMJ in the magazine first for total reliability.

The C9 is definitely one of the all-time bargains ever offered to shooters ranking right up there with the old $15 war surplus firearms available when I was a teenager. Fifteen bucks was a whole lot harder to come by in 1956 than $149 is now.

TEST-FIRE HI-POINT MODEL C9 9MM 3 1/2"

Load Velocity Group Size
(brand, bullet weight, type) (fps) (inches)

BLACK HILLS 115 FMJ 1,123 1
BLACK HILLS 115 JHP +P 1,213 1
HORNABY 147 XTP JHP 878 1 1/4
HORNADY 124 FP 1,047 1 3/8
HORNADY 115 XTP JHP 1,059 1
HORNADY 124 XTP JHP 1,111 1 3/8
SEER 147 GOLD DOT JHP 833 2 3/8
WINCHESTER WINCLEAN 124 BEB 11M 2 1/8

Notes: Groups the product of 8 shots at 7 yards

C-9

Maker: Beemiller Inc
1015 Springfield Rd.
Mansfield, OH 44906
(419) 747-9444
www.mkssupply.com

Distributor: MKS Supply
8611-A North Dixie Drive
Dayton, OH 45414
(877) 425-4867
www.mkssupply.com

ACTION TYPE: Blowback Semiauto
CALIBER: 9mm
CAPACITY: 8+1
BARREL LENGTH: 3.5"
OVERALL LENGTH: 6.75"
WEIGHT: 25 ounces
FINISH: Matte Black
SIGHTS: Adjustable, 3-Dot
GRIPS: Black Plastic
PRICE: $149
 
An article about Hi-Point? Gosh, I wonder how this will turn out. :rolleyes:

Let me guess... many will say they are junk. :confused: Those who own them (myself included) will say they are fine. :cool:
 
They're heavy clunky and ugly. But if you need a gun and don't have more than $150 to spend why not? They're more than accurate enough. They're robust. I guess the aluminum framed one is new though as I haven't seen one of them yet.
 
Not my cup of tea, but I applaud Hi-Point for making a reliable, robust (if somewhat ugly) line of firearms on a very, very tight budget.

I might pick up a pistol and carbine from them just to train with them and be familiar with their use.
 
I've seen lots of Hi-Points come through our CCW classes. Out of the scores that I have seen, most functioned well, maybe 15-20% had problems, mostly due to magazines that didn't work and one that had a slide completely fracture and go flying down range. Most of the ones that did malfunction were NIB and had never been fired (scary thought, that these folks were coming through CCW training with a NIB gun of any kind as their only handgun) so I suppose even a Hi-Point needs a break in period.

That said, the reason these folks were coming through my class with a Hi-Point was most often that they couldn't immediately afford a higher quality gun and the class, so they were saving up for a better option later while getting some training right now. It's easy to say this gun or that gun is a piece of junk, but a cheap, reasonably dependable gun right now beats the uber tactical expensive gun 6 months later, kinda like the gun you carry beats the one in the safe.

Given that I was advising that they save up for a better weapon, that they were aware of the limitations in choices for carry (I don't think Milt Sparks makes a holster for Hi-Points ;) ) and that they had a plan for what they were doing, I see no problem with Hi-Points. Would I choose it for a carry gun? No. Would I carry it if I didn't have a better option? You bet.
 
(scary thought, that these folks were coming through CCW training with a NIB gun of any kind as their only handgun)
Click to expand...

I don't think so, I think it's actually pretty admirable to go through a training course immediately after buying your first (and only) pistol.
 
Anyone seen an IDPA or IPSC course run with a Hi-Point? (not saying that to knock the product, genuinely curious if anyone decided to throw one up against the 'more worthy' guns and how they fared)
 
I don't think so, I think it's actually pretty admirable to go through a training course immediately after buying your first (and only) pistol.
Click to expand...

I agree that it's a good thing to get training, but they really, really need to cycle a few boxes of ammo through their handgun before they commit to using it for a carry gun. We don't go into that much depth in the CCW class and I do encourage them to practice and get more training, but the purpose of the class is to fulfill the minimum legal requirements. What's scary is that I know at least some of those folks won't go back to the range until they need to re-qualify in another 4 years. This has nothing to do with the pistol being a Hi-Point. I had a guy with a NIB Wilson Combat who had problems in the class. I suggested that he go to the range a few more times, come back and qualify in a week and I'd sign off on his paperwork (all at no extra charge to him). You'd have thought I was asking him to climb Mount Everest or something... We do our best to educate, even when we know that some won't get the message.

Back OT:

Anyone seen an IDPA or IPSC course run with a Hi-Point?
Click to expand...

Not so far. You have to have a concealment holster for IDPA, so the first question is, who makes a holster for the Hi-Point?

Ah, Google and ye shall receive:

http://www.impactguns.com/store/752334341501.html

Dang, $45.99 for a holster for a gun that costs $150. That'd be like paying $335 for a holster for my Sig.
 
Hi-Point? Yes.

My son has a C9.

Ugly, clunky, single-stack mag, just a strange-looking pistol.

He shoots it better than I shoot my XD-40.

I've shot it. It shoots to point-of-aim. The sights are high-visibility, an orange front sight between two yellow rear sight dots.

Quite manageable.

The carbine mag will work in the pistol (it sticks out) but the pistol mag is too short for the carbine, and will not latch (doesn't reach the top of the mag well).

I recently got a really nice Taurus PT9111, also in 9mm. It holds another five rounds and adheres more to the styling ratios to which we're accustomed. I'm getting better with it, but I don't shoot it better than the Hi-Point yet.

And there's one more thing: Beemiller looks after their own stuff. The reports I've had from people who have had to get something repaired have all been very positive.

An affordable, reliable, easy-to-shoot, American-made pistol, with excellent manufacturer support.

Heck, I think I'll buy one just to keep them in business.
 
I have had C9s since they first came out. Once we worked out the magazine floor-plate problem, they have been fine, reliable, fun pistols. Ugly? The only ugly I care about is the ugly the BG sees when he is looking down the barrel of my weapon-in-hand.

Pops
 
Don't forget that having the police confiscate it as evidence after you have used it won't hurt as much as if they had confiscated a nice Python or Series 70 Mk-IV.
 
All the size of a rifle, all the power of a low capacity 9mm handgun!

Don't forget that having the police confiscate it as evidence after you have used it won't hurt as much as if they had confiscated a nice Python or Series 70 Mk-IV.
Click to expand...
Who really worries about that? With the 1 in a million odds you'll use your gun to defend your life to start with, do you think the $2k handgun will be even on your radar compared to the legal costs you'd be worried about?
 
All the size of a rifle, all the power of a low capacity 9mm handgun!


Quote:
Don't forget that having the police confiscate it as evidence after you have used it won't hurt as much as if they had confiscated a nice Python or Series 70 Mk-IV.

Who really worries about that? With the 1 in a million odds you'll use your gun to defend your life to start with, do you think the $2k handgun will be even on your radar compared to the legal costs you'd be worried about?
Click to expand...

I've seen this mentioned multiple times on THR and it always strikes me as some rather interesting reasoning.My life is worth far,far more to me than $500-700.I hope to never in my lifetime ever have to use a firearm in self-defense but if I do so,they can have the Glock,SIG or whatever I might be carrying as long as I am alive and a free man.All I ask in a firearm is that it be dependable,safe,reasonably accurate and enjoyable enough that I want to practice with it to be proficient.


As for the Hi-Point: if it does the job,great,and since I have never shot one I can't judge them but if I only had $150 to spend,I'm using it on a Model 10 S&W.I will admit to it possibly being unfounded and snobbish,but I know how well my $150 10-8 works and that I shoot it well enough to have confidence in it and myself.I'd have to convince myself that the Hi-Point is not only worthy,but a better gun than the Smith and to be blunt,I don't have any need or desire to find out if it is.
 
What's the velocity difference in a 9nn bullet coming out of a Hi-Point (or any) carbine barrel versus a typical 9mm handgun?

And for a .45ACP out of a carbine versus a handgun?

Anyone measure this? I searched, but my search skills are apparently inadequate.
 
Though I tried to talk them into investing in better quality arms, several of my co workers have bought the hi-point 9mms. They are all very satisfied with them.
 
I have seen some carbines brought into the shop I worked at with disintegrated plastic stocks, but that was years ago, and I have heard the improved their quality. Nobody builds total junk, and gives it a lifetime warrantee, because they like giving money away. I think I may take another look at the carbine - the wife could like it. Wish they made bigger magazines!
 
It seems like the only people who stick up for Hi Points are the people who own them. It's like the Harley thing. Rice Grinders run just fine, but Harley people look down on them. I personally prefer a gun which I find attractive to the eye and a pleasure to hold, but a lot of folks don't care about aesthetics as long as it works. The first rule of a gunfight is avoid it if possible or bring a gun if you can't avoid it. A $149 Hi Point you can afford to buy and shoot beats a custom 1911 you can't come up with $2K for.
 
My first pistol was a Hi-Point .380, which I got in 1996. Did it work? Absolutely. Did it hit where I aimed? Absolutely. Was it ugly as sin? Absolutely. But, it worked reliably and hit what I wanted, which is what mattered to me. I only had two complaints about it, and only one actually had to do with the gun itself. It's a tad heavy and cumbersome for concealed carry.

The second complaint was the price I paid. I traded a pre-ban Colt AR15A2 with 30+ preban mags, soft case, Harris bipod, Army TM, cleaning kit, several hundred rounds of ammo, and a few other miscellaneous accessories to a gun shop in Saco, Maine. In return, I got the Hi-Point .380, a Russian SKS, and a hundred rounds of ammo for each. I still cry when I think about that, my first, trade.
 
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