Kicks like a .40
I work as an armed guard and routinely carry the Glock 17 but I have also carried the tried and true .45 1911 on the job site. This morning I went to the indoor shooting range to fire three guns I hadn't fired before, a Taurus Model 689 6" Barrel Stainless Steel .357 revolver, the Kahr P4044 .40 Cal pistol and a Hi Point C9 9mm pistol. Not many would argue that the Hi Point was in awfully good company.
It probably wouldn't surprise anyone to learn that the Taurus had the best groupings on the standard Mullet Man target at 15 yards. For my first time at the range I managed to keep the groupings inside of the area of a saucer even while firing the Buffalo Bore Big Gun .357 ammo with a blazing 802 FPE at the muzzle. It is thrilling ammunition to shoot.
The Kahr .40 Cal fired quite nicely too but the groupings were a little wider spread at 15 yards. This gun is very slim and trim but is as heavy as a brick so there was no kick unlike the kind of bite one gets when firing a .40 cal plastic pistol. It is also a lot smaller than the Hi Point C9. The Kahr P4044 is a very nice gun to shoot but a little heavy in the pocket when carried for personal protection. It does have a small "finger print" though and is very easy to conceal on the body.
The last gun I tried out was the Hi Point C9 which I bought this week only because I wanted a backup 9mm and because the Hi Point was only $159!
How does it shoot? Just fine. It has a long trigger pull but it doesn't require a lot of force to get there. The groupings were similar to the Kahr and that is because they both share about the same barrel length of about 3.5". The Hi Point kicks like my old Taurus PT140 .40 pistol, and by that I mean it has a strangely serious kick for only a 9mm pistol. It never misfired but I did get two occasions where I had to slam the heel of my hand against the slide in order to chamber the first round. After adding some Remington Gun Oil to the slide and to the magazine interiors this problem went away.
The groupings for the Kahr and the Hi Point were about the same but I had two wild shots from the Hi Point on the Mullet Man target, one in the left bicep and one in the forehead. I chalk those off to inexperience firing this particular pistol before. That and because the kick made me a little jumpy.
I would recommend the Hi Point C9 9mm handgun to any man but because it kicks too much for comfort (geeze it's only a 9mm!) I would caution a woman against buying it; instead I would steer her to the Hi Point .380. It is smaller and therefore easier to hold in the hand, and it will have less of a kick. The .380 caliber ammunition is more than adequate for self defense.