I recently went to the range with a former co-worker that had bought himself a Hi-Point 9mm carbine for Christmas. He's had a .380 Hi-Point handgun for a little over a year that he'd bought used from someone for a "really good price". He's not a "gunny" (at least not yet) but he's developing a real interest in guns, both rifles and handguns. Now mind you, I've never had the opportunity to actually shoot any Hi-Points before and was expecting both to be total POS guns. Just to set the stage, I had shot a different buddy's Beretta Cheetah two weeks before.
I first shot his carbine. We were shooting at 30 yards, the maximum distance for the indoor range we were at. He had mounted the included laser sight but hadn't sighted it in yet. As my old eyes aren't what they used to be, the iron sights on the carbine were essentially useless for me. I held the laser dot on my bright orange aiming point and fired three rounds. The were about a foot low and 6 inches to the right but grouped REALLY tight. He told me how to adjust the laser and I said to myself, "screw that, I'm just gonna see how good it holds." I proceeded to empty the mag, reloaded it and emptied that one as well. Decent trigger pull, and about a 1" group at 30 yards out of a gun I'd never even held before, let alone shoot. I was pleasantly surprised.
Next he hands me the .380. I used to own a Llama Model III in .380 and currently have a Kel-Tec P-3AT for summer carry so I'm no stranger to the .380 ACP. This thing is a brick, and I pick up the gun with a certain amount of trepidition (is this thing going to blow up in my hand?) and proceed to squeeze off a shot at the target 7 yards out. Hmmm. Again, decent trigger pull. Not on a par with my Kimber CDP, but MEASUREABLY better than my other buddy's Beretta! And.... a hole in the target dead on POA. Wow. I fire off the remainder of the mag and end up with about a 2 inch grouping around the point of aim.
Long story short, I am more than pleasantly surprised with the two Hi-Points. Good trigger pulls, good accuracy, no hiccups as in FTF or FTE. I told my buddy he'd done pretty good, especially for the money which was a major concern for him. Would I ever buy a Hi-Point? They are as ugly as sin, and I didn't shoot either enough to know what their actual reliability would be. I know that I would not buy one of their handguns, as I think for the money you can do better, especially if you hunt for a used gun. Having said that, I have to admit I'm thinking about a carbine for a trunk gun, though. Probably one in .40 instead of 9mm and if they came out with one in .45 ACP I'd probably be even more apt to get one. At the price they go for, I'd say a carbine was worth every penny and more. And I wouldn't miss it if it ended up being stolen as much as I would my Vector Underfolder AK.