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Dad wants to buy a Hi-Point .40 S&W - Your thougts or opinions needed

IcrewUH60

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
481
Location
Verona, Wisconsin, USA
My Dad is considering purchasing his 1st handgun and taking a few firearms training courses. He's in his late 50's and in decent shape. A Hi-Point .40 S&W caught his eye and he has asked me for advice. I know nothing about the brand so I am looking for advice to pass on to him. 1st hand experience is preferred but if you can quote a reliable source, I'd like to know that too.

Anyone own one, shoot one, bought one, carried one? Your thoughts please.
 
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XxCaMeLxxToSiSxX

Guest
I have a highpoint 9mm not exactly a pistol but highpoint none the less, umm i personally think it's cheaply made and perhaps somewhat unsafe. I do not use this weapon for anything, not even target practice, i just dont feel safe with it. just my opinion though.
i have 2, 10 round clips and a 15 round clip for it, the 10's came with it, the 15 is made by someone else and jams ALOT not even worth using. The 10's seem to work fine.

In highpoint defence I know others who love it and don't see any safety issues, i just think it's made of cheap material which results in unsafe weapons.
 
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IcrewUH60

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
481
Location
Verona, Wisconsin, USA
I have a highpoint 9mm not exactly a pistol but highpoint none the less, umm i personally think it's cheaply made and perhaps somewhat unsafe. I do not use this weapon for anything, not even target practice, i just dont feel safe with it. just my opinion though.

if you have time can you elaborate on why you
just dont feel safe with it.
I can understand the perception of being "cheaply made" because the price is on the low end of the scale, but if there is a safety concern, I'd like to know.
 

Brass Magnet

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
2,818
Location
Right Behind You!, Wisconsin, USA
How about asking how much he wants to spend? That's usually a good first question. Hi-Point's are cheap for sure, but if it's not so important that he stay in that price range there are a world of much better (IMHO) options out there.

You can probably pick up a gently used pistol of a quality manufacture that may serve better in the long run.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Hi-Points are complete junk or anything; however, I think that even owners of Hi-Points would agree that there are far better firearms out there if you are willing to spend a little extra.
 

IcrewUH60

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
481
Location
Verona, Wisconsin, USA
How about asking how much he wants to spend? That's usually a good first question. Hi-Point's are cheap for sure, but if it's not so important that he stay in that price range there are a world of much better (IMHO) options out there.

You can probably pick up a gently used pistol of a quality manufacture that may serve better in the long run.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Hi-Points are complete junk or anything; however, I think that even owners of Hi-Points would agree that there are far better firearms out there if you are willing to spend a little extra.

that's good advice. He saw this hi-point at his local BX/PX on base and was intrigued at the $125 price tag. He is retired military but does pretty well for himself. He can afford more ('cause I know he's not diverting any $$ my way) if that's the route he should be going. How much further though? My first handgun was a new glock 19 purchased in Delavan, WI, but I don't think he's going to want to drop 5 or 600 beans on hist first handgun.
 

1245A Defender

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
4,365
Location
north mason county, Washington, USA
week end,,,,

highpoint is the new saturday night special.
the are made very much like a raven or a jennings.
heavy zinc castings, blow back action, need tools to take apart.
go to the sub forum for hand gun discussion
much has been written about the pros and cons of that brand.
 
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XxCaMeLxxToSiSxX

Guest
Well, the gun does jam alot, not "as much" with the clips it came with (safety issue to me, cant defend if it's jammed). I also dropped the gun 10 times with a loaded round out of 10 it discharged 2 times (which is why I won't use it). Other then that it is just made cheaply, LOTS of plastic parts.
 

anmut

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2010
Messages
875
Location
Stevens Point WI, ,
It's an alright gun for range shooting. That is to say when it jams your life won't depend on it. If he's going to be carrying it or using it for defense in the home I would suggest being on the look out for a used glock. That will be, of course, more money. If he really wants to just do some plinking look for a used Ruger MK II/III .22 handgun. Super accurate, bullet proof design and crazy cheap to shoot.

www.armslist.com is a great website for used guns if he want's to do a face to face purchase (no FFL transfer fees) and www.gunbroker.com is great for finding pretty much anything.
 

IcrewUH60

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
481
Location
Verona, Wisconsin, USA
highpoint is the new saturday night special.
the are made very much like a raven or a jennings.
heavy zinc castings, blow back action, need tools to take apart.
go to the sub forum for hand gun discussion
much has been written about the pros and cons of that brand.

"the sub forum for handgun discussion", where is it? I run a search for Hi-Point .40 and get hundreds of threads returned. I'd like to read specifically the pros and cons.
 

Interceptor_Knight

Regular Member
Joined
May 18, 2007
Messages
2,851
Location
Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
My Dad is considering purchasing his 1st handgun and taking a few firearms training courses. He's in his late 50's and in decent shape. A Hi-Point .40 S&W caught his eye and he has asked me for advice. I know nothing about the brand so I am looking for advice to pass on to him. 1st hand experience is preferred but if you can quote a reliable source, I'd like to know that too.

Anyone own one, shoot one, bought one, carried one? Your thoughts please.

They shoot fine and most are reliable enough. If you can afford more, there are far better choices for a first and only handgun. If that is your budget, you could do far worse such as a Jennings, etc.... A Hi-Point is not inherently unsafe. A Jennings is. Hi-Points are actually suprisingly well made considering the price point. For $125, it will be a good learning experience. If it jams every magazine, he will be frustrated enough to spend more money next time. If it performs to his satisfaction, there is no reason to spend more.
 

GLOCK21GB

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 22, 2009
Messages
4,347
Location
Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
HI-Points are cheaply made, JUNK ( nothing I would trust my life with ). Tell him to pony up and extra 400.00 and get a Glock 23 in 40S&W ( 450.-500.00ish all day long )
 
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bhancock

Guest
I wouldn't hesitate

I own a C9 and like it very much. It fit my price range, fires every time unless I use Winchester white box ammo, Fiocchi, Remington, Hornady are all good. The .40 is considerably larger than the C9. Lifetime warranty is nice too. I carry mine every where I go and it gets a bit of abuse because I go a lot of places, it is holding up very well for being knocked around a lot. I have fired as many as 250 rounds before cleaning without a jamb or misfire. I have looked at a few 'name brand' guns that have just as much plastic and cast materials for 3X the price. Yes you do need a few basic tools to disassemble, 2 punches and a hocky puck.
 
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bhancock

Guest
HI-Points are cheaply made, JUNK ( nothing I would trust my life with ). Tell him to pony up and extra 400.00 and get a Glock 23 in 40S&W ( 450.-500.00ish all day long )

+10000000000000000000000000000000

First hand experience? If it is I would really like to hear the stories, the facts that is, not inflamed opinion. I may buy a larger caliber Hi Point and if there really is a problem I would like to know about. All my research to date has turned up a few jamb or failure to feed issues, but not one catastrophic failure.
 

Interceptor_Knight

Regular Member
Joined
May 18, 2007
Messages
2,851
Location
Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
First hand experience? If it is I would really like to hear the stories, the facts that is, not inflamed opinion. I may buy a larger caliber Hi Point and if there really is a problem I would like to know about. All my research to date has turned up a few jamb or failure to feed issues, but not one catastrophic failure.
You are best off just going to a group which owns and shoots them instead of those who are biased and simply refuse to own one....
http://www.hipointfirearmsforums.com/Forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=jljhh895iumntoi73p3p26ci90;www
 

Optimus Prime

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2009
Messages
79
Location
Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA
If you CANNOT afford something better, it's still better than a brick (and when it's out of ammo, it can double as one!)

I have a Hi-Point 9mm carbine that has never had a malfunction with the factory mag (I have some aftermarket that are no-goes, period.) They do stand by their product, lifetime guarantee, and they are made in America.

They are, however, very basic in construction (there are parts of my carbine that look like they've been taken off my grandpa's 1930's era tractor...) and very basic in function (I believe they're simple blowback guns across the board... could be wrong on the .40s though.) Plus they are ugly beyond belief.

Personally, I'd never get one of their handguns for anything more than a novelty. There's plenty of quality used arms out there for little more.
 

gdyslin

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2008
Messages
34
Location
Madison, ,
I have a High Point 9MM and have fired many many boxes of different ammo through it and it only jammed once and that was after around 200 rounds without cleaning on a day I was feeling really frisky at the range. Sure they are cheap and weigh as much as any 2 other guns (some I hear call them The Brick) but I can't say anything bad about them from personal experiance. It's a fine gun for the sock drawer next to the bed, maybe a little heavy to CC or OC.
 

SprayAndPray

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2008
Messages
177
Location
, ,
Ignore the haters

Yup... they are cheap ... and clunky....

But for the price they do the job, Everyone I know that has ever ACTUALLY OWNED ONE (as opposed to repeating drivel they heard from their nephews uncles cousin , who incidentally never even owned a gun) , has said EXACTLY the same thing


Crappy trigger pull, Heavy, Clunky and reliable as the brick that it is......
 
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