Hi-Point Firearms, also known as Strassell's Machine, Inc (distributed by MKS Supply), is an American

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s manufacturer based in

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

, Ohio. All of their firearms are manufactured in several different locations in Ohio.

Construction of products

Pistols

Hi-Point semi-automatic pistols are polymer framed handguns based on the blowback design. Different from other blowback design pistols such as the Walther PPK, the P-64, and the

Astra 600 The Astra 600 was a Spanish semi-automatic pistol used during World War II by the Wehrmacht. Designed by Unceta y Cia, it was a shortened version of the Astra 400 manufactured to fire 9×19mm Parabellum, which was the standard pistol ammunition ...

which use a heavy slide combined with a stiff recoil spring to hold the breech closed, these pistols use a heavier slide so they can use a softer recoil spring. When compared to breech-locking handguns of the same caliber and dimensions, the Hi-Point is rather top heavy. As with most blowback handguns, this pistol has fewer moving parts to clean and lubricate than its locked breech counterparts. While most semi-automatic pistols can be field stripped without the use of any tools, Hi-Point pistols require a small punch or a screwdriver and a hammer to remove a pin in the receiver, in order to permit slide removal (and thus enable field-stripping). Rather than being machined from forged steel, the slide is die cast from Zamak-3. Zamak is a zinc alloy which is often used in low cost firearms; previous manufacturers using this technique included Lorcin Engineering Company and Raven Arms. Die casting is particularly commonplace in Ohio, which influenced the decision to implement it. Uncommon for this construction, Hi-Point pistols are rated for +P ammunition in calibers up to .45 ACP. Blowback designs are generally simpler in design and easier and cheaper to manufacture than locked-breech

recoil-operated Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked breech, autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the p ...

firearms. While the fixed barrel of a blowback gun generally will contribute to improved accuracy, blowback guns usually need to be larger and heavier than a locked-breech gun firing the same caliber.

Carbines

The Hi-Point carbine is a series of pistol-caliber carbines manufactured by Hi-Point Firearms chambered for

9×19mm Parabellum The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger or simply 9mm) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge. Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun a ...

, .40 S&W,

10mm Auto The 10mm Auto (10×25mm, official C.I.P. nomenclature: 10 mm Auto, official SAAMI nomenclature: 10mm Automatic) is a semi-automatic pistol cartridge introduced in 1983. Its design was adopted and later produced by ammunition manufacturer ...

.45 ACP The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...

and

.380 ACP The .380 ACP (9×17mm) ( Automatic Colt Pistol) is a rimless, straight-walled pistol cartridge developed by firearms designer John Moses Browning. The cartridge headspaces on the mouth of the case.Wilson, R. K. ''Textbook of Automatic Pisto ...

. They are very inexpensive, constructed using polymers and alloyed metals as much as possible, resulting in a reduction of production costs and sale price. It functions via a simple direct

blowback action Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gas created by the ignition of the propellant charge. Several blowback systems exist wi ...

. Hi-Point carbines use a polymer stock,

stamped Stamped may refer to: * Stamped (application), an iPhone app * Stamped (song), by The Verve *'' Stamped from the Beginning'', a book by Ibram X. Kendi See also *Stmpd Rcrds Stmpd Rcrds (stylised in all caps; pronounced "stamped records") is ...

sheet metal receiver cover, and a receiver and bolt cast from Zamak-3. The barrel is steel and button rifled using a 1-10" right hand twist.

Use of zinc alloy

Some people are wary of Hi-Points because of the use of zinc alloy (

Zamak ZAMAK (or Zamac, formerly trademarked as MAZAK) is a family of alloys with a base metal of zinc and alloying elements of aluminium, magnesium, and copper. Zamak alloys are part of the zinc aluminium alloy family; they are distinguished from the ...

-3) castings in much of their construction. However, the parts made from Zamak-3 in Hi-Point guns (slide) are low-stress components that do not require the strength of steel at these pistol cartridge power levels. The slide is made of a Zamak-3. The frame is made of steel reinforced high strength polymer. Higher stress and wear components in Hi-Points, like the barrel, chamber, breech and other small parts, are made of steel.

Calibers

Hi-Point manufactures firearms in the following calibers: *

– Model CF-380 and 380COMP *

– C-9 and C-9 COMP pistols and YC-9 * .40 S&W – Model JCP pistol *

– Model JHP pistol * Hi-Point Carbines chambered in

, 9mm Luger, .40 S&W,

, and

Safety

Hi-Point firearms have a manual thumb safety and an integral drop safety that prevents firing in the event that the firearm is dropped. Until the 2000s, all Hi-Point products except the 995 (9mm) carbine had a last-round lock open and magazine disconnect safety, preventing firing unless a magazine was in the gun. With the replacement of the original 9mm carbine with the new 995 TS model, all pistols and carbines now have these features.

Gallery

File:380 acp.jpg, Hi-Point CF380 pistol with two-tone finish; the C-9 is identical except it is simply black, and chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum File:Hipoint1.jpg, Hi-Point C380 pistol with the slide locked back File:Hp995carbine22.jpg, "Generation 1" 995 Hi-Point Carbine File:Hi-Point_C9_Pistol.jpg, Hi-Point C9

References

External links

*
MKS Supply's website

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902160049/http://hi-pointfirearms.com/Hi-Point-manuals/default.html , date=2016-09-02 Firearm manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Ohio