Can inexpensive guns be worthwhile?

C

cluznar

New member
Everybody keeps making jokes about the Hi Points and other inexpensive guns. But how bad are they really?
I purchased a Cobra FS .380 new for $108 because I wanted to see what an inexpensive gun was like.

Soon as I took it out of the hard case I racked the slide 100 times, flipped the safety off and on 50 times, and ejected the mag 75 times. After that I cleaned and lubed it, polished the feed ramp and went to the range.
The first 50 rounds I fired I had 3 FTL, a attempted double load and two jams while loading. After that I switched ammo, I had been using Blazer aluminum, switched to brass jacketed ammo. Had no more problems at all, this was all Ball ammo.

The gun has almost no recoil because of the weight of the gun. It does not shoot bad considering the sights are cheap all black sights. This Cobra is good enough for home defense or range, I would not carry it only because it is heavy and bulky.

I also have two friends who own Hi Points, they both tell me if you break it in well, polish the feed ramps and try some different ammo till you see which it likes best, that they are very dependable guns.

So am I recommending get a gun for a small price? No, but if you are on a crimped budget and need protection, then these guns can protect you.

Comments? :pleasantry:
 
Not all guns work all the time, no matter what they cost. Can cheaper guns work? Hell yes they can. Can expensive guns not work? Hell yes the can.

If you buy a gun, no matter the price, make sure you use the most reliable ammo possible.

Would a cheaper gun be my first choice of protection, no. But, if it works... what the hells the difference?

I own a few cheaper guns that have been extrememly reliable, so I keep them.
 
Nightmare45 said:
Nothing wrong with inexpensive guns, what's you or you family's life worth.
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And I mean there's a diff between inexpensive and a cheaper gun . Bro there's no way if it messed up that much it would be worth putting your life to it . Save the money and at least get a lcp or a taurus . I plus for home defensive idk about a .380
 
justxboxin said:
And I mean there's a diff between inexpensive and a cheaper gun . Bro there's no way if it messed up that much it would be worth putting your life to it . Save the money and at least get a lcp or a taurus . I plus for home defensive idk about a .380
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Your grammar and punctuation suck.
 
I have other guns I carry. Sometimes a Bersa Thunder .380 loaded with good defensive ammo, and sometimes a Ruger SR9c.
I also keep a Stoeger Cougar 9mm for home defense. The Cobra would be my last resort, but I know it will fire well.

:dance3:
 
I'll say this. I've owned many guns. At one time I bought a hi point jhp 45. My initial range trip: it jammed every 2nd round. I sent it to hi point for repair. Got it back in 3 weeks. It shot fine. Maybe 1 jam out of a hundred rounds. I sold it in 2009. My take is not everyone has $400 - $500 to spend. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to protect your family. If you can only afford a hi point, I say buy a hi point. You can always save for something better. But protect yourself now. That gun on layaway is of no use if someone invades your home today. Just my thoughts.
 
I've had a Taurus PT 111 Millennium for years. Paid $340 for it brand new. Only had a problem with misfires once and that was with cheap ammo. Never had any problems with good ammo. Provides nice, tight grooping. I say, "why pay more?"
 
I used my Hi-point ModC 9mm to qualify for my Michigan CPL, for an inexpenisive full size autoloader it's a good gun that I would depend my life on. In fact I went out and bought the 995 carbine in 9mm and have a ball shooting it, the best $200 gun you can find!!! Either one is better than nothing!!! The model C is easier to shoot accurately than my Keltec P-11 in 9mm.
 
cluznar said:
Everybody keeps making jokes about the Hi Points and other inexpensive guns. But how bad are they really?
I purchased a Cobra FS .380 new for $108 because I wanted to see what an inexpensive gun was like.

Soon as I took it out of the hard case I racked the slide 100 times, flipped the safety off and on 50 times, and ejected the mag 75 times. After that I cleaned and lubed it, polished the feed ramp and went to the range.
The first 50 rounds I fired I had 3 FTL, a attempted double load and two jams while loading. After that I switched ammo, I had been using Blazer aluminum, switched to brass jacketed ammo. Had no more problems at all, this was all Ball ammo.

The gun has almost no recoil because of the weight of the gun. It does not shoot bad considering the sights are cheap all black sights. This Cobra is good enough for home defense or range, I would not carry it only because it is heavy and bulky.

I also have two friends who own Hi Points, they both tell me if you break it in well, polish the feed ramps and try some different ammo till you see which it likes best, that they are very dependable guns.

So am I recommending get a gun for a small price? No, but if you are on a crimped budget and need protection, then these guns can protect you.

Comments? :pleasantry:
Click to expand...

Go to 1911forums.com and visit some of the "high dollar" vendor boards. There's more than enough evidence there to prove the point that the price you pay does not dictate quality or reliability.

Can I get the same accuracy from my Taurus that I do from my Kimber? No. Not even close. But close enough.

The majority of the time I carry the Taurus because I'd rather sweat and mar the finish on it rather than the Kimber, and because I don't feel like I need to shoot all of my bullets through the same hole in a self defense situation. I can reliably get 4" groups out of the Taurus and I'm perfectly happy with that.

Taurus makes a little (and I mean *little*) .380 that they are selling now for 199 at Academy. I'm gonna pick up one of those to carry in my pocket. There might be a Rock Island 1911 in my future, too. Can't ever have too many 1911's.
 
Hi Points have their place.

Three years ago, I was "gun neutral". I owned a couple of 22's, a shotgun and a lever action rifle. My one handgun was a Thompson Contender. They sat in my safe for 15 years, untouched.

Then my wife says she wants a gun. We go to the LGS and we see the Hi-Points. They were priced right and I bought her the 9mm. On the way out of the store, I said, "What the heck" and bought myself the .40.

We enrolled in a handgun class and we were hooked. Our date nights became nights at the range. My kids (5 of them) joined in, we purchased a family membership to the local range and we now go there almost weekly. My kids and I frequently attend appleseeds. My daughters are excellent shots. My oldest daughter is in school and her boyfriend took her to the range for a date. He came away with a new "respect" for her!

Now, all of us, are members of the NRA, GOA, SAF and USCCA. I hold a CCW license and am a certified RSO. We take new shooters to the range almost monthly.

We have since purchased nicer firearms. However, I still have the Hi-Points and frequently take them to the range, they are surprisingly accurate but too heavy to be used for carry.

My point is this, if we had to put down 800-1000 for a couple of handguns 3 years ago, we would have passed. Instead, the Hi-Points were excellent beginner firearms. They were bulky enough that they reduced recoil and they are surprisingly accurate (more accurate than my full size M&P).

So, bash away on them. They are bulky, ugly, heavy and low capacity. But for me and mine, they hold a special place.
 
I've seen a lot of guns, while having a close affiliation with a gunsmith shop for several years -- we wouldn't even work on the high points, Jennings, Cobras, and a few others because of them being made from 'pot metal'. Over the years, we had handfuls of customers bring them in with cracked slides, frames, broken extractors (which can happen on any gun), and broken internals. The metal is cast from poor castings and not of high strength on most of these guns.

They are better than no gun at all, but my recommendation would be you purchase something of better quality as soon as you are able.
 
There's inexpensive and then there's junk. Not every firearm manufacturer can pull it off.

I have guns that cost less than $300 that I trust with my life just as much as my $1000 guns. Working guns shows and chatting with countless customers has given me quite a bit of insight. I also trust the FFL I work the shows with. In 20+ years of selling he's carried virtually every brand and he's weeded-out the junk based on customer feedback. No Hi-Point, no Jimenez, no Diamondback, no Jennings, and very few Taurus autos. He refuses to buy any used guns from various defunct companys like Davis and Raven. The "cheap" guns that have good customer feedback?? Kel-Tec ($230-280), and 1911s made by ATI, Rock Island, and Iver Johnson ($350-$500 - cheap for a 1911). That's about it.

Buy what you want but if you're going to use it for self defense you better be able to put several hundred rounds down the pipe w/o a failure.
 
I shoot IPSC and IDPA for fun competition. (In others words I am not a professional.) I have seen them ALL have issues. I have personally witnessed custom 1911s, Glocks (Yes, Glocks), Springers and numerous others have issues at different times.
Find one that works, keep it clean and run good ammo.

The biggest difference I have found is that when the "cheap" one breaks, it stays broken. When the expensive one breaks, it gets fixed.
So will a "cheap" gun do? Yes, if you will.
Just sayin. :happy:
 
If man makes it it may/shall/might/will break. .05 cents or five grand things wear out or break. How many 1950's Cadillacs or Fords do you see around?
 
B2Tall said:
There's inexpensive and then there's junk. Not every firearm manufacturer can pull it off.

I have guns that cost less than $300 that I trust with my life just as much as my $1000 guns. Working guns shows and chatting with countless customers has given me quite a bit of insight. I also trust the FFL I work the shows with. In 20+ years of selling he's carried virtually every brand and he's weeded-out the junk based on customer feedback. No Hi-Point, no Jimenez, no Diamondback, no Jennings, and very few Taurus autos. He refuses to buy any used guns from various defunct companys like Davis and Raven. The "cheap" guns that have good customer feedback?? Kel-Tec ($230-280), and 1911s made by ATI, Rock Island, and Iver Johnson ($350-$500 - cheap for a 1911). That's about it.

Buy what you want but if you're going to use it for self defense you better be able to put several hundred rounds down the pipe w/o a failure.
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Might want to go back and try a Taurus PT 1911. Accurate and hundreds of rounds downrange and still running fine. My guess is that he had experienced only earlier guns from Taurus, not current production ones.
 
Anything beats a brick.you just might get a few shots off. I've owned cheap, believe me I would do whatever AI had to do....even throw it to protect me and mine.
 
S&W645 said:
Might want to go back and try a Taurus PT 1911. Accurate and hundreds of rounds downrange and still running fine. My guess is that he had experienced only earlier guns from Taurus, not current production ones.
Click to expand...

Not trying to start an anti-Taurus/pro-Taurus battle here (I actually like their revolvers), but the boss decided to give them another try recently with a small (10-12 pistols) order. Nightmare from the start. 2 boxes mislabeled and one pistol incorrectly assembled - a 709 with a 740 slide on it. Amazing.

The firearms that any of us own as individuals represent a very, very small sample size (hence the people here who support Hi-Point). As a dealer who's yearly sales are measured in millions of dollars, he has a much larger sample size based on customer feedback.
 
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