spacecoast
April 25, 2010, 05:18 PM
I took my new Hi-Point 9mm carbine, outfitted with a Center Point 3-9x32 scope, to the range for the first time today. This was in fact my first time at the range with any kind of scoped firearm.
The trip did not start off very well - I managed to drop the rifle getting it out of the trunk of the car and scarred up the stock pretty good, and the scope to a lesser extent - oh well, it's a Hi-Point, no harm done, right? :o
All shooting was done at 50 yards off sandbags with the fore grip folded up. The rifle started off about 8 inches to the right of where the scope was pointing but I had it relatively on target within 5 shots or so. All together I shot 250 rounds in about an hour of shooting until range close time. By that time my finger was getting a bit tired and the barrel and receiver shroud were quite warm.
Highlights - I had absolutely NO FEED PROBLEMS whatsoever using 75 factory rounds and 175 of my 9mm reloads. The factory ammo was the Federal Champion 115 gr. FMJ RN sold at Wal-Mart and my reloads were 115 gr. Berry's plated bullets with Accurate #2, Titegroup or Unique powder (tried all three).
Shortly after purchase last weekend, I disassembled the rifle for inspection and cleaning and discovered that the ramp had been painted with the same black paint used on many internal parts. I used 400 grit sandpaper to clean off the ramp (see before and after pics below). I am very happy about the reliability of the rifle, as I had read other accounts of the Hi-Point carbines not liking reloads at all. It was (and is) my hope that removing the paint and smoothing the ramp has made it reload-friendly.
Lowlights - accuracy was only so-so, probably because of my lack of skill and newness to rifle shooting. I tried to focus on holding steady and squeezing the trigger slowly, but the trigger is a bit heavy and I probably jerked it around some, even off the sandbags. The view through the scope was very clear and it was easy to see where I was hitting at 8-9x magnification. I probably put 1/3 of my shots within a 4" circle and 80% within an 8" circle at 50 yards. Hopefully I can do better with lots of practice. Accuracy seemed to get worse at the end, perhaps because the barrel, receiver and shroud were quite warm by that time. Ambient conditions today were 86 degrees and humid, with some breezy wind from an approaching front.
All in all, I am very happy with my $380+tax investment (rifle, scope, Weaver-compatible rings and 3 extra factory magazines), and look forward to a lot more practice. The scope and rings combination seemed to hold zero pretty well, other than the accuracy issues mentioned previously. I had one round that failed to fire, although the primer hit looked fine. I attributed this to a bad primer and did not try to re-shoot the round.
Afterthoughts / Questions -
Does a new barrel need break-in to reach consistency? Does a hot barrel reduce accuracy?
Would shooting a heavier, slower bullet improve accuracy? I'll be trying this soon. I don't have a chrony but my loading data causes me to think that I was shooting at anywhere from 1200-1400 fps out of the 16.5" barrel, which is maybe a little high for the plated bullets, although I didn't notice any debris when cleaning the barrel.
The bullets uniformly left a black footprint on the paper, which I haven't noticed before at the pistol range. Could this be an indication of a problem with the copper plating above 1200 fps?
The 10-round Hi-Point mags are easy to load by using only fingers, much more so than my Ruger P95 pistol mags.
I have seen some reports of finger-pinching by the stock bolt handle. I haven't seen that at all, it's easy to pull back.
Painted Ramp
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac115/spacecoast_guns/Hi-Point%20995TS/DSC01504.jpg
After 400 grit paper
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac115/spacecoast_guns/Hi-Point%20995TS/DSC01505.jpg
Rifle and scope combo
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac115/spacecoast_guns/Hi-Point%20995TS/DSC01510.jpg
The trip did not start off very well - I managed to drop the rifle getting it out of the trunk of the car and scarred up the stock pretty good, and the scope to a lesser extent - oh well, it's a Hi-Point, no harm done, right? :o
All shooting was done at 50 yards off sandbags with the fore grip folded up. The rifle started off about 8 inches to the right of where the scope was pointing but I had it relatively on target within 5 shots or so. All together I shot 250 rounds in about an hour of shooting until range close time. By that time my finger was getting a bit tired and the barrel and receiver shroud were quite warm.
Highlights - I had absolutely NO FEED PROBLEMS whatsoever using 75 factory rounds and 175 of my 9mm reloads. The factory ammo was the Federal Champion 115 gr. FMJ RN sold at Wal-Mart and my reloads were 115 gr. Berry's plated bullets with Accurate #2, Titegroup or Unique powder (tried all three).
Shortly after purchase last weekend, I disassembled the rifle for inspection and cleaning and discovered that the ramp had been painted with the same black paint used on many internal parts. I used 400 grit sandpaper to clean off the ramp (see before and after pics below). I am very happy about the reliability of the rifle, as I had read other accounts of the Hi-Point carbines not liking reloads at all. It was (and is) my hope that removing the paint and smoothing the ramp has made it reload-friendly.
Lowlights - accuracy was only so-so, probably because of my lack of skill and newness to rifle shooting. I tried to focus on holding steady and squeezing the trigger slowly, but the trigger is a bit heavy and I probably jerked it around some, even off the sandbags. The view through the scope was very clear and it was easy to see where I was hitting at 8-9x magnification. I probably put 1/3 of my shots within a 4" circle and 80% within an 8" circle at 50 yards. Hopefully I can do better with lots of practice. Accuracy seemed to get worse at the end, perhaps because the barrel, receiver and shroud were quite warm by that time. Ambient conditions today were 86 degrees and humid, with some breezy wind from an approaching front.
All in all, I am very happy with my $380+tax investment (rifle, scope, Weaver-compatible rings and 3 extra factory magazines), and look forward to a lot more practice. The scope and rings combination seemed to hold zero pretty well, other than the accuracy issues mentioned previously. I had one round that failed to fire, although the primer hit looked fine. I attributed this to a bad primer and did not try to re-shoot the round.
Afterthoughts / Questions -
Does a new barrel need break-in to reach consistency? Does a hot barrel reduce accuracy?
Would shooting a heavier, slower bullet improve accuracy? I'll be trying this soon. I don't have a chrony but my loading data causes me to think that I was shooting at anywhere from 1200-1400 fps out of the 16.5" barrel, which is maybe a little high for the plated bullets, although I didn't notice any debris when cleaning the barrel.
The bullets uniformly left a black footprint on the paper, which I haven't noticed before at the pistol range. Could this be an indication of a problem with the copper plating above 1200 fps?
The 10-round Hi-Point mags are easy to load by using only fingers, much more so than my Ruger P95 pistol mags.
I have seen some reports of finger-pinching by the stock bolt handle. I haven't seen that at all, it's easy to pull back.
Painted Ramp
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac115/spacecoast_guns/Hi-Point%20995TS/DSC01504.jpg
After 400 grit paper
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac115/spacecoast_guns/Hi-Point%20995TS/DSC01505.jpg
Rifle and scope combo
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac115/spacecoast_guns/Hi-Point%20995TS/DSC01510.jpg