Hi-Point Firearms Forums

therealsteamer · Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:34 am Post subject: Hi Point 995 - Review

I had this on the old board... Thought I'd repost it here....

The Hi-Point 995 carbine…..

Is a weapon with which the shooting public has a love / hate relationship… This ugly little carbine is a strangely attractive plastic, steel and zinc alloy collaboration. A culmination of simplicity and effectiveness… The 995 is not a high speed, high class, high dollar weapon… Essentially it is a very basic, blowback operated, pistol caliber carbine…

The design is one that affords ease of manufacturing and functionality… In all reality it does what it is supposed to..IF, and I must emphasize if, everything is set up as it is supposed to be…

My 995 was bought in the post 9/11 fervor that swept the country… The thought was to have a lightweight carbine that fired the same pistol caliber ammunition as my chosen sidearm… thus 9mm… At first it was a great little plinker… and it still is. The basic sights are just that, VERY basic.. An elevation adjustable front post and a rear peep sight that is both windage/elevation adjustable. I found the sights to be useable and effective although they never did sit right with me… Out of the box they needed very little tweaking to be dead on at 25 yards and after a little getting use to I could reliably hit my 5x8 dinger at 50 yards most every time… A few months and several hundred rounds after I purchased the 995 I removed the iron site platform and replaced it with the manufacturer provided scope rail. I have never gone back to the iron sights, having instead gone between a red dot and a fixed 4 power scope. Both have been very effective although the shooter does need to keep in mind that this rail is attached to the shroud that covers the bolt/slide. It is with this in mind that I can not seem to trust my optics after cleaning the carbine until I have test fired it...

After about 500 rounds I had an issue with a bent firing pin. I called the manufacturer and was sent a replacement pin and spring. It is my understanding that with a design change that took place a few years ago this is no longer an issue... The replacement firing pin is still going strong..

During a cleaning session after about 2k of Wolf ammo I noticed some cracking in the underside of the bolt. Both cracks were in the same place on opposite sides of the firing pin channel. After a brief contact with the Hi Point factory I sent the carbine in for repairs. In less than ten days I returned home from work one evening to find it on my front porch, left by the people in the brown truck. The factory techs went through the carbine from top to bottom, I mean they cleaned everything. Honestly it looked as if they took the serial number plate and put it on another carbine, the thing looked brand new. The factory even added two brand new 10 round magazines to the package “for my trouble”. Very thoughtful!! Now this is where things got kind of confusing. The handwritten paperwork that was returned with the carbine did not state exactly what caused the issue. I decided to call the factory and see if the repair technician was available. He was able to come to the phone in short order. He told me that the issue was the Wolf ammo I had been shooting. Something about the Wolf ammo being loaded to current military specifications. Essentially the Wolf ammo was “too hot”. This was confusing in that the carbine is advertised: “ALL Hi-Point Firearms are +P+ rated; they will handle all factory ammunition including Law Enforcement Only +P+ loads”. The Tech stated that Hi Point recommends that CCI Blazer be shot through their 9mm weapons. I bought one box of Blazer afterward…. Just one…

For the next few thousand rounds I shot a mix of commercial and handloads through the carbine. It performed very nicely during this time. I had no issues with anything I could stuff into a case. I even developed an 88gr GDHP screamer that in conjunction with a fixed 4 power scope was incredibly effective on “groundhog type” critters past 130 yards. Yep, in a 16” barreled carbine. It would perform the same duty at 100 yards with good 115gr handloads as well. For a time it would eat anything I could put into the magazines. Then one day, it seemed, it just stopped feeding worth a damn. It would fire the chambered round but it seemed as if every successive round would go “nose up” against the chamber with the bolt closing on it. Try as I might I could not get it to start feeding reliably at all. So off to the factory again….

When it was returned with a note saying they found nothing wrong with it I was very perplexed. They were nice enough to “go through it” again and include two new magazines once again “for my troubles”. And yet again the carbine looked brand new. On my first trip to the range it did the same thing. Most every round would go nose up out of the mag. At this point I was done with it. I packed everything related to the carbine in the case and put it “away”. I even gave serious thought to selling it. I left it alone for several months, all the while searching the internet for possible fixes or anything that might be related. Then one day I came across a forum thread in which the original poster had what sounded to be the same exact problem. Someone replied in the thread that the issue was caused by the feed lips on the magazine being open too far. Thus not directing the round up at a slight angle, but straight forward and then up. Now at this point I had 9 magazines for the carbine. The odds that all my mags had “spread feed lips” seemed pretty low, but I figured I would check them anyway. I was unable to get anything definitive on what the exact specifications for the fed lip’s clearance should be so I decided to make my own standard. After a small amount of experimenting I came up with the obvious. I used a 115gr WWB round as a guide to follow when using a pair of needlenose to bend the feed lips. When the round would just clear the lips I knew I was good. Needless to say that worked perfectly and I was back in action again. Oh happy day.

I have made a few modifications to my carbine and magazines that I feel have added to its effectiveness and usability. These work for me, but they may not be the best for you.
The first is the magazines. They fit flush, almost recessed, within the pistol grip of the 995. I had several instances where I thought I had seated the mag fully, only to find out that I had not. So, to remedy this I epoxied small wooden floor plate extentions to the bottom of each carbine magazine. This ensured that I could more effectively apply the needed pressure to lock the magazines in place.
I also added a piece of scope rail to the left front of the carbine. On this I have used a spare 1” scope ring to attach an LED flashlight. Using the “Steamer-rigged” forward grip it is very easy to activate the flashlight using your thumb.
The cocking handle is literally a hex head bolt that screws in to the carbine’s bolt. On the handle is a sleeve that is used to give the handle a “beefier” look/feel and is used to lock the bolt to the rear using a recess in the receiver cover housing. When I was having issues with the carbine not feeding properly I felt the need to pad the cocking handle a bit since I was using it more often. I used a rubber grommet from the hardware store that fit over the sleeve and added much needed bulk to the handle.

I currently keep a Red Dot sight on the carbine. This is, I have found, the best compromise for sighting. I have “toyed” with making a scope rail attached rear sight from the original factory rear sight. It can be done, but the factory scope rail does not have enough real estate to securely mount both the red dot AND a rear sight. If there comes to be an aftermarket scope rail that is considerably longer than the factory, this will open a whole host of other options. As it is I can see the front sight through the red dot tube, and have used this sighting “style” to satisfactory close in effectiveness.

OK … On with the pics…

This shows the left front of the weapon. The compensator is from Hi Point and does a decent job, I guess. To my feel and ears, it slightly lessens recoil and “redirects” the sound somewhat. What it really does, however, is give a mounting platform for the highpoint factory laser bracket. Now this bracket will coincidentally also hold the barrel/body of a Mini Maglight or Streamlight Jr. For about a year I had a Streamlight Jr. in the mount with a corded pressure switch replacing the tail cap. If you look to the rear of the current LED light you can see the “rough” side of the Velcro on the forestock where the pressure switch attached. The vertical grip is a home built contraption consisting of a 4” 5/16 bolt, various washers, a spare “paintball gun” grip, and some epoxy. Nothing spectacular, but it has been on there for a few years, has taken several beatings, and in the end it works…

Same view from the top…

Here is the receiver area of the 995 carbine. The receiver shroud and barrel shroud have both been painted with high temp engine paint and baked in our oven for several hours. This remedied the rust issue that was slowly developing on these parts. As you can see the magazine release is on the left side of the weapon and is easily reached with the right thumb when needed. I would like the scope rail to be a bit longer as it would afford the option of a back up rear sight should the red dot become inoperative at some inopportune moment. I have the lens covers on the red dot set up so that they flip open in the, as looking down the carbine, 4 o’clock position. This allows the covers to be damn near completely out of the line of sight during normal use. The safety is easily reached and operated with the thumb, although bending it out slightly allows for better presentation of the safety lever.

This is an angular view of the receiver area…

The butt stock, really the entire stock, appears to be “regular” plastic. I say this because it has a slight flex to it. It does not however feel flimsy as others have said, at least in my opinion. The factory butt stock mag holder, of years ago, is effective as a dual mag holder, but leaves a bit to be desired. First with continued firing (several mags rapidly) the magazines will walk forward out of the slots. However I have found that it serves very well as a storage area. I currently keep a pair of batteries for the red dot and the necessary tools for disassembly under the cover,.

This is a full length view of my 995 carbine…

Crappy close up of magazine extention…

In addition to the 3 mags in and on the carbine, I keep 6 additional mags in a pouch. This provides a decent amount of ammo in a small package, given the fact that 10 rounds is the maximum each mag can hold. There are higher capacity mags out there, but as of the time of this review they have not been proven reliable.

The 995 carbine is an inexpensive and effective weapon. Now it will not win any beauty contests but it does what it is supposed to. It is not a specialized SWAT carbine, but it does have a place in my home as a readily available “bump in the night” firearm and more if need be….
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SamW · Plinker Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 46 Location: Md

Good post. Where did you get the mag bags?
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Stryker1 · Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:09 pm Post subject:

Great info!!!
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therealsteamer · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:11 am Post subject:

PrimalSeal · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:28 am Post subject:

Moving to Hi-Point Reviews and Range Reports....

Excellent Post!
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