Review: Hi Point 995TS 9mm Carbine

The Hi Point 995TS Carbine is a well respected, inexpensive gun who’s only real fault is that it is ugly. Seriously ugly. It’s a pistol caliber carbine that’s the latest version of the “most hideously ugly gun ever made”.

The original Hi Point 9mm carbine was derisively known as the “Planet Of The Apes” gun because it looked like those horrible weapons the apes used in the old Charlton Heston film. Fortunately for the apes, Charlton was pro-gun at the time… but unfortunately for the apes, he was not very pro-ape.

ANYWAY…

Wearing optional laser, optional Magpul front grip and optional stock magazine holder

The latest version of the gun has a much more modern look, while still managing to remain one of the ugliest guns ever made. The question isn’t whether the gun is pretty… it isn’t… no, the question is “is the gun any good?”

Lets find out.

NOTE: I am reviewing the 9mm version of the carbine, there are also chamberings of .40 S&W and .45 ACP that are quite similar. Most things in this review also directly translate, although I cannot speak to compatibility between the other caliber’s carbine and pistol combination since I don’t own them and haven’t tested them.

Hi Point 995TS Philosophy Of Use:

Pistol caliber carbines are guns that are designed for close-in work, 100 yards or less. They are guns that are best employed in places like cities, where you don’t want bullets traveling on at lethal velocity past the intended target, and you don’t want over-penetration. Pistol carbines are an excellent “neighborhood protection” gun where a .223, 7.62×39 or .308 carries too much risk of collateral damage via over protection. Basically, one would use a pistol caliber carbine in situations similar to shotguns.

The strength of a pistol caliber carbine is when it is used as a combination with a backup pistol that uses the same magazines. In this case, the 995TS would be matched up with the 9mm Hi Point semi-auto. Is this good? I will come back to that later.

Most people would consider the “paring” of their guns an important feature, but in reality I don’t think it is… people who use these guns as their primary firearms are not going to be packing both, they are going to pack one or the other. That makes the 995TS a stand-alone weapon, and that’s just fine.

Other uses for the gun could be for varmint control, truck gun & plinking. The gun is too heavy to use as a pack gun, and the round is too light for big game hunting. The effective range of this carbine is 150 yards or less, with 100 yards being the “sweet spot”.

Hi Point 995TS Design:

It’s ugly.

It’s really ugly.

Heck, it’s FUGLY.

The only saving grace about the Hi Point 995TS’s looks is that it is not nearly as ugly as the original “Planet Of The Apes” version.

It’s also very well designed to do one thing… it goes bang every time you pull the trigger, and the bullet goes exactly where you are aiming. There’s a lot to be said for that.

The Hi Point 995TS is a heavy steel receiver carbine with a plastic stock. The stock contains a spring-loaded recoil system (unnecessary on the 9mm but actually useful on the .45 ACP version), and it is available with many different factory accessories. The standard configuration is with iron peep sights that are A) really huge, B) built to survive the apocalypse and C) actually quite good to shoot.

The gun is loaded via a 10-round magazine placed in the bottom of the grip. There is an optional “spare mag” holder that IMHO is a mandatory upgrade (see pictured below).

With an inexpensive accessory, the stock holds 2 extra 10-round mags in the butt. I consider this a “mandatory” option

It has several “mounting rails” including a rail across the top for optics to be mounted. This rail is not nearly as robust as I would like, and if you put heavy optics on it they don’t hold zero well. Me? I shoot mine with the iron sights, they work fine. They are hooded, fully adjustable and hold zero.

Note the thumb safety. It works OK, but it’s hard to reach with your thumb.

Unlike the “Planet Of The Apes” version, this gun comes with pins that pop out to disassemble it to clean. Cleaning the gun, frankly, sucks… it’s a PITA… but Hi Point recommends cleaning after 1500 rounds, and most people who buy one of these will never shoot 1500 rounds through their gun in it’s lifetime.

The stock is short, easy to shoulder and comfortable to use (even for newbie shooters). “Planet Of The Apes” gun owners can order a replacement for their butt-ugly stocks for $40 from the factory, see the Hi Point website for details.

One of the things to keep in mind is that this gun (the original “Planet Of The Apes” version) was designed to NOT be an “assault rifle”. It came out after the original “assault weapons” ban, and therefore many of the features of the gun were tailored to fit the new law, including the 10 round magazine.

Tale Of The Tape:

Stock: Polymer
Capacity: 10 rounds +1
Finish: Blued
Barrel Length: 16.5”
Overall Length: 31”
Front Sight: Post (enclosed)
Rear Sight: Peep (Rail mounted, enclosed)
Weight: 6.25 LBS empty

Ammunition:

It will shoot any 9mm ball or hollow point just fine. I generally put rotgut 9mm ComBloc (non-corrosive) through mine, it doesn’t care. The guns are +P rated.

Hi Point 995TS Magazines:

Here’s where my love fest with the Hi Point 995TS comes to a screeching stop.

1) Hi Point magazines suck.

2) Aftermarket 15 round magazines for the Hi Point 995TS REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY STINK. Like… REALLY…

3) Even though I (and everybody else) will tell you that the 15 round ProMag magazines suck, if you buy a Hi Point 995TS you are probably going to ignore what we say and get one of those 15 round magazines thinking “they can’t really be all THAT bad”…

4) We will laugh at you when you come back and admit that, yeah, they really CAN be that bad… because we got laughed at by the guys we didn’t listen to before we bought ours.

The biggest problem I have with the 995 is one of the reasons it exists, that 10 round mag. 10 rounds IS NOT ENOUGH for a home defense carbine. ALL of the other home defense carbines have the option for factory-produced (or Glock/Sig factory produced) mags for their guns. Hi Point 995TS owners get the choice of crappy Hi Point 10 round mags or… well, really nothing, since one would have to be an idiot to trust their life to one of those jamtastic ProMag 15 round abortions.

What are they thinking?

I have no idea why the factory does not make higher capacity magazines for this gun, a 15 should be easy to do.

The problem with Hi Point mags is the feed lips, they tend to get bent easily which causes jams. Pretty much everything else about the Hi Point design is extremely reliable, but the mags are the weak point… and since the mags are the heart of a semi-auto gun system, that’s a concern.

The second part of the mag question is do the carbine mags fit and function in the 9mm Hi Point hand guns. I give this a “qualified” yes. Mine do. All of my mags are the latest design, and they work in my 9mm Hi Points flawlessly… Not everybody reports the same results.

I would recommend that you try yours out extensively yourself before trusting it.

One very nice mag/gun feature is that you do get last-round lock-open.

Shooting & Action:

This gun is balls-on accurate to 100 yards. I don’t shoot it over 100 yards, this is a close in defensive gun. If you want a gun for more than 100 yards, get one that is made for those distances, this one isn’t.

I like the stock iron sights, they work great and present a really nice sight picture. I would recommend just staying with irons on this gun, if you need to have further assistance consider throwing a laser or light (or both) on it.

Irons, and yeah, that’s where zero really is on this gun…

The recoil spring thingy? Yeah, it’s OK. Doesn’t really matter on the 9mm version, and it looks kinda cool. A gun this ugly needs something cool going for it.

The trigger blows. It’s jerky and not smooth at all. Mine pulls at about 6 pounds, but not in a good way… it’s hard to describe, it just isn’t a good part of the gun.

The Hi Point 995TS is not ambi, but the charging handle is on the left hand side. Not really a “problem” it’s just different. You can get a “thingy” that moves this over to the right side, but I don’t worry about it. The charging handle’s rotating part can be engaged into an indentation to hold the bolt open for cleaning/range safety. Works fine.

The gun shoots out as you would expect it, nice 2-3 inch groupings hand held at 100 yards with optics in a vise, you milage will vary with open sights (depending on your skill as a shooter and eyesight). It’s a great little gun for plinking, and walking around.

The Bottom Line:

The Hi Point 995TS Carbine is kind of an odd duck… it’s probably best used as a home-defense kind of a gun, and it’s in a price range that nearly everybody can afford ($297 list, $275 street, many used guns available cheaper, especially “Planet Of The Apes” versions).

If I had $300 to spend would I buy this gun as my primary home defense weapon? No, I would buy a Mossberg Maverick 88 18.5 inch extended mag riot gun and fit it out with 00 buck or whatever works best in my home situation.

Just saying what I would do. I own 3 of these Hi Points (one I bought dirt cheap wearing an ATI take-off of a Beretta Cx4 Storm stock fitted with a red dot), and I like them very much, but… if I was on that much of a budget, I think home defense would be best served by a pump shotty.