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never cycle live ammo in a highpoint!!!!

Hi-Point 
22K views 29 replies 22 participants last post by  writerinmo 
#1 ·
you should never cycle live ammo in a gun that uses the fireing pin to extract the bullet.these guys are blaming it on not having the sear pin installed .lol glad the guy wasn't injured but this isn't the first time i seen or heard of a highpoint going off when someone is crazy enough to cycle live ammo in them.so as a word for the wise "NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER CYCLE LIVE AMMO TROUGH A HIGHPOINT NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they are great guns and go bang everytime even when you don't want them to go bang. so please spread the word and please make a sticky of this post so others won't try this.




http://www.hipointfirearmsforums.com/Forum/index.php/topic,41711.0.html
 
#4 ·
i 100 %agree with you on that one but this is a safety issue with highpoints being the gun uses the fireing pin to push the round out. the bad thing is when the rounds go off they are halfway out the chamber and the casing can explode and cause injury even if you have it pointed in a safe direction. i love my highpoints but this is the one and only thing i hate about them.it gives me a funny feeling if i have a dud round and have to eject it .
 
#6 ·
i didn't go to the site you posted but i wondered how the firing pin extracted the spent cartrage?
there is a fixed hook that grabs the round and when you pull the slide back or fire the gun the hook grabs the round and the fireing pin pushes it out. when you rack the slide back the fireing pin protrudes about 1/4 "out to push the caseing out .now the firing pin doesn't come out right away but when you get the slide about halfway back thats when the firing pin starts to come out to push on the back of the round to extract it .not a great design as long as you just chamber a round to fire it you have no problems but when you extract a live round the firing pin is pushing on the primer .maybe if you pull the slide slowly it won't fire the round but if you rack the slide back really fast it's just like pulling the trigger on the gun the bad thing is when the pin pushes on the round it's almost halfway out the chamber.i'll try to take some pictures of my highpoints with the slide racked back to show you.
 
#10 ·
It is NEVER a good idea to put a live round in the chamber or ANY firearm unless you are in a place where it is safe to fire the firearm AND the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction. Accidental discharges can happen to anyone not matter how experienced they are.

Sure, if one is going to CC a firearm it has to be loaded but still it should be pointed in a safe direction when rackin' a round into the chamber and making it safe for carry.
 
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#29 ·
It is NEVER a good idea to put a live round in the chamber or ANY firearm unless you are in a place where it is safe to fire the firearm AND the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction. Accidental discharges can happen to anyone not matter how experienced they are.

Sure, if one is going to CC a firearm it has to be loaded but still it should be pointed in a safe direction when rackin' a round into the chamber and making it safe for carry.
The problem i see is if you want to carry with a round chambered and then decide to unload the weapon without having fired it! seems to me like it could cause the round to go off when you are tying to SAFE the firearm by unloading it....
 
#12 ·
It looks like the firing pin and that thing that looks like a hook pinch it to hold onto the empty case and eject it (as seen in the 4th or last picture)? Ask me, I don't know. Just what it looks like? Either way, I agree with the "piss-poor" design comment.

But then, at a mere couple hundred bucks, you indeed do get what you pay for.
 
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#13 · (Edited)
The firing pin 'ejects' the extracted case. The hook is the extractor.
I agree, that is a potentially dangerous design.
Thanks, Tommy, for the insight.
The pics you posted prove your point.

I viewed the link...the guy must have had the pistol pointed at himself while he was fiddling around with it...now here is a true idiot who could have easily vacated his place from the family gene pool.
 
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#14 ·
The firing pin 'ejects' the extracted case. The hook is the extractor.
I agree, that is a potentially dangerous design.
Thanks, Tommy, for the insight.
The pics you posted prove your point.
I viewed the link...the guy must have had the pistol pointed at himself while he was fiddling around with it...now here is a true idiot who could have easily vacated his place from the family gene pool.
glad you put it in clearer words but yup dat was what i was saying .i'm a ******* bayou boy and not a great typer so sometimes i just can't find the right words.lolthe guns are pretty reliable atleast all of mine are but i never ran ammo through them because of this reason.if your gonna carry it loaded keep it loaded til you fire it .and if you do have to eject the live round it's best to have that gun pointed away from you and this means the chamber too because if you see he has powder burns on his hand and belly from the side of the gun and from the barrel.the guy in the pictures said he had the gun held close to his abdomen and across his belly.he was trying to be safe but done a unsafe thing.i have had a few ftf's with my guns but not many maybe one or two but when i did eject the round i did it very slowly.
 
#15 ·
Read the entire original post...

The roll pin was not in the gun while he was doing this.

When this is removed, the slide and slide retainer can move up and down. If it moves up just a fraction of an inch, the firing pin will clear the sear. Then when the slide is closed, the firing pin impacts the primer. It's very clear this is what happened since the picture of the cartridge shows that the primer has been pierced.

Can you imagine how fast you would have to cycle a slide to pierce the primer of a bullet that is just hanging on the bolt face by the extractor?

Is using the firing pin as an ejector the best way, no. Is it inherently unsafe, no. When you have to remove an unfired round, keep it pointed in a safe direction and do it carefully and you will be fine.
 
#16 ·
I aint saying that what tommy posted isn't true...but I never heard of this before. I have cycled live ammo through all 3 of the HPs I've owned and never had one go off. How the heck r u supposed to empty the gun then? dump the mag and fire the round in the chamber into a tree?

LOL maybe I avoided an accidental discharge quite a few times and didn't even know it.
 
#17 ·
if you rack the gun back slowly you should be ok but if you get frisky with it and really yank on it it will dent the primers.now looking at the gut on this guy he looks to be of a nice size so he could have yanked back on the slide really hard trying to run the rounds through it really fast .i think that is what he did . i have i have 6 highpoints and i have never had this happen to me but i don't really yank on it. i like my highpoints and plan on getting the .45 carbine but you have to use comon sense when messing with them.i have cycled rounds through it to empty the gun when shootng it but like i said i don't yank back really hard on the slide when i do it.the guy also did say he was useing reloads so there is no telling what kinda primers he reloaded with .i know there are some primers that have alot softer metal than others.and another way to look at it is the round could have went off with just a slight tap and then with the recoil of the round going off made the indention even more pronounced.
 
#18 ·
Wow- This is the first time I've heard of a weapon using the firing pin for an ejector too! Are there any other weapons out there that do the same? I guess that's something to keep an eye out for as I know I definitely don't care much for the idea considering your combining two higher wear parts into one.
 
#21 ·
Really think you'll always have that luxury? "Hark, I heareth a noise - I must load my trusty pistol!"

Better plan - load it, charge it, engage the safety, put it in a safe accessible place and don't coonfinger it. Unloaded guns are merely awkward clubs.
 
#22 ·
I've owned and worked on quite a few Hi Points. I think that the guy isn't telling the whole story. My first question would be, what in the world are you doing cycling live ammo in ANY pistol that doesn't have all it's parts installed? And second off, there isn't any "sear pin" on a Hi point. There is a retainer roll pin. Two pins that hold the barrel on. One pin that goes through the top of the trigger. One pin that holds the extractor in the slide.

The only way that you are going to discharge a round pulling the slide back is if (1) you're missing parts, or (2) if the firing pin channel so SO dirty that the firing pin is basically "sludged" to the slide and it binds up when the slide is retracted, but still, it would take one heck of a "yank" to fire a primer.

Sounds more like a guy that needs some basic firearm maintenance classes to me. They sell Hoppes for a reason...
 
#23 ·
I just checked my very cheap .25 cal Raven pistol. It uses the same extractor/firing pin ejection system. The extractor is at the top of the slide instead of on the right side as the Hi-Point. The firing pin protrudes approximately 3/8ths of an inch when the slide is fully retracted.

I have experienced numerous jams with this pistol, mostly FTFeed, and clearing the jams by racking the slide was normal. I never experienced a problem with the firing pin striking the primer. I don't shoot it very much anymore, so it is just in the safe.

I do plan on getting a .45 carbine. I think it would be a great asset. Thanks for listening.... Bobby
 
#27 ·
I'd almost be willing to bet that the primers this guy used on his reloads, were Federals, they are know to be made with soft primer cup material-- I have been handloading for over 60 years, own 9 Hi Points and never had a problem, but in the Lee reloading tools they specifically warn you NOT to use Federal primers in their priming tools! Most people don't realize how much power there is, in just the primer alone! I wouldn't want to be around when a whole tray of primers goes off--
Cheers,
Fred (Honcho)
 
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