Hi-Point 10mm Carbine – Video Review

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- With 10mm seeming to become more and more popular every year with a small portion of the shooting community it was only a matter of time before Hi-Point launched a long gun in the caliber. The Hi-Point 10mm Carbine is more or less just their standard carbine that has been rechambered with the right spring for 10mm. It shares all of the same features as the inexpensive carbines that we have enjoyed for years and have come to know as pretty dang reliable, but ultimately kinda ugly.

While it may not be the sexiest firearm on the planet, it goes bang every time that you pull the trigger.

Note: Total ammunition shot through this rifle was 600 rounds of 10mm. The breakdown of the ammo used is as follows, 200 rounds Remington UMC 180-Grain FMJ, 300 rounds Armscor 180-Grain FMJ, and 100 rounds Sellier & Bellot 180-Grain JHP. 

Features & First Impressions

The Hi-Point 10mm Carbine also called the Hi-Point 1095TS weighs in at 7 pounds unloaded and has a pretty handy overall length of 32″ with a 17.5″ barrel. The model that I received for review was the all black model with the all-weather molded polymer stock.

The rifle came with fully adjustable sights from the factory that I immediately removed to mount the Aimpoint Comp M4s that normally resides on one of my AR-15s. I should note that I had to widen the rail slot to accommodate the Mil-Std 1913 mount on my Aimpoint because all of the rails on the Hi-Point 10mm Carbine are Weaver spec. Not that big of a deal.

The rifle does have an internal recoil buffer built right into the stock that should soak up some recoil. I personally didn’t notice if it was effective or not since I pulled the rifle into my shoulder pretty tightly. It is interesting that they felt it to be a needed feature. Hi-Point also fits a soft rubber cheek piece on the rifle with some adhesive that I have since removed. I found that the soft rubber did a great job of pulling at my facial hair during the recoil cycle.

If you want to hang a suppressor from the barrel you are in luck! Hi-Point has threaded the barrel for .578×24 muzzle brakes and suppressor adaptors. As one might expect I spun the included thread protector off and mounted my Silencerco Octane .45 to the 10mm carbine.

Hi-Point also has included an “easy to use” thumb safety, a grip mounted magazine release, a 10-round magazine, a flat black receiver shroud, and a last round bolt hold open.

As with all other Hi-Point firearms, the 10mm carbine is covered under their no questions asked lifetime warranty.

Field Stripping The Hi-Point 10mm Carbine

I admittedly have never take a Hi-Point Carbine apart so I turned to YouTube for a how-to video. Sure, I could have read the manual and figured it out but something about watching someone else do it is just a bit easier to follow.

Here is the video that I used when taking the rifle apart

Range Time

Over the 600 rounds I put through the Hi-Point 10mm Carbine I got to know the rifle pretty well. Given the Hi-Point Carbine’s street price of right around $300 I gave the rifle a bit more leeway when it came to fit and finish, trigger pull, and other things that one might look at to judge a firearm’s build quality.

Shooting the Hi-Point 10mm Carbine

Shooting the Hi-Point 10mm Carbine was rather pleasant and I found the rifle to be adequately accurate. I mean, it isn’t a precision rifle by any means but it does go bang every time and can easily land rounds onto a target at 50-yards. I did take some shots at 100-yards and connected most of the shots taken from a standing position.

I am not really sure if the spring loaded stock was why the recoil was so manageable or if it was because I had a suppressor mounted for most of the shooting I did with the carbine. I found the rifle’s recoil was in line with what I have experienced while shooting 9mm AR carbines which was a pleasant surprise.

I found that the rifle ran suppressed really well with all 600 rounds being fired through my Silencerco Octane 45 HD. Blowback was minimal but I would say that shooting the rifle without ear protection was not advisable. It was obviously not hearing safe in the least but I blame the fast-moving 10mm bullets for that and not the rifle.

My only gripe about my time on the range with the Hi-Point 10mm Carbine is that when loading a fresh magazine into the rifle and pulling the bolt back to let it fly into battery it often did not have enough oomph to chamber the first round. I am sure that with the magazines becoming worn from use that this problem would disappear entirely.

The Hi-Point’s Controls

The controls on the rifle such as the trigger, safety, bolt catch, and mag release are certainly crude, but serviceable. I found the trigger to be a bit heavier than I would have liked with some creep, but again, the street price of the rifle kind of offsets the build quality.

The mag release was particularly hard to use without using your support hand to hit the button then strip the mag out of the rifle. Sure the mag drops free most of the time but if my hand is already there, why not strip it out to ensure it clears the mag well? The safety was very hard to use with the primary hand and either required me to alter my grip or use my support hand to either flip the safety on or off.

Hi-Point uses what appears to be a pretty standard bolt and a sleeve for the bolt handle. When you want to lock the bolt to the rear you retract the bolt fully then slide the sleeve into a circular recess in the slot for the reciprocating charging handle. While the sleeve proved to be a bit of a pain sometimes the bolt hold open was effective.

Conclusion

Do I think that the Hi-Point 10mm Carbine is worth the $300 street price? Yeah, I actually do.

When you take a good hard look at what the rifle offers potential buyers it is hard to overlook the value in the bargain-priced firearm. Sure I had a good time poking fun at the rifle in the video but let’s be real here, it is effective, cheap, and reliable. There isn’t a whole lot that one can ask of a firearm that can be bought for a third of the price of other pistol caliber carbines.

My only gripes about the firearm are either easy to rectify through shooting it or peeling that rubber cheek pad off the rifle. At the end of the day, it is still a bargain-priced pistol caliber carbine that packs one hell of a punch.

About Patrick R.

Patrick is a firearms enthusiast that values the quest for not only the best possible gear setup but also pragmatic ways to improve his shooting skills across a wide range of disciplines. He values truthful, honest information above all else and had committed to cutting through marketing fluff to deliver the truth. You can find the rest of his work on FirearmRack.com as well as on the YouTube channel Firearm Rack or Instagram at @thepatrickroberts.