Does anyone know if Hi Point hand guns are legal to own? I am not sure if they fall under the:

"handguns made of zinc allowing melting at less than 800 degrees F (the legal definition of “Saturday night special”), "

Dave

I wondered the same thing before, but, I think someone posted about one of their buddies owning one here in HI.  I doubt it's on any sort of banned list or that the pd would even question what it was made of.  icbw.

HiPoint handguns are not Saturday Night Specials.  You can't melt one in your oven, any more than you could melt a Glock.

Thanks guys. You can Melt them on a propane burner though. Slide is pot metal of some sort.



Thanks! I have a couple I use as range time. Other than ugly very accurate with .45 ACP reloads.

Experienced a few long before I moved here. They are very cheap to buy and quality, fit, finish are usually pretty bad. Meaning they usually are not very accurate and don't feed/eject properly quite often. I also shot one at Kokohead from a guy I befriended who was having problems with his feeding ball ammo properly. If I remember it was a .45. It is sad that someone wants to be into handguns and spends money on this crap.

They have a very distinctive look to them. I would see them on TV quite often after the police would confiscate them from all the gangs around L.A.

Is there a store on the island that carries them?

That's too bad. I would send it on life time warranty. I have probably 3K rounds through mine and never a failure. Yes very ugly but will do 1" - 1.5" groups at 10 yrds if you do your part. For 160.00 you can't go wrong I figure. :-)

Dave

Is there a store on the island that carries them?

Goodwill has some

That's too bad. I would send it on life time warranty. I have probably 3K rounds through mine and never a failure. Yes very ugly but will do 1" - 1.5" groups at 10 yrds if you do your part. For 160.00 you can't go wrong I figure. :-)

Dave

Sorry Microage not trying to dis your gun. But I have to say the ones I handled were pretty bad. Maybe yours is the rule and the ones I came across were the exceptions? Don't know.

What model, caliber and barrel length is yours?

Oh no you can certainly be down on them all you want. It is only one of many that I own and it is a functional tool, an ugly one at that. It is a 4.5" barrel. I am not sure if I have a "special" one or not, but they tend to be very accurate, the .45 model,  due to weight and fixed barrel. Certainly not something I would trust my life on by any means. I use it as a range gun to save my nice guns from getting beat up.

Micro-- They must be legal in HI as the gun shops in Hilo and Kona sell them (J-Hara Store, Hawaii Guns.com).  As long as they mags are 10 rounders they are OK.  Cheap and shetty but they go bang!

Thanks Bud and everyone! Awesome people here and really welcoming.

Can somebody explain to me if Hi-Points are legal?

I fail to see why they'd be legal, considering:
A. they are made of Zamak, by all sources I see;
B. Zamak melts below 800 F, by all sources I see;
and C. HI state law bans firearms that melt below 800 F.

§134-15 Restriction of materials for manufacture of
pistols or revolvers. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person,
including a licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or
licensed dealer, to possess, sell, or deliver any pistol or
revolver the frame or receiver of which is a die casting of zinc
alloy which has a melting temperature of less than 800 degrees
Fahrenheit.

Can somebody explain to me if Hi-Points are legal?

I fail to see why they'd be legal, considering:
A. they are made of Zamak, by all sources I see;
B. Zamak melts below 800 F, by all sources I see;
and C. HI state law bans firearms that melt below 800 F.

§134-15 Restriction of materials for manufacture of
pistols or revolvers. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person,
including a licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or
licensed dealer, to possess, sell, or deliver any pistol or
revolver the frame or receiver of which is a die casting of zinc
alloy which has a melting temperature of less than 800 degrees
Fahrenheit.

If I read that correctly, the law is specifically talking about the "frame or receiver of which is a die casting of zinc alloy."

Not all Hi-Point handguns are made from zinc alloy, but the slides of Hi-Point pistols are typically die cast from a zinc alloy known as Zamak-3.

The frames are made from polymer, while other components may use different materials.

You can have a Hi-Point as long as the frame is compliant.

Thanks, that makes sense. (Well, the law doesn't make any sense, but regardless...) The frame is the only part that matters, and as long as the frame is anything but a zinc alloy, it doesn't matter what its melting point is.


I gather the frame is indeed plastic.




For the follow-up question, the Heritage Rough Rider, being a revolver made of zinc, is definitely not legal, correct?

...[snip]...

For the follow-up question, the Heritage Rough Rider, being a revolver made of zinc, is definitely not legal, correct?

You would have to verify the frame has a melting point of less than 800 °F for it to be illegal.

According to this page:
https://www.americanelements.com/meltingpoint.html   ...

Zinc melts @ 787.15 °F

Aluminum-Zinc Alloy @ 720 °F

Arsenic-Zinc Alloy @ 1,859 °F

Magnesium-Zinc Alloy @ 648 °F

Nickel-Zinc Alloy @ 1,607 °F

So, the actual melting point for any Zinc alloy depends on the component elements and the proportions of each.

I looked at the Heritage website, and the Rough Rider revolvers all look like .22LR / .22WMR calibers.  The listed material of the frame is zinc alloy, which is ambiguous as to the material's used and the ratios.

To be safe, I would contact the manufacturer for specific melting temperatures.  You'd also need to provide that information to HPD if they question the firearm's compliance.

As for the law making sense, this zinc/melting point BS is a hold-over from the federal government's attempt to ban Saturday Night Specials.

The original intent was to ban tiny, cheap, small-caliber handguns which had been involved in the majority of crimes and which were mostly in poor neighborhoods.  The logic being, if you get rid of the most common gun used in crime, crime will go down.

The reality is, people started buying the next-most-affordable handguns -- 9mm.

The result?  Victims who used to survive being shot by a .22, .25. or even .32 caliber Saturday Night Special were now dying of their injuries.  A 9mm is more effective -- i.e. more lethal.

Unintended consequences, but not unforeseeable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_night_special

I know a guy who got a PTA and registered a hi point in the past 2 years.

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