Inspection of the innards revealed simple but effective construction. Then let the slide go fully forward, pull it back about half an inch, pull it upward and ease it off the barrel forward. Drive out this pin with a hammer and punch. This exposes a pin visible through the safety notch in the slide. Clear the gun, remove the magazine, and lock the slide fully rearward with the safety lever. The gun was thoroughly dehorned, with no sharp edges anywhere. There was a fully adjustable rear with two red dots, and an integral, clearly visible front that carried a yellow dot. It broke at 7.7 pounds, about right for a DAO-type handgun, and very similar in feel to a Kahr. The trigger was polymer, and worked well, we thought. The mag button was on the left, behind the trigger guard, about where it is on a 1911-type auto. The Hi-Point is striker fired, and it could not be fired with the magazine removed. The gun came with one eight-round magazine with a finger extension. The company website has a link for them, and with the great popularity of this pistol, you won’t have to look hard to find a decent holster. We thought you’d have a hard time finding a holster, but were wrong. The Hi-Point could be carried cocked and locked. Lefties would have problems with this gun, we thought. It moved up to lock the trigger, down to fire, and it was easily controlled by right-handers. The grip panels, and thus the whole gun, could be greatly improved by more roughness or texture, we thought, without adding expense. The slightly grainy surface got slicker when wet. We found the grip surfaces to be too slick, despite the serrations on the front and back straps and the molded-in, finger-position aids. The finish was extremely attractive and seemed to be durable as well. We expect to see more powder-coated handguns in the future. The big slide was coated with what looked like polymer or perhaps Teflon, but was in fact powder coat, which is an extremely durable paint-like process commonly used on faucets and other items designed to be handled a lot. It’s a blow-back handgun, so all that slide weight is necessary. Its matte-black slide was massive and heavy because there’s no barrel lockup. To add to the insult, it was top-heavy and, to some of us, clumsy in the hand-though some shooters liked the grip a lot. This was one of the homeliest handguns we’ve seen. We also tried several other types of ammunition including Cor-Bon 125-grain JHP and Ultramax 115-grain lead-bullet loads for function or potential problems, but didn’t report them formally. We shot for slow-fire accuracy at 15 yards from a solid rest, and for simulated self-defense fire with fast, controlled pairs from seven yards, using two hands. We tested these guns with Black Hills 147-grain JHP, Winchester 147-grain SXT JHP, and with Winchester 115-grain JHP ball. While not inexpensive, the Bersa has several desirable features that many higher-priced handguns don’t have, most notably its 17+1-shot capacity. It lists for $442, or less if you shop around.

Can you expect such a handgun to work, much less work well? Our second pistol was the High-Capacity Bersa Thunder 9, just recently available. The first handgun we chose was the Hi-Point C9 with a suggested retail price of $140, but commonly selling for around a C-note or even less. To find out, we chose two full-size 9mm pistols that might appeal to the buyer looking for a bargain. But we know many folks can’t justify spending even half that on a decent firearm. The more-costly versions can easily run well into four figures, but most decent 9mm autoloaders sell for under a grand. The handguns that shoot it are a different story altogether. Those with more experience know there are better self-defense rounds, but not many will argue that you can get ammunition for a 9mm at a cost far lower than most, if not all other, centerfire handgun cartridges. The 9mm cartridge continues to retain its immense popularity, and those with little experience with firearms take to it quite well.

High point gun jam