I am a firm believer that two is one and one is none. I had been looking for another .45 ACP to compliment my Rock River 1911 which, aside, I am very pleased with. At one time I had a Glock 36 that I sold when I needed some money, or thought I did, and I still have the holster. Can’t let that go to waste, right? However, I began to think of a pistol-caliber carbine. I, and many others, believe it is a good idea to have a handgun and a rifle in the same chambering. This point of view dates to the old west where it was very desirable to have a handgun and rifle that fired the same cartridge. There are not many carbines or rifles chambered in .45 ACP, and some of them are very expensive. Like almost everyone else on SurvivalBlog, I want to make my gun and ammunition budget go as far as possible.
Looking around on the internet I read good things about the Hi Point 4595, reasonably priced, good customer service, lifetime warranty to not only first but subsequent owners and most of all reliable. Some years ago I owned an early Hi Point 995 in 9mm, liked it even though it’s appearance was kind of out there, it was sometimes referred to as the Planet of the Apes gun, and I knew the positive things I’ve heard about Hi Point are true.
Now, I cannot say the 4595 is the most beautiful firearm in the safe, and I’m kind of a traditional sort of guy, but the good things about the 4595 outweigh its somewhat radical appearance. I’m not into all the tactical devices that can be mounted but if you’re into that kind of thing there are rails provided with additional rails available. Iron sights are my preference, but my vision is deteriorating in my right eye and I may have to consider a scope that is available from Hi Point in 4X, or a red dot of some sort. I’d rather not have to learn to shoot left-eyed but it may come to that.
Influencing my decision was we can reload .45 ACP, making range time more enjoyable. I began watching our excellent local gun shop for the 4595. As we all know the supply of guns is limited these days. A couple weeks ago they had a used one hanging on the wall favorably priced vs new, and it had fifty bucks worth of extras, two extra magazines and a magazine holder, with it. I bought it before someone else did. Being used there was no manual with it. but Hi Point has these on line (and it needs to be read, and a hard copy retained), and the special disassembly tool and sling were not with it, but these are available on the website. The disassembly tool is not an absolute necessity.
Speaking of disassembly, this is a negative for the 4595. Hi Point does not recommend frequent disassembly. Most of us can disassemble a Glock or a 1911 in half a minute, the 4595 is going to take a while, maybe ten minutes or so. I’m probably going to clean the bore every trip to the range, but only completely disassemble every few hundred rounds. There are several videos on line that are most helpful. Personally, I need to start a illustrated reference book for dis and reassembly of my firearms for the day that online videos may not be available. Sometimes I can’t remember how to take a Mosin bolt apart and that’s about as easy as it gets. Removal of the bolt is by sliding forward off the front of the barrel, but, this cannot be done without removing the front sight, which is gonna screw up your zero, so just move it forward out of the way and clean around it. This won’t be a problem if you add a scope or red dot and remove the front sight.
Some will consider the nine-round magazine capacity a negative. But this does not particularly bother me, especially as there are two more mags ready in the optional stock mounted mag holder which, by the way, you might think gets in the way of cheek to spot weld, but you never know it’s there. The mags are single stack, a reliability plus. Glock seems to make the double-stack work first-time, every time, but many consider single stack mags more reliable. Hi Point has an extended capacity magazine available.
Ergonomics aren’t perfect, but okay. The magazine release is fairly easy to reach, safety is a bit of a stretch but not bad. The slotted texture of the forearm is different, but it didn’t bother me during shooting, and a folding vertical grip with a smoother surface texture is available from Hi Point. The bolt operating handle is a little short, but longer ones are available. The charging handle can be installed either side. A drop of blue Loctite on the threads is a good idea.
This being a straight blowback action, recoil is as much of a function of the rather large bolt reciprocating as it is the actual firing of the round. There is a very effective recoil buffer incorporated into the butt pad, and only the most recoil sensitive would be bothered by it.
So, we get the mother-may-I paperwork done/ Fortunately here in Kentucky a show of the CCW means you don’t have to wait around for approval. I paid the man and brought her home. This being a used gun I took it apart for cleaning and inspection with the help of the manual and online videos. This had obviously not been done as the bore was dirty, but everything cleaned up and functioned properly, it did not appear to have been fired much.
To the range, our local gun shop has a 25-yard indoor range which will suffice for most handgun caliber work. From what I had read, and given the .45 ACP ballistic chart, which is for a 5” barrel, I decided I’d zero at 15 yds, which should make point of impact a little high at 25 yds and a near bullseye at 50 yds. First shots were low and left maybe 3”. The front sight can easily be moved for coarse adjustment for both windage and elevation, remember, the front sight is moved opposite the desired direction. The rear sight is easily adjustable with a small screwdriver, adjustment direction is the same as the desired direction.
Coarse windage adjustment of the front sight is done by loosening two set screws under the sight and rotating left or right a little bit, elevation is by loosening a hex head bolt at the front of the sight and moving up or down. Once close the fine adjustment at the rear sight can be adjusted. Satisfied with knockin’ the bull out of the target at 15 yards, out to 25 yards point of impact was about an inch and a half high. Hopefully, we can get to a longer range soon and try on targets of 50 or 100 yards.
I hope my experiences with the Hi Point 4595 is helpful to anyone who might be considering a .45 ACP carbine.