Hi-Point JXP 10 Semiauto 10mm Pistol: Big Iron

A couple decades ago, the 10mm appeared to be fading into obscurity, but a handful of dedicated users saw the value in this potent cartridge. Now the 10mm is enjoying something of a renaissance, and most major semiauto pistol manufacturers offer at least one 10mm in their lineups. You can now add Hi-Point Firearms to that list with its introduction of the JXP 10, a formidable 10mm semiauto with lots of desirable features.

Hi-Point’s JXP 10 is a blowback-operated, striker-fired semiauto. The slide is made from a material known as Zamak 3, which is an alloy of zinc and aluminum that is relatively affordable, easy to cast and offers good dimensional stability. The JXP 10’s Zamak slide comes with a matte black powder-coated finish, and it has both front and rear slide serrations.

The Hi-Point’s slide features an ejection port on the right side of the pistol with an exterior extractor located just behind the ejection port. There’s also a viewing port located at the rear of the chamber area, where you can easily see whether or not there is a cartridge in the chamber.

The JXP 10’s alloy steel barrel is fixed to the high-impact polymer frame. The barrel measures 5.2 inches long and is threaded .578x28, which is common for .45 ACP pistols, so the Hi-Point is compatible with a variety of suppressor mounts and muzzle brakes.

There’s a four-slot Picatinny accessory rail located under the barrel for mounting lights, lasers and other accessories. The gun is also available in a non-threaded version, the JXP 10 NTB.

The Hi-Point’s iron sights differ from those found on many other pistols, and they’re sturdy and versatile. The rear notch sight is windage- and elevation-adjustable, and it can be removed and replaced with the included rear aperture, and there’s also a rail that can replace the rear sights, allowing you to mount optics. The front sight is interchangeable with Glock sights, which means there are lots of aftermarket options, but the standard notch rear/post front layout is functional. The red-painted squares on the rear sight and bright yellow paint on the front sight are highly visible. Both the aperture and notch rear sights and front sight are made of polymer.

The textured grips are polymer and feature the Hi-Point stylized “H” logo at the bottom, and they offer plenty of room for shooters with really large hands, especially with the magazine extension. Speaking of magazines, the JXP 10 uses the same metal 10-round mags that work in Hi-Point’s 10mm carbine.

As you might expect from Hi-Point, the American-made JXP 10 is an affordably priced $225, which is well below most other 10mm semiautos on the market. For comparison, Springfield’s XD-M Elite 4.5-inch 10mm goes for $653, while Smith & Wesson’s M&P 10mm with an optics-ready slide comes in at $659.

The JXP 10 doesn’t have the svelte, sculpted lines of those other pistols, and it’s considerably heavier. The Smith & Wesson weighs around 28 ounces, and the Springfield comes in at 31 ounces unloaded. The JXP 10 tips the scales at a whopping 49 ounces unloaded, the same as a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum with a 5.5-inch barrel. That weight helps tame the 10mm round’s recoil, but it also makes the JXP a heavy pistol and one that you’re not likely to carry concealed all day.

The JXP 10 features a familiar control layout, with one major exception: It lacks a traditional slide lock.

You can lock the slide by pulling it rearward when the magazine is empty, and without a mag in place you can retract the slide until the safety selector aligns with a cutout in the slide and move the manual safety into the upward, Safe position. Moving the safety into that slot will lock back the slide.

To place the manual thumb safety in the Fire position, it must be pressed downward. Travel between the Safe and Fire positions is rather long and not as positive as on many competing pistols. The other control on this pistol is a magazine release button located on the left side of the gun.

In addition to the manual safety, there are also several passive safeties, including a magazine disconnect and a pair of internal drop safeties. One is a sear block with a spring-loaded plate that prevents the pistol from firing if it is dropped on the rear of the slide. The other is a counterweight that counteracts sear movement if the pistol’s grip frame strikes the ground or another hard object.

The skeletonized polymer trigger does not have the blade common to other striker-fired pistols. Trigger pull averaged 7.3 pounds.

Disassembly of the JXP 10 isn’t particularly difficult, but it’s a different process than with many other striker-fired guns. With the gun unloaded, remove the magazine and visually inspect the chamber to make certain there are no rounds in the gun.

Lock the slide back using the manual safety and, using a 1/8-inch non-marring punch, press the slide retaining pin, which is visible at the rear of the frame. Push it toward the right side of the pistol until it is free from the gun.

Replace the empty magazine and lower the slide by placing the manual safety lever in the Fire position. After double-checking to make certain the gun is unloaded and while maintaining the muzzle in a safe direction, press the trigger to release the striker.

Next, remove the magazine, pull the slide slightly rearward, lift up the rear of the slide and move it forward to release. With the slide off, the recoil spring, guide rod and firing pin can be easily removed. It’s not as simple as a Smith & Wesson, SIG or Springfield, but disassembly doesn’t require a mechanical engineering degree, either.

With an overall length of 8.5 inches and a height of roughly 5.5 inches— about 6.3 inches high with the magazine and extended base plate in place—the JXP 10 is a robust pistol. It is the same length as SIG’s P320 XTen, about a half inch longer than the M&P10, and almost a full inch longer than the Springfield XD-M Elite 10mm. At 1.4 inches it’s wider than those as well, as those guns are 1.2 to 1.3 inches wide.

Hi-Point includes some useful extras in the box: a trigger lock, aperture sight, wrenches, a top rail and a manual. There are detailed instructions on how to install the aperture sight, and the manual is written in plain English that is easy to follow and understand.

The Hi-Point’s bore axis is relatively high, and that combined with the width make this gun feel large in the hand. But the added size and weight of this pistol are actually beneficial when shooting full-house 10mm loads.

I’ve tested about a half-dozen 10mm pistols in recent months, and all recoiled noticeably more than the JXP 10. Of course, all were lighter and easier to pack around. If I were looking for a 10mm to carry for bear defense in steep, rugged country, the JXP 10mm wouldn’t be my first choice, but it would work fine, and thanks to its heft it’s a suitable target/plinking gun.

You can argue against the Hi-Point’s blocky, top-heavy looks, but it’s impossible to argue with this gun’s reliability. During test firing, the Hi-Point had zero issues and, most impressively to me, the slide locked open when the last round was fired, even when it was fresh out of the box—something that higher-priced pistols don’t always do.

Accuracy figures were also impressive. There’s little doubt that’s because the JXP 10’s barrel remains fixed in the polymer frame. Unlike tilt-barrel guns with barrels that move with each shot, the Hi-Point’s barrel remains fixed relative to the rest of the gun.

When I removed the top aperture sight and replaced it with a Viridian RFX25 three-m.o.a. green dot sight, I consistently achieved five-shot groups between 2.0 and 2.25 inches at 25 yards from sandbags.

Whitetail regulations in my home state of Ohio allow the use of 10mm pistols with five-inch barrels. With a quality optic and good hunting ammo, the JXP 10 would be a great, low-cost entry into the world of handgun hunting for deer and hogs, as long as ranges were kept short. And the threaded barrel offers you the option of cutting noise and recoil even more by adding a suppressor.

The aperture and notch rear sights work fine for most applications, but they don’t allow you to tap into the JXP 10’s potential the way a reflex sight does. Nevertheless, the open sights are suitable for target shooting and self-defense.

Making windage adjustments is relatively simple thanks to the screw system, and removing the sight altogether is simple as well.

My quibbles with this gun are few. The safety is small and can be difficult to access, and the top rear portion of the polymer grip jabs the hand when shooting. I started shooting with gloves after the first half-dozen or so rounds.

The stamping on the slide and the chamber isn’t particularly clean, and the gun is heavier and more difficult to disassemble than competing pistols.

My biggest complaint is that the trigger is curved, and the base of the trigger face digs into the finger while firing.

However, if you’re interested in a 10mm but don’t want to invest more than $600, the $225 Hi-Point is simply impossible to beat. It’s a bit brickish in profile and weighs a lot, but it does go bang every time you pull the trigger, and it’s surprisingly accurate.

I really like having multiple sight options as well, and if you go all in with Hi-Point, you can get the company’s 10mm carbine and share magazines between those two guns.

Some shooters will turn up their noses at the American-made JXP 10, simply because of its low price. Gun writers aren’t immune from brand snobbery, and I tried to evaluate the Hi-Point from a neutral perspective.

It brought to mind my own experience buying a bicycle a couple years ago. Alarmed at how quickly my middle-aged midsection was expanding, I walked into a bike shop and asked for their most basic model. The shop owner, obviously a bike aficionado himself, tried to set me up with a model that cost around $2,000. He was aghast when I settled on the $350 model—the cheapest bike in the store that didn’t have a pink seat and tassels on the handlebars.

That $350 bike suits me fine. Similarly, the $225 JXP 10 offers everything many shooters need—except the high price tag.

HI-POINT JXP 10 SPECIFICATIONS

• TYPE: Blowback-operated, striker-fired semiauto
• CALIBER: 10mm Auto
• CAPACITY: 10
• BARREL: 5.2 in., threaded .578x28 (as tested)
• OAL/HEIGHT/WIDTH: 8.5/6.3/1.4 in.
• WEIGHT: 49 oz.
• CONSTRUCTION: matte black, powder-coat-finished Zamak 3 slide; black polymer frame w/textured polymer grips
• TRIGGER: 7.4 lb. pull (measured)
• SIGHTS: adjustable rear notch or ghost ring rear; green fiber-optic front; 5-slot top rail included
• PRICE: $225
• MANUFACTURER: Hi-Point Firearms, Hi-PointFirearms.com

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