There is no question that Hi-Point firearms have made a name for themselves by providing law-abiding citizens with affordable and functional firearms. With an average out the door price of about $150, the pistol can provide those in dire need of a self-defense weapon with a working solution. However, 3D printers may have just undercut the budget firearm manufacturer with their new 3D printed Hi-Point clone.

3D Printed Hi-Point

3D Printed Hi-Point

A man who goes by the name ctrlpew on twitter and Instagram has helped develop what could possibly be the cheapest pistol in existence. After he and a group of other keybase users saw that Hi-Point C9 parts kits were on sale for just $30, they joked about making the world’s cheapest gun ever even cheaper. Ctrlpew decided to borrow a C9 from a friend and got to work picking apart the internals to see how it works. In his words, the design actually lends itself perfectly to being 3D printed.

For a dirt-cheap gun it actually has a surprisingly robust operating system and some clever engineering which would translate very nicely into a printable frame.

I began to CAD using the OEM frame as a base 3 months ago (https://www.instagram.com/p/B2pUml2nJ7r/). Progress was visually exciting for the first few weeks but once the basic shape was done it became a grind of moving a hole by 1mm in one direction or another (https://www.instagram.com/p/B24xgc9Bi6X/). Right up until a month ago when I finally had a model that was capable of being fired(https://www.instagram.com/p/B4AVVq2n5gV/) , and with the first firing came the opening of the closed alpha test team.

Testing the Worlds Cheapest Gun

Ctrlpew took his success and decided to have it peer-reviewed by a select group of individuals. In fact, this whole thing was brought to my attention by one such Alpha Tester who goes by the name of incarbonite1  on Reddit. You’ll remember him from a post we made several months ago about a fully 3D printed AR-15 22 caliber rifle.

Testing a 3D printed Hi Point C9. Frame is the lopoint by ctrlpew on keybase. from GunnitRust

Now nicknamed the “Lopoint” the pistol has seemed to hold up beautifully between all users of the Alpha Test group. Each member of the Alpha team tested a slightly different version of the Lopoint, by that we mean each one was a different color.

The above Alpha test print was dubbed the “BanannaGat” while the one pictured below was named the “MidasPoint”

3D Printed Hi-Point – The Golden “MidasPoint”

Time and Cost

In an earlier article, we compared the Hi-Point line of 9mm firearms to the historic FP45 Liberator. Both guns were cheap but even adjusted for inflation the FP45 would still be several orders of magnitude cheaper. The Lopoint pistol might actually be better suited to the role of a modern liberator as the total print cost for the frame is $3, combine that with a $30 build kit and you have yourself a $33 print.

Total print time according to ctrlpew takes about 10 hours with a seasoned and skilled printer using an Ender 3 Printer which retails for about $225.  Each roll of PLA+ Filament costs about $20. Less experienced printers have reported that the total print time can be up to 20 hours.

One downside to the recent buying up of Hi-Point C9 Parts kits is that they are now inflating in price. Ctrlpew said the first 4 parts kits cost right around $30 and now they are jumping in price on Gunbroker for about $80 to $100. I found this lot of parts kits for sale with a buy it now price of $400 but it’s possible it could go for less.

Making improvements and planning for the future

With 3D printing, you’re not just limited to what already exists. 3D printers have the option of expanding and improving on already existing designs.

During all of this several people mentioned adding the rail to the frame. I had initially thought to leave this for a later revision but who doesn’t like a good pistol rail? So with proof on the frame function delivered we transitioned from closed alpha to keybase beta test and released the first version of the railed frame to that group last week.

This was the result. Absolutely Fantastic.

3D Printed Hi-Point – “Hey bro I heart you like pistol mounted optics”

Ctrlpew plans on further refining the design of the Lopoint pistol. Next up he wants to design the pistol to accept Glock 43 magazines giving the user a 10+1 capacity. Along with making it compatible with Glock 43 magazines, he also wants to design and develop 3D printed Glock 43 mags like has been done with the Extendez Glock magazines.

Soon after the goal for the Lopoint is to convert every OEM part possible into a 3D printed part. This will hopefully reduce the overall cost further as well as make the firearm more accessible. Eventually, he plans on coming out with a Pistol Brace compatible version as well further increasing the utility and versatility of the Lopoint.

It’s a meme tier firearm designed to remind us to laugh a little even when our rights and liberties are being threatened daily. It has a total material cost of $33 and can be printed in pumpkin spice orange with a Picatinny rail. What’s not to love?

Big thanks to Ctrlpew for all the information and pictures used in this article. Be sure to check out his social media accounts to keep track of his progress on the Lopoint as well as several other 3D printed firearm projects. Can’t stop the signal.