Many people claim to collect Hi-Point firearms, but only one among them has earned a title.
"Mach-O-Melvin," as he refers to himself, is recognized as the owner of the largest Hi-Point® Firearms collection in the world. For good reason, his collection has earned him repute among Hi-Point® collectors on popular group sites and online forums where he has become well-known as the "Babe Ruth" of Hi-Point®.
With 71 guns and counting, you might be asking,"how exactly does someone become the leading collector of Hi-Point® guns?"
We wanted to know too, so we set out to uncover the story behind the fan.
The name Mach-O-Melvin ironically mimics the decades-old industry term coined "MOM," a moniker that denotates the "maker or manufacturer" of firearms—in this case, the Hi-Point® manufacturing plant in Mansfield, Ohio. Though Mach-O-Melvin states the nickname originally came from a CDL driver he knew "way back in the day," we like the coincidental implication of the story. Perhaps Mach-O-Melvin was destined to be the "MOM" of Hi-Point® collectors before he was even made aware of the brand's existence.
Mach-O-Melvin bought his first gun as a young boy with money saved up from a paper route. When an older brother wanted to go hunting and Mach-O-Melvin didn't have a gun to use, he headed out with his mother in response to a newspaper ad to make his very first gun purchase. And that's exactly what he did.
With only $12 to his name and just 12 years under his belt, Mach-O-Melvin purchased his first firearm in 1969: a 12-gauge shotgun, of course.
Decades later, Mach-O-Melvin still carries a deep passion (or, as he likes to refer to it, a severe case of OCD) for guns—particularly Hi-Point® firearms. He recalls his first experience with the brand in 2012 when his nephew, then in the Navy, called Mach-O-Melvin's brother on the phone and asked him for a Hi-Point® for Christmas.
After that initial exposure, Mach-O-Melvin quickly immersed himself in research on the company's values. Once he realized the Ohio-based company that had been around since the 80s had garnered such a devoted customer base and offered a lifetime warranty to boot—he was hooked.
His very first Hi-Point® model was a 995 carbine, purchased in February of 2013. Not long after, he decided he had to have a matching handgun.
In that moment the Mach-O-Melvin collection was born.
At the onset, however, he ran into some jamming issues. This led him to the Hi-Point® Firearms Forum site where he discovered a tight-knit community of fanatics and was able to share his initial experiences with the guns with others who had answers. That, combined with the notable customer service he repeatedly received from the Hi-Point® headquarters, was enough to make him a fan for life.
Mach-O-Melvin Hi-Point collection
Blood, Sweat, Tears, & Seventy-One Guns Later
For four to six hours a day, seven days a week, over the entirety of three-and-a-half years (that's approximately 6,387 hours!), Mach-O-Melvin cultivated his collection, researching every piece of history he could get his hands on. He joined every Hi-Point® forum he could find and even founded a few of his own, notably Hi-Point® Firearms Cafe—a forum for Hi-Point® gun lovers, grandfathers, and God-seekers.
The Maverick JS-9
Hi-Point® fanatics such as Mach-O-Melvin cite the very first Hi-Point® was the Maverick JS-9. It's believed that 6-7,000 of these original models were distributed. But, when Mossberg® Maverick® caught wind of the name, they sent a cease and desist, forcing Stallard Arms to take the approximately 300 already-named Maverick slides left in production and physically scratch out the name.
To this day, finding one of the original 300 scratched-out Mavericks is the ultimate dream of Mach-O-Melvin, and would represent what he considers to be the final addition to his collection. The "scratch-off" is believed to be the Sasquatch...the Nessie...the Megalodon...of Hi-Point® Firearms.
The Maverick was named the JS-9, supposedly after Josie Stallard (mother to Ed Stallard of Stallard Arms) who was better known at the time as the "mother" of the old stomping grounds for her knack of being surrounded by all the neighborhood children. She was so well loved that they decided to name the gun after her.
The Maverick JS-9 started showing up in the mid-80s and exhibits several differences from the C9 that replaced it later in 1994. Because of these slight differences, the Hi-Point® C9 magazines do not work in the old Stallard JS-9s. Back in the day, Hi-Point® used to service these legacy guns and would occasionally sell customers replacement magazines for less than $20 a pop.
Today, these older models remain some of the most respected in the industry. Many are still fully functional, even after decades of use.
When the Hi-Point® name took over the line in 1992, they called the model the JF-9, said to have been named after Jerry Foncannon, Tom Deeb's best friend. This limited-release handgun involved the short issue of only several thousand units. Jerry is said to have worked at the Hi-Point® factory as a truck driver, another testament that many of those who helped in big and small ways to build the Hi-Point® brand from the ground up were either family or close friends.
The Haskell .45
Ed Stallard's best friend growing up was Russ Hill of Haskell Manufacturing, who made the .45 calibers for the Hi-Point® brand. Haskell's first gun was the Haskell .45, otherwise known as the JS-45—a steel frame .45 ACP handgun also believed to have been named after Josie Stallard. It later evolved under the Hi-Point® banner as the JH-45 (named after Russ Hill's oldest son, Jessie Hill) and then the JHP-45, with several improvements accompanying each new edition.
The Iberia .40
Jim Cole of Iberia Firearms was a mold designer/draftsman at the same company where Mike Strassell worked building tooling for Tom's original Model JS. He was soon brought in as the contributor of the .40 caliber, originally called the Iberia .40 and later called the JC-40. Many fan forums cite Jim Cole's son, John Cole, as namesake of the JC-40. Out of Galion, Ohio, they remain Hi-Point's designated hitter for .40 caliber handguns such as the JCP-40.
Nothing Wrong with a Little Friendly Competition
Mach-O-Melvin began collecting Hi-Point® firearms as a direct result of a popular Internet forum for Hi-Point® devotees. After hooking up with a few other Hi-Point® fanatics that were collecting various models, Mach-O-Melvin decided to engage in a little "friendly competition." Looking back, he recalls that one of the men in the group had 17 models, and another had 18—the largest number of Hi-Point® models collected at the time. With limited knowledge of what existed in the market, all three men joked that there were not many more models left to be found.
Meanwhile, Mach-O-Melvin began putting his passion for research and the Hi-Point® brand to good use and went to work locating more and more models. His emphasis, even at the very beginning, was always on finding and collecting the oldest models possible. As Mach-O-Melvin rapidly approached number 25 in his collection, he assumed that would be it. Little did he realize at the time all that actually existed in the marketplace, and how deeply he'd have to commit to locating them!
Worth a Shot?!
We'd say so! He now owns a total of seventy-one (71) Hi-Point® models, each possessing a unique story. Though not confirmed as the official or "final" rundown, Mach-O-Melvin provided his personal "timeline" of Hi-Point® models since the beginning.
Even as we feature this list and bring to light Mach-O-Melvin's hard work and research, we open the conversation to hear from others as to what they believe should be in this list. To date, there has been no exhaustive list recorded anywhere other than what he has carefully pieced together below.
Prior to most purchases, Mach-O-Melvin would talk to Tom Deeb personally on the phone, just to make sure that his research aligned with what he believed to be production history. Tom was always happy to take the calls and spent an egregious amount of time attempting to confirm or refute Mach-O-Melvin's Hi-Point® lineage. Each time, as Mach-O-Melvin recounted his interest in adding to his collection, Tom would ask the same question, "Now, tell me again, why do you want to collect all these guns???"
And each time, Mach-O-Melvin replied with the exact same answer: "Because nobody else is, and because I can."
