Hi-Point C9 Yeet Cannon Review: Junk or Diamond in the Rough?
Setting expectations around a firearm is important, and Hi-Point does that in a fairly spectacular fashion with just the name of the C9 Yeet Cannon G1. This awkward-looking 9mm pistol is a gun that doesn't take itself too seriously – I mean, it's called the Yeet Cannon for Pete’s right. On top of that, it’s well known as one of the most budget-level guns on the market.
But after looking at this strange pistol, I found myself wondering, “Why the heck does this gun even exist? And does it even work?” So, I pulled one from the Guns.com Vault to take it for a spin at the range.
While I don’t want to start off sounding like a terrible wedding speech, Webster’s Dictionary defines the word Yeet as a “slang word that functions broadly with the meaning ‘to throw,’ but is especially used to emphasize forcefulness and a lack of concern for the thing being thrown.”
Adding the word “cannon” to the name is clearly a nod to the playfulness of the gun and its intended audience. With that being said, the Yeet Cannon is perhaps one of the most in-your-face examples of a gun that exists because it can and also because every law-abiding citizen should have access to a firearm, even if they are on a shoe-string budget.
Hence, Hi-Point describes itself as the home of “the working man's gun,” and it certainly shaves off a lot of finery to bring the C9 to the market at a very budget price that routinely dips below two bills. But if it really is a “working man’s gun,” it seems fitting to see if the Yeet Cannon does, in fact, work.
Specs & Function
Normally, I wouldn’t consider the slide to be the heart of the gun, but that’s not the case for the C9. The slide is massive, and it owns most of the weight on the gun. This mass, in turn, allows this fairly basic gun to be a blow-back design that can handle 9mm +P. That slide weight is in part due to the use of the zinc-alloy Zamak-3 instead of steel, while the lower is steel with a polymer frame. It cuts the cost for manufacturing and material, but it is hardly sliming.
Other than that, the C9 Yeet Cannon is a fairly basic blow-back pistol chambered in 9mm. It feeds from a proprietary single-stack magazine that gives you 8+1, and it is rated for +P ammo if, for some reason, you were trying to press this into the role of a self-defense firearm. Perhaps more importantly, the +P rating indicates a level of strength built into the firearm’s design.
What is hardly normal, by modern handgun standards, is how the C9 is actually put together. At face value, it is a very basic blow back system – fixed barrel, recoil spring and guide rod, slide, striker mechanism. But all of that is actually held in place by a roll pin that must be removed with a hammer and punch to take the gun apart.
In a way, that kind of makes some sense, since most cleaning can be done with the gun fully assembled. Perhaps more to the point, there were likely low expectations that future owners would be interested in regular maintenance and cleaning sessions that would require full disassembly.
The gun also hosts a magazine disconnect, and what looks like a cocked indicator on the rear is in fact merely a retaining indent for the striker spring. There is no real practical slide lock, but the slide can be locked back with the safety, which is actually a function of the takedown process. I’ve listed some addition specs below:
There is a threaded-barrel version, which bumps the length to 7.18 inches. For what it’s worth, the sights are also fully rear adjustable for windage and elevation. Hi-Point has even fascinatingly included the option for a ghost-ring rear aperture sight that comes standard even with this very basic pistol if you want to swap that out.
Ergonomics
If I had to assign the Yeet Cannon with a body type, I think I would go with T-Rex. Not because it is particularly ferocious, but because the dang thing just has a huge noggin compared to the rest of its body. It’s large, yes, but also very heavy, and the slide owns most of the weight in the firearm by a pretty large margin.
When I first picked it up, I joked that it was fitting that it only came with one eight-round magazine – bummer, I know – because you could just swing it like a whacking shillelagh and put an adult gorilla on its butt. All that to say it is very top heavy, but it does actually point fairly naturally if not just a bit high for my hands.
The controls are easy to access, but crude. The safety is positive and audible, even if it is basically just a bent piece of metal. I honestly had no issues with it, and the magazine release was accessible without changing my grip and spits out empty mags fine. There is nothing refined about either of these, but they work
While the grip is contoured in such a way that it mostly melds to my hand, it is obnoxiously slippery. I’m not sure why there is virtually no texture on the grip, and I would personally add my own with some grip spray if I were to keep the gun.
Beyond that, we land on the trigger. At 7.8 pounds of pull, it’s not uncomfortably hard to activate. It is, however, a testament to the terms creep and squish. It’s just very unrefined, and it’s somewhat hard to find the wall as a result. Given the very basic striker mechanism, the break is also clunky.
The reset is also very unaggressive, and I don’t really feel it when it resets with my trigger finger. That said, I shot it fine out to 15 yards, and accuracy was acceptable with little effort to keep rounds in an 8-inch circle at that distance.
Shooting & Reliability
In my first 200 rounds of testing, I will say that the gun reliably chambered and fired every single round. Recoil was pretty light for a blow-back design, and that is thanks in large part to the significant weight behind this pistol. But there were some issues.
When there were bullets to be fired, the Yeet Cannon did indeed yeet them. The safety worked, the trigger was tolerable, and the sights were fine. But the gun was picky about one thing, and it was also ammo selective. The slide failed to lock back on 100 percent of the Fiocchi Range Dynamics 115-grain rounds I fired. It failed to lock back on 80 percent of the Remington Range 115-grain ammo, but it locked back on the Federal 115-grain target ammo I fired.
This could have been an issue with the magazine failing to aggressively activate the slide-stop mechanism – again, it only came with the one magazine to test that fact. It could also just be the break-in period. While this is not a stellar performance, the gun did easily cycle every single round. Plus, there is no manual slide release, so the simple fact is that you need to manipulate the slide to reload anyway, making the failure to lock back a somewhat minor point. I’ll be pushing this gun for a few more range trips soon, and I’ll update the results.
But as far as reliability – for a VERY budget gun – it has never failed to go bang, and the C9 has a reputation for being oddly tough for something made out of Zamak. Heck, there are even reviewers who have gone so far as to shoot a Hi-Point with another gun, and it did still work at the end of the testing. So far, I am impressed with it for what it is. The design and cost actually resembles some of the old “Saturday night special” guns I’ve shot, but the performance was better.
Why Get a Yeet Cannon
The company’s version of its origin story on its website boldly claims that Hi-Point is “Living Proof the American Dream Still Exists.” The Yeets are 100-percent American-made guns, and there’s something about that fact that is appealing.
Are there better guns for self-defense, concealed carry, range days, capacity, accuracy, ergonomics, etc.? Yep. But the Yeet Cannon does work, and it’s almost like a budget-friendly thumb-of-the-nose celebration of the Second Amendment. This is by far not the best gun I have shot at the range, but I was tickled pink while shooting it and sharing it with other shooters at the range.
It's crazy basic, and almost proudly crude. That also makes it really fun, and it has been reliable for those who may, for whatever reason, require it as a last line of defense. I think there are better options just above the Yeet Cannon’s price that are well worth the money. None of those, however, will add the kind of flare a Yeet Cannon brings to a range party.
The guns also come with a lifetime warranty, which offers “free repairs for the life of the gun, whether you are the first owner, or the third.” I still wouldn’t shot it with another gun, but it’s nice to see that Hi-Point does backup its product.
Conclusion
I honestly giggled when I got this gun in at my FFL. I’ve had some true gems roll through there for testing, and there were certainly raised eyebrows when a Hi-Point came in instead of a Remington Rand or Union Switch & Signal 1911. For the price, the Yeet Cannon was an itch that was fun to scratch. No, it’s not really a diamond in the rough as a self-defense or range gun in my opinion.
That said, it was cheap and fun to test, and it beat my personal expectations. I’m a fan of budget guns, so take that with a grain of salt, but any gun that works and almost boisterously celebrates the Second Amendment and gun culture is worth some extra love in my book.