I owned both guns referenced by the OP when I was young and poor. I paid I think the princely sum of $75 for the pair.
The Hi-Point was the better weapon of the two by a wide margin. Heavier than sin, abysmal trigger, flimsy magazine, but always went bang and seemed more accurate than the sights and trigger let it be. Never a jam or problem, I'd buy another if I *had* to buy a $100 handgun and only US-made stuff was available. Please note I would not buy this if I had (a) more funds (b) more choices, but within the 'I have a hundred bucks and need a gun now' parameter it has no equal. It reminded me of the American-made VP70z without a large capacity feeding device and the Euro pricetag or any prestige whatsoever.
The Bryco 59 .380 thing, well....it ran. It ran 100%. How or why I'll never know, maybe it had a good magazine or it didn't sin in a past life. That's about all I have good to say about it, trigger was horrible, safety or accuracy I wouldn't trust with somebody else's life if I had a presidential pardon already presigned in my hand. Yes, it was all metal. Then again, so are $2 Harbor Freight tools, and the Bryco/Jennings machining was on par with them. I would *not* buy one again. I'd buy a RG-22 first. That says something. Getting a positive grip on it while not getting slide bite was difficult at best, and sights were there in name only.
I traded them both even across for a SKS. I made out like a bandit by any standard.
Please understand, I love cheap guns. I love good cheap guns even more, but the fact is they generally don't come hand in hand and the quantities and varieties are extremely limited.
Cheap guns are like cheap stereos, yeah, you'll recognize the song playing. You'll still enjoy it probably. But it lacks refinement, subtlety, depth, and things that make things worth owning and using.
The fundamental difference beyond construction (which would influence longevity if you're going to shoot the thing regularly) and aesthetic things are worth the extra cash in many cases. Consistency in grouping, trigger pull, reliability, availability of accessories and magazines (ever notice how *expensive* accessories are for cheap guns? They make buying things for my MP5 seem...cheap), sights, and other things make up the difference.
A cheap vs midranged priced gun example: I can shoot a Ruger P-series gun minute of B27 all day long at 15m. My groups will suck, my followup time will be bad, and it'll run until I'm sick of loading magazines. I can do the same thing with my Sigs until it's not fun to shoot any more, or I'm out of my range ammo for the day, except I can do the same at 50m with better control, speed, and consistency. The Ruger's blockiness, average at best trigger, and topheaviness contribute to inaccuracy and consistency issues the further out I shoot. It doesn't make a Ruger 'less' of a gun if your needs include drilling bad things to 15m and you don't shoot regularly, or you're not at a point where you can outshoot that particular gun.
Same thing applies in the mother of all cheap gun vs expensive gun wars: 1911s by various manufacturers and importers. I can shoot a mil-spec 1911 with the ugly short issue sights. I can shoot it moderately well. I could defend myself adequately with one. I can feel the grit in the trigger, can't put rounds in nice ragged holes because of the low sights, especially in poor lighting conditions, and the grips, controls, and whatnot don't fit my hand as well. It's why I sold my Springfield 1911, it was a good gun in that it ran with any ammo and had an average trigger, but it just wasn't exceptional, and compared to the early Sig non-railed GSR 1911 with obscenely good parts (before Sig started cheaping out on them), Novak sights, and a trigger that rivals anything I've shot including the 2k+ customs, it was like firing a BB gun. I'm sure some folks are happy with the cheapies for their needs, again, their needs probably aren't mine, just like people who hate the Sig 1911 for one reason or another buy the 2k+ customs while I spend that on NFA toys.
At the core, you can always apply one of the basic rubrics to cheap/expensive guns. Anyone with a cheap gun will almost always be willing to trade straight across for something high-end, even if it couldn't be sold for the profit. High-end buyers, even if shielded from loss artificially in this scenario, wouldn't - or necessarily even trade what they have for something further up the food chain.
And in the end, if you're happy with your boombox CD player, pre-assembled PC, and Jennings, it's your choice.
Just please, for the love of god, don't make it mine