The HS-95 was developed by HS Produkt to replace the PHP pistols. With the experience of producing many thousands of PHPs, the company had a much better understanding of how to design a pistol for production, which is immediately obvious in the HS95. It is a traditional tilting-barrel Browning action, with an external DA/SA hammer. It is largely copied from the Zastava CZ-99, but altered to look more like the SIG P229, and less Serbian (Serbia was not a particularly well-regarded country in Croatia in the mid-1990s).

Production of the HS95 ran from 1995 until 1998, when it was replaced by the HS2000. A total of between 15,000 and 20,000 were made, with the only major buyer being the Croatian Army. The guns were well regarded, simple and reliable, if heavy.