star bm sa 9mm ok to shoot?

[nekshot]

A good friend of mine purchased one of these and I was wondering what the more informed have to say about them?. My first thought was bring it over and lets make it work better!!

[smkummer]

The only thing I will do to mine is remove the magazine disconnect so as the gun will fire without the magazine being in the gun. My example doesn’t need anything done to it.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

These are really great pistols, currently available at very reasonable prices. Eventually the supply will dry up, and prices will go up, because the manufacturer in Spain went out of business a decade ago. Then, parts will become difficult to find and costly, like so many older firearms available by parting out other pistols. That having been said, Star made some of the best reasonably priced pistols ever, and since they are about 80% derived from the Browning designed 1911, they are extremely durable and you may never need to go searching for a part. I own two of them, and carried one as my CCW pistol for several years with no complaints. Reliable, accurate, adequate, and concealable would be my comments. Don't hesitate to shoot and enjoy it.

[Kraschenbirn]

A couple weeks ago, I shot one just acquired by a friend. Excellent out-of-the box trigger and acceptably accurate with 'white box' FMJs. Reminded me how badly I screwed up trading away a near-mint Star Mod B military a few years back.

Bill

[tucumcari_kid]

My wife landed on a Star B 9mm a few years back and she liked the trigger pull and the 9mm recoil etc. When I started buying glocks like candy bars, I got a Glock 23 for her in 40 s&w because the Glock 22 felt good to me. The Star B doesn't fit in her "purse" so we needed something smaller. The G23 is like holding a firecracker in your fingers - it's loud and it hurts. There isn't enough mass to make the gun comfortable. She tried a Ruger LCR 357 Magnum. That is no fun either and the trigger pull seemed worse than my Nagant. She was consistently shooting way low and left. So we tried a Ruby 32 acp I had sitting around, she loved that but I don't want her packing a 32acp, not to mention those are a little rugged to say the least. So while we were shooting the 32 acp, I pulled out a Star BM that I had bought for her. That trigger is so sweet and the steel gun is enough mass to manage the 9mm. Smaller grips (or so it seems). She was immediately hitting black and having fun again after messing with all that 357 and 40 s&w stuff. I learned my lesson. The other part I like is it has the standard thumb safety which makes sense for me if she is going to carry Condition 1. We just have to train on loading/unloading and getting into action and the safety off. I'm not a huge fan of mag safeties, but one thing a mag safety does when unloading is one more way the hammer is prevented from falling between taking the mag out, dropping the thumb safety, and getting the round out of the chamber.

[nekshot]

well this is all good to hear. Sounds like he did ok!

[mozeppa]

found a star b in 9mm largo ....aka a 9mm on steroids.

funny story....some fellow bought this auto pistol new in 1953 the year i was born.
it was in the original box and one box of 25 rounds of ammo.

then he wiped off the cosmoline ...loaded up a magazine
and i suppose he got the cosmoline out enough to install the loaded mag and rack it.
then he put it in his night stand and forgot about it.

fast forward...i bought it for $325 at a yard sale.

took it to the range ...aimed ...pulled the trigger ......and click. nothing happened
racked a new round ...and click... again nothing.

all 8 rounds nothing.

looked at all 8 rounds ....the primer barely had a dent in them.

hmmm?

when i took it apart completely the firing pin and spring were still packed with cosmoline solid!

cleaned everything thoroughly ...lightly and throated the barrel...reassembled it.
and now it runs like a swiss watch.

ordered 5000 brass from starline and you can surmise the rest!

great gun!

[Petrol & Powder]

I have a Star Super B made in 1972. It needed a little work at first but it is now one of the best shooting 9mm pistols I have.

I have owned other Star pistols in the past and I have repaired minor issues on Star pistols for friends. (mozeppa's example above is pretty close to what I've seen in some Star imports).

The Star BM is not the same pistol as the Star B or Super B but a lot of the design features are similar between the Star B (full size) and the Star BM (compact) models. The frames are all steel, the quality of the steel is good and they are well made. The fit & finish of those older Star pistols is far better than their price suggests. In terms of European standards I would put the quality of older Star pistols above most of the Soviet block countries and below the German & Swiss firearms manufacturers.

They are good solid working pistols.

[Bulldogger]

Any of you Star BM owners know a source of replacement barrels? Nothing in the supply chain that I can find except people parting out pistols more worn than mine.
Or should the rifling be barely visible and barely catch a fingernail?

Bulldogger

[charlie b]

IIRC, the rifling was a bit shallow on the .45. Shoot it and see if it hits what you are aiming at. If it does, leave it alone.

[LUBEDUDE]

Many years back when I was working I was quite the gun snob. My brother always raved about his two Star model B’s. I turned my nose up and would not even consider such “junk”.

Well, fast forward about 20 years and I came across one at a good price and remembering my brother’s love for them, I bought it.

Wow! It is such a enjoyable soft shooting pistol. I love it! The 1911 style frame doesn’t hurt things either.

Should have listened to my older brother. I would have had 20 more years of enjoyment. I sure wish he was still around to chat about such things.

[SvenLindquist]

WONDERFUL HANDGUN ! Paid $700 with orig box, 2 magazines and instructions. Every bit as good as my Kimber made in OR waaaay back when.

[dekeshooter]

I cherry picked the best one out of the first five to arrive in the shop I work in. It's a soft shooter with a really good trigger. The small sights are my only real complaint.