interarms star bm 9mm

B

bamafan4life

New member
well i got this gun today and its a interarms star bm 9mm ive read very little about it. but what ive read its supposed to be okay accurate and pretty good reliablity i also read something about it being spanish? whats up with that? if you have any information on this gun please tell me it will be aprectiated
 
You read something about it being Spanish , and what's up with that? Simply put, it was made in Spain or are you the only one in the Western World that didn't know " Star" was a Spanish firm??:) I owned one, gave good service. Since Star ( Bonifacio Echeverria SA ) is no long among the living , parts of any type are getting harder and harder to find.
 
I have one of those myself. A nice size gun for the caliber if you like single action autos. They can't be carried with the hammer down, however; the firing pin is too long. I also owned one of the last BKMs sold by Interarms, which has also passed into history. The BKM was an almost identical pistol in aluminum allow. I shot it until it began falling apart.

I'm not sure there are any handguns being imported from Spain anymore, new ones, that is.

I also have owned in the distant past other Star automatics in .22 and .380. There were several variations of small automatics, all single actions, all similar to Colt automatics, though I don't think they ever had a hammerless (meaning enclosed hammer) model. I think they may have even produced a model sold as a Colt at one time, the Pony, but I haven't researched that.

Colt supposedly at one time in the early 1920's produced a pistol that was a scaled down .45 in a proprietary .38 cartridge but they couldn't manage to sell any. Introducing a new firearm right after a war usually doesn't work, apparently. I'm sure I read something about this in the American Rifleman but I've not been able to find any reference to it anywhere.
 
Star made a little .45 auto practically identical to the BM. Those were all the hot item before the US makers started really supplying the subcompact .45 market very well. But they were advised to shoot with only standard ammo, no hot stuff, I don't know how good they were with HP ammo. Occasionally I have seen one used and they are more money than the 9MM versions for sure. Actually the Firestar was probably considered an updated and more refined/modern rendition of the small Star auto. Those were quite popular for a few years. But the biggest caliber was .40 as far as I know. Those had a good rep. for a SA auto.
 
I'm sorry to hear you bought one. YOu should take it apart, ship it to me in Kali in a number of seperate boxes, and, I will examine it for you...:D:(:rolleyes:
 
I think I have owned every variation of single action auto that Colt ever made (no .32's and no Ponies) and today the only single action automatic I have is a Star. But I think that says more about me than it does about either Star or Colt. I never had a Star .45 (PD?), though.

Come to think of it, I've never owned a Combat Commander, a .38 Super or 9mm Commander, and there never was an alloy fully size 1911 for some reason. But over the years, especially around, oh, about 15 years ago, there were all sorts of variations, particularly with the .380's. All gone now. My choice remains the .45 Commander (lightweight)--and I don't have one.
 
Great little single stack 9mm. I shot mine at a 55 gal drum once at 100 yards. I was able to make hits 50% of the time.

It makes a great CCW too.
 
I bought myself one a couple years back. I had it for a couple of nice range trips then Dear Sweet Wife started carrying it. Mid 1970's manufacture I think, Spanish police surplus. Paid right a $200 w/ box, manual, cleaning rod/tool and two mags. Guess I'll have to buy myself another one. Are some of them C&R?
 
Many BMs had an inertial firing pin, many did not. The ones that didn't can easily have the pin shortened to allow for hammer-down carry.
The later Firestar utos offered no advantage over the BM. They were basically the same gun, but bigger and heavier. They sold well because the American gun buying public was buying anything new at the time. Had Star kept on plugging along with the PD/BM/BKM guns, they probably would still be in business.
 
Maybe they'd still be in business and maybe not. However, Star pistols were not the best Spanish pistols made. That would probably be Astra. I think I broke something on all the Star automatics I ever had. In no case did it ever disable the gun but still, not something that you really want to happen. The ejector came loose in the BKM I had and on a .380 (don't remember the model number), the slide stop/release broke. Again neither prevented the gun from firing. On the other hand, I found that on Colt .380 Government Models, it didn't take much to bend the spring that works the slide stop (no, I haven't looked up the technical term).

Star manufactured some very light 9mm pistols. Skeeter Skelton used to praise one called the Starlight, I think it was called.

All the Stars that I ever owned or examined were well finished, however, and if you liked Colts, you probably would like Stars. They weren't identical and the Star had a different trigger arrangement and never had a grip safety, I think. I suspect their weakness was the steel they used but Brownings have been accused of having "soft" steel, too.

I'd like to see a police or military holster for the BM.
 
BM firing pin

Bill D,
It appears my new Star BM has the longer firing pin, I would like to be able to carry it hammer down....should I buy another firing pin or it it a simple enough job to shorten mine?
 
Spanish indeed

I have owned a Star BM for more than 20 years and have thoroghly enjoyed it, it has always been accurate and reliable, it has been used by the Spanish "Guardia Civil" as well as the Israeli Army. The only problem is that I did'nt purchase extra mags when they were readily available, if anyone can point me in the right direction to purchse one I would be in your bebt.
 
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