Is there such a thing as a good SPANISH handgun?

J

jmstr

New member
I have heard of a few spanish handguns, but haven't heard of any of them being reliable.

Is there such a beast? A RELIABLE handgun manufactured in Spain?
 
The Star/Firestar *approaches* Taurus quality on a good day.

:(

That's about as good as it gets in Spanish guns. For some reason they mostly blow chunks.
 
The old Astra 400's are both reliable and very nice looking pistols. The Star's are good guns also. The Star Firestar's in 9,40 and 45 are nice well made compact handguns, they are a little heavy but they are well built and are accurate. I have one in 45 and its been a good gun.
 
I have an Astra Cub in .25 from around 1924 that has been a champ. Never a hiccup nor a bobble. Don't think I can remember ever hearing anything bad about Astra.
 
Lots of people SAY bad things- "unreliable, soft steel, bad machining, etc."
Most of those that say these things have little experience with quality Spanish guns. The Spanish guns may have been a little cruder than a 1920s Colt, but they were still good guns.
 
I have a Firestar in 9mm. Back before all the compact 9 mm guns were available, this was a very nice carry gun. It was popular for this use at the time it came out. I much prefered it to my PPK. Now with the compact 9s by Glock, Sig, Baretta, etc., I don't use it or carry it much, but it has been very accurate and reliable.
 
I have a Megastar .45. It is very accurate, very reliable built like a tank and HUGE. Makes a really good Home Defense gun, though. I'm thinking about having some night sights installed - trying to figure out how this can be done.
 
Star model B, BM and DKs are pretty good guns as well as the Firestars.

Astra A75 is also pretty good single stack 9mm. Pity about the weight but it makes a handy carry gun
 
I think Spanish guns from the name manufacturers-Astra, Llama, Star-are good to excellent quality, it's the off brand, "job shop", Spanish Civil War workshop specials that should be avoided except as collectibles. I have a Star Model B, German Police issue. Don't fire it that much, but has worked fine every time. It has some design features-the way the firing pin is removed-that make it less desireable than a Colt or M1911 copy, IMHO.
 
I have a Llama XI-C. Bought it new in 1993. I have about 10K rounds through
this pistol and no trips to the gunsmith. What a piece of junk.:D
 
At one time there were some pretty crude Spanish copies of S&W revolvers. However, that doesn't mean that every handgun ever made in the entire country is bad. Some of the later Star and Astra handguns are quite nice.
 
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