Is there such a thing as a good SPANISH handgun?

I had a Star PD in 45 ACP and I thought it was an OK gun. Nothing fancy, trigger was fair and he held up for the 5+ years and maybe a thousand rounds.
The only problem I had with it was the Magazines. They were easy to damage if there were no rounds in them. I know that I bent one to the point it wouldn’t function from dropping it in the grass.
With my experience I would take one over a Hi point any day even at twice the money.
 
I love my star! It is strictly a range gun, although it stays loaded and chambered in the safe when i'm away from home. The only problem I've had is that on the UltraStar there is a pin through the frame that you pop out to remove the slide. There is a small spring that is supposed to keep that pin in. In recent times that spring doesn't always hold the pin in all the way, so after a magazine or so it starts to come out a quarter inch or so. I had a smith adjust it and it worked great for a few months, then started again. Because of that I don't carry it.
 
Here's a picture of my Megastar .45 (double-stack) next to my DE .44 magnum.

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I like my 9mm BS, the magazine safety was very easy to remove, but I do get some hammer bite from the small beavertail. No grip safety, though, so you could always get that built up a bit.

There's a guy on the spanish pistol board that apparently bought Star's stocks when they closed, i bought two spare mags, a firing pin and an extractor from him for almost as much as I paid for the pistol. :eek: Worth it if they break, thought, otherwise I've just got a paperweight, since parts are pretty scarce in the US.

Just make sure you buy one in 9mmx19, not 9mm Largo or something. Ammo for those is much harder to find and correspondingly more expensive.
 
I had a couple LLamas back in the 80s. They were both bad. One the 1911 clone (mod B, I think) which would reliably extract about half the rounds, and the other a Commanche .357, which would reliably fire 4 times out of six, and not the same 4 each time.

Had a Star PD. Very good little gun.

A friend has an Asta 400/600 (the 9mm Luger one, I can never keep the numbers straight). Very good gun. Very loud. Straight blowback 9mm has to be experienced to be believed!


Spanish handguns seem to be more hit or miss than anything else. Get a good one, you got a good one. Get a bad one, and its nothing but trouble.
 
Star M30 was accepted in a few militaries, IIRC, and was a very fine wundernine. Wish I had snagged one when I had the chance. Carried a Firestar 9mm years ago, HEAVY little sucker but it worked perfectly. Carried an Astra A-70 to my 10 year high scool re-union, good little gun, but, like the Firestar, SA only, and I like DA. Never found an A75 with a trigger I liked.
SPEAKING of triggers, I had an A-80 as my first auto pistol in the mid 80s. Pull the trigger on Sunday and it might go off on Wednesday...that was one loooooong trigger pull. Had an A-100 45 very briefly, couldn't hit anything with it. Wasn't the gun, others could hit with it just fine, but it just didn't like me....
 
My father loves his Star PD .45, only recently switched it out for his Glock 27 that he got as a retirement present from KSP. Of the two, I prefer shooting the Star PD, but yes, it seems like a quality pistol, he's had the Star PD since the late 70s.
 
As has been said, the old Astras. My 400, 600, and 3000 are fine guns.

The Star 30M is solid, reliable and accurate. Mine is a keeper, there's no doubt about that.
 
I recently purchased a Star Model B Super. Good trigger, good ergonomics and very accurate. I haven't put a lot of rounds through it but it is a fun pistol to shoot.
 
I used to have an Astra Terminater .44 Mag snubbie, 2 3/4", a Jovino job from the 80's, copy of the S&W 29. Identical aside from the internal mechanism. Not a bad gun, a bit bulky for a snubbie, but Hell, IT WAS a .44 Magnum 6 shooter! I sure wish I had kept it!
 
I have a Star Firestar .40 stainless that has been great for 20 yrs. Doesn't like Wolf ammo, real dirty and stovepipes but other than that it digests all the rest without a hitch. Use it mostly at the range and as a bedroom gun as it is heavy to carry.
I think they are one of the best values in used guns mostly because of the image problem. Can be picked up relatively cheap and I have no worries it won't go bang.
Looking for a .45 for the right price. :cool:
 
Astra was pretty ingenious back in the 1920's. They made the first select-fire copies of the Mauser C96 (which Mauser later implemented when they saw its popularity). Astra made them 7.63 Mauser and 9mm Largo. Star also made select-fire versions of the PD (in .45 and 9mm).

Looking at the inside of the Astra select-fire copies, they are gorgeous. Highly detailed machining is evident throughout, and the pistols are not direct copies of the C96. Quite fine workmanship - can't even imagine what something like that would cost to make today.
 
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Llama

This minimax was made in 1996 and is a 40 cal...Its also very well made and heavy...If your interested in it give me a PM...

Rich
 

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I once owned a Llama .45 that was reliable and accurate.
My wife owns an Astra A70 that she enjoys and shoots better
than any other handgun.
 
star

Got a 1988 model Star BM 9MM that i paid 200.00 for and it shoots and is as reliable as any other of my handguns. Being all steel, yes its heavy for carry, but tames the 9mm to the point u feel almost nothing in recoil and the grip is perfect for small or med hands! Did I mention I like it?
 
I've got a 9mm Firestar M43. Great shooter. Now serves as my "knock at the door" gun. I need to stockpile spare parts for it since they're hard to come by.

I'm always on the lookout for more Star/Astra guns. I've got a thing for SA 9mm autos, and these are some of the best values I've found.
 
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