Llama Handguns? Good or bad?

M

MAURICE

New member
I was at the gunshop yesterday and spied a llama mini max in .45, IIRC.
looked it over,and it didnt seem to bad. slide was easy to operate,was comfortable,and had a good price tag. (about 275-300,i think)

i did a search on this particular side arm and couldnt find much on it...anyone have more info?
seems to be a little known company,and the gun itself is inexpensive,so i wanted to check it out.
TIA,
maurice
 
Llama was a Basque outfit.

Along with Star, Astra and (in the dim past) Ruby.

Their auto's are copies of Colts, primarily. They did a pretty fair job of machining, but the metallurgy was not top rate.

Overall quality is "okay". Individual specimens can be very good. And can be really dogs.
 
Llamas are great guns for the price. They will never be Colts or Kimbers, but you aren't paying $1K or so for one either. The company is now known as FireStorm. I carry a FireStorm 45ACP every day/night and I never have the slightest doubt about its reliability. I wouldn't try any long range competing with it, but it fits my defense needs very well.
 
thanks for the replies,guys.

im looking for a handgun just for general shooting.
im not looking to spend much either.
both these and rugers look good,as do CZ's.

guess i'll wait and see.
 
Llama makes some nice 1911 copies and the MiniMax has been given some good reviews by at least one gun rag.

But they haven't been known to be the most durable guns.

Now the Stars are some nice Spainish made guns.

They are getting back into business and their Firestars and their 10mm and 45 ACP megastars are the toughest and most durable guns ever made. They took the megastar designed in 10mm and reworked it in 45 ACP. My 45 ACP Megastar will a tackdriver too.

The Megastars are keepers with factory hi caps shipped with every gun.

But spend a little more money and get a better quality 1911.
 
I bought a .380 back in the 70's, new, that I didn't shoot much but never gave me a single problem (with the hardball of that era). I bought a full size .45 second hand in the mid '80s that the guy claimed would not work- I cleaned it, did a little feed ramp polishing, lubed it and it was fine with hardball and cast lead gunshow reloads, which was all I could afford at the time anyway. I sold it for what I paid for it. More recently, I bought a subcompact MiniMax which would lock back open on partially full magazines, sometimes 3 or 4 times per mag, but wouldn't lock back on an empty mag! I got rid of it after a few hundred rounds. They actually have a pretty good reputation for warranty work. However, I have always had a problem with getting in touch with the mfr. or importer, shipping the gun off, etc., so it's really my bad, since the only malfunctions were the lockback issues- it never had what I'd call a "real" jam.

I believe their web page is http://www.bersa-llama.com .
 
Llamas are reasonably reliable, but are soft and not (IMHO) up to very extensive shooting. The internal parts are poorly fitted and show a lot of hand filing. In several guns I have examined the barrel was so wobbly in the gun that accuracy was, for practical purposes, non-existent. One shot 8" groups at 25 yards, two others did only a little better. Correcting the problems would have cost more than the gun was worth. I simply can't recommend them.

Jim
 
Hearsay is that they reorganized.

There is a Star Bonaficado (sp?) webiste like "donttouchme.com" that has the information.

It's out there.
 
My total exposure to Llama firearms is limited to two specimens, a 9mm and a .45, both fullsize. I was a police officer then and both of these pistols were given to the department and looked new. At the range the weapons were function tested and BOTH slamfired when a round was chambered. This could be re-created at will and no obvious cause could be determined. Since the pistols were a donation, and single actions weren't authorized for use anyway, they were both destroyed. In fairness, this was ten years ago and the quality could be much higher now. As to the Mini-Max, one of my brothers-in-law has one and has had zero problems with it. Until recently it was his CHL carry gun and he swears by it. (He finally upgraded to a Glock 30). I guess it depends a lot on the individual pistol and on your intended use. Good luck on your decision.

kstoneking
 
I had an older Llama full size .45. Shot very well, decently accurate and the fit/finish was nice, but the extractor broke, and three trips to a nationally ranked (top 100 in the US) pistolsmith couldn't get it workin right. Dropped it at a gun show for $100. The smith DID say that Llama's newer stuff was actually real good, and other smiths were saying the like.

My range shop has one of the Micromax pistols in .32... they had one in .380. I'd looked at those as a possible CCW (I'm under a budget, and will EVENTUALLY get something like a Kimber compact or something). I'd have to shoot one to see how it handles and how reliable it is. I wouldn't shoot it often, so I'm not worried about durability that much. They look pretty sweet... like a scaled down 1911... the bbl seems like it's loose, like a locked breech design... Next time I'm at the range, I might ask if I can take it apart and check out the internals.

M@
 
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