"New" old Star Firestar in .45 ACP...

D

dogngun

New member
I read about 15 pages of old posts here about these pistols, and found a lot of you owned and liked this gun.
I just found a like-new old one for sale and I want to know if anyone still has and shoots these little pistols. I have owned Star pistols before and I have never had any problems with any of them, except the .22. I think it's a real shame they are no longer in business.
Who still has one ? How is it working?

Thanks.

Mark
 
STAR

I bought a STAR 30MI (9MM) at a Houston Gun show about 15 years ago. It's never given me any problems. One of the reasons I haven't bought another 9MM. They are easy to clean, but the magazines are kind of expensive.
 
I have a 9mm Firestar (designation M-43) that is a real workhorse. Accurate and Dependable with the mass and hardness that only comes from steel which allows it to double as a hammer for driving nails! I do not reccomend actually doing carpentry with your Firestar but it is tough.

The 9mm is a Single Action only pistol, I believe the 45 was DA/SA but I may be wrong.
 
The Firestars in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP were all compact, steel, and single-action. There were some later, larger, variants, like the Firestar Plus, that were of different actions.

The Medic, now retired, of whom I spoke in a number of these threads, still has her .45 ACP Firestar M45. She still shoots it. After nearly 18 years, it's only repair has been the replacement of the recoil spring. It's still her bedside weapon.
 
Musketeer
The 9mm is a Single Action only pistol, I believe the 45 was DA/SA but I may be wrong.
Click to expand...

I used to own the 45 and it was a good solid, if heavy single action pistol. The only reason I sold mine is I have plenty of .45s (and most everything else) and a good friend really needed something reliable for his store.
 
My Firestar in 45 ACP has been very reliable and scary accurate. Its a bit hefty but in 45 that's not all bad. It always surprises me how well it shoots since I don't like the sights with the dots on them and I have lots of guns with better triggers but the thing shoots great anyway. Never had a jam and all I've shot through it is semiwadcutters and hollow points. Everytime I start to think of getting an officer or mini size 1911 I just get out the firestar shoot a 100 rounds through it and the feeling goes away. :D
 
Firestar handguns!!!

I have 3 of these fine handguns. A Starvel 9mm and 2 of the 45acp's. One Starvel and one Black. The Black one is my carry gun. The Starvel is the back-up gun if the Black one gets seized or breaks. I really like these handguns and have NEVER had a minutes trouble with any of them. I'm always on the lookout for another one to pop up on the used market, but I know I don't need another one.:D They shoot my handloads and cast bullets with out any problems and are pretty dang accurate for me.
 
I use to a firestar 45. It was very accurate and reliable. Parts can be a problem but if you do a search on "thehighroad.org" for a guy named "Star" he had parts and would ship from spain. The reason I mention parts is the slidestop broke on mine and I was lucky enough to find a replacement from a guy in virginia. Mark
 
I owned an M-45 Firestar with Starvel finish for 14 years. I just sold it to a coworker last month. It was like selling a family member.

I didn't sell it because I didn't like it, I simply have other .45's that I am carrying and it was just sitting in the gun safe.

I found the M-45 to be extremely reliable, very accurate, cost effective and easy to conceal. I never had a problem with mine.

GK
 
Got to the gunshop today, but I found the prices on the Firestars were way too high.($390 for the .45)
I did find 2 other Star pistols I had them lay away; a commercial Interarms imported BM, unfired and still in the factory grease, and a M30 in excellent condition. Very happy with these guns...the BM is one of my all time favorite single action pistols.

Thanks for all your input...great to see other Star fans...it's a shame they are no longer in business.

Mark
 
I had the Firestar Plus in 9mm with the Starvel finish. It was a great single action, aluminum framed, 100% reliable shooter that fit my hand perfectly. Regrettably I sold it to a friend a few years ago. He kept hounding me to sell it to him. At the time I figured, hey, I get a friend into shooting(it was his first gun), extra mags were expensive, and replacement parts werent easy to some by. Bought it NIB for $190, sold it for $300, made some money I guess, but I still miss it.
 
Mark,

When you check the gun out today, make sure to check the frame right above the side-stop on the switch side. I had a Firestar M45 and loved that gun. It was on the heavy side, but that made it even better handling for its size and the Starvel finish is beautiful and very durable and the gun was very accurate as it was very easy to point. The stock rubber grips were perfect. The only complaint I have for the gun would be it's creepy trigger but that's it.

The ONLY reason I got rid of that gun was because I wore a hole in the frame above the slide-stop like I mentioned. The frame is VERY thin there and a gunsmith told me that it along with the finish would make welding it more harmful than good. I ended up giving the gun away to my friend who told me he wouldn't shoot the gun much if at all and just wanted it to have around his office. Good Luck!
 
Nearly 10 years later...

I don't remember if I bought that Firestar .45 or another one some time later, but I was just checking mine out this morning...decided once again to keep it. I have 3 1911 full size pistols and the Starvel matte nickel Firestar...I'm selling a Colt Series 70 and maybe my last Argentine Army version of that pistol.
So my keeper .45's will be a Series 80 Colt GM Stainless Steel and the Firestar .45. Still a gem more than 15 years after they went out of business.
I'm the OP of this thread, now going on 70 years old, and cleaning up the huge amount of stuff I have accumulated in order to eventually sell my house of 24 years...See, I have a new lady friend....:)
 
I bought a new .45 Starvel Firestar way back in '93. I also bought a .40 model. I still have both of them. I pulled out the .45 just a few months ago and ran 500 rounds through it. It still shoots like a dream and will shoot with my 5" 1911's all day long. I have absolutely no inclination to part with either of the Firestars.

Congratulations on your new lady friend! I like girls, too. They're soft and smell nice. Mine has kept me around for almost 44 years.

:D
 
I don't remember if I bought that Firestar .45 or another one some time later, but I was just checking mine out this morning...decided once again to keep it. I have 3 1911 full size pistols and the Starvel matte nickel Firestar...I'm selling a Colt Series 70 and maybe my last Argentine Army version of that pistol.
So my keeper .45's will be a Series 80 Colt GM Stainless Steel and the Firestar .45. Still a gem more than 15 years after they went out of business.
I'm the OP of this thread, now going on 70 years old, and cleaning up the huge amount of stuff I have accumulated in order to eventually sell my house of 24 years...See, I have a new lady friend....
Click to expand...

is it thread necromancy, if you revive your own ancient thread?

Somewhere along the line I picked up a 9mm Firestar, and some extra magazines. Heavy sucker, and almost everything else in that size in my horde is ahead of it in priority for carrying.
 
Those mags are generally unobtanium, though-might have some luck moving them.

In fact, that's the main reason I got rid of my Firestar in 9MM; mags were just impossible to find.


Larry
 
The Firestar and other late guns were robust guns-but their weight was their downfall.
Prior to these guns, Star made graceful guns styled along 1911 lines. Many were extremely small and lightweight for their respective calibers. The SIG, Colt, Rock Island, and Kimber .380s are all copies of the Star DK.
Star decided they needed a line of "modern" guns and dropped all of their 1911 style guns. They went out of business soon after.
 
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