STAR MODEL B SUPER 9X19

Weshoot2,

Thanks for your response. I guess I should have been more specific. I already have a firestar M-43 and it's a good little pistol. I know they are out of business. Actually, from what I understand, Astra bought them and they all went belly up.

I found a bunch of these model B supers in 9mm Parabellum at a gun show for $189, and I thought they looked a pretty well made gun for the money, so I bought one. In fact, the workmanship on it looks better than that of my M43.

I put a couple of magazines through it, one of WinCleans, and one of Sellier & Bellot FMJ. It choked on the WinClean pretty bad (twice in one mag), but seemed to like the S&B FMJ. From what I have read, this was a sidearm of the Spanish army until they dropped them around 1990. Since it is a military pistol, I didn't really expect it to handle much of anything but FMJ very well. I wanted it for a range plinker and sort of a backup house gun.

I think it needs a stronger recoil spring. I read an earlier post of Stephen A. Camp in which he described putting in a Wolff 18# spring designed for a CZ75 I think. I also may have a local gunsmith polish the throat a little and see if that improves the feeding. One really nice thing I discovered in my exhaustive :) 16 round test was that the pistol shoots to a near perfect six o'clock hold, and made a real nice tight looking group (I wasn't even trying too hard for accuracy, and still the group looks really nice!). It has a two dot sight system: the front dot and a single dot in the middle under the notch of the rear sight - different, but not bad once you get used to it.

I don't see a lot of places advertising spare parts or magazines. I saw a place or two having magazines close to $30 (ouch!), but I want at least one more. If anyone here knows of a place that has parts and mags for it, please let me know.

Before shooting it, I took it apart and cleaned everything real good (although it wasn't dirty) and properly lubed it. I am really impressed with internal workmanship and the overall condition (very little wear - could mistake it for new easily). I don't think this gun was fired much. Takedown and reassembly is a breeze - just remember that once you take the grips off, don't push the safety down unless you want it to slip off the detent pin (that startled me and it was a bugger to get back in).

I've always wanted a nice 1911, but never seem to have the kind of cash it takes to get one. This may be a good substitute. Of course, it doesn't have a grip safety, but on the bright side it is 'sleeker' than the .45's, and has recoil that is only a little more than shooting a .22 IMHO (not that the .45's recoil is objectionable).

Can anyone correct or add to any of this info?

-10CFR


----------------------------
<<All your ammo are belong to us>>:D
 
Hello. Not nearly a clone of the 1911, the Star Model B is a pretty neat pistol. An old Model B 9mm was my first purchased-as-an-adult handgun years ago and served as a protection piece when I was "getting started" in life.

Do not dry fire this pistol. The firing pin's retained by a vertical pin under the rear sight and the firing pin will eventually break.

I did replace the recoil spring with an 18lb spring made for the CZ75, but did nothing with the firing pin spring and thousands of rounds later, there have been no problems nor any primer indentions from the greater slide velocity forward.

These guns come with a magazine disconnect that can be easily removed, but it will not improve the trigger pull as it does on the BHP.

My first gun had very smallish sights, but they were "on."
My last Model B had higher fixed sights and seemed to be sighted in dead on at about 150 yards! It hit high. This was corrected.

This second Model B is pretty liberal in what it will feed although I tend to shoot ball most of the time as it's now a plinking/range piece.

I've not shot enough of these to make a positive general statement, but the two that I owned shot pretty well. With loads it likes, I'd expect groups at 3" or slightly less at 25 yards.

Keep your eyes open for spare parts such as firing pins, extractors and such.

Hopefully, you won't need them.

By the way, you can take a shok buff intended for a 1911 and cut it down a bit on the sides and it'll work fine on the Model B.

Best.
 
Hello Mr. Camp,

Glad you were on-line. Thanks much for the reply. I think this is a pretty neat old pistol and I am pretty enthused about it. I did dry fire it a little before I knew not to (dealer said it was okay to :(- hope it didn't weaken the pin. It seems o.k.

I know its not a 1911 clone. I just meant it takes down, handles, and looks a little like one, therefore it might satisfy my urge to own something I just can't afford. I do like 'value guns'. My latest love affair has been with the Makarovs (got a NIB Miltex 9x18 in polished chrome about a month ago). Actually, the fit of all the parts on the Star, especially the slide, seems a lot tighter than most 1911's. It doesn't rattle if you shake it. The slide is tightly fit like a CZ.

Thanks again and take care.

-10CFR
 
Hello and thanks for the kind words. By the way, even though the Model B is a "big" gun, I wouldn't shoot a steady diet of Plus P rounds in it. The steel is relatively soft for such, but then for less than two-hundred, you've got a heck of a shooter.

A standard pressure round that I like particularly in longer bbl'd 9mms is Federal's 124 gr Nyclad HP. This lead hollowpoint is shaped like ball and has a nylon jacket so that it expands at lower velocity even though it was originally designed for use at indoor ranges to prevent lead contamination.

It's expanded in all test media I've tried and is reasonably accurate in all 9mms I've fired it in, exceptionally so in some.

Expect velocities a bit over 1100 ft/sec from your 5" Model B.

Best.
 
I will have to try the nyclads. I am partial to MagTech FMJ and JHP's in my .40 S&W caliber pistols. They are cheap and clean (I can't cite any really scientific data about them - I just never had any kind of failure with any of them). I will try those in my 9mm's too. A friend got a really great deal on Sellier & Bellot 9mm($4.99 a box), so I let him get me 500 rounds of it (I usually don't buy that much ammo at a time, but I made an exception). I have no experience with S&B, so I'm just trying it out. On the subject of +P ammo, I don't much like to shoot +P in anything, for fear that it will accelerate wear on the guns. I do load my .357 mag revolvers with +P .38's which obviously won't accelerate their wear because they're way below the .357 pressures. I accidentally bought some +P Magtech 9x19 JHP's, and they are still sitting in an ammo box. I will probably give them away.

I appreciate your reminding me about Spanish steel. I am currently going through "The Great FR-8 Debate" with a friend who has two of these neat looking little Spanish carbines and gave another to his brother. I am reading a disagreement among experts and also a few horror stories about guys who bought those and are shooting commercial .308 in them, some with disastrous results (a fellow named Kyre Ellis, who appears to be a true Mauser expert, wrote in a forum that he was present at two catastrophic failures of FR-8's with .308 ammo, one of which blew the barrel out the front of the receiver and 'gravely injured a bystander'. My friend is getting rid of his FR-8's. BTW, he never shot commercial .308 out of any of the FR8's, only 7.62 NATO ball, which was PROBABLY safe to shoot. :eek:

Regarding the Star, I did see some aftermarket extended & ported barrels and some other accessories (a couple of pages worth) for it in a little catalogue called "Guns & Stuff" or something like that. My friend has the catalogue, and I asked him to bring it in to work tonight.

Well, I've been up all night working the midnight shift, and I'm ready to hit the sack.

Thanks again for the info.

-10CFR
 
I had always wanted a Star B. I finally got one with my C&R license ($249, like new). What a disaster!! The firing pin broke on the first shooting session and guess what? NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY has Star firing pins, for any star guns (I have a Firestar .40 that I love, but don't shoot it much because if the pin breaks, I'm SOL). My model B would not feed hollowpoints of any kind(had always heard the were well suited and ramped for HP's) and would jam even on hard ball. I spent about $200 on a feed and ramp job, bobbed the hammer (terrible hammer bite, would draw blood), trigger job, had to have a firing pin "made" from a guy down in Arkansas ($40 a pin, and, no, he doesn't make firestar pins). I always thought a Star B would be one of my favorites; simple, straight-foward design, reliable (I have always read). Worst purchase I ever made. Cost me $450 in total and never worked. Sold it for $150. Oh yeah, The extractor broke the second time I shot it, had to replace that too (same guy in Ark.). Good Luck.

By the way I had 2 firing pins made and I still have the spare, any bidders?
 
glockorama,

I fired it some more today, and it is not feeding well at all. Sometimes doesn't feed, sometimes doesn't extract all the way. Stovepipes, etc. It also hits me in the face and head with most rounds ejected (extractor or ejector?)

I am going to try the recoil spring, because the one in it is very weak. That, coupled with a very strong magazine spring is making it difficult for the action to strip the rounds from the magazine to feed them. I might even try to substitute a weaker magazine spring and see if it makes it better. I know a gunsmith that will polish the ramp/throat for about $15. He says he can make most anything feed right.

I will see if any of the above helps, but I am not going to spend a fortune on this gun - that was the whole idea - getting something good for not a lot of money (I know the rule, though, you usually get what you pay for).

I MIGHT be interested in that firing pin, IF I can get the gun to feed ok. It might be a while until I get these things done, so I will keep your offer in mind. I would like to try to get it feeding, because its main saving grace is that it is accurate, and that is a good thing - makes it worth spending at least a little effort on it.

[DANGIT!! I've been disconnected from my ISP no less than 4 times trying to post this! :mad: ]

-10CFR
 
10CFR
Since I really have no use for the Model B firing pin, you can have it. Call it fellow shooter good will. E-mail me and I will give you my address and just send me a SASE and I'll mail it to you.
 
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