Star ?

T

tsillik

New member
Thinking about a Star pistol,any feedback on them, good or bad. Also is the BM a shorter barrel version of the B ? terry:D
 
Love Star pistols, of course i only have eighty plus of them and shoot them constantly. The BM is a nice sized 9mm pistol that is better carried in a good holster and belt due to it's weight . Unfortunately Century Arms imported a bunch and ruined them with billboaed markings.
 
is BM a model or is it short for ballester molina? if so, ballester molinas are not compacts and not 9mms, my little brother has one, and it's full sized and marked 11.25mm(metric designation of 45ACP). I simply ask because the ballester molina is widely considered to be a star clone and a lot of people fail to differentiate the two.
 
tahunua001 said:
is BM a model or is it short for ballester molina?
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BM is the model designation. AFAIK it doesn't stand for anything in particular.
tahunua001 said:
I simply ask because the ballester molina is widely considered to be a star clone...
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It's not. Both share some design features that depart from the 1911, namely the pivoting pinned trigger and the deletion of the grip safety, and HAFDASA (the Argentinean car manufacturer that made the Ballester-Molina) is widely considered to have copied these ideas from the Star; however, the pistols remain different in numerous ways, notably in that the Ballester-Molina retains the plunger tube and internal extractor. The Star has an external extractor and separate spring-loaded detents for the thumb safety and slide stop.

[EDIT TO ADD] Before some 1911 fan points this out, the original Browning design did not incorporate the grip safety, which was added to comply with U.S. Army comments. IOW the idea of omitting it did not necessarily originate with the Star.
 
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The Star Firestar M43 is an excellent little 9mm pistol if you can find one. Reliable, accurate, and a nice trigger feel as well. Replacement parts can be tricky to find though, since Star has been out of business for quite a while.
 
I've owned two PDs, and would own another.
The BKS and BKM were always of interest to me, as they seemed proportional to the 9mm cartridge, rather than being an overly-large pistol like 1911s chambered for smaller rounds.
Reading about Stars throughout the 1970s in the popular gunrags, I remember there being a belief that the quality of the guns was related to political stability in the Eibar region where the pistols were made!
 
Replacement parts can be tricky to find though, since Star has been out of business for quite a while.
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Nice guns but this is a problem. I have a 9x19 Star B that has a cracked barrel link. I've not been able to find a replacement.
 
I've been collecting Stars for a little bit and have a few of them at this point. Overall I don't think you can go wrong with them. They are built solid as well as accurate. The only downside to them is if you need to replace a part as spares are very hard to come by depending on the model. The BM is good but as someone else said if you can find a Firestar in M43 (9mm) or M45 (45acp) you cannot go wrong.
 
I got a fine deal on a Model 30 MI and the slide to frame fit is simply beyond what I expected from a mass production "service grade" pistol. The double action trigger pull is extremely heavy and not enjoyable but it's got a fantastic single action trigger break that is very, very nice. The magazines are not easy to find but I have four of them.

It's a very heavy, all-steel double stack 9mm and it makes for very nice and soft shooting with little muzzle flip. I like this pistol a lot.
 
Light trigger, accurate pistol, at least the only one I ever fired. Only downside was that some mall parts seemed to be brittle. I had to hand-fit a few parts and the replacement parts had to come from private sellers in Spain.

Seemed reliable after the parts were replaced.
 
For my first big bore pistol I got the 30m based on all the magazine hype of the day. Had no idea how heavy it would be in steel and too afraid of "aluminum", sorry to say. It is a remarkable design though for sure - except for the weight and it's too bad they went out of business. On the magazines supposedly some pretty common S&W mags are nearly exactly the same. Sorry I can't recall the model numbers, but they are current and common. I believe you have do something about the magazine safety; either dremel a notch or get rid of the safety itself. Good luck.
 
If you're getting a pistol which you plan on shooting, why the heck would you want to purchase a firearm for which there is virtually no replacement parts?:eek:
 
You can get parts. And it's kind of James Bond fun. You have to know the name of the right guy in Spain...for real.
 
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