Star ?

I believe my Star Md#43 was my first 9mm handgun. Very well made and shot well.
It had only one problem, it was heavy for its size! ;) I would have to wear suspenders in order to keep my pants up!;) Could never use for a CCW! :D
At the time I got a real good deal on it since Star had gone or was going out of business.
I still have it and never regretted buying it! ;)
 
loknload said:
It had only one problem, it was heavy for its size! I would have to wear suspenders in order to keep my pants up! Could never use for a CCW!
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The joke at the range where I shot was that if used for self defense or home defense, and it jammed, all you had to do was drop it on the bad guy's foot, and he'd be out of action.

The Firestar Plus models solved the weigh problems, with alloy frames. Nice guns. I may pick one up again, one of these days, if I see one for sale. Small and relatively light.
 
Just digging through my safe in Texas where I keep many pistols and rifles and discovered two Mod B Supers and a standard B all in like new condition that I had forgotten about. Tomorrow I will put a few rounds through the pistols to remind me of how well Star pistols shoot.:)
 
My Astra guns, all of them, have been very good. My current "house gun" is an Astra A-75, it has an amazingly smooth trigger (the DA trigger is the equal to my Sig P220 DAK) and it's very accurate.
 
I picked up an inexpensive BM not too long ago. A former police gun I suppose. A little finish wear, but not too bad. Came with the box, manual (in Spanish), extra grips and an extra magazine.

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Pretty much a Commander sized, 1911 lookalike (the internals are different), in 9mm Para. Solid as a rock and heavy as a brick. If anything ever breaks on it, I probably won't be able to find parts, and magazines are expensive, but since it's just a range toy, neither of those are deal breakers to me.
 
The only thing that might break is the firing pin. I make those commercially.
Every thing else should be good to go for many years.
The BM is actually a little smaller and lighter than a steel framed commander.
When you have the grips off DON'T move the safety from the "off" position. There is a plunger and spring underneath that will launch itself into parts unknown.
 
I picked up an inexpensive BM not too long ago.
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Is the BM a steel framed weapon? For carry I don't mind aluminum and plastic, those are "Disposable" guns for my purposes, and I've heard stories of police illegally confiscating legally carried guns so I never carry what I consider desirable guns.

That said, I think the model D is steel framed, the DK aluminum alloy, and several other distinguishable by a suffix letter as in the "K" of DK. A list of Spanish guns made with aluminum alloy would be nice.
 
The BM is a steel framed model. The BKM is the same pistol with an aluminum frame. The little BM tips the scales at 34oz. For the record, the BM has a case hardened Hammer, sear and trigger bar.

Also for the record...do NOT dry fire these pistols. They have an inertia type firing pin. These require a return spring at the front of the firing pin tunnel. This means the firing pin cannot have the normal stop and instead requires a stop pin, that rides in a cutout in the firing pin, to limit the travel. Slamming the firing pin against this stop pin will cause the firing pin to fracture towards the rear. You can't see this stop pin because it hides under the rear sight.

Bill DeShivs to the rescue.. Many thanks Bill.
 
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As to your original question.
I also have a Star Super SM 380
Mine has wooden checkered grips, but I have seen pictures of many with plastic grips that had a thumbrest. GCA'68 required X number of "points" to qualify for importation, the thumbrest was something that helped add points.
Also, for those that don't know, the "Super SM" had a takedown lever on the right side. Rather like on a Beretta 92, the earlier "SM" 380s disassembled like a 1911.
I read somewhere that there were 12,000+ Super SMs made. One person described them as "Ultra rare, not sure I agree about the "Ultra" part
Nice little guns, not too tiny though, I CCW'd mine for a while, then upgraded to 9mm Shield.
 
I have an Astra Falcon that is not safe to shoot because of poor hardening of the hammer/sear assembly. The trigger was awful, and after disassembly/investigation I saw why when metal was wearing on the sear to the point where it was nearly rounded. I still fired it occasionally, but the last time I did it went full auto on me so now it is nothing but a collectible.
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My Falcon also had a broken sear, the tip which is thinned down to fit into the half cock notch broke off. The hardness of my sear is 46-48 Rc, while I've read that most auto pistol sears and hammers are around 53-56 Rc.
That said, the Falcon's sear design appears to be a departure for Astra's as earlier one's which look like a U shape, apparently catching a notch on the back side of the hammer instead of the normal notches on the front side. So perhaps Astra was in a learning curve for sear/hammer designs. That's hard to imagine for such a high output company, but your the second guy to mention this problem that I've had.

If I make a new sear what would be a good alloy to use? I have some S7. My Falcon will be an expensive collector gun if I do make a sear for it, not for labor or material but heat treating has a $75 minimum charge.
 
If Star had kept on making the 1911-style pistols that they made prior to the numbered models, they would still be in business today.
The numbered models and the Firestars, while good guns, were extremely heavy, clunky guns-and they put Star out of business.
Star's 1911-style variations were great guns. Star was quite the innovator, too.
 
I have a Star B and a Firestar 9mm and enjoy shooting them both. My oldest son and my wife fight over who gets to carry and shoot the Firestar. It's very heavy for it's size but takes what little recoil the 9mm has to offer easily. The only downside is parts.

When I first bought the Firestar I went online looking for an extra magazine and found one, placed my order and waited and waited and waited and finally the company contacted me after six months and said we are out of stock and "might" get another shipment do you want to cancel the order or continue. I said continue, and over a year later I received an email they had a 13 round magazine new in the box did I want it. You bet!
 
I recently got a 'BM' for a good price and it is a sweet gun! Will never use it for a EDC, however, it is so much fun to shoot.. I love it. I have gotten the trigger pull down a bit, and will keep working on it until I get it below 3 pounds. Understand this is for 'fun' shooting so a light trigger will be no problem.. I like that it is a fairly heavy gun.
 
The BM weighs about what a steel 1911 commander weighs.
Star made some later guns that weighed slightly less than a steam locomotive.
 
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