Thanks to everyone for the compliments. I do believe the gun to be real, because even the WaA mark, for being sloppy and probably double stampled aka "bounced", has the "A" to the left of center of the eagle, which is the authentic WaA for these. The fakes have the "A" underneath center of the eagle, just as the fake from my first post has.
Quote:
I'm sorry, but that Eagle shows signs of double stamping, as well. There appear to be four "wing bars," not the regulation 3, and several of them are far thicker than they should be.
I've seen many examples of very poorly stamped WaffenAmts (or however it's spelled) on late war guns of all stripes.
|
I took your post at first to be saying you think the gun is real, but then you say the eagle bars are thicker than they should be? I think thats due to the double stamp. Remember, fake Nazi contract Star Bs are identified by SN AND often the stamp, but never IMO by the stamp alone. You also mention that you've seen poor WaAs on late guns, but this gun isn't that late when you think about it. I have a few P38s from 1945 in my collection. I consider after Feb 1945 to be "late", but that definition is subjective.
Quote:
|
I didn't question the condition of the Star, only the WaA stamp. The gun is very nice and the 600 is just downright pretty. Those Astras are nice guns, but the recoil isn't so nice. The 400 especially can be downright nasty.
|
I know you didn't mean the finish or condition, because it is nice. When I said "do you think its too sloppy" I meant the WaA mark, nothing else. Thanks for your compliments on the pistols. The 600 appears to have been stored and imported in the 1950s is my guess and then stored again. It does not appear to have went to West Germany like many "2nd contract" Astra 600s did. I agree that the recoil is pretty nasty in these. I attribute it to the blow back mechanism coupled with the grip shape, size and angle. The Beretta 1934 380, is smaller in the hand, but has the same angle, and shape, and feels lousy for shooting too. It is also a blowback however. Some Spanish guns are junky, but these two are high quality IMO. Not every firearm from Spain is junk, and this thread is the proof.
Quote:
The Star is different from the Colt in several ways, some improvements. The safety cams the hammer back off the sear rather than just blocking the sear; if the gun is dropped on the hammer while cocked, the sear and hammer notches won't be destroyed. The slide stop spring and plunger are different, but not necessarily better.
The trigger is pinned; that prevents "trigger bounce" which can drop the hammer in the half cock notch when the slide is released and not eased down. That doesn't happen with a pinned trigger.
The main change, for good or bad, is that the back of the grip is solid, with no grip safety and no separate mainspring housing.
|
As usual, great info Keenan. I did not know all of those differences. I don't like the feel of the "fake" mainspring housing, which goes back to my preference of the 1911 over the 1911a1, for feel especially. I like that spot to be flat. The rest of the gun I really like, and it has a nice trigger.
I actually guessed how this gun came to me. I forgot to tell this story. The guy who first told me, when he said it came into a gun show, I figured the guy who sold it to the dealer got it from someone who didn't know exactly what they had. I figured that because with a gun like that, if you want to sell it to a dealer, it only makes sense that you bought it right, rather than pay $800 and sell to a dealer for $500 although many people do that. The dealer confirmed my suspicion by telling me that the gun walked into the previous show, and the gun was in a case. This 3rd guy, asked the first owner to see it, then asked that first owner how much, and the owner says "$200" so he then bought it, and flipped over to the gun dealer, at the same show, who then sold it to me. That happened at the show previous to the one I was at when I bought the gun. Of course I couldn't be at that show lol.
I'm just happy to have it for many reasons. Of course I wish I could have got it for $200, but I'm thankful for what I do have, rather than what I could have had. We all get lucky sometimes. I think I got it for a fair price anyways. As the old saying goes, if you don't get it, then forget it. Move on to the next one...