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Old May 19, 2011, 02:46 AM   #26
RockyMtnTactical
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I was tempted by those Star BM 9mm's that they had on AIM recently.
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Old May 19, 2011, 07:41 AM   #27
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STAR PD here....inherited from my grandfather- NIB...
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Old May 19, 2011, 09:47 AM   #28
Fishbed77
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I don't personally own a Star, but a friend of mine has a 9mm Firestar. It ain't pretty, but it is a very sweet-shooting pistol (nice trigger) and has been reliable for him.
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Old May 19, 2011, 10:46 AM   #29
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Don't own one yet but I have my eye on a Star Ultrastar 9mm If one becomes available.
My LGD gets them traded in every so often.
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Old May 19, 2011, 10:56 AM   #30
psyfly
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I like my stars.

PD, BKM, BM, M40, and DK.

I've had one in the past that needed to have the extractor tweaked a bit (traded it) but, for the most part, reliable.

Always quality workmanship and accuracy is acceptable (not a competition tack-driver, but I used my BKM for my last CHL renewal).

If you find one, they are also usually priced modestly.

Best,

Will
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Old May 19, 2011, 11:05 AM   #31
KyJim
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I bought a Star Model B Super (9mm Luger) awhile back. It feels great in the hand, has a nice trigger, and is accurate. The only trouble I had was taking off the barrel bushing. Tighter than a Baer! I wouldn't hesitate to buy another and hope to find a BM at a reasonable price locally.

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Old May 19, 2011, 11:28 AM   #32
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I bought it new way back when, still one of my very favorite guns. Way ahead of it's time.

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Old May 19, 2011, 03:33 PM   #33
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I have 4

PD, carried for years as a Federal Agent, still do carry it.
BM supposedly used by Spanish Customs

LaFrance NOVA was a BKM cut way down. He bought so many guns, STAR sent two guys over and they bought one of his guns. Later STAR came out with the Firestar (got one of those too), but they had to use a steel frame to import them into the US, so it is a bit heavy.

I am carrying the NOVA right now - it fits in the front pocket of a pair of jeans. I carried that on the job as well - a couple of bad guys got to see the front end of it. They all decided to give up.
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Old May 19, 2011, 04:05 PM   #34
Microgunner
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I owned a Star Firestar 9mm way back when. It shot OK but rusted at the drop of a hat. Required constant attention. Also owned a couple of Astras, an A-80 and a pocket .25ACP, they were both poorly built pistols.
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Old May 19, 2011, 04:11 PM   #35
priler
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my ultrastar has been ultra reliable.

the way the polymer part feels puts any modern polymer frame to shame regardless of price. it feels like comfortable metal.
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Old May 19, 2011, 05:35 PM   #36
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Sleuth, have a look at that BM and check if there is any "GC+serial number" printed somewhere on it. If so, that BM belonged to the "Guardia Civil" which is one of the two national-level police forces. This agency has some responsabilities that have to do with customs, but actually, Customs in Spain ("Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera", currently) have never, as far as I know, used the BM. The Guardia Civil has, and for a lot of years, in fact.
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Old May 19, 2011, 05:55 PM   #37
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Era un Agente Especial de la Aduana de los Estados Unitos. I think the seller said that to get me to buy. If I had been a State Trooper, magically it would have been used by the (non-existant) State Police.

I'll dig it out and see what is marked on it.

Excuse my spelling, I speak Spanglish, not Spanish. Spanglish is used along the Mexican Border, and is a mix of English and Spanish - Trucke`, not Camion. Lunche` rather than Almuerzo. Your English is excellent.
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Old May 19, 2011, 06:23 PM   #38
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Had a Firestar, good solid pistol, but I didn't like SA. I passed up a pristine 30M, stupid decision, wish I'd gotten it.
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Old May 20, 2011, 12:32 AM   #39
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I bought a couple of Firestars back in the early '90's...both in Star's Starvel finish. They're in .40 and .45 calibers, and they both have a very well respected and deserved place in my safe. The .45 is especially accurate for such a small, short barreled gun. They are heavy for their size, but I like the way that they feel in the hand. Both guns operate with 100% reliability with my handloads, the only rounds that I've ever put through them. I had some trouble with the rear sight screws loosening up early on, but a little Loctite seems to have cured that issue. Very shortly after I bought it, the .40 had to go back to Interarms for a failure to extract the fired case about every 3rd round, and they replaced the extractor, which cured that problem. Glad that happened then, as I hear that those parts are almost impossible to come by these days.

I haven't shot either one of these guns in quite some time, as I've been skittish about the parts situation since Star folded up. I haven't wanted to push them too hard. Here's a couple of pics of my Firestars...

M40



M45

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Old May 20, 2011, 05:38 AM   #40
Nordeste
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So, it's looks like extractor issues were not that uncommon. Worn-out BMs also experienced it in my own hands. Usually, when having this problem at our qualification shooting tests, we were instructed to head to the gunsmith's office, drop the weapon there and get it replaced by another one until ours was fixed. Not a single one of those with the 30M though.

You know, I made this question about Stars since having shared a lot of time (on peacekeeping ops) with American officers we had our chats about firearms, regulations and stuff and I was a bit surprised that a lot of them were familiar with my 30M, some other had Stars themselves, and most of them didn't like the 9mil round ("this doesn't stop anything" was repeated quite often and praised the .45ACP as their favourite caliber) but all who owned one agreed about the quality of Star products. It somehow surprised me, as I had always thought Star manufactured its guns mainly for the Spanish "home" market (basicly law enforcement and military) but didn't have penetrated the international market that much, put aside the US market, with its huge variety of gun manufacturers.

Sleuth, thanks for your compliments to my English skills (and you have nothing to excuse yourself for) but you had to hear my accent to give you a clear picture of them (though some say it's not that bad, you know we spaniards have a hard accent when speaking English). I know about spanglish. It's funny for us when we hear it for all you say, but you see, this happens with any language that it's spoken in a lot of countries, it develops a particular version of it for any country or region it's spoken in.
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Old May 20, 2011, 10:29 AM   #41
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Our issue with the 9mm vs. .45 is centered on ball ammo. In jacketed hollow points the rounds are closer in effectiveness, but the advantage always goes to the .45.

"9mm's may expand, but .45's don't shrink."

Are you in the military, or the police? What is your qualification course? And what is the other National police force, beyond the GC ?
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Old May 20, 2011, 08:39 PM   #42
Nordeste
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Actually, I'm GC, Sleuth.

As said, we have two police forces that operate at national level. One is GC (http://www.guardiacivil.org/), and the other one is the "Cuerpo Nacional de Policía" (www.policia.es). The differences between the two are quite a few. CNP is deployed in every province capital and towns over 25000 people, whereas GC is deployed in all the rest of the territory, including the 12 miles of territorial sea. CNP is a fully civilian police agency, whereas GC operates at civilian level most of the time, but has certain military assignments (please do not confuse with a paramilitary organization, nothing to do with that) that mostly have to do with investigation of military offences, intel, or MP duties when attached to a military unit deployed abroad. Last two spaniards that fell in the line of duty in Afghanistan were GC officers instructing the local police. They shared the Mazar e Sharif base with the US Marines, who paid their respects lowering the US Flag and raising the Spanish one, while a platoon of Marines joined the military ceremony in the memory of the two fallen comrades. Semper Fi , Marines, we won't forget that.

Link: http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com...IdObjeto=26052

Assignments between the two police forces are different but complementary. CNP has the specialties you might expect in a modern police force such as riot control, bomb squads, K9, tactical teams, intel, community policing, criminal investigations, helicopters...), whereas GC has all the above, plus Traffic and Highway duties, Alpine specialists (for rescue and mountain environment intervention), divers, Coast Guard, Customs, weapons control and a more complete "air service" that include both helicopters and airplanes for maritime surveillance. Manpower is at around 55000 officers for CNP and 85000 for GC. Another difference is in colour. CNP is in regular police blue, GC wears a distinctive green uniform (or black for the spec. ops. guys). You could say CNP is more specialized in the urban environment, whereas GC is more "all environment" capable, and able to operate together with military units.

I guess you can read spanish, so I put a couple of links. The webs are nothing special but can provide some useful info.

I don't fully understand what you mean by what's our qualification course. If you don't mind making it a bit more clear for me, I'll be pleased to answer your questions.
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Old May 20, 2011, 09:55 PM   #43
Stephen A. Camp
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Hello. I have had good luck with STAR pistols over the years. My very first handgun purchased as an adult was a 9mm STAR Model B, which I foolishly sold in the early 1970's. I was able to replace it (sort of) with one from the last production runs. I had it customized and still shoot it now and again.

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/s..._model%20B.htm

For several years I carried a 9mm STAR Model 43 Firestar as as a backup gun while a police officer. It served well.

I have a couple of customized STAR Model 28's that group very nicely.



STAR pistols have served me nicely over the years. I regret that they are no longer in production.

Best.
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Old May 20, 2011, 11:23 PM   #44
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Added a .22 to the collection yesterday $175.00
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Old May 21, 2011, 09:58 AM   #45
hagar
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M43 Firestar in 9mm. Bought it in AZ in 1990, had Derek Martin of Accuracy Speaks do a fantastic trigger job on it. Very accurate little pistol, carried it for many years, but once or twice the safety came off while I was carrying it cocked and locked, and that scared me into buying a G26. Recently replaced the G26 with a Kahr CW9. Have to take the Star out to shoot sometime soon!
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Old May 21, 2011, 10:24 AM   #46
woad_yurt
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I have a Star MOD 30MI. It's my first and still-only 9MM. It's built like a tank, never jams and works just fine with Ramline's 17 round S&W 5900 series mags if you remove the mag safety, which takes all of 2 minutes' time.

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Old May 21, 2011, 10:44 AM   #47
Amin Parker
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Wow, i had no idea the 30m will run with Smith magazines. Thanx for the tip.
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Old May 21, 2011, 06:46 PM   #48
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I have owned my Star 9mm BS for 2 years now and it shoots great. The trigger breaks very crisp ans is enjoyably light. I have never regretted buying mine. It's a pleasure to shoot.
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Old May 21, 2011, 11:58 PM   #49
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Just a point of information.

The Star PD is the inspiration for the Rock Island Arsenal's custom General Officers Model 1911.

Each Army Flag Officer recieved a custom built compact 1911 back in the 70s
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Old May 22, 2011, 12:24 AM   #50
B1911
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I have a Firestar 9mm that is very nice. I don't shoot it much anymore though, a bit of a safe queen. Just been shooting my other guns more lately.
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