Star Super B

[browningautorifle]

mags won't feed

Interesting...so I was using 38 super and it was even slightly short.

[Daan Kemp]

Star B/BS were all built for 38 Super and the mags were appropriate for longer cartridges. 9mm were a short fit but worked except were inclined to nose dive. SA Defence Force standard handgun in 9 mm since the middle sixties, still in use.

If the gun had a 38 chamber and you used 9mm, the extractor kept it in contact with the breech face, otherwise it would just have slipped into the chamber.

[browningautorifle]

If the gun had a 38 chamber and you used 9mm, the extractor kept it in contact with the breech face, otherwise it would just have slipped into the chamber.

And that's what I remember. It HAD to feed from the mag.

[Calif-Steve]

I have a nice Star BM in 9mm. Very nice shooter and sorry they don't make them anymore. Century brought in a pile of ex-Police issue guns a few years back. Nice shooters and cheap until word spread about how good they were. Star made very nice handguns, for sure.

[Daan Kemp]

The BM is genuine 9mm. Very nice carry guns, good shooters too.

[browningautorifle]

Very nice carry guns, good shooters too.

Very solid and no rattle...I also had some of the Star "Firestar" models too, the 9mm is nice but the .40 cal was a handful in the same compact frame. Still, solid and no rattle.

[Low & Slow]

My B Super is clearly marked 9mm P, while my Super A is in Largo, and marked simply 9mm. The mags are identical except for the feed lips. Many pistols chambered in 9 Largo, especially the Astras, were advertised as being able to shoot 9 Para and .38 Auto as well as Largo, but that has been a sketchy proposition. None of the Largo pistols were built to handle .38 Super pressures, but obviously many have. I do have a little bit of .38 Auto around here, but luckily stocked up enough Largo to not have to resort to the .38.

[Daan Kemp]

38 Super pressures are what you load it for. The B models wouldn't have been chambered for that round if it couldn't handle it.

[Low & Slow]

True. Many B's were chambered for 9 Para specifically, which is also higher pressure than Largo. Their construction reflects this. Any B originally made for .38 Super would have received the same attention. The earlier Astras and Super A's in Largo could handle .38 Auto, but it's hotter version, .38 Super, was pushing the limit, as was 9 Para, really. Although you could do so in a pinch, these pistols were never intended to fire anything but Largo, so their metallurgy reflected that.

[Daan Kemp]

The military Stars I knew and handled over many years never had that problem. The design copied from the 1911 was inclined to crack in the area of the ejection port and magazine catch, as for the 1911. Quality of the metal good enough for lots of military work. Handled and shot many while I was in the Army. Would go so far as to say put thousands of rounds through many of these Stars. Ejectors took a beating and should be replaced after a couple of thousand rounds. Dry firing too much would break the firing pin.