mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-It's the time of the year for soda bread in my Irish heritage household as we come up on St Patrick's day. And in keeping with tradition the luck of the Irish was with me recently as I stumbled onto something super neat.
-As most often it starts with an auction listing: "Star 1911 Automatic 9mm". At first you'd think a typical Model B or Super. But a look at the first photo got me hooked: a tangent sight! That means one thing on a Star: Model A Carbine. But the barrel was standard length and it was marked 9 m/m on the slide. Huh? Grips were nice hand-made wooden examples. But the rest of the pistol was in good condition.
-So now to see if I could figure out what this puppy was. Zilch on the web. And I mean NOTHING. So I grab Leo Antaris' Star Firearms and dig deep. Finally found my answer buried on pg 412 in the Shoulder Stocked and Selective Fire Pistols chapter...
As previously mentioned, the vast majority of guns were chambered for the 7.63 Mauser cartridge and completed with a 160mm (most common), 180mm or 200mm length barrel. A much smaller number of Model A carbines were chambered for the 9mm Largo (Bergmann) and relatively few pistols were purchased with 105mm and 130mm barrels."
-So what was listed was a Model A Carbine in 9mm Largo with a 105mm barrel. Something I'd never seen. Hell, even Antaris didn't have a photo in his magnificent reference work. With only about 5,000 Model A Carbines built in total the number configured like this one had to be tiny.
-Antaris has a very comprehensive SN list for the Model As and the SN for this one fell into a group of 300 examples chambered in 7.63mm with 180mm barrels, built in August of 1928. My best guess is that it was most likely built to order as a period advertisement for the Model A stated "The pistol can be made also for the 9m/m Bergmann and 45 Colt American cartridge". The Model A Carbine was never chambered for .45ACP, that was handled by the Model P slotted for a shoulder stock. With the vast majority of Model A Carbines ended up being exported to the Orient, chambered in the very popular 7.63mm Mauser cartridge, I'm also guessing that this one stayed in Spain. Can't see how anyone in China would want a pistol chambered in 9mm Bergmann with the country awash in 7.63 Mauser ammo used in C96s and Astra M900s.
-So now I know exactly what I'm looking at and knowing that a Model A Carbine brings decent money I put in a strong bid. In the end it wasn't necessary as there was only one counter minor counter bid. Not sure how the David Rachwals of the world missed this one but my Irish luck held and it was mine for a Mawkie price™.
-She showed up today, with spare mag and the replacement grips. But even more luck was on my side as I had an original pair of Model A grips in the spares bin. A minor crack and tiny chip on the right side but that was it. Now she looks close to correct as she left the factory in 1928. The only difference being that the original carbine grips don't have the STAR name on them, just "Trademark".
-Not so sure that my luck will hold when it comes to finding a proper shoulder stock for it. I've been looking for nearly 10 yrs now, after getting my 7.63 Mauser Model A Carbine, and so far no joy. Only finding the newer Model M stocks which don't fit the Model As. But who knows, just might get lucky after all!
-As most often it starts with an auction listing: "Star 1911 Automatic 9mm". At first you'd think a typical Model B or Super. But a look at the first photo got me hooked: a tangent sight! That means one thing on a Star: Model A Carbine. But the barrel was standard length and it was marked 9 m/m on the slide. Huh? Grips were nice hand-made wooden examples. But the rest of the pistol was in good condition.
-So now to see if I could figure out what this puppy was. Zilch on the web. And I mean NOTHING. So I grab Leo Antaris' Star Firearms and dig deep. Finally found my answer buried on pg 412 in the Shoulder Stocked and Selective Fire Pistols chapter...
As previously mentioned, the vast majority of guns were chambered for the 7.63 Mauser cartridge and completed with a 160mm (most common), 180mm or 200mm length barrel. A much smaller number of Model A carbines were chambered for the 9mm Largo (Bergmann) and relatively few pistols were purchased with 105mm and 130mm barrels."
-So what was listed was a Model A Carbine in 9mm Largo with a 105mm barrel. Something I'd never seen. Hell, even Antaris didn't have a photo in his magnificent reference work. With only about 5,000 Model A Carbines built in total the number configured like this one had to be tiny.
-Antaris has a very comprehensive SN list for the Model As and the SN for this one fell into a group of 300 examples chambered in 7.63mm with 180mm barrels, built in August of 1928. My best guess is that it was most likely built to order as a period advertisement for the Model A stated "The pistol can be made also for the 9m/m Bergmann and 45 Colt American cartridge". The Model A Carbine was never chambered for .45ACP, that was handled by the Model P slotted for a shoulder stock. With the vast majority of Model A Carbines ended up being exported to the Orient, chambered in the very popular 7.63mm Mauser cartridge, I'm also guessing that this one stayed in Spain. Can't see how anyone in China would want a pistol chambered in 9mm Bergmann with the country awash in 7.63 Mauser ammo used in C96s and Astra M900s.
-So now I know exactly what I'm looking at and knowing that a Model A Carbine brings decent money I put in a strong bid. In the end it wasn't necessary as there was only one counter minor counter bid. Not sure how the David Rachwals of the world missed this one but my Irish luck held and it was mine for a Mawkie price™.
-She showed up today, with spare mag and the replacement grips. But even more luck was on my side as I had an original pair of Model A grips in the spares bin. A minor crack and tiny chip on the right side but that was it. Now she looks close to correct as she left the factory in 1928. The only difference being that the original carbine grips don't have the STAR name on them, just "Trademark".
-Not so sure that my luck will hold when it comes to finding a proper shoulder stock for it. I've been looking for nearly 10 yrs now, after getting my 7.63 Mauser Model A Carbine, and so far no joy. Only finding the newer Model M stocks which don't fit the Model As. But who knows, just might get lucky after all!
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