Star B - Finally!

[GuitarmanNick]

I have a 1956 made Star B that has been a pain to finally get running right, and with factory ammunition.

Sounds easy, but many of these require loads that are at or near the MOAL to feed correctly because the magazines were originally sized to run 9x23 Largo.

Replacing the magazine springs with .38 Super, 1911 springs fixed the issue and it runs 115 and 124 grain factory rounds perfectly, now.

It is a fine shooting pistol, and much more fun without malfunctions. Had it out last weekend and put it through the paces.

Love these old toys!

 

[bigmancrisler]

I have a 1956 made Star B that has been a pain to finally get running right, and with factory ammunition.

Sounds easy, but many of these require loads that are at or near the MOAL to feed correctly because the magazines were originally sized to run 9x23 Largo.

Replacing the magazine springs with .38 Super, 1911 springs fixed the issue and it runs 115 and 124 grain factory rounds perfectly, now.

It is a fine shooting pistol, and much more fun without malfunctions. Had it out last weekend and put it through the paces.

Love these old toys!

What kind of malfunctions? I have one and every once in a while It will jam and I’ll have to drop the mag but it will also drop like 1-3 rounds from the mag in the process.


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[Doctor_M]

I find my Star B does much better with steel ammo cases than brass. One of the few I have that prefers steel.

 

[Melnic]

I forgot where I got it but I have an aftermarket magazine and I believe the feed lips are contoured different. It runs good.
With the stock mag, I just ran 5 at a time to go reliable.

Is the spring you put in there stronger or lighter than the stock spring?

 

[GuitarmanNick]

It was having failures to extract and stovepipes on feeding. Mags were also difficult to seat and would not drop free.

Two Star, 8 round mags and one 9 round after market magazine were inconsistent. First, I carefully worked the magazines to restore the original shape. Patience was needed, but now they all seat easily and drop free. The feed lips were all different, but one fed better than the others. Using it as a guide, I tuned the feed lips on the problem mags.

Careful inspection found the extractor was barely catching the cartridge rims and slipping off. Some filing and fitting squared it up and now it catches the rims solidly.

Still experienced issues with failures to feed and stove piping. I took a pencil and pushed on the followers to see if they were tilting and realized the spring pressures were insanely different. I pulled all of the springs and laid them out. All three were different, and not just in length. They had a different number of coils, too. This explained why the magazines were so inconsistent.

At the suggestion of someone on another forum, I ordered the .38 Super springs that fit 1911 mags from Wolff. Now all three mags can be fully loaded(8 or 9 rounds), and my Star performs perfectly. Keeping the rounds held with enough tension seemed to be the key factor.

I had been hand loading to the max OAL to compensate for the magazine design(originally for the longer Largo cartridge). Testing on the last range trip demonstrated that will no longer be necessary. Factory ammo works perfectly, and I could not be more pleased. It is as satisfying to shoot as my 1911, and nearly as accurate.

This particular pistol would not run the steel ammo I tried. The extractor groove in it was much narrower than any brass cased ammo in my inventory, and only my Glock builds would eat that crap mainly because the extractors are cut differently. With parts for Star B pistols being "unobtainium", brass cases cause less wear on the extractor, too.

I can finally say that it is 100% reliable with all three magazines. Not bad for a 65 year old pistol. Some of my 9mm is slated to be range fodder soon, and the Star B will be getting it's share.

 

[somd_mustangs]

One of the feed problems with the B is using the 9x23 Largo magazines with 9x19 Parabellum. The Model A 9x23 mags and Model B 9x19 mags are actually different. Star initially used a spacer but that proved to be too time consuming and expensive to manufacture, so they modified the feed lips instead by lengthening them.