The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > Hogan's Alley > Handguns: The Semi-automatic Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old August 27, 2002, 04:41 PM   #1
Stephen A. Camp
Staff In Memoriam
 
Join Date: April 16, 1999
Posts: 2,570
Range Report: Star Model BM (Sad name/Decent gun!)....

Hello. Though a design no longer produced by anyone and with spare parts hard to find, these are pretty good little handguns considering that they can frequently be found for under $200 in new or like new condition.

An all-steel pistol w/fixed sights and a 3.77" bbl, they offer no frills, but offer all you "need" in an inexpensive carry pistol. First, they are flat and thinner than most guns on the market. This measures 0.84" thick. The rear sight's a simple blade while the front's a serrated ramp. It comes "throated" from the factory and this one has fed most rounded type JHPs with no problems. An exception is Remington's 124 gr Golden Saber which simply will not feed in this pistol. Other Star BMs might do fine.

Finish is a reasonably even blue with no thin spots and the one-sided, enlarged thumb safety is for right-handed shooters. The stocks are plain, brown, checkered plastic or hard rubber; they are flexible, but not "soft."

Here's a picture of the pistol and one notes a removable bushing ala the 1911, although this pistol comes with a captive recoil spring and a FLGR. It also comes with a magazine disconnect, but that doesn't affect trigger-pull and this single-action automatic comes with a quite useable trigger out of the box.



The guide rod is visible in this picture as well.



Note: The Star BM's bbl comes with but one locking lug. Steel on Star pistols is traditionally "soft" compared to other handguns and one can see the heat-treated areas on the slides in many cases. Recoil springs are not so easily changed/replaced on these pistols and for these reasons I do NOT recommend much use of +P ammunition. None was used in today's test for that reason and the fact that spare parts are tough to find.

Shooting: The following rounds were fired today as they're commonly used by many 9mm shooters. Today, due to weather and wind, all groups were fired at 15 yards standing w/2-hand hold. All rounds are 10 rnd groups.

Ammunition: Two 115 gr ball standard pressure ball rounds were used, Winchester USA and Fiocchi. I also fired one group with Federal's legendary "9BP," their standard velocity 115 gr JHP.

Here are the results. Left to Right: Winchester, Fiocchi, and Federal.



All of the rounds impacted slightly high and to the right. Part of that could've been me as I found the front sight somewhat hard to keep centered in the gun's "tight" rear sight notch. The gun was never intended as a target gun, but groups pretty darned well for its size and "adequate" sights.

Recoil was minimal. There were zero malfunctions and cases were tossed about 7 to 8' to the right and slightly forward from this handgun.

Observations: For a carry gun, there are many out there that are lighter and a bit smaller, however not based solely on this session, but some years of use, the Star BM does have reliability and decent accuracy. While it IS heavy by today's standards, it's also inexpensive and offers 9x19mm power in a Makarov-weight pistol that is slimmer and trimmer.
Again, I don't recommend +P in this pistol, but could sure understand a fellow wanting to test the gun with it and use it for carry and very rare shooting. I suspect that would be OK.

Hopefully, this report might be of interest for someone wanting a "car gun" or a defensive piece of at least "adequate" caliber that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Best.
Stephen A. Camp is offline  
Old August 27, 2002, 05:38 PM   #2
mec
Junior member
 
Join Date: December 6, 2001
Posts: 1,536
Always considered the BM, BKS etc to be pretty nice quality. From your observations, they seem to be spot-hardened which is better than not hardened at all. The safety seems to cam the hammer out of contact with the sear and to be pretty positive. These, or most of them have non-inertia full lenght firing pins and shouldn't be dry fired. I shot one several years ago and found it functional with the loads I had - probably ball but don't remember.

Useful report on your part as your observations always are. Noted your shooting with a 1911 a week or two ago - most competent trigger work and good clarity of reporting.
here recently, milesfortis.com decided I needed my own web address and here it is.
http://www.milesfortis.com/mcump/mc11.htm
down at the bottom is a deal on the 1911 which is always a risky subject to write on as it brings out the nut experts. Think you might enjoy it though.

mc
mec is offline  
Old August 27, 2002, 05:56 PM   #3
Stephen A. Camp
Staff In Memoriam
 
Join Date: April 16, 1999
Posts: 2,570
Hello, sir, and thank you.

Best.
Stephen A. Camp is offline  
Old September 7, 2002, 02:40 PM   #4
sox
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 19, 1999
Location: Atlanta Georgia
Posts: 591
Too Cool, I love these range reports of yours. They are concise, with good pics. They are a pleasant suprise when they pop up, thanks.
sox is offline  
Old September 7, 2002, 04:21 PM   #5
Stephen A. Camp
Staff In Memoriam
 
Join Date: April 16, 1999
Posts: 2,570
Hello, sir, and thanks.

Best.
Stephen A. Camp is offline  
Old September 7, 2002, 08:12 PM   #6
boing
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 24, 1998
Location: WNC
Posts: 1,072
Top notch report, as always, but...

Why is it a sad name?

boing is offline  
Old September 7, 2002, 08:14 PM   #7
Stephen A. Camp
Staff In Memoriam
 
Join Date: April 16, 1999
Posts: 2,570
Hello. "BM" just has a different meaning to many folks.

Best.
Stephen A. Camp is offline  
Old September 7, 2002, 08:58 PM   #8
marsh
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 12, 1999
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 126
I would love to get my hands on a Star BM. It would make a wonderful carry companion to my German Walther PP.

marsh
marsh is offline  
Old September 8, 2002, 12:00 AM   #9
Blackhawk
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 4, 2001
Posts: 5,040
Great report, and typical of you, Stephen!

What about the trigger? At 15 yards, I expect fixed sight 9s to shoot high, but I think shooting right is typical of my not having mastered trigger control for that particular gun.
Blackhawk is offline  
Old September 8, 2002, 05:05 AM   #10
Stephen A. Camp
Staff In Memoriam
 
Join Date: April 16, 1999
Posts: 2,570
Hello. The trigger's surprisingly light and crisp on this one.

Best.
Stephen A. Camp is offline  
Old September 9, 2002, 05:54 AM   #11
Pilot
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 21, 2000
Posts: 4,193
Great report as usual Stephen. Thanks.
__________________
Pilot
Pilot is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:59 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.04989 seconds with 7 queries