Range report (Star BM) and cleaning notes Picture added

I'd written about the Star BM 9mm pistol before(here and here); well, a guy picked one up a couple of weeks ago and wanted to try it out, so to the range we went("You want me to help you test it out? However will I screw the yard, let's go!find the time?")

The cleaning note is this: I don't care if it's new in the box from the factory or an old, used whatever, take it apart and clean & lube it before you shoot it. If you don't know how to break it down or there's no manual, buy or borrow one of the Assembly/Disassembly books or find someone who can help. Not only do you need to make sure the bore is clear, etc., but it will almost certainly need lube. I have no idea how many new firearms I've seen that, when opened up, were dry, no sign of oil or grease anywhere. Which is not good. Manufacturer doesn't seem to matter, though it seems to be worse on revolvers; most semi-autos seem to at least have some oil on the rails.

Back to the range. Since the guy wanted to know both would it shoot well and would it make a good carry piece, we tested it with a variety of ammo. James wrote a while back on a Star Super B he owns that will NOT reliably feed anything but ball ammo, and wanted to make sure that was not the case on this BM.

The group below(in the X & 9 ring) is a total of 50 or 60 rounds, all shot offhand at about twenty feet
















That is with a mix of handloads(124-grain cast ball), CCI Blazer ball and Gold Dot 124-grain hollowpoints. Two of the magazines were random mixes of all three, and no failures of any kind. It went through it all without a hitch.

At the end I loaded one mag with the handloads and fired it one-handed at about fifteen feet:





















I'm a fairly lousy one-handed target shooter, and I wasn't taking any particular pains on breath control or timing, just 'line up the sights and squeeze', and got this.

This is the third one of these I've had the chance to shoot, and I really like them; I wish they were still being manufactured, they're a damn good pistol, well-made of good materials. This one had a trigger a target pistol would be proud of, was totally reliable with all ammo tried and is more accurate than I am. All three have eaten everything fed to them without a bobble, handloads and different brands of ball and hollowpoints.

I have to wonder if, since the Star BM's imported were originally issued to the Spanish Civil Guard, they may have been throated to handle hollowpoints? Or maybe it's just a bit different design than the Super B. In any case, it works.

The other thing I shot was that Sistema 1927 I reblued. I went through the 'Poor man's trigger job' instructions posted at the M1911.org forums in the tech section and wanted to try it out. Also, after bluing it, I've been carrying it some and shooting it to see how the finish holds up. The finish is doing well. And the trigger was much better; the original was clean but fairly heavy, now it's clean and lighter(I need to rig up or buy a trigger scale).