They are now - but when they came out in 1991 the Firestar was given the Handgun of the Year award by Guns & Ammo magazine. Not too shabby!

I got a Star PD in .45 ACP after Jeff Cooper recommended one during a phone call. It was a good choice, and it carried nicely. In retrospect, I suppose it is not much smaller than a Commander, which was - and still is - a good choice.

I owned a Star Firestar in 40 S&W and it was a very good pistol and when I bought it I paid $200 and it was accurate and reliable. The reason I sold it was that getting parts for it was getting difficult so I sold it while I could still get my money out of it.

All I can say is that the one I had worked fine.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

The STAR Model 28 and Model 30 are pretty much the same pistol with some minor changes. The M30 has a shorter extractor that also acts as a loaded chamber indicator. The ambi. safety lever is beveled for easier holstering. The sights are highlighted and the sight groove in the slide is a little deeper. Slide serrations are bolder and extend forward farther on the M30

They both came in a couple versions. Full size 'M' Military,,Shortened 'P' Police version w/either a steel or alloy frame. A 'K' added to note an alloy frame version.
Special versions marked for Policia National (PN).

The Spanish Civil Guard, long a customer of STAR placed an order for the Mod28PK. That got the ball rolling on the Model28 production.
It was also from there that the STAR BM pistols that the CG was using were turned in to STAR as partial payment.

The ModelBM pistols were then resold mostly on the US market,,that's where the flood of those came from.

The Civil Guard was using and buying the M28PK. At the same time STAR was developing the M30 from the M28.
The M28 and M30 were now in production at the same time,
the M30 arguably the better pistol.
The Civil Guard, with it's signed contract for X# of M28M and M28PK pistols /per yr , and STAR wanting to get the better pistols to their prize customer, STAR (mis)marked M30M and M30PK pistols as M28 variations and continued to provide them to the CG.
Even the paperwork and guide provided with each pistol features a M28 on the cover but the inside is all M30.
I guess renegotiating a contract with the Gov't in Spain is not something you want to get in to!

A small number of M30M went to the Spanish NAvy. Their Navy marking consists of only the grip escutcheon being an anchor w/ F/N on either side.
(Fuerza (SP?) Naval)

One thing to watch for on the M30 is the bbl. They started leaving the bbl locking lugs full circumference in about '87,,'88.
The older production had the lower portion milled off and blended into the bbl profile. They did this new version not only on the M30 but other pistols as well like the PD & 43.
What happened was that the bbls would sometimes develope a stress fracture where the full circumference bbl lug was left on the bbl (just ahead of the chamber.
This seems to only have occured in the M30. But STAR stop the short cut bbl mfg idea and went back to the old method on all bbl production.

Looking on the Star-Firearms site and don't see this model of 22. Can you be more specific on the model number?

I have an opportunity to buy a FR Sport 6 inch. Are these collectable?

Model F pistols are not necessarily collectible, but I think they are great 22 semiautos, no matter which variation. IIRC, the FR was one of the last variants and has the slide hold-open. The FM is the last with the 'web' of the frame in front of the trigger guard.
I had an early Model F TArget but sold that for some reason,,still have a round bbl F and a slightly later square bbl F. Both the short bbl'd versions. Excellent shooters.
The square bbl'd pistol came to me cheap as a cold blued, pitted w/ hand scratched owners initials on it. I polished and rust blued it, looks pretty acceptable now. The rd bbl model was about new when bought and for a good price from a dealer whose wife was using it but didn't care for it. So out the door it went.

I can remember as a kid when my Dad was going to buy his first handgun,,I really liked the Star Model F and the Llama Especial 22 mini 1911 pistol. I read those old Stoeger catalogs like comic books. Of course I had no first hand knowledge only what the catalog dazzled me with..
Dad however had other plans and figured an American made Smit' &Wesson was what he needed and bought a K22 instead.
The K22 (w/box and papers) still resides in the family w/my brother,,gets shot about every week. I have my Star Model F's and have had plenty of Llama Especials but none at the moment.,,and I do have a pretty nice pre-war 22 OD to go along with them. All shooters,,all good.

like some of the others here I bought my first star, because at the time I could not afford a 1911, and most of the service 1911s we had access too at unit level were some well worn 1911a1s

I carried the pistol in a 1911 military tankers shoulder rig and it was a very loose fit, but I got it with the pistol, and I wish I still had it, or in a standard ta40 belt and holster, when appropriate, the gun was kept in the Company's arms room and I would have to sign it out and in when I was going to carry the gun.

after my time in the service it became a truck then a tractor pistol

I bought my recent version just because it was a nice clean looking pistol, and the day it was presented to me for sell it brought back 40+ year old memories

but if you think about it, they are the first 1911 style 9mms,and are all steel configurations and with the pivoting trigger and external extractors, that is fairly common in todays 9mm 1911's

while they might not be everyone's cup of tea the old B's have my appreciation and respect

and if I could get them at $50, I would order a box car full right now

For about the fourth time I watched "Pulp Fiction" again yesterday. Mainly to see hitman Jules Winnfield's (Samuel L. Jackson) nickeled and pearl-handled Star Model B, "Mr. 9mm." The Star Model B has been a stand-in for the M1911 in a great many movies because 9mm blanks function in it better than .45 blanks in a M1911.

Lots of info here! I know this is a dead thread but good idea to merge it with the new one. STAR PD's need love too.

Forgot about this one.

I got the Starvell M43 I talked about in my previous post.

LNIB with papers and tools $260.

Now, I have all three Firestar's

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SWCA #2817