Tell me about Star Model 30M...

Ok, I have a thing for metal Wundernines. This was a neat class of firearm, and for awhile we had a bunch of nice (and not-so-nice) models around.
Now, it's an endangered species, one our kids may not be able to experience new. Ruger and S&W have abandoned metal framed semiautos other than the 1911's, Beretta seems to have just the 92/96 left (probably only thanks to the military contracts), and even SIG and CZ are making more polymer guns now. I fear in 20 yrs, we'll only see plastics .
That's the reason I own a CZ 75, a Beretta 92, a S&W 915, and a FEG HP (true clone, not the later SA/DA model). And yes, the SIG P226 is on the wishlist, if/when it hits the right pricepoint. That had been the animal I had been hunting.

Which leads to: SOG has the Star 30M in stock for $299. Spanish brand, 15 rd mag, all steel. I'm feeling a lot of temptation here- the 30 is an improved version of the 28, which apparently was a submission for the 1911 replacement by the US military. For those that say "you can get a new Canik or CZ99 for that price", my issue is those are clones of other brands, and this is an original design from a respected (and yes defunct) manufacturer.

I've read that this pistol can also use S&W 59xx magazines, but that seems debatable (might have to remove the magazine safety?).

Is this a good deal on this gun, and is the gun worthwhile? I'm not going to carry it, it would just be for home and range. My son loves shooting the old metal guns at the range, and one day these will all be his legacy.

My dad has one. Accuracy and reliability are very good. Grip is pretty thick. Magazines are very hard to find and expensive. I paid $60 for the last one I found. It has a unique safety that disables the firing pin, but doesn't affect the trigger so you can dry fire it single or double action with the safety on and a round in the chamber.

He bought it back in the mid 80's when "wonder nines" were all the rage.

dave_g said:

My dad has one. Accuracy and reliability are very good. Grip is pretty thick. Magazines are very hard to find and expensive. I paid $60 for the last one I found. It has a unique safety that disables the firing pin, but doesn't affect the trigger so you can dry fire it single or double action with the safety on and a round in the chamber.

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Yikes
How do you ensure the safety works? I assume the "pencil test" would do? (drop pencil, eraser-first into barrel, pull trigger; if the pencil jumps the firing pin has hit it)

Any knowledge re the 59xx mags fitting? And would you say $300 is fair price, good deal, or pass for pistol, 1 mag, with box?

I sold or traded off my Astra Constable and A75L and my Star Firestar M40 due to the lack of parts and the demise of the companies. They were fine guns, all of them, but were only a repair away from being paperweights. I would rather spend $300.00 on a different handgun.

ColbyBruce said:

I sold or traded off my Astra Constable and A75L and my Star Firestar M40 due to the lack of parts and the demise of the companies. They were fine guns, all of them, but were only a repair away from being paperweights. I would rather spend $300.00 on a different handgun.

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The only thing about this advice is that most/all metal pistols are heading towards this fate. 3rd Gen S&W's are in the same boat.

It's actually part of the draw; these guns are going away. Sig, Beretta and CZ will likely all convert over too.

I found the Star 30 to be rather heavy and uncomfortable in my small hands. Nothing wrong with the way it shoots. Still, I prefer mainstream manufacturers unless the firearm is really exceptional.

Another steel pistol to consider is the Walther P88.

I wouldn't say it was "respected" the Star was a combination of 2 guns from a merger of two companies.

Spanish guns were made in Ebar Spain which had lots of small gun manufacturing mom and pop places. The bigger companies would often outsource a lot of the parts to these small companies which had varying degrees of quality. This is why Spanish guns either worked or didn't. They may contract slides to one shop, barrels to another and trigger components to a 3rd. None of these shops shared and all were basically working of blueprints.

The Model 30 was last attempt by a dying Star. It was actually a good design however they were taking ideas from Sig 210 and CZ 75. So even they are in some sense copies. Good luck today getting parts for it

None of my Star Firestars have needed any parts, but a friend of mine did need an extractor for his Starvel finish M40.

The good folks at Jack First in South Dakota had contracted with a machine shop to reproduce that part so they are readily available.

When I spoke to Jack First they told me that the Starvel finished .40 cal were prone to breaking the extractor due to it's being too brittle. the blued version were not a problem.

I would not hesitate to own a M30 or any of the Firestar line up. They were very robustly made and quite durable.

Another friend of mine did buy an M30 and did use some M59 mags in his gun with no issues.

Randy

PS. I just found this on the Star Bonifacio web site...

Models 28, 30 & 31

The 28/30/31 series can use Smith & Wesson 59xx (eg: 5906, 5946) magazines with no modification. Note that this only applies to magazines of exact factory configuration. Many aftermarket magazines are somewhat squarer on the front, so will not fit in the Star pistols.

I will agree with others. I have big hands and it fits me perfect. All that steel soaks up the recoil. It has never failed to fire or eject. Also, I was able to get some aftermarket mags for it, and had to thin out the sides of the mags to get them to work.

Stirling said:

Another steel pistol to consider is the Walther P88.

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Find me a $300 listing and I will buy it!

I do want one of those, if the price is right. German P226, too.

Note to the random reader: I actually like beaten up guns, as long as they are mechanically sound. So if you have to unload some roadkill-looking wondernine that a gunshop would laugh at, I'm your man

I have a 30P and a 30PK and always thought they fit my hand better than any 9mm until I held some of the Sigs lately. There was a great article back in the 80s in Guns Magazine that reviewed it and gave the history of its development. I think 300 is the most I gave for either one of them and they were/are pretty mint. I always hear the 'no parts available' warning but neither has messed up yet.

I have one. It is accurate, reliable and hell for stout. I was able to make a couple of aftermarket ProMag brand magazines work. There is a little tab on the right side that engages the magazine safety lever in the frame. Disassembling the magazine, placing a hardwood block inside the mag body to support it and then gently tapping the tab inwards with a brass punch just enough that it doesn't bind in the mag well but still trips the mag safety lever will do the trick.

Scoobysnacker, there is a LGS near me that has a Star, Ruger P85 and P89, Taurus pistols for under $300.00. These are LE trade-ins, not pristine collector pieces but there might be something there that would interest you.

The 30M was as you point out an up-graded M28.
The up-grades are small,,the slide serrations were made more extensive, The extractor was shortened and made to act as a loaded chamber indicator (a red painted recessed area on the extractor shows when the extractor is closed on a cartridge in the chamber.
The ambidex. safety lever was beveled a little to aid in holstering. The rear site was given a couple red or orange dots, the front a white dot to better aid in sighting.

They are fine handguns, if not heavy by a lot of todays standards.
They were mfg'd in Stars large modern factory at the time , not in the cottage industry so often associated with the Spanish firearms industry.

Large contracts of these went to the Civil Guard in the early 80's as STAR was already supplying them with M28 pistols.
M28 and M30 pistols were in production together from very late 82 till early/mid 84.
An oddity,,are mismarked M30 pistols supplied to the Civil Guard. When M28 production was discontinued, STAR , to fulfill the CG contract, STAR sent them M30 pistols, w/o magazine disconnector & marked Mod 28M.
The same marking was on an order of Spanish Police Contract 28PK Model pistols. They were actually Model 30PK (alloy frame). Their instruction booklets were marked 28PK/30PK. How confusing...

The Spanish Navy accepted an order for the Model 30PK. Most of these have grip escutcheons with the Spanish Navy F/anchor/N logo on the right panel.
Most all variations were sent out in the commercial trades too.
Lots of variations around.

10e/ Model 30M and Model 30PK were sent to Colt for evaluation in '86 re: program searching for a new handgun for the US Armed Forces.
Colt re-marked them w/'Colt Firearms Mfg Co.' markings on the frame.
Colt didn't get any further involved in the program and simply sold the 20 STAR pistols on the US market.
One of the Colt marked STAR's would be a nice find.

Star made a Match pistol on the Model 30 (Model 30M). More of a IPSC pistol than a bullseye gun. A very few alloyframe Match guns were made too.. Model 30MK.

About the only weakness I can think of in the M30 was a factory change that weakened the bbl. That was a change in mfg made around 1988 that modified the mfg process of turning the locking lugs on the bbl.
Up to this time the lugs were only on the upper half of the bbl,,same as a 1911.
STAR must have decided that turning them and not milling off the bottom portion saved time ($$). It undoubtedly did. But it led to a stress factor problem at that point and cracks developed in several bbls machined that way after some use. The mfg change was reversed and the old style was once again adopted. Any bbls with the concentric style bbl were subject to recall and replacement.
The bbl style change was done to the Models 43, PD, BM and Mod 30 all at the same time. All were reversed and changed back to the old style at the same time as well.

M30 magazines were very inexpensive not very long ago. Not so any more.
I had not heard of the interchangeability with the S&W59 mag. That is a big plus as 59 mags seem to be available and for much better prices than the STAR product.

I actually bought one of SOG's Star 30M pistols last fall. Don't recall if I posted about it here or not?

Anyhow...I had my FFL holding pal order me one. Received a nice looking Star 30M in the factory box with one mag and a re-print manual.

Shooting my 'new' Star 9mm revealed an issue or two...pistol wouldn't extract worth a hoot!....Plus the mag-safety piece had been removed which bugged me.

I messed around with the Star 30 trying various ammunition and kept having ejection/extraction issues....turned out that some previous owner/user had 'clipped' some off the extractor spring!...Probably in an effort to reduce the 'effort' required to work the safety lever(same spring)...anyhow..I managed to machine a tiny spacer for the spring and get the pistol working right...then later a very very nice person on another forum provided me with a new extractor spring(which was noticeably longer than the clipped spring that came in the gun)....

As far as the missing mag-safety part...I ordered a few spare Star 28/30 parts from Sarco...I installed the used Sarco mag-safety piece and the pistol is now complete and functional(it worked fine without the mag-safety).

It's a pretty cool pistol...mostly steel(rubber grips..alloy mag-follower)...heavy gun for sure...very accurate and with a little work(and a new extractor spring) quite reliable. It's a little different as it just has a hammer-block safety(doesn't de-cock or lock anything except keeps the hammer off the firing-pin)...does have a really good trigger for a 'wonder-nine'....I like it now that it runs good

Just to follow up- I looked into the Stars a bit, and weighed my options. ColbyBruce gave me a head's up on a pistol at a brick-and-mortar shop, but that one was aluminum framed (I prefer steel). Thanks Colby, we had a great talk!

After digging around locally and online, I've decided to put the Star on hold awhile longer. What was probably the deciding factor was finding a 39-2 for the same price, which is what I went for.

I should have that in by the end of the week. Thanks to everyone

Late response but I think $300 is a fair price. It's a good gun. I'd like to have one for the novelty of it. I have small hands though so it's not my ideal gun. I have heard about the model 59 magazines but I've never tried it.

As for the safety, the firing pin is 3 pieces. Front, middle and rear. The safety rotates the middle part so it's no longer in line with front and rear. The rear portion actually sinks into the receiver when this happens and can't be struck by the hammer. Even if it could it needs the now removed middle section to reach the first section and the primer. So there is no interaction between the safety and the hammer/sear/trigger assembly. Cock it and work the safety, hammer stays cocked. Pull the trigger in double or single action and everything works like the safety is off. It just won't fire.

I'm sure that mechanically it's quite safe. I always found it a little weird though. Also the safety lever isn't easy to operate with my thumb. Too stiff. So I don't think it's a great carry gun. My dad only used it for target shooting so the safety didn't come into play much.

For those who have (or have handled) the Star, what's the barrel length? This is for the 30M. I've looked at the Star info site, at several listings in auctions, and various places online. I've seen everywhere from 4 inches to 4.6 inches, and the photos all seem to be the same gun (same slide).

I'm looking for a fun, fullsize pistol for the range, the 4" S&W 59xx series is about as small as I want to go.

The Spanish manual says 110 mm, or 4.33 inches if you prefer.

Thanks LVSteve. I could tell the gun was not a compact as such, but it's kind of strange to see different barrel lengths listed. There's one guy selling them on gunsamerica, he has a photo of the 30M, describes it as 4 inch. Per the Star site, the 30 did come in a shorter length for police, but it was a different letter (P or PK).

The one I'd most like to get is the longer length; visually it seems the front of the trigger guard is in the approximate middle of the length.