Anyone have Star 22lr pistols?

beagleye · Feb 2, 2021

This pistol is growing on me. It's a Model FM, with a 4" square barrel, and a 10 shot clip. I bought it on a whim, it was cheap. Turns out it's a super fun plinker! Accurate. Reliable with all the ammunitions I've tried so far, mini-mag and auto-match. Nice solid heavy feeling. Well built, good fit and finish. 1911 control positions. What's not to like?

The rear sight blade needed a rebuild. I filed one out of an old saws-all blade. But the inner workings were all there and were in good shape.

If other have these I'd like to see them, and hear about them, any tips or cautions.

Thanks

dmthomp32 · Feb 2, 2021

There is a star .22 pistol that was hanging around my local FFL for a while. They wanted $400 for it. I was tempted as my star BM9 was a good pistol, but never took the leap for their price. Apparently it sold last week though!

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Brucie · Feb 2, 2021

Star 22

I have a nice one in original box and 2 clips ,great little gun! I put fiber optic sites but otherwise original!

beagleye · Feb 2, 2021

Brucie said:
I have a nice one in original box and 2 clips ,great little gun! I put fiber optic sites but otherwise original!

How did those sights fit on? I could see upgrading this gun if it keeps impressing me.

GaryHK · Feb 2, 2021

Had a Star FR a while ago. Sold it about 10 years ago. OK accuracy OK reliability. Don't regret it.

Has a weird shaped barrel otw it would probably make an awesome suppressor host.

dsf · Feb 3, 2021

I have the 6" version and it's good for what it was meant for. Mags kind of drove me up the wall though. Expensive and hard to find considering how much the gun costs. I ended up at Numrich buying Star bodies & followers, springs for a Woodsman, the nipple spring follower & floor plate for GOK what pistol.

The more and more current manufacturers go to plastic and spray paint finishes the more and more I like those cheap guns we used to turn up our collective noses to years ago.

CZU · Feb 3, 2021

Here are a couple of "F" series pistols, both are great shooters. Top one about '49'-50, bottom sometime around '58-'59. Star-firearms dot com has information on these if your interested.

2152hq · Feb 3, 2021

I like the STAR Model F.
I've had several and am down to 2.
One round bbl version and one 'square bbl'
I had a pretty nice Model F Target a while back but parted with it in trade for something I can't remember now.

The FM you have is the last version IIRC right. They had/or have the slide lock / last shot hold open on most of their production. Something the other's don't have.
Adj rear sights added as well as thumb rest grips to boost the points needed for importation.

My later square bbl edition was in tough shape when I bought it for $75.
Blue worn and attempt made to improve it with cold blue. A past owners initials stippled into the slide didn't help. A home=made firing pin as well.
I fixed the mechanical issues,,polished it up and rust blued it.
A fine shooter.
The earlier rd bbl is in great orig condition. The school teacher that owned it just wanted to sell it because 'it wouldn't hit anything when she shot it'.. the guns fault.
Another good deal for slightly over $100.

I had a STAR Lancer .22 pistol. An alloy frame edition of the Model F. Kind of a Commander in that the grip and the bbl are both shorter than the standard 4" Model F.
Another 'don't know why I sold it'. Tough to find little pistol.

Nice Star pistols CZU...!

Easy TD to clean.
One thing to watch for when reassembling is the recoil spring.
One end of the recoil spring is wound slightly larger in dia than the other.
The larger dia goes in the pistol first and down in up against the frame.

There the slightly larger dia catches and holds the spring in place for you when TD and reassembling.

If you put the spring in backwards (large dia to the front,the gun will go together OK,,but when you pull the slide to the rear it will get jammed and stop about an inch from going fully to the rear.
That's the larger dia at the front coming back and running out of clearance room to move any further.

I don't know if STAR always made the Mod F recoils springs this way, but all the ones I've seen were so.

jmcisc · Feb 3, 2021

beagleye said:
This pistol is growing on me. It's a Model FM, with a 4" square barrel, and a 10 shot clip. I bought it on a whim, it was cheap. Turns out it's a super fun plinker! Accurate. Reliable with all the ammunitions I've tried so far, mini-mag and auto-match. Nice solid heavy feeling. Well built, good fit and finish. 1911 control positions. What's not to like?

The rear sight blade needed a rebuild. I filed one out of an old saws-all blade. But the inner workings were all there and were in good shape.

If other have these I'd like to see them, and hear about them, any tips or cautions.

Thanks

I picked up a Star FR Sport about a year ago, and it definitely is fun to shoot. My Star is missing the rear sight blade. so if anyone has a spare I'm interested.

GaryHK · Feb 3, 2021

Did you all experience the same accuracy that I did?
Not stellar but not poor...kinda meh?

jmcisc said:
I picked up a Star FR Sport about a year ago, and it definitely is fun to shoot. My Star is missing the rear sight blade. so if anyone has a spare I'm interested.

As stated I had one and I recall seeing some spare parts. Let me did through my obsolete parts bin and see if there is one.

Walter Rego · Feb 3, 2021

I'm a big fan of Star pistols. I have CZU's Model F-Sport's twin brother. I do have a spare factory magazine for it that took a while to find on ebay.

Andyd · Feb 4, 2021

I had a couple Star F and FR Sport and Target's over the years and found the mechanical accuracy actually quite good. It is a pretty well made pistol but it does not have a match trigger.

beagleye · Feb 4, 2021

2152hq said:
I like the STAR Model F.
I've had several and am down to 2.
One round bbl version and one 'square bbl'
I had a pretty nice Model F Target a while back but parted with it in trade for something I can't remember now.

The FM you have is the last version IIRC right. They had/or have the slide lock / last shot hold open on most of their production. Something the other's don't have.
Adj rear sights added as well as thumb rest grips to boost the points needed for importation.

My later square bbl edition was in tough shape when I bought it for $75.
Blue worn and attempt made to improve it with cold blue. A past owners initials stippled into the slide didn't help. A home=made firing pin as well.
I fixed the mechanical issues,,polished it up and rust blued it.
A fine shooter.
The earlier rd bbl is in great orig condition. The school teacher that owned it just wanted to sell it because 'it wouldn't hit anything when she shot it'.. the guns fault.
Another good deal for slightly over $100.

I had a STAR Lancer .22 pistol. An alloy frame edition of the Model F. Kind of a Commander in that the grip and the bbl are both shorter than the standard 4" Model F.
Another 'don't know why I sold it'. Tough to find little pistol.

Nice Star pistols CZU...!

Easy TD to clean.
One thing to watch for when reassembling is the recoil spring.
One end of the recoil spring is wound slightly larger in dia than the other.
The larger dia goes in the pistol first and down in up against the frame.

There the slightly larger dia catches and holds the spring in place for you when TD and reassembling.

If you put the spring in backwards (large dia to the front,the gun will go together OK,,but when you pull the slide to the rear it will get jammed and stop about an inch from going fully to the rear.
That's the larger dia at the front coming back and running out of clearance room to move any further.

I don't know if STAR always made the Mod F recoils springs this way, but all the ones I've seen were so.

Great detailed advice! Many thanks.

beagleye · Feb 4, 2021

jmcisc said:
I picked up a Star FR Sport about a year ago, and it definitely is fun to shoot. My Star is missing the rear sight blade. so if anyone has a spare I'm interested.

I looked on line, struck out so I made one out of a saws-all blade. It non-adjustable now and regulating was tedious. But it took just 3 hours total so a good Sunday project. Tools and materials were files (including tiny ones) and stones and a drop of JB weld.

GaryHK · Feb 4, 2021

GaryHK said:
Originally Posted by jmcisc
I picked up a Star FR Sport about a year ago, and it definitely is fun to shoot. My Star is missing the rear sight blade. so if anyone has a spare I'm interested.

As stated I had one and I recall seeing some spare parts. Let me did through my obsolete parts bin and see if there is one.

Looked through, sorry, no go. I found what may have been a couple Star springs but no sight blade.

nutsforsmiths · Feb 4, 2021

I picked up a Star FR Sport a couple years ago and it's a really great shooter. Came in original box with an extra magazine.

Jimmyjones · Feb 4, 2021

I have a Lancer, fun little gun.

2152hq · Feb 7, 2021

My 2 remaining STAR Model F pistols.
The top one is the one I bough in rough condition. Pitted, initials stippled into the slide (C.I.D.).
Grips were the originals but worn and scared.
Bore and mechanics were great except for the home-made Firingpin. Made a replacement for it.
I polished and reblued it (rust blue). The plastic material the grips are made out of responded nicely to careful sanding with 600 & 800 grit w/water after rougher grits to remove the damage. Then hand polishing the plastic to remove those scratches.
You have to be careful if you use a 'wheel' to try and bring up the shine on most of these older plastics. The heat generated by the use of a buffing wheel can instantly melt the plastic at the surface and smear it all over the place.

Exc shooters. Work best with HV ammo.
I really should go back and put a higher ft sight blade on the refinished pistol as the orig was trimmed down a bit when I got it and never realized it. It shoots High for me.
You can see the difference betw the two in the pic.
There's enough material there to make the existing sight into a base and put a nice pinned in place blade in there.
How 'bout engraving and ivory grips!,,maybe Ivory Resin..

I was lucky to get 2 magazines with the rd bbl gun and 3 with the beat up square bbl gun.
Magazines are getting hard to find for a lot of the STAR pistols now as well as the Llama semiautos.

Zema16 · Feb 27, 2022

Hi guys. I found the pistol from grandfather yesterday. Its very old and came from South Africa. Its beautiful

Drm50 · Feb 27, 2022

I had a Star several years back when looking for the perfect 22 carry pistol.
It was a used F nickel. I spent a couple years wheeling and dealing 32 frame 22s. I had all the usual suspects, didn’t go into plastics. It handled bulk 22 well and I didn’t have any issues with it. Trigger was a bit stiff
1 to 10, I would give it 8. I guess not a true test because several pistols were used against others NIB.

Anyone have Star 22lr pistols?

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