"....Oh: besides the Guardia Civil, I read the Spanish Navy used Modelo BM. I don't know about the Cuerpo General de Policia..."
The Model BM contract pistols that went to the Spanish Navy had a special enameled round medallion in the RIGHT grip only. The round medallion had an Anchor and F on the left of it,,N to the right.
I think it stands for Fuerza Naval (Might have the spelling wrong),,Spanish Navy .
A contract of about 5K pistols, most, just under 4K being delivered in '83, and other than that the pistols were standard production AFAIK.
A large number of Spanish Police and Security agencys used the Model BM.
The Guardia Civil (GC), Policia NAtional (PN marked), SPanish Army (ET marked), Cuerpo General de Policia (CGP marked) There are others most likely.
Might have some of the spellings wrong but the markings are right.
Property marking usually found on both the slide and frame along with an inventory number/weapon number. The weapon numbering system used both by the SPanish military and by their police and security depts.
That weapon number is often mistaken for the serial number which is either on the butt of the frame or on the side of the frame after it surpasses 1,000,000.
CAI imported a large number of STAR A,B,B Super and others and used the inventory number as the ser# in selling them.
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The Model S is an interesting pistol. It goes all the way back to the mid 30's.
The Model 'S' you had was the .380 caliber version. That actually came out first.
You probably had an earlier mfg with the first style slide address that said Bonifacio Echeverria Eibar (Espana)
Cal. 9m/m-390 <<STAR>>
A Model 'SA',,there is no Model SA, but the 32cal version is the Model SI.
The slide address used on those when they came out in the 40's (and on the 380 S Model) has:
STAR Eibar, Espana S.A. cal 7.65m/m
The S.A. often mistaken for a Model designation, it's an equivelent of 'Inc.' I'm told or something close to that.
Anyway the Model S is 380
Model SI is the same gun in 32acp
They added a magazine safety in '68 to try and get import approval to the USA.
An earlier Chilean Navy contract in '64 or '65 for 300 Model SI pistols had called for one so it wasn't something new to figure out. With it, the Model S/SI still didn't meet import points.
Mag safety designation is 'S'
So Model SS is a 380 w/mag safety
Model SIS is the same gun w/safety in 32acp.
These were used all over the world by different countrys and Police depts.
Chilean Navy, Portuguese Navy, Jordan, W/German Police, ect as well as the Spanish Army, Navy and AirForce and Police and security.
Most of the early STAR Spanish issue pistols were returned to STAR in the late 80's early 90's as part of a deal in which those agencys would buy the new M28/M30 STAR pistols.
STAR refurb'd many of those Model S, SI, A, B A&B Super pistols and they were sold on the USA market. MAny were just inspected, reboxed and resold. Some great values in that lot!
The S/SI did not ever make the ATF point system in '68 dispite their addition of the mag safety.
Interarms added a small adj rear site and thumb rest grips to the small Model S and SI to make them importable this time around.
Most all the InterArms imported S & SI pistols from the 90's that were refurbished/refinished were put up in boxes and supplied with manuals stating they were SS and SIS pistol (magazine safety).
Didn't matter if the mag safety was present or not.
So you'll find those in both versions and with the very late slide roll marking as they scrubbed the orig markings in refinishing them.
