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Anyone Carry A Star Firestar?

Ruger Fan

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Update on the M43. After reading all the favorable posts on the Star I decided to give it another chance. Took it to a friend of the family that does his own gunsmithing and competes in shooting competitions to have him go through it. After having it for about a week he returned it with good news. After a couple of tweeks and such it shoots just fine. Took it to the range a week later and put nearly 150 rounds through it in at least 4 different brands without a single hiccup. Little sucker is deadly accurate as well. :)
 

ghostrider

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Ruger Fan wrote:
Update on the M43. After reading all the favorable posts on the Star I decided to give it another chance. Took it to a friend of the family that does his own gunsmithing and competes in shooting competitions to have him go through it. After having it for about a week he returned it with good news. After a couple of tweeks and such it shoots just fine. Took it to the range a week later and put nearly 150 rounds through it in at least 4 different brands without a single hiccup. Little sucker is deadly accurate as well. :)

That sounds more like the reputation that that series of pistols has earned. I've since sold mine, but it was very accurate, and fun to shoot. I put probably about 250 rounds through it with 50 of them being Ranger hollow points and the only problem I had was learning how to properly grip the gun. I would have trusted my life to that gun any time.



Glad you got things resolved.
 

SteveInAshand

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Ruger Fan wrote:
Update on the M43. After reading all the favorable posts on the Star I decided to give it another chance. Took it to a friend of the family that does his own gunsmithing and competes in shooting competitions to have him go through it. After having it for about a week he returned it with good news. After a couple of tweeks and such it shoots just fine. Took it to the range a week later and put nearly 150 rounds through it in at least 4 different brands without a single hiccup. Little sucker is deadly accurate as well. :)
MAG DROP MOD: You can mod the Firestar to make the mag's drop out slick as snot without any hand manipulation ... aka.... a combat drop by having your gunsmith get into the well and do this, it will take away the empty mag saftey, but give you a stress situation reload that is competition smooth.

TRIGGER SMOOTH & BREAK: Firestars need a trigger job, ONLY if you are a cool cookie and practice a LOT otherwise you may end up in a stress situation shooting a suspect before the time is right or warranted, also not many gun smiths see Firestars and find they are different than 1911's and such, just by taking off the rear sight you will find that out quick.

IMPORTANT: you will see how important it is to keep a Firestar clean because of the complicated internals involved in the trigger and saftey hidden up in and under the rear sight I now take off the rear sight after practice and clean out these internals the slide to barrel fit & lock up due to the barrel bulge at the badguy end is great

SLIDE CLOSE COMBAT MOD: you can mod the Firestar so when the slide opens on empty to were when you "tap" in a fresh mag the slide will close on the shock-impact every time without needing to pull back or thumb release the slide release lever it saves you a fraction of a second and removes one of the basic movements out of the chain of reload to make you much more quick.

The second the mag hits bottom / insertion the slide will engage into battery without any hand manipulation

Once again this is a gunsmith or someone with good machinist experience can do this, you take off a tiny bit of metal on the slide release lever indent , disassemble the gun and you can figure it out for yourself.

These mod's are NOT recommended for a gun you intend to sell one day or loan out to anyone at any time.

There are certain liabilities inherent in a modified weapon. A light trigger is dangerous for anyone who intends to possibly point it at a BG one day, the finger gets as tight as the mind when stressed and adrenalin is pumping and the mind will forget the finger, I almost talked myself out of a trigger job and it took a lot of soul searching because I know that after a dead BG the crime lab & detectives will check my gun for such things as trigger pull and find it is "light" if there is any descrepancy in the shooting and i accept this fact.

I own only Star Firestar since 91, three total and so I am "one" with the Firestar, if you are not absolutly sure you will carry and keep the same gun "for life" I would not mod the trigger and other such things.
 

rn2730

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Centre, Alabama, USA
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After reading all these post I might try and find a Firestar, lol. Recently bought an Ultrastar for $250 from a family member that bought it new in '97. Never had a single problem out it since new. Can't believe the ultra never got more popular, even based on looks alone. Awesome polymer design. Guess it's design cues were a little ahead of it's time. Here's a stock pic if anyone has not seen one.
 

Legba

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Never heard of the "ultra-" before. Thanks for sharing.

-ljp
 

bennyj

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Apr 16, 2009
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Houston, Texas, USA
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Hi all, new to the forums and just picked up a really clean Firestar M40. My question is.... can anyone point me in the direction to where i can find the mag with the extended grip on the bottom? I have pretty large hands and my pinky basically hangs off the bottom of this pistol. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
 

Grapeshot

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bennyj wrote:
Hi all, new to the forums and just picked up a really clean Firestar M40. My question is.... can anyone point me in the direction to where i can find the mag with the extended grip on the bottom? I have pretty large hands and my pinky basically hangs off the bottom of this pistol. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
Welcome to our world - OCDO and especially Stars.

Several sources for mags and most all other parts listed through out this thread.
Generally these mags are easy enough to locate in the $28.00 range. Gun shows too can be good.

http://star-firearms.com/info/mags.shtml

Yata hey
 

bufordtpisser

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I bought a Star Firestar .40 NIB a few years back. When my brother had to seel all of his guns to pay for a divorce, I decided that he needed to have a gun for protection so I gave it to him. That thing is a real shooter and he loves it. I told him if he ever gets tired of it it comes back to me.
 

Grapeshot

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bufordtpisser wrote:
I bought a Star Firestar .40 NIB a few years back. When my brother had to seel all of his guns to pay for a divorce, I decided that he needed to have a gun for protection so I gave it to him. That thing is a real shooter and he loves it. I told him if he ever gets tired of it it comes back to me.
And therein is described the love of a brother. :D

You don't have another NIB perhaps in Starvel do you? :)

Yata hey
 

Tomahawk

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Ah, good to see the Firestar Army is still growing. I know I'm like a broken record, but it seems that such a popular line of pistols deserves a comeback, just enough to serve its niche market (or are we officially a "cult"?).

I notice that even though my main carry pistol is a 1911, which is an amazingly well-designed machine, the Firestar still feels very natural to draw down and aim. The former may be technically the more accurate pistol, but in a hurry-up situation the latter feels a bit easier to put rounds on center-mass. I think my Firestar may actually be heavier than the 1911, even though it's shorter, but this makes it more wieldy when drawing, while suppressing recoil effectively.

The top of the Firestar slide has glare-reduction grooves which catch the eye like a shotgun rail and make a natural point of aim pretty easy to get, even before your eyes settle on the front sight. At the 7-yard line or closer this makes a big difference.

Yeah, if I had my way, I'd get the rights to it and make more of these little gems, if I were in the business.
 

HankT

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bennyj wrote:
Hi all, new to the forums and just picked up a really clean Firestar M40. My question is.... can anyone point me in the direction to where i can find the mag with the extended grip on the bottom? I have pretty large hands and my pinky basically hangs off the bottom of this pistol. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
There's one on Gunbroker. A newProMag for $21+$6 ship.
 

Tomahawk

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HankT wrote:
bennyj wrote:
Hi all, new to the forums and just picked up a really clean Firestar M40. My question is.... can anyone point me in the direction to where i can find the mag with the extended grip on the bottom? I have pretty large hands and my pinky basically hangs off the bottom of this pistol. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
There's one on Gunbroker. A newProMag for $21+$6 ship.

Also, look up an outfit in Texas called "JoeCo Emprise". Last time I looked there a few years ago he had tons of Star mags, but you'll have to google it.

I thought you were a revo guy, Hank? Have you joined our Firestar cult?
 

HankT

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Tomahawk wrote:
I thought you were a revo guy, Hank? Have you joined our Firestar cult?
I still love my revolvers but have been getting into semi-autos much more lately. Picked up very nice S&W 1006 and 4506 this week. Tanks.


And I wouldn't join any cult that would have me, T-hawk...

But the Firestar looks pretty good to me:

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/OPS615/GUNS_117_002.JPG
 

bennyj

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HankT wrote:
Tomahawk wrote:
I thought you were a revo guy, Hank? Have you joined our Firestar cult?
I still love my revolvers but have been getting into semi-autos much more lately. Picked up very nice S&W 1006 and 4506 this week. Tanks.


And I wouldn't join any cult that would have me, T-hawk...

But the Firestar looks pretty good to me:

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/OPS615/GUNS_117_002.JPG
Any idea where i can find THAT specific mag? I need extra room on the bottom :)
 

Tomahawk

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bennyj wrote:
HankT wrote:
Tomahawk wrote:
I thought you were a revo guy, Hank? Have you joined our Firestar cult?
I still love my revolvers but have been getting into semi-autos much more lately. Picked up very nice S&W 1006 and 4506 this week. Tanks.


And I wouldn't join any cult that would have me, T-hawk...

But the Firestar looks pretty good to me:

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/OPS615/GUNS_117_002.JPG
Any idea where i can find THAT specific mag? I need extra room on the bottom :)
I got one like it from JoeCo Emprise, as stated above. I don't use it much, though. In addition to making it es concealable, it changes the feel and balance of the pistol and feels wierd. I could get used to it if I tried, but never bothered.
 

bennyj

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Tomahawk wrote:
bennyj wrote:
HankT wrote:
Tomahawk wrote:
I thought you were a revo guy, Hank? Have you joined our Firestar cult?
I still love my revolvers but have been getting into semi-autos much more lately. Picked up very nice S&W 1006 and 4506 this week. Tanks.


And I wouldn't join any cult that would have me, T-hawk...

But the Firestar looks pretty good to me:

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/OPS615/GUNS_117_002.JPG
Any idea where i can find THAT specific mag? I need extra room on the bottom :)
I got one like it from JoeCo Emprise, as stated above. I don't use it much, though. In addition to making it es concealable, it changes the feel and balance of the pistol and feels wierd. I could get used to it if I tried, but never bothered.
Mind if i ask how much you paid for it? I see one on gunbroker, but the starting bid is at almost $45! Way more than im willing to spend, lol.
 

Tomahawk

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bennyj wrote:
Tomahawk wrote:
bennyj wrote:
HankT wrote:
Tomahawk wrote:
I thought you were a revo guy, Hank? Have you joined our Firestar cult?
I still love my revolvers but have been getting into semi-autos much more lately. Picked up very nice S&W 1006 and 4506 this week. Tanks.


And I wouldn't join any cult that would have me, T-hawk...

But the Firestar looks pretty good to me:

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/OPS615/GUNS_117_002.JPG
Any idea where i can find THAT specific mag? I need extra room on the bottom :)
I got one like it from JoeCo Emprise, as stated above. I don't use it much, though. In addition to making it es concealable, it changes the feel and balance of the pistol and feels wierd. I could get used to it if I tried, but never bothered.
Mind if i ask how much you paid for it? I see one on gunbroker, but the starting bid is at almost $45! Way more than im willing to spend, lol.
I don't remember but it wasn't that much. Problem is that Star went out of business in the 90s so as the years go by the price for mags and other parts will probably rise as people snap them up. I bought my spare magazines almost 10 years ago, when a few new Stars could still be found in gun shops, who trying to get rid of them. Not long after that Interarms went belly up and that was that.
 
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