Star model B half cocked question

[kungfuhippie]

I was cleaning my Star a few nights ago and got to thinking about it's half-cocked position. I never thought much about it, and just put the knowledge of it's existence in the back of my head. I've always either kept it with and empty chamber/hammer down (due to it not having an inertia firing pin) or fully cocked and locked. With it half cocked you can not drop the hammer by pulling the trigger. Was this their solution for carrying with a round chambered but not cocked? I'm at a loss and haven't seen anything referring to this half-cocked condition.
If it helps my gun is a Russian capture, it is 1943 manufacture 9mm para (not largo).
Was this feature discontinued? I found nothing in the owner's manual I found.

I just don't want to not take full advantage of my firearm.

 

[ArmedBear]

I have the same gun and the same question.

The half-cock position does provide a margin of drop-safety in many guns, BTW. It catches the hammer on the way down, if the trigger is not pulled. In theory. I'm not going to try it.

 

[XavierBreath]

In half cock position, the sear is on a notch in the hammer. A drop can result in the notch being broken, and the hammer falling. Of course, the same can occur on almost any pistol carried with a cocked or half cocked hammer.

On a Star Model B, unlike the 1911, the thumb safety actually blocks the hammer, not the sear.

Now.....I hope I got that right, I'm trusting my faulty memory here.......

 

[kungfuhippie]

Xavier,
you got it right about the safety. So would anyone recommend carrying a Star half cocked? (being a lefty I have found that too often my thumb safety can easily get bumped off or partially off while carrying) If the pistol was half cocked it could not fire even with the safety off. (save for some mechanical failure)

ArmedBear,
What year/model is your pistol? What model? (civilian, issued, russian captured etc)

 

[XavierBreath]

KFH,
I cannot see the benefit of packing the gun half cocked vs condition 3. If the gun had to be placed into use quickly, the hammer would still need to be pulled back. This is easiest to accomplish under stress by racking the slide, a gross motor movement. Of course, if you had to cock it one handed, a round in the chamber and half cock would be nice..........

 

[Steve C]

The only function of the half cock position on semi automatic pistols is to prevent accidental discharge if the hammer slips from the thumb when the pistol is being cocked. If the hammer slips the thumb before reaching the half way position there isn't supposed to be enough force to set off a round. Half cock is not a safe position to keep the hammer on for carry or any other purpose.

 

[dstorm1911]

No ya don't want to carry a Model B at half cock by doing so ya negate ALL of the safties as now the manual safty cannot be engaged to block the hammer and if its dropped there is no longer anything to stop it from fireing as ya have just sheared off the shelf on the hammer the sear was resting in ....... result = BOOM

Same goes for a 1911 with the same result the half cocks only function is in the event the gun is dropped while at full cock the half cock notch will catch the sear preventing it from going off. It will also work as stated if ya slip while cocking it will do nothing if ya slip while lowering the hammer as the trigger is pulled to the rear...

 

[kungfuhippie]

Thanks for clearing that up. Makes perfect sense. I guess my real question should have been what the point of it was. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle. I just assumed it was due to the whole firing pin protrusion and carrying it hammer down was outright dangerous/dumb. Was thinking for some reason that it was designed for that due to some odd military regulation since the 1980's model B I played with a few months back didn't seem to have the half cocked feature. I'll just stick with cocked and locked then.

 

[dstorm1911]

The 1980 might have already been sheared off, it only takes one drop contacting the hammer, we have almost a dozen of the Star Bs and BMs spanning the years of production (my wife actually collects em as she really likes them ) and ALL of em have the half cock working perfectly.

 

[kungfuhippie]

That's good to know. Your wife has good taste. I'd collect them but it's hard to find used guns around here, people tend to buy them and then never sell them if they aren't on "the list"
Glad I didn't buy that pistol...it's hard enough to find parts for them. I turned it down due to the bore, it was worse off than my 64 year old pistol.