Nice lil' Star Firestar in .40S&W

I think you will like it.

I have one also. Mine is accurate. Recoil isn’t bad due to the weight. The only time I have ever had any issues with mine was with cheap Remington/UMC ammo.

I like the Firestars so much that I have the M40 and M43 (9mm). I wouldn’t mind getting the M45 to complete the collection

I bought mine in 1997 and it was my only center fire pistol for about 9 years and I have shot it quite a bit without any failures. Even after getting other pistols, the Firestar M40 is still one of my favorite and most used pistols. I shoot mostly mild reloads for the past 12 years. Don’t be afraid of shooting yours.

Firestar pistols are known to break firing pins. You need to remove the rear sight to replace the firing pin. I repaired one for a friend- I believe I got the firing pin from Jack First.

I bought one of these back in '94 or '95 ... mine was the "Starvel" finish (factory nickel, great looking pistol) ... traded it off a few years back during a bout of temporary stupidity (when I decided to get out of .40 S&W completely). Heavy for its size, yes, but managed the recoil so well. Good ergonomics, excellent trigger, decent sights, splendid accuracy and total reliability. Never had a malfunction. Was able to procure some extra magazines for it, found holsters that fit, and it was a great concealed carry piece.

Only issue I ever had with it was the safety lever was a tad loose for my preference and on a couple occasions came off while I was carry cocked-and-locked IWB. Have been looking for years for another one in mint condition just because I realized that I was pretty fond of this pistol.

I have the M43 in Starvel finish and a Sparks EX Companion iwb holster. I think it is great little 1911 style pistol abet on the heavy side.

Shoot the dang thing and be happy. Like most things on the Internet I think the breakage problem is way blown out of proportion.

That said I keep meaning to order a extra firing pin for mine but since I have not had any problems with the gun why worry.

There is some truth to .40 Star Firestars having extractor problems and I've talked with more than one shooter who now uses his .40 as a paperweight. Check with some of the other forums, as there may be ways to get a replacement extractor from Spain, where a number of small shops have been known to build some Star replacement parts.

I've had several Stars, one like yours, a similar one in 9mm, and 3+ of the Firestar Plus models, which have alloy frames and use double-stack mags.The Plus models have what is the same (or very similar slide) design, are more compact, are lighter, and hold more rounds.

Except for extractors on the .40 Star models, all of the Stars seem to be pretty trouble-free.

There may be help, if you need it, here: http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdisplay.php?40-The-Spanish-Pistol-Board&s=&daysprune=

Note: I slightly modified my earlier response, above -- expanding a bit.

I've not heard of firing pin problems, and I suspect that most gunsmiths could fabricate a replacement firing pin if one was needed and you had enough parts to show him. Extractors are different.

As for dry firing -- snap caps can be used when dry-firing and can reduce the chance of damage (i.e., just like shooting a live round), but with most center-fire designs it's not an issue. Using a snap cap can't really hurt.

NOT letting the slide slam home (with a full or empty magazine) seems to be a concern mostly with 1911-style guns that has to do with the potentially delicate nature of a well-tuned hammer/sear interface getting messed with with slides slamming shut when a round wasn't being chambered. Your Star has little in common with a 1911.

Keep in mind that that when firing, that slide is slamming home with a full slide that is almost empty before you quit...

The joke at the range where I shot mine was that if , while using the gun in home or self defense, I missed the attacker, had a jam, or just ran out of ammo, I should just drop the gun on his foot -- as that would certainly take him out of the fight.

The gun is HEAVY.

I purchased my M43 Firestar in 1992. Other then my own screw-ups it has been flawless. No firing pin or extractor breakage in all those years. It has thousands of rounds through it both mild and hot. I carry it on occasion. Heavy? Why yes, but I prefer a heavy handgun. Because of it's weight and low barrel position recoil is quite manageable. Hell! Even the ladies enjoy shooting it.

Walkalong said:

Extractors like the 1911 that were designed to have the round slip up behind it don't like to be forced snap over the rim. Now, I did it more than once in my youth before I knew it wasn't a good idea and it didn't break, and the 1911 extractor is much less prone to it that some people let on, or in this case, the Star .40, with numerous documented cases of extractors breaking. Start searching for an extractor on the web and you'll see all the stories.

Click to expand...

Nearly ALL semi-autos use the same basic approach to extractor function.-- the case rim is fed UP under the extractor as the round is raised from the magazine.

There are exceptions -- some of the older H&K models (like the P7) have extractors but will extract/eject a fired shell if the extractor is broken or missing.. Many (nearly all) fixed-barrel semi-autos will function without an extractor, because pressure pushes the casing rearward almost immediately during the firing cycle; indeed, that's how they are designed to work . When any of these guns have an extractor, it's there as much to hold the round against the breech face until the case hits the ejector as to extract the casing from the chamber. The small Beretta and Taurus semi-autos immediately come to mind -- in both rim fire and center-fire models. (The Beretta Tomcat I once owned extracted and ejected beautifully without an extractor.)

The Beretta 92/M9 is one of the FEW guns designed to allow the extractor to slip OVER the rim, when needed, but in normal usage he Beretta M92/M9 extractor works like all the rest. (Beretta has made their extractor design a selling point/feature in their promotion of that line of handguns.)

I've never heard anyone who seemed technically knowledgeable (a gunsmith, gun designer, etc.) claim that Star Firestart extractor damage was caused by the slide slamming shut with or without rounds in the chamber or mag -- but maybe you've read more horror stories than I have, or you have better access to experts. .I'm a bit skeptical, because I've found that a lot of people use flawed logic when diagnosing problems and solutions -- and assume that because B happened after A occurred, A is what caused B, That isn't always the case, but it may be the only one that comes to mind. (I would expect slide-caused damage to be a problem with the 9mm versions of the gun if it were a true extractor issue, and that doesn't seem to be the case.)

Get an extractor if you can, ditto a firing pin, but with any luck, you'll not need them.. I don't think you really have to "BABY" your gun.

Note: I bolded "full magazine" in the following citation...

Walkalong said:

... To prolong the life of the firing pin and the extractor as it's been mentioned I think the game plan will be to never dry fire it which I make it a point to never dry fire any of my weapons anyway and to never let the slide slam home on a full magazine and to rack the slide after inserting a full magazine and letting it pick up a round and feed from the magazine.

Click to expand...

re: extractor damage

Walt Sherrill said:

I've never heard anyone who seemed technically knowledgeable (a gunsmith, gun designer, etc.) claim that Star Firestart extractor damage was caused by the slide slamming shut with or without rounds in the chamber or mag -- but maybe you've read more horror stories than I have, or you have better access to experts.

Click to expand...

Since I started working on this reply, I see that you responded again and told us that your buddy broke the extractor on his gun by letting the slide slam home on a chambered round. That wasn't the case when I first responded. It was hinted at, but not stated.

In responding this time and reading through earlier and subsequent comments as I worked on this reply, I saw what might have happened on both of our parts. We both wrote things we didn't really mean. That said, I think we agree that empty extractors don't like being dropped on loaded chambers

In my earlier reply I compounded an error above by combining chamber and mag in the same sentence. I agree that letting a slide slam shut on a chambered round could cause damage. I meant to say that doing so with an empty chamber (and a full or empty magazine) wasn't a problem -- I was still focusing on your earlier "full magazine" (and not a " loaded chamber" which was what you probably meant); I then added to the confusing by remaining focused on "loaded magazine" and "firing pin damage," etc., etc., etc. My error.

Closing the slide over a chambered round is NOT an OK thing to do with a Star or any extractor-equipped gun (except, perhaps, a Beretta M92/M9). That said, I've seen broken extractors and chipped extractors, and I'm pretty sure there weren't all damaged only by dropping a slide on a chambered round. Closing a slide on a chambered round is something that many shooters would never do. Sometimes extractors JUST BREAK.

re: firing pin damage

Have you heard about Star firing pins breaking? Or is it just concern about a lack of replacement parts? Dry firing MIGHT cause a problem with a few semi-autos (and older revolvers), and I suppose it's possible that your Star could be damaged by dry-firing. Using a snap cap would greatly minimize or avoid any such damage.

Is that a Star Wars motif I spot in the background? Sweet ...

I wish I had the same results with the one I got when they first came out. Mine went back 4 times due to horrible accuracy. It fired every round, never jammed, and carried very well, but at 5 yards took just over 100 rounds to hit the x. Traded it off and felt bad for the guy that got it. I tried to like it, I really did. My gunsmith had one he shot in competition and he felt so bad each time he sent it back, he even test fired it and said it was horrible. I really wanted to like that gun. ):

Horrible accuracy suggests that the barrel isn't locking up consistently. Star (or the folks doing the warranty work) should have been able to identify the problem. Sounds as though they were focused on function and not accuracy. Sorry that you had such a bad experience.

The only gun I had that gave me that sort of experience was a milsurp Inglis (which had been greatly abused, refinished [badly] and tinkered with before I got it. My gunsmith -- who is pretty good -- spent some time with it but never got any meaningful improvements. It shot patterns.

Haven't tried a 40, in 9 my abilities with this are accurate enough out to 12 yards. The Trijicons also helped ease sight acquisition over the tiny dots of the stock sights.